Impressions of 5.0 to date

[DSE-]

What do you think?

This post and poll is an opportunity to give players a chance to share their impressions to date - a snapshot of 5.0 since it was launched. There are major changes in the way the game operates but how are people coping? Are you enjoying things? Is it fun or lame? Bright or boring. Is it appealing and captivating or has the fizz gone and it's a flat experience?

No personal attacks, please.

[Lemon]

Battleships - horrible anti fun changes to movement, cores, fail.

PvE - big flop, encounters are a non functional concept due to being group oriented ( battlezones a single person could start, grind in one place, snowball more and more people, leading to much easier grinding off peak on low player counts) but breaking on higher server load that happens as low as 18 players now.
We are back to missions, but these are not designed well yet in terms of balance, there are also no clear systems like old delta where 4 factions had top tier missions with all overlapping mission zones that lead to PvP

GBs - big win, huge fun, annihilator is so epic brings the FUN to FUNboat

Systems - big win, surprisingly so, we were fearing huge deletions and lack of content, Earhart, hazards, turns out besides the disaster that PvE is aside, the systems are mostly well done, with great additions like Earhart concepts.

Story - underwhelming development levels really given the time skip and time IRL that passed for story to flesh out regions and update Infocards, but there has been a big change with Phil and Jammi only very recently who are actually capable of using the community and focus on quality control instead of pushing in their own pixels and ideas. Work in progress ™ that fills me with great optimism.


JDs
Good concept, but @Aingar , you make them less usable because of the restrictions on jumping back and 3 systems. That unstable JDs don't count sucks, that you can't jump to one place and then back does too. It makes sense on paper, is bad for gameplay and an annoyance that makes the cool concept actually worse off and less used than JDs before - this is fixable.


Cloaks
- fine with transport fix

Snubs
- all good, more fun overall

Econ
- feels very much still unfinished, very few circular viable routes, smuggling still sucks.


PoBs
- the refineries just confuse me and I still don't understand how to make the one I have work

Personal Impact
Overall, I play way less as someone who was a heavy BS player who focused on PvE and fleet fights , JD raids. This patch is basically destructive for players like me, many play less or have considered quitting, Slow BS movements that are unfun to handle outside of fights, cores that let you fire 2 secondaries when drained at a time, flopped main PvE concept (sorry Titan, that's just a fact), smuggling is weaker and not well done yet so less stuff to patrol for in e.g. Liberty when I do play snubs. I basically just use BC as missile launchers.

Only thing that does want to make me play are the new Novas - turns out they are a much bigger meme than before, hard to hit but when you do you get to watch the guy limp to base and dock, losing all guns just to avoid giving a blue

But yeah, overall the patch on me personally is definitely a big net negative on wanting to log and play after the new system stuff and ships additions stop being novel. It basically will make me focus on factions and running stuff, events, and enabling players who do enjoy the logging instead.

[LuckyOne]

Battleships - Not fun anymore, feel totally underwhelming

BCs - Interesting concept, but the arcs on the big back firing gun feel too restricted. You are losing DPS all the time if you don't bind the roll keys.

Cruisers - Sh** core energy, need to run 4 pulses minimum to deshield something bigger than a GB. The only thing they supposedly do good is dodge, but it often fails because of the small thruster capacity.

PvE - Can't comment on encounters, haven't tried yet but the ones I did approach feel overwhelming to solo. You get instantly deleted in any bigger boat, and have to dodge all the time in a small one. Missions were a bit hard at the start, now they're doable.

GBs - Okay, maybe even a bit overpowered in groups

Bombers - They sucked at the start, now with magic back they are fine. I love the changes to the Hellfires!

Fighters - The missiles now have more viable loadouts, that's good!

Systems - Probably the best thing of the patch

Story - I feel the time skip left too many holes, and made players feel like it's not their "own" story, as lots of stuff was changed without any events.

JDs - interesting change but needs +1 base range, and make it unlimited with matrices, or at least matrices should do +3 range, as they are underused now

Docking Modules - Nice to see these fixed

Cloaks - Was hoping for one crucial change, and that is to make cloaked ships only show region if possible or Unknown on player list. I feel it could work now when they only last for a longer time when staying still.

Econ
- feels unfinished so far (only a couple "best routes"), and I don't mean adding 20 commodities to every base - that's just bad for usability.

