Forums » Suggestions
Replace the Ultra Charge
There are, I think 2 problems with the Ultra Charge Powercell.
The mentor system
The prereq to buy it from a station is 40 good mentor reviews. While I agree that making a powercell that doesn't require license and is in about the same class as the Fast Charge limited to confirmed "newb-helpers" is good in theory, the system seems to me to be broken.
There are 2 problems with the mentor system, which I am listing below:
1) The community helps new players, not just by answering questions but actively helping them, without being official "mentors" or expecting any reward for it. Examples I would raise here are ScotiaKnight, JadeNinja, Loser007 and for me personally my guild members, who have helped and mentored me a lot without officially being "mentors" or even being paid in credits or other in game items. And it has got to the stage that now asking newbs to /mentor invite is considered "exploiting them" or "farming reviews" by some.
2) The limit for being mentored doesn't make sense. I know many players who never even speak on 100/1 until they're pretty leveled up, and leveling up to combat 3 takes very less time. So basically you may get to combat 3 by just following the tutorials and the missions, but still not know even basic stuff like how ship mass works or what standings translate to on the ground. This, of course, is solved by point 1, because older players help the newbs without expecting that review.
But the fact remains that for someone to actually get mentor reviews, they have to almost "station camp" the newbs by sitting at the capitols and catching them as soon as they get out of training.
The powercell itself
The Ultra Charge(UC) has I think 3 similar powercells. By similar I don't mean that they are the same, but that they can be substituted with minimal difference. These 3 are the Fast Charge(FC), the Hive Fast Charge(HFC) and the Improved High Drain(IHDPC) powercells.
The FC is essentially just a UC with 50 units less capacity and a licence requirement. The higher capacity is an advantage in combat, but a disadvantage in travel due to longer time to full charge.
The HFC is a UC with 2/s lower charge rate, similar capacity and similar (0) license req. A poor man's UC.
The IHDPC has a similar charge rate with a significantly higher capacity, similar license req and marginally lower grid. Better for combat, but bad for traveling/chasing.
The point I am making here is that the UC doesn't seem to be really worth how hard it is to get. For this, I propose the following:
Ultra Charge Powercell (revamped)
Capacity: 250
Charge Rate: 50
Grid: 35
Mass: 300 kg
Prereq: 15 good mentor reviews
The numbers are just initial "drafts". If they're a bit off, please suggest some better stats. One thing I would like to stick with though is the grid.
Also
Mentor system change
The upper limit to be mentored could be shifted to any one of the following:
A one-time option to say that you don't need to be mentored anymore
Like the pop ups which ask you to give permissions to apps. You agree to it, and you can't undo it, but you decide when to press it. You can mentor other players only after agreeing that you yourself won't need a mentor.
Higher license
Combat is not all there is to the game, and combat 3 is very easy to reach. I suggest licenses of 5/5/5/5/5 be the upper limit to be mentored.
Game time
Instead of linking it to licences, it may be linked to amount of time spent active in game, similar to the tempKoS or mutes. I think 24 hours spent active in game is reasonable.
The purpose of above suggestions is to make the Ultra Charge Powercell both more attainable and worth attaining, and to make the mentor system a bit more tuned to how it works out in-game.
The mentor system
The prereq to buy it from a station is 40 good mentor reviews. While I agree that making a powercell that doesn't require license and is in about the same class as the Fast Charge limited to confirmed "newb-helpers" is good in theory, the system seems to me to be broken.
There are 2 problems with the mentor system, which I am listing below:
1) The community helps new players, not just by answering questions but actively helping them, without being official "mentors" or expecting any reward for it. Examples I would raise here are ScotiaKnight, JadeNinja, Loser007 and for me personally my guild members, who have helped and mentored me a lot without officially being "mentors" or even being paid in credits or other in game items. And it has got to the stage that now asking newbs to /mentor invite is considered "exploiting them" or "farming reviews" by some.
2) The limit for being mentored doesn't make sense. I know many players who never even speak on 100/1 until they're pretty leveled up, and leveling up to combat 3 takes very less time. So basically you may get to combat 3 by just following the tutorials and the missions, but still not know even basic stuff like how ship mass works or what standings translate to on the ground. This, of course, is solved by point 1, because older players help the newbs without expecting that review.
But the fact remains that for someone to actually get mentor reviews, they have to almost "station camp" the newbs by sitting at the capitols and catching them as soon as they get out of training.
