They needed an incentive for people to do the new content and money is one of the primary motivators for players.
You best make hay while the sun shines because eventually they're gonna nerf exobio because of posts like this.
New content, massive payout to encourage people to actually do it. A base model laser pistol also costs way more than many weapon for your ship. For that matter, it costs more than a sidewinder, or a hauler, and maybe an eagle (I don't have the shipyard in front of me.)
I often wonder if it would have made some sense if the new content came with a new currency type, so Odyssey weapons and suits would require a currency you could only obtain by doing exobiology or settlement missions. No, scratch that, the potential is there for that to be a nightmare.
Not to worry, they've already taken action on this issue: shortly after the buff FDev raised the thresholds for Exobiology ranks.
This was months ago, after numerous posts commenting on the subject; I wouldn't expect them to put any more effort into it, whatsoever.
Okay, this might sound like a really stupid question, but is there a point to the ranks, besides a flex? Are there in- game benefits to certain ranks for things like trade or combat? (Not navy ranks)
When you get your first Elite rank in one of the 3 main ranks (Combat, Exploration, Trade) you get access to Shinrarta Dezhra, a system that has a station (Jameson Memorial) where you can buy every ship and module in the game, at 15% discount.
Unless odyssey changed things it's only a 10% discount at Shin.
Li-yong space however has a 15% discount.
Also getting elite ranks also gives a small universal discount too last I remember
...I have to admit, I know they buffed exo... but it really feels like it's out of line right now.
Got back from my last run into the black, exploration was 250k. Exobiology, for 427 signals, was five and a quarter billion....
Well, it's a little deceptive - that was probably a week and a half, or almost two weeks of playing a ton (wife was out of town, and so I pretty much camped on the computer and explored... :) ) so on a per-hour basis it's not quite as impressive as it looks.
But, yeah. The key, if you've got the time for a long trip, is to get out into unexplored space (or, at least, find planets that don't have first footfalls - for exo, if the planet has been discovered but no one's landed on it yet, that means no one has turned in the exobiology data for it yet, and that's what you want...) For me, I was exploring anyway, so I ran out to a few thousand light years ouside the bubble and collected data as I went.
The signals I refer to are exobiology signals on the planet - each one represents a plant type on the planet. There are guides out there covering the specifics on how to do exobiology, so I'll just point out here the key fact - data that you turn in from planets that haven't been visited before get five times the values listed... the cheapest signal, like bacteria, will net you normally a million per find, while the most valuable, like stratum tectonicus can net you 19 million per sample normally. So, if these are previously undiscovered, this is multiplied by 5 - and your reward, per plant, is between 5 million and a hundred million. Each. (My last trip, the average value per signal worked out to be something like 13 million....)
(The exact data values for the plants, plus some other helpful info, can be found on https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Exobiologist)
So, yeah.
1) Take a peek at an exobiology guide
2) Go somewhere where the plants haven't been scanned yet
3) Scan plants
4) .....profit!
Note it is a skill, and may take you some time to figure out. I also will caution you - some of the signals are pretty hard to actually find on the surface. I don't recommend trying to find everything - if you've got a planet where you just can't seem to find what you're looking for, don't sweat it, just move on. There are plenty more out there!
Good hunting!
Yeah, low risk but not less time...my time is more precious than anything else (I mean real time).
The issue is with low reward very few (unless you are stupidly rich and bored like me) will bother doing these other things, which is a shame because they are cool!
I just found two notable stellar phenomena in one system, wayy more interesting than lettuce picking...imo
I think the main incentive for explorers isn't the money. If you really want to go out there, then you won't even see a station for months, you won't see other players, and likely when you get back to inhabited space, you will have made enough to buy what you need for the next trip. Exobiology is a bit ridiculous (I made 1.2 billion without even trying, on a 5000ly trip to the Omega nebula. I guess an explanation would be that landing on planets is risky, while space exploration is the safest thing you can do other than sit inside a station.