PoBs - Refineries are cool and good

Sieges - Seem to be more balanced now. Maybe the ammo is a bit too expensive though ?

[Schxer]

Systems- Absolutely beautiful. We have some sights to behold now. Omicron Pi, Earhart, Uncharted systems look just great. But something other than mining alien Ores could be added to make them more curious systems. Also, moving Planet Knossos inside Omic Pi, which has one way in and out was a trash decision.

Battleships- Terrible balance. Slow, the drifting, the heavier mass, the forward-firing missiles, the higher fire rate of all guns, the reduced weapon ranges, reduced powercore recharge, increased flaks and secondaries consumption, reduced ability to strafe, all contribute to a worse than ever cap fleet battle experience.

BCs- What I said for battleships, but more. I do not understand the need to make BCs a weird class, the only one to have the main weapon only fire backwards (which also has a stupid slow turn rate).

PvE- Missions are okay but pay next to nothing. Encounters? What are they? They probably spawned like once in the 10 times I've tried. And even with a group of 5 caps we all died one sidedly, that was the encounter in Omic Theta, Corsair HQ one.

GBs- Good. Much better than before. But the other ships are maybe a little too weak to counter these for now.

Story- I play Outcasts mainly and the Outcasts were massacred in the new lore advancement, to say the least. Slave rebellion? Seriously? Against the mightiest and most advanced civilization that consists of the best tech available, a superhuman, highly intelligent population, they get shat on by slaves that are also dependent on Cardamine and their masters' mercy? Maybe consider the opinions of official factions or what are we even here for?

JDs- Jump drives are goners. The entire server knows Outcasts would raid Corsairs, Liberty, Gallia and sometimes even Kusari and Bretonia. All that is over now with the new JD system range introduction and the expensive jump batts, getting all used up in one jump.

Docking Modules- Great. Simply good stuff.

Cloaks- Good to see transports cloak batts dont take space now. But the usability is reduced because of higher batt consumption and auto decloak when you get close. Can't even cloak to check if the other side of the JH is camped or not.

POBs- They are more involved in the game's economy now which is commendable. However, everything requires so much input to make because of all the freighter only JHs in Earhart, the one way in and out for mining XR, which is also a freighter only JH so you have to fly what? 100k and 2 JHs for a meagre 600 Xeno relics per trip? And you'll be lucky if 10 Corsairs don't log to sit beside the JH until you mine and return.

Siege- Looking good so far, except the ammo cost could be reduced a little.

Economy- Dividing values by 100 was a good move. But everything's prices have been increased. Tons of money sinks introduced. Bad for people who simply want to enjoy some pvp and exploring after a hard day's work. You now have to find the time to grind cash as well.

[Sam101]

Systems- Absolutely beautiful. We have some sights to behold now. Omicron Pi, Earhart, Uncharted systems look just great. But something other than mining alien Ores could be added to make them more curious systems. Also, moving Planet Knossos inside Omic Pi, which has one way in and out was a trash decision.

Battleships- Terrible balance. Slow, the drifting, the heavier mass, the forward-firing missiles, the higher fire rate of all guns, the reduced weapon ranges, reduced powercore recharge, increased flaks and secondaries consumption, reduced ability to strafe, all contribute to a worse than ever cap fleet battle experience.

BCs- What I said for battleships, but more. I do not understand the need to make BCs a weird class, the only one to have the main weapon only fire backwards (which also has a stupid slow turn rate).

PvE- Missions are okay but pay next to nothing. Encounters? What are they? They probably spawned like once in the 10 times I've tried. And even with a group of 5 caps we all died one sidedly, that was the encounter in Omic Theta, Corsair HQ one.

GBs- Good. Much better than before. But the other ships are maybe a little too weak to counter these for now.

Story- I play Outcasts mainly and the Outcasts were massacred in the new lore advancement, to say the least. Slave rebellion? Seriously? Against the mightiest and most advanced civilization that consists of the best tech available, a superhuman, highly intelligent population, they get shat on by slaves that are also dependent on Cardamine and their masters' mercy? Maybe consider the opinions of official factions or what are we even here for?

JDs- Jump drives are goners. The entire server knows Outcasts would raid Corsairs, Liberty, Gallia and sometimes even Kusari and Bretonia. All that is over now with the new JD system range introduction and the expensive jump batts, getting all used up in one jump.

