[ANN] SatoshiGalaxy - Browser MMORPG + BTC Faucet {FOR SALE}

[5leepyJoe]

* When crafting materials below your skill level (in other words, when there is a zero chance to burn ingredients) you now receive ZERO points. On the other hand, if you're doing materials way above your skill level, you receive X2 points.

Thinking about it this really bothers me...

I understand what you guys are trying to do but killing off skill gain entirely is very discouraging. Take myself for example. I spend many hours smelting copper ore into copper plates and craft up hundreds a day. According to this information that means I no longer will gain any skill points in terms of smelting, but I am not able to advance or switch to anything else that would give me skill gain seeing as I am still rather new and can't afford it. Besides not being able to afford it my income consist of having to craft circuits so I don't really have a choice other than crafting copper plates, for which I will now no longer be rewarded for in terms of advancing skill.

I would understand a drop in skill point gain by say half, but completely removing any skill gain for something I am 'forced' to do while new seems extremely unfair.

I was going to post lots of good things about the new system (and probably still will), but there's a real sticking point here, regarding copper. Thing is, one of the points was to make people give copper a rest (and let newbies have this market). Thus, if your whole game strategy revolves around copper, nothing I could tell you would sound right... So before we go any further, why do you feel you're 'forced' to smelt copper? (And I'm not trying to be a smart-ass here, I sincerely suspect the problem might lay somewhere else entirely).

I consider myself to still very much be a newbie and anything copper related is certainly our bread and butter; hence the feeling of being 'forced' (and yes this is for lack of a better word) to constantly work with copper. I've only been playing SG for about a month and a half. So in terms of income what I make is still rather minimal. I probably make more than most people that have been around the same amount of time as me but that is because I've worked hard at creating a market for my goods by interacting with other players, and of course the amount of time I spend on SG.

Anything other than the circuit blueprints cost an absolute arm, leg, and both kidneys to newer players including myself. Yes my Smelting skill is rather advanced but that doesn't mean I have the means to move away from crafting circuits. The reason I have advanced my Smelting in such a big way is because after acquiring a Trucker and through the relationships I have set up I am able to move away from mining and just do mass manufacturing of circuits. Without those relationships I would not be able to enter this very creative and rare 'job' that I saw an opportunity for. This does however mean that only a specific set of skills are used, but the same can be said of mining, hunting, support, etc. So why should I be negatively impacted for a perfectly valid job path within the game?

Either which way you go though, all of the components in SG will always have need of you to create things that require the smelting of copper into copper plates and from there into the various other components needed. So whether you are a new player or an advanced player that will always be a fundamental part of your crafting process so why not be rewarded for it in terms of skill, even if it is at a smaller rate as your skill advances? not being rewarded in any way at all in terms of advancement is not the way to go.

[toecutter]

We have always considered skill gain to be a process with 2 approaches: natural (you just get points, for whatever you do, and don't bother about it) and aggressive (you employ a specific strategy, often not beneficial in other terms, which maximizes skill point output).

For example, to advance Mining, you have to keep punching unprofitable asteroids; if you're keen on Prospecting, you might want to let profitable asteroids go. When doing Tracking, you might consider not even mining at all. If you use Pulse weapons, you deal much less damage (and get less loot-per-hour as a result). It goes on.

So yeah, you'll have to smelt some Iron and then Gold and then Timonium, etc. Each time you move up a material, your skill level will be high enough not to burn much yet the difficulty level will be high enough to still advance your skill. In addition, you now have a choice to burn the most costly materials specifically to advance your skill level faster.

Maybe it's not "fun", but you'll hopefully appreciate being on the top of the chain much more, once you get there.

For materials with zero burn, the profit should be a good enough reward for smelting them.

Oh, and on average, players should be getting more skill points using the new system (how much more varies between different professions).

(BTW, I took a liberty of peeking into your account. I do not consider you a newbie. Your character is pretty advanced and your smelting is great. I don't know why you bother with copper.)


Update: OK, you guys make some very good points. The real reason it's being cutoff to ZERO and not falling down gradually is rather technical (we don't store "half" points), but it would make 100% sense to go that way. Going from 1 to 0.1 in the course of 10 skill levels would've been much more nuanced and rewarding, than jumping straight to zero.

I can't argue with that, I'll shake as many trees as I can to see if we can fix this properly.

