Re: Gamma - Plenty of risk, what is the reward?

Arga,

I think you're overestimated the value of gamma-ore. Yes, it's extremelly rare and hard to get BUT! ATM non-gamma players will be able to use it only just for scarabs-2 and nowhere else. Advanced buildings - yes, but only gamma-players will need them. So there will be lack of demand on that ore.

So I think this patch should come with new advanced stuff and/or Walkers/Destroyers, where that ore will be used, and that's it.

Re: Gamma - Plenty of risk, what is the reward?

Arga wrote:
Gremrod wrote:
Ville wrote:

MK2 production would come to a SCREAMING hault for atleast two monthes.

Crap, with all the changes a lot may halt for 2 months anyway. Well lets face it people are stock piling stuff right now before the changes hit live. It may take 2 or more months for production to resume.

What ville means, is the logistics of getting gamma ore requires a significant investment in infrastructure, and the corps that do that, won't be letting much, if any, gamma ore into the open market. Assuming corps can actually establish functional bases, it will be at least a couple months before any volume of ore is available for sale. Which would, if it was required for MK II bots, kill production for non-gamma corps, and I suppose it would be a Reward in the RVR equation.

That being the case, everyone should start running 100 lines of MK II bots now.

+1

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Re: Gamma - Plenty of risk, what is the reward?

"Just for Scarab MK II"

Would you like 900U and a nice 3-4 base kph speed increase, not to mention you can put on a shield and not have to worry about getting killed by a 2nd star assault?

Or better, finally being able to put in an acc expander so it will run that extrator nexus without needing one arm of your riveler fitted with a remote energy module?

The patch simply isn't going to have new bots, they've spent all this time on PBS.

Do I want new bots, yep. Should they use the gamma ore? Sure, its a good idea that will make gamma outposts MORE valuable.

However, I believe the demand for, or having a stockpile of ore for future bot releases, is enough NOW to make gamma worth having.

But, it doesn't change the challenges for corps with less then 20 active players trying to build out there.

5-10 man corps can have more fun trying to stop other corps from building, then actually building themselves.

What this should drive, is a consolidation of players, into corps or alliances that ARE large enough to hold a gamma outpost.

It's important to remember, that unlike beta, those facilites and land are not Pre-Made. A corp can't just roll up, take a sap and own a complete outpost. It's going to take time to build gamma, and hopefully every corp will be under pvp pressure as they do so.

I'm not going to underestimate the drive some corps may have to acheive an outpost, they may get a standard based one built in a few days, but it will be much longer (unless they manage to convince the entire server to not harass them) to become fully functional and secure.

Realistically, an advanced or hi-tech level 4 gamma facility will take a couple of months, and lots of gamma ore.

I would hope that those new bots would be available in 2 months, so, timing is still everything, and needing there to be a fantastic use for gamma ore now isn't needed to drive players desire (if they have any forsight at all), but the Sc MK II WILL provide a rich source of NIC and additional functionality for those that build them.

Re: Gamma - Plenty of risk, what is the reward?

As a trader, what will you prefer - to sell a maths to let ppl use it on their own, or a completed product? IMO last one will bring you much more profit. But still, the problem remains - there isn't that much ppl who can drive even Scarab-1, and those who can, I'm pretty sure they will be on gamma living. Well,  we shall see ofc, but still, new ore needs more things to use in to be priceless.

Re: Gamma - Plenty of risk, what is the reward?

Industrial Sector wrote:

I'm pretty sure they will be on gamma living.

They will be trying to live on gamma, but many of those corps will fail to do so, and will be looking for support from those that manage to.

Re: Gamma - Plenty of risk, what is the reward?

I'm afraid that current population isn't enough to create any stable demand on gamma ore. Also add a traders competition here - one resource used in one guaranteed useable product hardly give any profit that worth hauling gamma ore to alpha.

Re: Gamma - Plenty of risk, what is the reward?

Industrial Sector wrote:

I'm afraid that current population isn't enough to create any stable demand on gamma ore.

Frankly, that is impossible to predict.

Firstly, because the current population is actually insufficient to support the entire game. So if population doesn't go up, the game won't be worth playing.

Secondly, there's no clear meterics on how much gamma ore corps will be able to mine. I was doing some testing last night, and it appears that you'll need to also place down boosters to get the mining nexus aurua out to the miners. So in addition to needing the outpost, and a mining foundation that doesn't get blown up every night, corps will have to build and maintain a network out to each random ore site. So, even a very small demand will be enough if the supply is very low.

But mostly, I think it's important to look at the time frames. There will be some original demand when the patch drops. It could easily take 2 months before the market sees ANY volume of ore at all. And, knowing that there will obviously be additional items needing this ore at some point, non-gamma players WILL buy the ore up, even if they have no immediate need for it.