Docking Modules- Great. Simply good stuff.

Cloaks- Good to see transports cloak batts dont take space now. But the usability is reduced because of higher batt consumption and auto decloak when you get close. Can't even cloak to check if the other side of the JH is camped or not.

POBs- They are more involved in the game's economy now which is commendable. However, everything requires so much input to make because of all the freighter only JHs in Earhart, the one way in and out for mining XR, which is also a freighter only JH so you have to fly what? 100k and 2 JHs for a meagre 600 Xeno relics per trip? And you'll be lucky if 10 Corsairs don't log to sit beside the JH until you mine and return.

Siege- Looking good so far, except the ammo cost could be reduced a little.

Economy- Dividing values by 100 was a good move. But everything's prices have been increased. Tons of money sinks introduced. Bad for people who simply want to enjoy some pvp and exploring after a hard day's work. You now have to find the time to grind cash as well.

very good imput

I fixed your BBCode for you. ~Alex

[Spectre]

Systems - As usual, they look amazing. That's never really been an issue, and just shows that design outdoes themselves each update.
Gripes start to pop up with the layouts, like how Delta was reverted back to the newer layout, or how Omega-52 was just overhauled entirely, with Odessa even being renamed after the main update launched which was a weird one, to jump hole layouts in general. Feels like good topped with a bit of mediocrity.

Economy - Still not convinced it's any better than before. Sure, the pixel barons get to stash more money on one character, and if you can crack a billion credits you're basically god, but it doesn't feel like it's been shaken up to do any better than before. Some runs are just tedious for the amount of money you get. Granted, I haven't done much, so maybe my view will change.

PvE - There's huge ups and downs. For one, encounters don't really seem to work all that well. There's times they'll spawn in and then immediately despawn and activate the timer, or they'll just refuse to spawn outright. There's some definite tweaking required.
NPCs in general are very flippy floppy in terms of enjoyability. Fighting gunboat NPCs is an absolute joke on anything that doesn't pretty much insta them.

Story - Bit of a mixed bag. One the one hand, you removed the Insurgency, which is a severe blow, on top of also not removing the Royalists. The three year timeskip to me frankly came out of nowhere, and while I get it for a lore context, that's three years of RP people have to forumlance with no in-game participation.
On the other, the blackout is honestly something I really like as an idea, and I'm enjoying the implications that pretty much all of Earhart is making so far.
Lore-wise, a few notable retcons. Orkney minefield is no longer a minefield, and instead a giant 'wall' that people didn't simply decide to fly around. Also, that entire arc around the Core getting a jump gate connection to Rheinland? Gone. I'm not unconvinced that the lost systems won't return in the future since the blackout is at best a decent explanation, but considering how sudden it was in-lore, and that stations and even planets from said systems are now moved to others, it's pretty foreboding.

Jump Drives - Again, ups and downs. I like the idea for how it's executed, but batteries imo are just way too expensive, especially with how floppy the economy is atm. Maybe extend the amount of jumps a drive can make to counter it, or just make them cheaper? Brain candy. Chew on it.

Docking Modules - Nothing to say. I love them. Haven't tested them much, but easily a win.

Cloaks - Not as easy to praise. Proximity de-cloaking is easily one of the most annoying mechanics I've seen in a good while. Ranges frankly need to be scaled down for all classes, since it essentially makes getting away from fights impossible, since all your opponent has to do is just exist to ruin any plans. I think I like the idea of speed increasing your battery consumption, but that's not nearly enough to outshine proximity de-cloaking.
Cloak disruptors have zero use when you have a guy in a light fighter.

PoBs - Haven't tested them out much, but the concepts I see are really interesting. I'll need to figure it out mechanics-wise, but not too dissuading.

GBs - Fun when you're shooting, not so much when you're being shot at. Forward guns are perhaps a bit too powerful, but overall a general improvement. Also a huge fan of not adding bufu amounts of mass to them so they don't glide all over the place.

Cruisers - Fun again. Definitely got a nerf compared to other cap classes, but not enough to prevent you from taking out said cap classes with the right skill. Also not sure what people are on about with regards to thrust capacity. Fairly simple to manage, and I'm quite prone to just holding the button down.

BCs - An interesting concept, but gripes do present themselves. The BC Heavy is easily the most situational gun in the game. Never know when to use it, and when I want to it's always just out of the angle to fire. I'd make them turn just a tad bit faster, give it a few better angles maybe, make BCs with the right heavy fearful when using it.

