Topic: Gamma - Plenty of risk, what is the reward?
We've all been screwing around for the past couple of days on the test server, and a couple of things stood out right away.
The only difference between beta and gamma is the gamma minerals, which are used for:
-PBS structures
-Scarab MK2
Add to this the "armor" on PBS, which is pretty weak atm, a fully grown deployed wall unit has more hit points and damage resist than a terminal, the expense involved in setting up PBS on gamma, and all you see is HUGE risk and NIC sink, with the only benefit of minerals which can only be used to build more PBS and a MK2.
Ok, you have the "thrill" of terraforming an island, la-de-da, maybe 2 or 3, and maybe, just maybe, we'll see some epic seiges and assaults. But at the end of the day, with what has currently been presented, you could just stay on beta and not lose out. There are no real incentives to be on gamma from an economic point of view, that can not be achieved on beta currently. And, there are the PBS upgrades and decoder forge, etc, that add some nice capablities to owning a PBS on gamma. However, high standing and the industry changes can make a beta op very profitable for refining and production, with the added advantage or immediate alpha market access.
That is critical, due to the mineral and commodity changes, you will either have to go to other faction areas to mine, or you will have to buy on the market. Either way, all that has to be transported out to gamma, adding even more time and risk, and doubling if not even tripling the amount of time needed to move materials around to where they need to be processed. Even a scarab, 720U, will be going all day, considering how some materials bulk, like Helioptris.
Granted, NPCs are not on gamma on the test server, and I have no data on artifact scanning there atm. But once the thrill of teraforming an island and spamming PBS fades, and the daily grind of defending assets and the added logistics of moving stuff to and from market areas sets in, there is nothing that stands out as any great "reward" for holding gamma territory, other than epeen. Discuss.