The powercell itself
The Ultra Charge(UC) has I think 3 similar powercells. By similar I don't mean that they are the same, but that they can be substituted with minimal difference. These 3 are the Fast Charge(FC), the Hive Fast Charge(HFC) and the Improved High Drain(IHDPC) powercells.
The FC is essentially just a UC with 50 units less capacity and a licence requirement. The higher capacity is an advantage in combat, but a disadvantage in travel due to longer time to full charge.
The HFC is a UC with 2/s lower charge rate, similar capacity and similar (0) license req. A poor man's UC.
The IHDPC has a similar charge rate with a significantly higher capacity, similar license req and marginally lower grid. Better for combat, but bad for traveling/chasing.
The point I am making here is that the UC doesn't seem to be really worth how hard it is to get. For this, I propose the following:
Ultra Charge Powercell (revamped)
Capacity: 250
Charge Rate: 50
Grid: 35
Mass: 300 kg
Prereq: 15 good mentor reviews
The numbers are just initial "drafts". If they're a bit off, please suggest some better stats. One thing I would like to stick with though is the grid.
Also
Mentor system change
The upper limit to be mentored could be shifted to any one of the following:
A one-time option to say that you don't need to be mentored anymore
Like the pop ups which ask you to give permissions to apps. You agree to it, and you can't undo it, but you decide when to press it. You can mentor other players only after agreeing that you yourself won't need a mentor.
Higher license
Combat is not all there is to the game, and combat 3 is very easy to reach. I suggest licenses of 5/5/5/5/5 be the upper limit to be mentored.
Game time
Instead of linking it to licences, it may be linked to amount of time spent active in game, similar to the tempKoS or mutes. I think 24 hours spent active in game is reasonable.
The purpose of above suggestions is to make the Ultra Charge Powercell both more attainable and worth attaining, and to make the mentor system a bit more tuned to how it works out in-game.
-1. Just remove the UC from the mentor system and make it a reward for winning Deneb or manufacturable.
I don’t see a reason to change the UC, but I do agree that the mentor-system-based access is flawed. I’m still working off of stock I got from Estrian Prosis 7 years ago lol.
UC's can be acquired by killing voys.
+1 to what aaronund said
-1 i help people all the time for free and wasn't mentioned!
forget biretak, how was I passed up! 🤣 /silly
Do take note that there is weight difference between FC, HFC, IHDPC, and UC. The HFC, which you call a poor man's FC, is actually insanely light, while the IHDPC is the heaviest non-capital cell. On a larger ship the difference is pretty minimal, but on a fighter balanced specifically for its agility, the changes can be great.
so.... why did you double the mass of the UC?
Do take note that there is weight difference between FC, HFC, IHDPC, and UC. The HFC, which you call a poor man's FC, is actually insanely light, while the IHDPC is the heaviest non-capital cell. On a larger ship the difference is pretty minimal, but on a fighter balanced specifically for its agility, the changes can be great.
so.... why did you double the mass of the UC?
I think the mass is more due to the higher grid. Higher grid = more, heavier weps = use on heavier ships. Tradeoffs.
forget biretak, how was I passed up! 🤣 /silly violation of rule 12. 11, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 by luxen!
25kg doesn't make a smidgin' of difference on fighters.
250kg is a tiny difference in handling characteristics on an IBG/superlight.
Anywho I'm all for powercell variation but the UC doesn't need anything, just add new cells instead shit it's only in the last 5 years we've seen the "other" tab have more than the 5 powercell flavors that have existed since the games release.
Something I'd much rather see is differentiation between the light,medium,heavy powercells and additional weapons to valorize cells with high energy capacity.
the only thing high capacity cells are useful for right now is running someone down with energy would be cool to see an anti-capship weapon that takes 500energy/shot iunno.
250kg is a tiny difference in handling characteristics on an IBG/superlight.
Anywho I'm all for powercell variation but the UC doesn't need anything, just add new cells instead shit it's only in the last 5 years we've seen the "other" tab have more than the 5 powercell flavors that have existed since the games release.
Something I'd much rather see is differentiation between the light,medium,heavy powercells and additional weapons to valorize cells with high energy capacity.
the only thing high capacity cells are useful for right now is running someone down with energy would be cool to see an anti-capship weapon that takes 500energy/shot iunno.