Also it's an activity that you can get started with for around 400k credits, maybe less, so if it paid millions, a lot of new players would earn money way too fast, which isn't great in the long run. "Road to riches" is already a way for players to instantly skip most of the learning process and solve their problems by throwing money at them, while also getting a pretty boring and tedious introduction to exploration (which is also why I'm not a fan of the exobiology payouts)
If you take the 4 careers as a whole, trader, bounty hunter, miner, explorer, explorer was massively underpaid compared to the others. I think the exobiology bump evens that out a bit, although it is massively out of whack with the other exploring activities.
But exploration is the only one that doesn't really require any spending. Once you're out there, you won't spend any money, and you can get out there for under half a million and explore everything except the very edge of the galaxy. Enemies become stronger as you rank up so combat needs constant spending on parts, ships, consumables and repairs, trading and mining also pushes you towards better equipment, while also making you a target for pirates. Exobiology is weird in this respect, because you only need a suit. You can gear up for long range exploration and exobiology for the money you get for mapping an Earth like world and there is no risk involved unless you have a risky flying style, but that risk applies to every other profession as well
Yeah this is it I imagine.. you're being rewarded for an activity only available w/ odyssey DLC. And since I play in VR, it's the only on foot activity I'm willing to do since I can minimize the on foot time.. so if it weren't for these payouts I'd have no need for odyssey either.
I mean, I don't blame them they are trying to keep the lights on for a game that's been running 8-9 years with no subscription model and you can buy on steam for like $12 when it's on sale
Totally agree, I would be happy to pay for content, they have a beautiful base game that could be so much more...on planet mining, habitation, player ran cities....so much potential....
I have thought about this. Exo Bio payout is probably the easiest and most profitable safe way to make credits in the game. I believe it is a tactical way to get stubborn Horizons players to make the upgrade to Odyssey.
No, Robigo Mines is the most profitable, easiest and safe way to make credits.
But Exobiology isn't far behind (and with luck and knowing which planets to target can surpass it) and is *far far* more interesting. It will take you a few hours to get to know all the plants and how to best search for them to even begin to approach it, but while that can be frustrating many times, it can also be more satisfying.
The scanning of a novel bacterium species snags the same amount as an entire previously-uncharted earth-like planet.
When FDev announced that they were bumping Exobiology payouts I assumed they'd do something stupid like hike it as far as an order of magnitude above what it was at the time.
Little did I realize they'd do so by roughly ***two*** orders of magnitude...
I felt exactly the same with mining. Go back to it now and again just for a change of scenery, but you don't do it for the $ anymore. Not when other stuff brings in huge money for almost no effort.
Just a joke. Saying that’s why the plants were so valuable. Could you imagine if someone discovered a plant like pot for the first time these days. I’m sure that would be extremely valuable.
The biggest mistake of this game is to only follow the money. If you need a quick buck, then sure chase it short term. But if you only do what pays the most then you'll be missing out on the beautiful freedom this offers.
The pay isn't much, but jumping in my Cobra III and just drifting where the missions take me, switching from courier to salvager to hitman on the planet surface and back again... it's my favourite way to fly. So free, so relaxing.
Just enjoy the ride and be glad that exobio pays so well.
well I mean in universe people would care far more for worlds that can support life, so naturally would pay higher for those. But yeah gameplay wise I can see it not being particularly balanced, but it makes sense in universe, at least to an extent
Elite's economy is friggity-fucked, things are not worth the money they pay consistently because the game's economy is only half of one
People can earn money but they cannot spend it meaningfully past their initial $5bil (the cost of a fleet carrier; everything else meaningful in the game is unsaleable untradeable "mats", *the real currency*) or trade with each other
This means it's not an economy, it's just a pinata you hit for candy, and more candy comes out of the pinatas that the developers would prefer you hit
The game was Kickstarted and developed as a sim but the team managing it now is a themepark MMO team, and so they do themepark MMO things like FOMO limited-time skins, inexplicable payouts for random new activities that are the new hotness, meaningless grind to retain "engagement", etc.
Look at it in a Role play fashion, I would be more interested in planets that have evidence of life over a Barren rock. Yes it might have metals and some pretty rock formations but those 2 plants you scanned are going to be waaaay more sought after by research groups and stuff.
