Styx wrote:Why an earth should corporations that have just entered the game or any that live on Alpha islands have readily available access to T4/5 NPC's which give T4 equipment research. Have you heard of progression? If a corporation lives on alpha then they should have to do incursions into PvP islands to get the kernels, buy them from the market or negotiate some sort of deal with people living on the PvP islands. This is not unbalanced in any way shape or form. It's also something that's been done. I know people that have had incursions into PvP islands to get their kernel research since they live on Alpha. And guess what, they got their T4 research on the items they wanted.
I am not arguing Alpha corps/new players having access to T4/5 NPC's on Alpha islands. That would indeed be silly and completely nullify the idea of going to Beta, which is why I've never said that T4/5 kernels should be available on Alpha.
I am arguing that with -50% kernel drop rate it makes kernel incursions into PVP islands less worthwhile because:
a) Less kernels are required
b) Longer time investment is required
c) More danger for less return
On top of that, my argument still stands that instead of "progressing" through the 6-9 month kernel grind - and it is that, no corporation that joins the game will bring the sort of numbers required to steamroll through it faster then that - its simply easier and more convenient for people to join already established corporations.
... Which actually promotes blob-warfare as corporations get bigger and bigger due to the influx from new players/intermediate corps disbanding.
Styx wrote:As for being competitive in PvP you make it seem like everything but T4 is terrible. It isn't. If you can't use anything but T4 then that's your problem, there are hundreds of people being rather successful in PvP whilst not using T4 equipment. It's also been proven time and time again that in order to post a threat or hinder existing alliances on PvP islands you do not need to live there at all. The argument that Alpha islanders cannot be a threat to Beta dwellers is simply ridiculous.
Starting a discussion on who can't or doesn't use anything but T4 is not even a discussion, so I wont get into that.
T1-T2 fitted squads can easily compete and beat T4 fitted squads, it is the age-old quality vs quantity discussion; quantity has quality of its own blahblah, again not really worth discussing as its beating a dead horse.
New corps joining the game simply cannot be a threat to current Beta alliances for the simple reasoning:
a) They have no experience
b) It will be 6+ months before they're at a technology level to compete
c) They have no stockpiles
In short from the beginning everything is now stacked against the new corporation. Yes, we agree it shouldn't be easy to progress to a competitive level in the game. I am arguing that its nonsense to make it downright impossible in a reasonable time-frame. Reasonable is not 6-9 months, mainly because the few people playing the game will get bored & leave in 2-3 months tops if the population doesn't climb upward.
Styx wrote:You fail to see past the current game that we have. It's inevitable that there will be additional NIC sinks for beta dwellers. Also, by nature the people that live on beta islands will spend more NIC in activities such as PvP to protect their interests. A Beta islander may make 20m NIC and hour in comparison to an Alpha's 10 however that Beta guy will lose at least 10m NIC of that in PvP which the alpha islander will not, hence the NIC argument is invalid.
Yes, there will be NIC sinks, and Delta/Gamma/Whatever islands, and terraforming and all of that wonderful stuff we have heard so much about. But its not in the game now, and it doesn't count as a factor or counter-balance until implemented & its systems available.
IF the kernel nerf is meant to balance out the good stuff thats coming in the future, then it should come into the game along with everything else its meant to balance. Right now its only serving to slow down the game progression - which is fine for the 2-3 corps that finished the tech trees. In fact, it only prolongs their finite advantage. But that is irrelevant because it is after all, a FINITE advantage and sooner or later the server will catch up to even up the playing field.
What is relevant is the impact on new players and new corps.
Styx wrote:Once again you make the fatal assumption that everything that doesn't require Noralgis or Epriton is terrible and once again I'll tell you that it isn't. The market is improving right now, even the things that people may want in order to PvP can be obtained for reasonable prices however since PvP isn't a requirement for an Alpha islander it's completely optional in the first place as to whether they want to spend their NIC in that area, it isn't a requirement to advance their research as opposed to Beta dewellers.
The main reason the market is dead, is because there is no incentive for corporations to amass NIC. For communist corps NIC becomes a laughing joke, as they are by far and large completely independent from the market.
An incentive to amass NIC would be the terraforming/POS/player-buildings. But again, thats not coming in the near future therefore not a relevant factor.
Styx wrote:It's wrong and unfair that Alpha islanders shouldn't have the same readily available access to T4/5 NPC's as beta islanders? I think I've quite clearly proved how absurd such a statement is.
Yes, you have however not proven why making it a downright pain in the *** for new players will benefit the game in any way. There is progression, then there is korean farming. Perpetuum is a korean farming game at the moment, with optional PVP.