A points system could work well for research, in the way it works well for industry, because it could remove the mystery from the process and introduce a common "currency" for research. I am also a fan of more extensions because it means that players have to choose to invest EP and thereby creates distinct professions.

• Create research extensions for parts of the tree (Armour/Shield, Engineering, Electronics, Industry, Weapons, NEXUS, MPC) where each extension reduces the number of points required to complete a node on the tree.

• Attribute a points value to each type of kernal

• Display full tree in Agent profile (including items where research has not begun) and provide additional information:

  • Points required to complete item

  • Research pre-requisites

  • Kernal types which will add points

• Stop "roll of dice" landing on completed items which could be balanced by increasing points on higher tier items

Kernals of all sizes can still overlap items, as they do now, the process would still be to some extent random and the speed of research roughly the same but at least we'd know what was going on AND we'd know how many kernals we needed. Also would avoid fundementally changing the system which would generate a lake full of tears.

A gamma research facility would also be nice. One where people could share their fully researched items, whether in corp or not. It would work exactly the same as a prototype facility points wise but the number of researched items that could be installed and the number of "runs" possible from each installed item would be determined by the tech level of the facility.

Well, I logged on this morning to find a new member in corp who decided to try out after seeing it on GreenLight and I tried to recruit another new player this morning who is here for the same reason.

Seems to be working, now just need to get them involved in stuff.

A similar mechanic as for proximity probes would work nicely.

List of terminals and ability to give visibility to ANY player or corporation on the server for each terminal.

[EDIT] added the bit about corporation [/EDIT]

I knew someone would fall for it.

Orange? Red? Static? Roaming? Indy? Combat?

Ok, a bit late to the party on this one (been busy) but my question would be why do miners have to defend themselves from or tank static spawns at all?

If all static spawns were orange (yes, on Beta too), including spawns defending assignment points then all that would need to change is that a player accepting an assignment would be flagged for the NPCs defending that assignment.

Add orange roaming spawns to alpha1 and keep alpha2/beta/gamma roamers as red and then mining is still not an afk activity (of which I heartily approve) but also not completely impossible.

That seems like the simplest solution ... or have I missed something?

+1 for a well written post, all the more pertinent for being by a player who has just been through the "new player experience". I hope the DEVs read and fix the simple things first whilst revamping the PvE.

I've been in the game over a year and this is pretty much how I felt on every point except the broken Titan mining assignment (this, btw, has to be an immediate priority for reasons stated by Mech Ferox).

How is the PvE revamp coming along, DEVs? Any chance of a blog about your plans?

I think the system is fine as it is BUT I would like to see more information.

I'd like to see the tree - I'd like to know that I'm not going to start T4 detectors until I've finished T3 maskers and I'd like to know what kernal types I need to swallow to advance a particular branch.

No big deal, it was a genuine question.

At current levels of population, though, I think it will probably be detrimental to the game to display logged in characters. Firstly, the low number could put-off some new players before they give the game a fair stab. Second, to know how many players are on, players currently have to get out there in Nia and do stuff (roam etc) rather than log in, see the number and just think 'Nah! won't bother".

I am, however, also curious.

Ouch! There's T4+ and 80 gold kernals in those.

Happens to me too, by the way.

Remove Colixum requirements from blocks, maybe? Still seems utterly absurd that you need to have a mining outpost on gamma before you can build a building on Gamma. You wouldn't have a T4 armour plate as one of the components of a T4 armour plate would you? (slightly different , I know but you get the point)

Beta should be a stepping stone to gamma for corporations so if you insist on Colixum being a construction block component how about colixum/construction blocks dropping as SAP loot or popping up in Gamma artefacts?

or ... and I might have mentioned this before ... remove colixum as a construction block component.