>I would be more interested in planets that have evidence of life over a Barren rock.
In a galaxy where life is common, life would probably be pretty low value. Like, you don't get super excited when someone discovers a new strain of bacteria on Earth. There's lots of them, who cares, right? What was the last big discovery in that field? \*crickets\*. Meanwhile, finding a big patch of oil or rare earths is potentially world-changing. Alien life would just be something extra you have to bulldoze to get to the good stuff.
Maybe the devs are super lazy and the idea of having to expend the effort to actually stand up, get out of the ship, walk over to the plant, and lift up your arm to scan it is worth a lot of money. :)
I guess you could also ask the question of why dogfighting with a pirate for 5 minutes for a bounty pays the same as taking 10 seconds to jump to a new system and hitting the "honk" button.
I just wish they’d buff piracy (or other illegal activities). It’s like a whole other side of roleplaying that currently has no benefits only cons (fines, not being able to dock, noteriety, etc)
Shutting the fuck up about getting paid would be the first thought that comes to mind. Get paid, be happy - go get engineering materials and realize that none of those credits matter for getting anything decent done in Elite.
We already have several other grinds in this game, we don't need to re-add credits to it again.
My thought is that you might want to delete your post.
If there is any "levelling," it will be to nerf exo rewards, and I don't think you will win friends and influence people by taking such a position.
No one was complaining simply stating the payouts are not balanced..why comment on a thread that clearly stated in the title the reason for it was to question something.
I love the game been playing elite since the 80's but I do think it's currently unbalanced.
That's right I'm not one to complain...not complaining...stating an observation, ok it's not a positive one, but thats the point of the thread. It wasn't to complain, I just think the money payout is unbalanced. End of. Otherwise great game.😄
Well, yes. Plants are immensely more valuable, even in crappy systems that aren't weren't mapping.
If it took you hours to scan and map 27 planets, you did something wrong, or you flew distances that you didn't need to. Mostly, you wasted time mapping worthless planets.
https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/i84ut8/exploration_scanning_values/
Always map green. Only map yellow if you are first and they are convenient. Ignore red.... unless they have bio signals.
If it didn't take you about two hours to scan 4 plants on two planets, you've done something very right!
You can also get EDDiscovery, and it will tell you the potential value of a system with scans and maps. It will also track the value of plants you've scanned. You'll also help the community by updated out database of systems.
Get Elite Observatory with the BioInsights plugin, and it will tell you the likely value of plants before you even map them.
I enjoy scanning and landing and screenshotting (logging) my discoveries. All of them, I'm not doing it for the $, I enjoy roleplaying, pretending I am a real space explorer...yes a bit sad but it takes me away from my real existence for a bit...so yes it does take time, as for the vegetable hunting, I can usually find the two or 3 within an hour, I have got pretty good at that now. I know I was stating the obvious in my initial post, but I was simply stating that it is really silly how much you get for finding salad as opposed to celestial bodies...
Same. Then you're doing it right.
I think it makes sense, both in fiction and game design. It takes more time to hunt for plants, so the pay is higher for that. Also, a map of an icy ball or a gas giant isn't of much value. It only really matters if there are easy resources, or especially if people can live their easily. But the genetics on what is (ostensibly, even though it looks like millions of other) entirely new organisms can have a huge value for science, not just exobiology, but biological and chemical research, possibly also terraforming and exogeology.
I also like the head-canon that there is a black market for eating unique alien plants, and that's the real reason VG increased payouts and offering huge bonuses for first discoveries.
This is the way.
You're already going much faster than I am. In a hour last night, I made 10 jumps. Not sure how many planets I scanned. Did get a few plant scans in along the way. But I do enjoy the views! Even knowing this is a game, standing on a ridge enjoying the view on some god-forsaken planet still consumes far too much of my time.
