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Commander Dorn@Commander-Dorn
Salvage missions and starbase safe zones - a few issues I noticed
discussion
January 30th at 5:54 pm
Salvage missions and starbase safe zones - a few issues I noticed
January 30th at 5:54 pm
Greetings.
Last night I played a few salvage missions, using a Polaris as a carrier and the new MISC Fortune to do the deed. I was surprised to see that all legal salvage missions (those you pay a fee upfront) seem to be located within the "safe" zone of starbases now.
This immediately presented a few issues - since those salvage missions are often located near mining stations there is no armistice zone. This means:
- weapons still work, I can still get shot by someone who has nothing better to do and I´m easier to be found since I´m sitting right next to a station
- at the same time personal tractor beams don´t work, this makes it very difficult if not impossible to take along any cargo that is usually aboard some of the salvage targets; only vehicle mounted tractor beams work so a solo salvage ship is out of luck
As if this wasn´t enough I also noticed that, after a while, "unused" ships just despawn. While this helps to keep the server cleaner and stable this also brings problems:
On one run this happened to my Polaris, I was taking a bit longer to complete my mission and when I was just returning to my Polaris it disappeared before my eyes. I was at Cru-L5 Beautiful Glen station. Confused, I headed for Seraphim station and checked the status of my Polaris.
It was "Stored" at Cru-L5 Beautiful Glen station - a station which does NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO SPAWN capital-class ships as it does not have a docking arm.
So it took me time and credits to get my perfectly fine Polaris back, all because some programmers can´t be bothered to implement this "cleanup" function so that capital ships at least get stored at the nearest station that can actually SPAWN THEM again.
Oh, and some time later, while I was nervously (yes, nervously, periodically checking if my Polaris was still there) scraping a Retaliator I paid good credits for to get its location... well... I was using the Fortune again and when I just had managed to get the Retaliator down to about 11% left for the mission to complete IT TOO DESPAWNED. Seems that the act of scraping is not considered an interaction and for some oddball reason this "cleanup" timer seems to apply to ships spawned for missions too.
So, dearest devs, kindly either deactivate this "cleanup" protocol that despawns "unused" ships after what seem to be 20 - 30 minutes tops or change the timer to 60 minutes and for FU**S sake don´t have capital ships get stored at bases that can´t launch them.
This is as stupid as the "ability" once was to "deliver" or claim a Reclaimer to any starbase when only planet based stations have large enough hangars to spawn that ship.
Also please consider making hand-held tractor beams useable in such "safe" zones, at least when missions in which you might need them are active.
Or even better, move salvage contracts out of those zones again and make the target locations reachable by quantum travel - this oddly enough works for the "illegal" salvage missions, I never understood why we have to manually travel to targets we have to PAY FOR to even get the location.
Star Citizen is already at times testing a players patience with its various hiccups and glitches - having to keep an eye on some hidden timer and shuffling around non-useable tractor beams shifts the experience from "testing" to downright frustrating and annoying.
I appreciate your hard work and I genereally enjoy Star Citizen. Some things though need to be adressed or at least reviewed.
- Sincerely,
Commander Dorn
Last night I played a few salvage missions, using a Polaris as a carrier and the new MISC Fortune to do the deed. I was surprised to see that all legal salvage missions (those you pay a fee upfront) seem to be located within the "safe" zone of starbases now.
This immediately presented a few issues - since those salvage missions are often located near mining stations there is no armistice zone. This means:
- weapons still work, I can still get shot by someone who has nothing better to do and I´m easier to be found since I´m sitting right next to a station
- at the same time personal tractor beams don´t work, this makes it very difficult if not impossible to take along any cargo that is usually aboard some of the salvage targets; only vehicle mounted tractor beams work so a solo salvage ship is out of luck
As if this wasn´t enough I also noticed that, after a while, "unused" ships just despawn. While this helps to keep the server cleaner and stable this also brings problems:
On one run this happened to my Polaris, I was taking a bit longer to complete my mission and when I was just returning to my Polaris it disappeared before my eyes. I was at Cru-L5 Beautiful Glen station. Confused, I headed for Seraphim station and checked the status of my Polaris.