Battleships - The gliding is obviously a let down, but EKing to full stop is useful when you figure out where to use it. Strafing eats a lot of thrust, but you don't have thrusters, so not a big loss imo. I think the changes to the guns are what really throws me through a loop. Range of ~3k? 3.0 prims? Solaris that couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside? These are the questions that keep my BS characters up at night. Just.... why?

Snubs - I will concede that changes to these ships were made, and that they were done in this update. I will say that whoever decided that snubs should have death fuses should jump in a black hole.

---

#BringBackTheCommonwealth

=CR=------*L|------TFP)
--.-----.-
A plurality is not a majority, and a majority is not everybody.

---

Spec's RP Consortium
V-3X | CV-Montu | Fort Murray
Unum pro Omnibus, Omnes pro Uno

Your signature grew too big, I helped downscale it. ~Vex
Your adjustment grew too big, I helped downscale it. ~Spectre

[Couden]

Systems- There are tonnes of one-end (Dublin, Thuringia, Tau-61) and alternate routes, or Triangles (O-52, S-59, Chugoku, province, Picardy-Orleanis, Tau-44, Kappa, Inverness,). Though I enjoy the visuals of the systems, such as O-52 ( and coalition rework as well) Tau-44, etc. Unstable systems are pretty nice too, but I would like to get Kamchatka on Tangier's Orbit.

Battleships- A wall of Battleships can take down most of the setups imo.

BCs- Haven't played this class, cannot say anything, but only to say that Hurricane is the first Jewish Ship.

PvE- Battlezones are gone and encounters are sucked because most of the time they don't spawn. And if they spawned, they're pretty hard to complete, so it isn't worth its time if we speak about farming Prototype Components or farming Credits. Sci-data Farming is useless now if it is left in the game. Sci-data must have gotten an update.

GBs- Ravage mine is a devastating weapon if you'll get to the dropping scheme of it. 160 Thrust Speed is nice as well. Frigates have become superior to GBs in some cases as well.

Frigates & Transports - Tonn of HP and bots.

Bombers - They had a massive nerfs that makes them weaker compare to GBs, but Bomber swarm still should kill everything they see.

Story- Dunno, it's a funny pulse.

JDs- Matrix is broken, Cannot use Coords, and on top of that JD3 Should let 4 people enter the Collapsing JH.

Docking Modules- They work.

Cloaks- Why do I need CLD ones again?

POBs- Most of the Economy or end-game content is PoB content now. I cannot now buy guns from conn or buy them via Sci-data. Now we should farm Uncharteds, which is not a single content at all, so it should gather people to craft guns and equipment of PoBs. Also whoever got PoB before the patch had a little time to rebuild their pobs on the current patch realities. Also, I'd like to see a Brewery module.

Siege- GODDAMIT I LIKE IT. DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING WITH SIEGES PLEASE, I BEG YOU.

Economy- Buying Ships from Vendors is expensive now if we compare it with pre-patch, because of Armor Upgrade Cost. (Pre-patch Tempests with a full kit of weapons cost me 750 million (WIthout Armor). Now Ship itself costs 8.2 million. Most of the Commodities were deleted, such as Vodka and VO. Most routes now are Gold-Iridium. The price of Codes and Equipment has been increased.

---

---

[St.Denis]

Good Points:

1) Money divided by 100 (managed to get rid of a lot of ships). No need to keep transferring cash regularly.
2) New POB capabilities.


Bad Points:

1) IDF has been brutalised.
2) Gallia has now got 2 backwater Systems that have no real point in visiting.
3) Dislike the Gallic Trade Lane effect. I even avoid using them some of the time. Someone else I know says he looks in rear view when using them.
4) Mining, as such, has died (even less people willing to mine).
5) Certain Systems becoming almost 'locked down Systems' with one access and easily controlled by certain Factions.
6) Everything was divided by 100? Really? I suppose PvP related things were, but Economy was divided by 100 and then multiplied by between 3 and 9. You can buy a VHF for about 1000 units of Gin (at the cheapest sell point). It just smacks of numbers 'plucked' from thin air.
7) The cost of making items, in POBs, has shot up with the cost/dispersal of commodities. Was helped by Jammi reducing most requirements by 50%, but again, no 'thought' was put in to this beforehand.
8) No 'thought' beforehand seems to be prevalent throughout this update. The Play Testers must have play tested the PvP aspects to death, but did next to nothing on anything else. Now it can be seen why the previous Devs went away from big updates.