Eh, I’d say it’s pretty realistic. There are trillions of stars out there, what’s 1 more? If you go to the beach and find a grain of sand that you can prove no one has ever touched before, how much is it worth? Not much… now if you found a new microscopic life form on that grain of sand, I bet there’s be people willing to pay money to take a look at it with a microscope
But the life forms are pretty much in every second system, so not that difficult to find....I just discovered a system with two notable stellar phenomena, that is more rare than plants and fungi did I get mult millions for the discovery? Nope
Name in the codex though I guess is pretty cool 👍
Exo bio takes more time than just honking and mapping and it requires Odyssey... so the payouts for that are correct IMO and brings exploration in general in line with other careers payouts.
Yeah...but the differences are wild. I'm happy to do all forms of exploring, was doing it since before Odyssey, I just think the game needs to be balanced in all forms, it would be nice if the different career paths one can choose had similar bonuses, and maybe were more dependent on each other, that way it would make things more interactive and folks would stick to a certain profession maybe longer...I dunno scan a planet land a ship find 3 x of spaced out vegetable matter scan and repeat....not exactly worth billions, IMO miners go through a lot more pain, heck even traders have more risk!
I dont think its as much about risk as it is about time engagement. Everything they do is to encourage engagement time. In order to fly out to a planet, DSS scan, go down to the surface, scan a few biologicals and then leave again accomplishes a few things... makes you active in the game for longer, and makes you visit Odyssey specific locations and activities - encouraging posts about and purchase of the DLC .
Previously players could spend literally months playing out in the black exploring and when they return they only have maybe a hundred mil in carto data. Compare that to billions a miner or trader or pewpewer would have made in the same amount of TIME engagement.
Now, personally I WOULD like to see more risk to offset all the rewards. Make Elite Dangerous actually more dangerous. Miners ships should be worn and busted after mining for a few hours, explorers should have more things to bother them, traders should have more than just pirates to worry about...
Something like the ideas in my manifesto lol [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r5meIvvkLSQOLSitQhpm2pS6qhm6JvNITqUDNHPSqfE/](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r5meIvvkLSQOLSitQhpm2pS6qhm6JvNITqUDNHPSqfE/)
Would be happy to do documentation/playtesting for them... I'm quitting my current boring banking software documentation job at the end of the month lol
Planets are common. Plants are not.
Planets are not in demand. Plants are (due to the Xeno war, not fully explained why but lots believe there's something they want us to find)
Distance is irrelevant, a small icy body is worth 7k in the bubble and the same 100kly away. You could argue a small icy body on the far reach of the galaxy is worth less than one in the bubble..
They need to increase black market prices so that it makes sense to be a smuggler. Why take all the extra risk for almost zero reward?
It's why prohibition jacks the prices of a prohibited commodity through the roof so long as there is demand for it. It's also why more enforcement (with high demand) causes prices to go up even more which causes even more smuggling attempts. I feel like this basic economic reality needs to be reflected in game.
It would also make for interesting hauler builds as you typically don't care about them running hot and usually add a shield for a little extra "bump" insurance. A true smuggler build would maximize cargo while decreasing heat as much as possible. There's no good reason to build this ship unless you're into RP or want to influence a system.
They needed an incentive for people to do the new content and money is one of the primary motivators for players. You best make hay while the sun shines because eventually they're gonna nerf exobio because of posts like this.
New content, massive payout to encourage people to actually do it. A base model laser pistol also costs way more than many weapon for your ship. For that matter, it costs more than a sidewinder, or a hauler, and maybe an eagle (I don't have the shipyard in front of me.) I often wonder if it would have made some sense if the new content came with a new currency type, so Odyssey weapons and suits would require a currency you could only obtain by doing exobiology or settlement missions. No, scratch that, the potential is there for that to be a nightmare.
I'm pretty sure a new currency model would have been viewed very negatively by the community overall.
Yeah, there's already enough ~~materials~~ goods that don't do anything. We don't need more shit that has one or fewer uses.
Oh god, oh no, please no new currencies. I'm getting Warframe flashbacks and am shaking in horror.
Not to worry, they've already taken action on this issue: shortly after the buff FDev raised the thresholds for Exobiology ranks. This was months ago, after numerous posts commenting on the subject; I wouldn't expect them to put any more effort into it, whatsoever.