It was "Stored" at Cru-L5 Beautiful Glen station - a station which does NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO SPAWN capital-class ships as it does not have a docking arm.
So it took me time and credits to get my perfectly fine Polaris back, all because some programmers can´t be bothered to implement this "cleanup" function so that capital ships at least get stored at the nearest station that can actually SPAWN THEM again.
Oh, and some time later, while I was nervously (yes, nervously, periodically checking if my Polaris was still there) scraping a Retaliator I paid good credits for to get its location... well... I was using the Fortune again and when I just had managed to get the Retaliator down to about 11% left for the mission to complete IT TOO DESPAWNED. Seems that the act of scraping is not considered an interaction and for some oddball reason this "cleanup" timer seems to apply to ships spawned for missions too.
So, dearest devs, kindly either deactivate this "cleanup" protocol that despawns "unused" ships after what seem to be 20 - 30 minutes tops or change the timer to 60 minutes and for FU**S sake don´t have capital ships get stored at bases that can´t launch them.
This is as stupid as the "ability" once was to "deliver" or claim a Reclaimer to any starbase when only planet based stations have large enough hangars to spawn that ship.
Also please consider making hand-held tractor beams useable in such "safe" zones, at least when missions in which you might need them are active.
Or even better, move salvage contracts out of those zones again and make the target locations reachable by quantum travel - this oddly enough works for the "illegal" salvage missions, I never understood why we have to manually travel to targets we have to PAY FOR to even get the location.
Star Citizen is already at times testing a players patience with its various hiccups and glitches - having to keep an eye on some hidden timer and shuffling around non-useable tractor beams shifts the experience from "testing" to downright frustrating and annoying.
I appreciate your hard work and I genereally enjoy Star Citizen. Some things though need to be adressed or at least reviewed.
- Sincerely,
Commander Dorn
8replies
January 30th at 8:03 pm
I can still get shot by someone who has nothing better to do
Why don't they have anything better to do, Commander Dorn?
January 30th at 9:51 pm
I said "I can" not "I was".
In general though, in my opinion, if you attack industrial ships out in the middle of nowhere just because they are there and you wanna shoot something then, yes, you most apparently have nothing better to do, contrary to the person you just shot.
Did you want to contribute to the actual issues or is that all?
In general though, in my opinion, if you attack industrial ships out in the middle of nowhere just because they are there and you wanna shoot something then, yes, you most apparently have nothing better to do, contrary to the person you just shot.
Did you want to contribute to the actual issues or is that all?
January 31st at 12:32 am
Commander Dornsaid
I said "I can" not "I was".
In general though, in my opinion, if you attack industrial ships out in the middle of nowhere just because they are there and you wanna shoot something then, yes, you most apparently have nothing better to do, contrary to the person you just shot.
Did you want to contribute to the actual issues or is that all?
In general though, in my opinion, if you attack industrial ships out in the middle of nowhere just because they are there and you wanna shoot something then, yes, you most apparently have nothing better to do, contrary to the person you just shot.
Did you want to contribute to the actual issues or is that all?
Why don't they have anything better to do, Commander Dorn?
If you care about the game, answer the fucking question, Commander Dorn
January 31st at 5:36 pm
This makes no sense at all. What does caring about the game have to do with me NOT being a mindreader?
If you just wanna pick a fight I strongly suggest you go look for it somewhere else. I`m not in the mood.
... bet I wasn´t the first who said that last line to you this week alone.
If you just wanna pick a fight I strongly suggest you go look for it somewhere else. I`m not in the mood.
... bet I wasn´t the first who said that last line to you this week alone.
January 31st at 5:39 pm
In a video game designed to be entertaining, why don't players have anything better to do other than shoot at you, another player, Commander Dorn?
You genuinely cannot use either your critical thinking or imagination to answer this question?
You can't come up with ANY reason this would be the case?
Nothing at all cranking up there other than "people are dumb and mean"?
You genuinely cannot use either your critical thinking or imagination to answer this question?
You can't come up with ANY reason this would be the case?
Nothing at all cranking up there other than "people are dumb and mean"?