Undecided Points:

1) Not sure about the new Siege Mechanics.
a) When known Siegers praise it, it rings slight alarm bells.
b) I have no idea how much the ammo costs and how much damage they do.
c) With a 2 hour window, how long does it take to reach the maximum damage?
d) I don't see how 6 x 2 hour, to kill a Core 4, is any better than what we had before, as it just appears that the Attackers just swamp the Base with ships very quickly.
e) A Core 1, unless it has nearly 50% health already, doesn't even survive first encounter.
2) Can't see the point of the Atmosphere Entry Point to Tonnerre and the radiation damage that 'guards' the Hydrocarbon Mining Field. Hydrocarbons can be mined easily in other Systems and bought at a cheap price of 8 credits. Maybe another good idea that was rushed at the end and then side-lined.


People may agree/disagree with some of my points, but it is my opinion. I know that some Devs put a lot of work in to this and I thank them for their efforts. But it appears that some others were very lackadaisical in their approach.

---

'I would like to be half as clever as some people like to believe they are'
Life is full of disappointments, it is how we handle them that helps to define us, as a person

[Lusitano]

Systems- I miss several systems ... Nu for example was great. Some systems now are too heavy for old pcs ... even many newer ones may strugle with fps, i prefer gameplay than looks.. Overall i'm disappointed.

Battleships- Don't have, but i already saw many people disappointed with the changes, and none happy.

BCs-Also don't have it, and for what i saw .. there are some mix feelings.

PvE- missions are harder for a single player than before patch ... no fun. The end of the battlezones made many people sad, and they don't like the new encounters .. never tried!

GBs- like it what you guys did to gunboats/frigates ... finally a good point

Story- very bad decisions ... some parts of the story before the path were simply forgotten ... others ... notthin really new.

JDs-never used but look like people are liking.

Docking Modules- don't have it

Cloaks- don't like the changes. the high consumption and the auto declock if other player are close is a terrible decision. Rats and others can simply camp near jumpgate/holes, no more flying cloak in formation ... very disappointed with this changes.

POBs- Don't have it but already saw some mix feelings, but overall looks like there are more people happy than sad.

Economy- well ... 100 was too much but players get use to. the end of many commodities was aterrible decision since there are systems that have nothing to sell with some profit and others only one base in the entire system sell anyting can bring some profit. Very disappointed with this ... probably the worst decision that was made overal .. in my opinion of course.

Snubs - didn't really test my fighter so no opinion yet, but looks like the bomber were very nerfed .. then after got some ups but overall it was still a nerf, mainly for a single bomber.

Transports - with the ups for gunboats/frigates, normal transports are in big troubles! And what was made to the barges was pathetic stupid and arrogant with not a single tiny bit of respect for the players that have then,

Siege - don't know what changed.

Overall - I miss the previus patch! this new one was a huge disappointment. too much was promissed and too few was really delivered.

take care all. be safe and have fun

[Festus McBoyle]

My overall impression is sad. There are a lot of good things, but the practical reality is I am a wee bit bored. 5.0 has forced a total change in the way I will have to RP things, and I still haven't figured out the new PoB systems.

One of the benefits of the old version was you could mine, travel, and encounter players as you went from system to system. If you needed money, you could make it happen. Now, you can pretty much stay in your own system and not have any interplay with others. We are now a whole lot of shopkeepers. Why mine for Gold ore and refine it when you can simply make more credits in way less time it takes to "mine and refine" by buying gold at Arranmore and hocking it off?

The nerf to the barge is really bad. It isn't thought through and no one seems to know what the plan is for it or REFUSES to tell us what is happening. In spite of the anti-barge brigade's claims that it is an Uber credit earner, it ain't 5 times faster than a 5ker. Try about 35% profit over the same time. And you had to really work hard to get the barge, and operate it - the payback is that increase in profit.

Sigh, I have to say my impression overall is very underwhelming. I have done ZERO inRP since the update.

---

Oh they joy in death, those who undertake to remove the corpses of ship and sailor.

"With the skimpiest of RP, so skimpy in fact that if it was underwear, it would make a nudist blush..."
Facts1Crew1