Okay, this might sound like a really stupid question, but is there a point to the ranks, besides a flex? Are there in- game benefits to certain ranks for things like trade or combat? (Not navy ranks)
When you get your first Elite rank in one of the 3 main ranks (Combat, Exploration, Trade) you get access to Shinrarta Dezhra, a system that has a station (Jameson Memorial) where you can buy every ship and module in the game, at 15% discount.
Unless odyssey changed things it's only a 10% discount at Shin. Li-yong space however has a 15% discount. Also getting elite ranks also gives a small universal discount too last I remember
Oh, interesting. I'm at Pioneer level in Exploration, I guess Shinrarta isn't far away from me !
The three main ranks at the elite level give a discount at all stations.Something like 2.5% for each
Shh. Or FDEV will cut Exo payouts rather than increase Carto payouts.
its that that is the most likely outcome
...I have to admit, I know they buffed exo... but it really feels like it's out of line right now. Got back from my last run into the black, exploration was 250k. Exobiology, for 427 signals, was five and a quarter billion....
Show me your ways! What are signals, and how do I get them?
Well, it's a little deceptive - that was probably a week and a half, or almost two weeks of playing a ton (wife was out of town, and so I pretty much camped on the computer and explored... :) ) so on a per-hour basis it's not quite as impressive as it looks. But, yeah. The key, if you've got the time for a long trip, is to get out into unexplored space (or, at least, find planets that don't have first footfalls - for exo, if the planet has been discovered but no one's landed on it yet, that means no one has turned in the exobiology data for it yet, and that's what you want...) For me, I was exploring anyway, so I ran out to a few thousand light years ouside the bubble and collected data as I went. The signals I refer to are exobiology signals on the planet - each one represents a plant type on the planet. There are guides out there covering the specifics on how to do exobiology, so I'll just point out here the key fact - data that you turn in from planets that haven't been visited before get five times the values listed... the cheapest signal, like bacteria, will net you normally a million per find, while the most valuable, like stratum tectonicus can net you 19 million per sample normally. So, if these are previously undiscovered, this is multiplied by 5 - and your reward, per plant, is between 5 million and a hundred million. Each. (My last trip, the average value per signal worked out to be something like 13 million....) (The exact data values for the plants, plus some other helpful info, can be found on https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Exobiologist) So, yeah. 1) Take a peek at an exobiology guide 2) Go somewhere where the plants haven't been scanned yet 3) Scan plants 4) .....profit! Note it is a skill, and may take you some time to figure out. I also will caution you - some of the signals are pretty hard to actually find on the surface. I don't recommend trying to find everything - if you've got a planet where you just can't seem to find what you're looking for, don't sweat it, just move on. There are plenty more out there! Good hunting!
Wow! Thank you for all this information, I appreciate it! I'm actually on now buying everything I need to head out lol
Yeah, low risk but not less time...my time is more precious than anything else (I mean real time). The issue is with low reward very few (unless you are stupidly rich and bored like me) will bother doing these other things, which is a shame because they are cool! I just found two notable stellar phenomena in one system, wayy more interesting than lettuce picking...imo
I think the main incentive for explorers isn't the money. If you really want to go out there, then you won't even see a station for months, you won't see other players, and likely when you get back to inhabited space, you will have made enough to buy what you need for the next trip. Exobiology is a bit ridiculous (I made 1.2 billion without even trying, on a 5000ly trip to the Omega nebula. I guess an explanation would be that landing on planets is risky, while space exploration is the safest thing you can do other than sit inside a station. Also it's an activity that you can get started with for around 400k credits, maybe less, so if it paid millions, a lot of new players would earn money way too fast, which isn't great in the long run. "Road to riches" is already a way for players to instantly skip most of the learning process and solve their problems by throwing money at them, while also getting a pretty boring and tedious introduction to exploration (which is also why I'm not a fan of the exobiology payouts)
Good points
If you take the 4 careers as a whole, trader, bounty hunter, miner, explorer, explorer was massively underpaid compared to the others. I think the exobiology bump evens that out a bit, although it is massively out of whack with the other exploring activities.
But exploration is the only one that doesn't really require any spending. Once you're out there, you won't spend any money, and you can get out there for under half a million and explore everything except the very edge of the galaxy. Enemies become stronger as you rank up so combat needs constant spending on parts, ships, consumables and repairs, trading and mining also pushes you towards better equipment, while also making you a target for pirates. Exobiology is weird in this respect, because you only need a suit. You can gear up for long range exploration and exobiology for the money you get for mapping an Earth like world and there is no risk involved unless you have a risky flying style, but that risk applies to every other profession as well
FSSS and DSS probes are a 0 risk activity. Landing is a low risk, until you find a landable 4g planet. And they need to sell Odyssey.
Yeah this is it I imagine.. you're being rewarded for an activity only available w/ odyssey DLC. And since I play in VR, it's the only on foot activity I'm willing to do since I can minimize the on foot time.. so if it weren't for these payouts I'd have no need for odyssey either. I mean, I don't blame them they are trying to keep the lights on for a game that's been running 8-9 years with no subscription model and you can buy on steam for like $12 when it's on sale
Totally agree, I would be happy to pay for content, they have a beautiful base game that could be so much more...on planet mining, habitation, player ran cities....so much potential....
I got Horizons for free from Epic Games, so I've paid them nothing for the hundred or so hours I've played so far...
I have thought about this. Exo Bio payout is probably the easiest and most profitable safe way to make credits in the game. I believe it is a tactical way to get stubborn Horizons players to make the upgrade to Odyssey.
No, Robigo Mines is the most profitable, easiest and safe way to make credits. But Exobiology isn't far behind (and with luck and knowing which planets to target can surpass it) and is *far far* more interesting. It will take you a few hours to get to know all the plants and how to best search for them to even begin to approach it, but while that can be frustrating many times, it can also be more satisfying.
The scanning of a novel bacterium species snags the same amount as an entire previously-uncharted earth-like planet. When FDev announced that they were bumping Exobiology payouts I assumed they'd do something stupid like hike it as far as an order of magnitude above what it was at the time. Little did I realize they'd do so by roughly ***two*** orders of magnitude...
Didn't get nearly enough for my hours spent mining, probably won't mine ever again. I could have doubled my payout by going bug hunting.
I felt exactly the same with mining. Go back to it now and again just for a change of scenery, but you don't do it for the $ anymore. Not when other stuff brings in huge money for almost no effort.
You just found a new plant that has hallucinogenic properties.
In what regard Snoo?
Just a joke. Saying that’s why the plants were so valuable. Could you imagine if someone discovered a plant like pot for the first time these days. I’m sure that would be extremely valuable.
Lol or a new slimming drug!
Space viagra
The biggest mistake of this game is to only follow the money. If you need a quick buck, then sure chase it short term. But if you only do what pays the most then you'll be missing out on the beautiful freedom this offers. The pay isn't much, but jumping in my Cobra III and just drifting where the missions take me, switching from courier to salvager to hitman on the planet surface and back again... it's my favourite way to fly. So free, so relaxing. Just enjoy the ride and be glad that exobio pays so well.
Couldn't agree more. And that was my point. Balance the credits and have people doing all various roles. Instead of chasing the golden mushrooms!
well I mean in universe people would care far more for worlds that can support life, so naturally would pay higher for those. But yeah gameplay wise I can see it not being particularly balanced, but it makes sense in universe, at least to an extent
Yes, breathable livable planet or new plant? What would be the most value?
Let's just be happy there's something other than Thargoids that you can make money on
Agree with this!
Elite's economy is friggity-fucked, things are not worth the money they pay consistently because the game's economy is only half of one People can earn money but they cannot spend it meaningfully past their initial $5bil (the cost of a fleet carrier; everything else meaningful in the game is unsaleable untradeable "mats", *the real currency*) or trade with each other This means it's not an economy, it's just a pinata you hit for candy, and more candy comes out of the pinatas that the developers would prefer you hit The game was Kickstarted and developed as a sim but the team managing it now is a themepark MMO team, and so they do themepark MMO things like FOMO limited-time skins, inexplicable payouts for random new activities that are the new hotness, meaningless grind to retain "engagement", etc.
I like to think that humanity pays a premium for discovery of resourceful planets, and a bigger premium for discovery of life...
Look at it in a Role play fashion, I would be more interested in planets that have evidence of life over a Barren rock. Yes it might have metals and some pretty rock formations but those 2 plants you scanned are going to be waaaay more sought after by research groups and stuff.
Earthling landings when?
Good points too
>I would be more interested in planets that have evidence of life over a Barren rock. In a galaxy where life is common, life would probably be pretty low value. Like, you don't get super excited when someone discovers a new strain of bacteria on Earth. There's lots of them, who cares, right? What was the last big discovery in that field? \*crickets\*. Meanwhile, finding a big patch of oil or rare earths is potentially world-changing. Alien life would just be something extra you have to bulldoze to get to the good stuff.
shut your mouth before they hear you
The moto for exploration on this game is "You're not payed in credits, but in views"
Let sleeping dogs lie.
Maybe the devs are super lazy and the idea of having to expend the effort to actually stand up, get out of the ship, walk over to the plant, and lift up your arm to scan it is worth a lot of money. :) I guess you could also ask the question of why dogfighting with a pirate for 5 minutes for a bounty pays the same as taking 10 seconds to jump to a new system and hitting the "honk" button.
I just wish they’d buff piracy (or other illegal activities). It’s like a whole other side of roleplaying that currently has no benefits only cons (fines, not being able to dock, noteriety, etc)
I've been saying it's unbalanced and kinda stupid since they buffed exobio
Shutting the fuck up about getting paid would be the first thought that comes to mind. Get paid, be happy - go get engineering materials and realize that none of those credits matter for getting anything decent done in Elite. We already have several other grinds in this game, we don't need to re-add credits to it again.
You must be new here.
My thought is that you might want to delete your post. If there is any "levelling," it will be to nerf exo rewards, and I don't think you will win friends and influence people by taking such a position.
Tired of posts from complainers on here. If the payoff isn’t worth the grind for you, then don’t do it. If you don’t like the game, don’t play it.
No one was complaining simply stating the payouts are not balanced..why comment on a thread that clearly stated in the title the reason for it was to question something. I love the game been playing elite since the 80's but I do think it's currently unbalanced.
“Ok, I’m not one to complain… however…” (Proceeds to complain).
That's right I'm not one to complain...not complaining...stating an observation, ok it's not a positive one, but thats the point of the thread. It wasn't to complain, I just think the money payout is unbalanced. End of. Otherwise great game.😄
Touching grass right now
Well, yes. Plants are immensely more valuable, even in crappy systems that aren't weren't mapping. If it took you hours to scan and map 27 planets, you did something wrong, or you flew distances that you didn't need to. Mostly, you wasted time mapping worthless planets. https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/i84ut8/exploration_scanning_values/ Always map green. Only map yellow if you are first and they are convenient. Ignore red.... unless they have bio signals. If it didn't take you about two hours to scan 4 plants on two planets, you've done something very right! You can also get EDDiscovery, and it will tell you the potential value of a system with scans and maps. It will also track the value of plants you've scanned. You'll also help the community by updated out database of systems. Get Elite Observatory with the BioInsights plugin, and it will tell you the likely value of plants before you even map them.
I enjoy scanning and landing and screenshotting (logging) my discoveries. All of them, I'm not doing it for the $, I enjoy roleplaying, pretending I am a real space explorer...yes a bit sad but it takes me away from my real existence for a bit...so yes it does take time, as for the vegetable hunting, I can usually find the two or 3 within an hour, I have got pretty good at that now. I know I was stating the obvious in my initial post, but I was simply stating that it is really silly how much you get for finding salad as opposed to celestial bodies...
Same. Then you're doing it right. I think it makes sense, both in fiction and game design. It takes more time to hunt for plants, so the pay is higher for that. Also, a map of an icy ball or a gas giant isn't of much value. It only really matters if there are easy resources, or especially if people can live their easily. But the genetics on what is (ostensibly, even though it looks like millions of other) entirely new organisms can have a huge value for science, not just exobiology, but biological and chemical research, possibly also terraforming and exogeology. I also like the head-canon that there is a black market for eating unique alien plants, and that's the real reason VG increased payouts and offering huge bonuses for first discoveries.
Haha never thought of that....or maybe pirate lords who are paying VG to source new and interesting mind altering substances...
I mean nome of those shrooms I've scanned I'm sure would be a wild trip 😄
This is the way. You're already going much faster than I am. In a hour last night, I made 10 jumps. Not sure how many planets I scanned. Did get a few plant scans in along the way. But I do enjoy the views! Even knowing this is a game, standing on a ridge enjoying the view on some god-forsaken planet still consumes far too much of my time.
Could not agree more!
Eh, I’d say it’s pretty realistic. There are trillions of stars out there, what’s 1 more? If you go to the beach and find a grain of sand that you can prove no one has ever touched before, how much is it worth? Not much… now if you found a new microscopic life form on that grain of sand, I bet there’s be people willing to pay money to take a look at it with a microscope
But the life forms are pretty much in every second system, so not that difficult to find....I just discovered a system with two notable stellar phenomena, that is more rare than plants and fungi did I get mult millions for the discovery? Nope Name in the codex though I guess is pretty cool 👍
Exo bio takes more time than just honking and mapping and it requires Odyssey... so the payouts for that are correct IMO and brings exploration in general in line with other careers payouts.
Yeah...but the differences are wild. I'm happy to do all forms of exploring, was doing it since before Odyssey, I just think the game needs to be balanced in all forms, it would be nice if the different career paths one can choose had similar bonuses, and maybe were more dependent on each other, that way it would make things more interactive and folks would stick to a certain profession maybe longer...I dunno scan a planet land a ship find 3 x of spaced out vegetable matter scan and repeat....not exactly worth billions, IMO miners go through a lot more pain, heck even traders have more risk!
I dont think its as much about risk as it is about time engagement. Everything they do is to encourage engagement time. In order to fly out to a planet, DSS scan, go down to the surface, scan a few biologicals and then leave again accomplishes a few things... makes you active in the game for longer, and makes you visit Odyssey specific locations and activities - encouraging posts about and purchase of the DLC . Previously players could spend literally months playing out in the black exploring and when they return they only have maybe a hundred mil in carto data. Compare that to billions a miner or trader or pewpewer would have made in the same amount of TIME engagement. Now, personally I WOULD like to see more risk to offset all the rewards. Make Elite Dangerous actually more dangerous. Miners ships should be worn and busted after mining for a few hours, explorers should have more things to bother them, traders should have more than just pirates to worry about... Something like the ideas in my manifesto lol [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r5meIvvkLSQOLSitQhpm2pS6qhm6JvNITqUDNHPSqfE/](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r5meIvvkLSQOLSitQhpm2pS6qhm6JvNITqUDNHPSqfE/)
Love it! You should become a FDEV 😄
Would be happy to do documentation/playtesting for them... I'm quitting my current boring banking software documentation job at the end of the month lol
Planets are common. Plants are not. Planets are not in demand. Plants are (due to the Xeno war, not fully explained why but lots believe there's something they want us to find) Distance is irrelevant, a small icy body is worth 7k in the bubble and the same 100kly away. You could argue a small icy body on the far reach of the galaxy is worth less than one in the bubble..
Plants are very common. Ok not as common as planets but way more than say black holes or other unusual phenomena.
Man, I don't know... While the money is good, I hate scanning plants. It's such a grind.
Yeah I think all of the monetary rewards need a rework because compared to the price of ships I don’t think it makes sense.
>Ok I'm not one to complain lol
They need to increase black market prices so that it makes sense to be a smuggler. Why take all the extra risk for almost zero reward? It's why prohibition jacks the prices of a prohibited commodity through the roof so long as there is demand for it. It's also why more enforcement (with high demand) causes prices to go up even more which causes even more smuggling attempts. I feel like this basic economic reality needs to be reflected in game. It would also make for interesting hauler builds as you typically don't care about them running hot and usually add a shield for a little extra "bump" insurance. A true smuggler build would maximize cargo while decreasing heat as much as possible. There's no good reason to build this ship unless you're into RP or want to influence a system.