[Przemax]

Yes the zero xp from copper is really really bad idea. It should be something at least. It wouldnt hurt so much as its always that smelting is the highest skill for all players. Nerfing copper a bit should keep smelting in average skill level range as the all other skills.

[5leepyJoe]

(BTW, I took a liberty of peeking into your account. I do not consider you a newbie. Your character is pretty advanced and your smelting is great. I don't know why you bother with copper.)

  as mentioned before for myself blueprints are still very costly and having to decide whether to go for a new blueprint or rather getting an extra ship to make things a fraction easier is not an easy choice to make. Skill wise (only in very few) I might look advanced but I can assure you I earn at a very newb'ish rate still.

Update: OK, you guys make some very good points. The real reason it's being cutoff to ZERO and not falling down gradually is rather technical (we don't store "half" points), but it would make 100% sense to go that way. Going from 1 to 0.1 in the course of 10 skill levels would've been much more nuanced and rewarding, than jumping straight to zero.

I can't argue with that, I'll shake as many trees as I can to see if we can fix this properly.

Thank you toecutter  

As for storing half points, there is a simple work around for that. If say my skill level dictates that I should only gain half the skill points then I only gain a skill point for every 2 plates I successfully craft. If I craft 3 plates the half point on the third plate gets discarded. If an official forum post about this is made, and the manual is amended to explain it in this fashion to players I am sure there won't be problems arising from such a mechanic.

Of course some insight into the amount of items to be crafted simultaneously at which levels would need to be published as well to avoid grievances from people at high skill levels. Or if it is set at a 0.5 skill gain rate from a certain level, it is straight forward and easily understandable.

[Przemax]

yeah a good realistic and easy solution. To gain skill as a beginner you would need just a newbie ship. To gain in midrange you would need a privateer and a late midrange trucker. That could fix it a bit or such.

It could work like to some level it could work as 1xp each. Then 0.5 on another level cap 0.25 on another and 0.125 at the latest cap.

[toecutter]

- Skill progress, everything I'v crafted so far seems to give 1 skill point each, for example the 40nm PCB costs 1 copper plate giving 1 skill point. While the 20nm PCB costing 8 copper plates gives 1 skill point aswell.

The plan (not currently implemented) is to make some crafting give you zero points, if it's too easy for you. So you'll have to move to more difficult items. But giving more points is also an option, we're still evaluating the best approach.

I knew I forgot a medal somewhere.

Yes the zero xp from copper is really really bad idea. It should be something at least. It wouldnt hurt so much as its always that smelting is the highest skill for all players. Nerfing copper a bit should keep smelting in average skill level range as the all other skills.

Nah, you can still complete 1/3 of your WHOLE Smelting journey by ONLY doing copper, even with current rules. Which is still kinda too good.

Like I said, you either Smelt copper either Skill up Smelting, and sometimes those 2 coincide, but not always. When they don't, you have to choose what is more important to you.

However, the real problem does exist underneath, and you guys have outlined it perfectly. It is actually much more serious, than those 0.01 smelting points (which shouldn't even matter much if you are ONLY doing copper, and already NOT burning any).

Yes, that big hole gamepay hole after circuits (and probably casings) does indeed exist. I would argue, that fixing that would've actually alleviated lots of problems in other areas. People don't need to be forced to smelt copper all the time, it's ridiculous.

I told the team the players are on to us :) Hopefully this will bring improvements. As always, all ideas are welcome.

As for storing half points, there is a simple work around for that. If say my skill level dictates that I should only gain half the skill points then I only gain a skill point for every 2 plates I successfully craft. If I craft 3 plates the half point on the third plate gets discarded. If an official forum post about this is made, and the manual is amended to explain it in this fashion to players I am sure there won't be problems arising from such a mechanic.

Of course some insight into the amount of items to be crafted simultaneously at which levels would need to be published as well to avoid grievances from people at high skill levels. Or if it is set at a 0.5 skill gain rate from a certain level, it is straight forward and easily understandable.

That would indeed work rather nicely. OK, you might expect your half points in the next update.

But seriously, I feel that we have failed you on a much deeper level if you have to smelt copper over and over.

[5leepyJoe]

That would indeed work rather nicely. OK, you might expect your half points in the next update.

But seriously, I feel that we have failed you on a much deeper level if you have to smelt copper over and over.

Honestly I don't mind it that much. I view it as part the beginner grinding phase before you get to the next level. Once you are more advanced, judging by players that I view as such, everything is relatively easy and grind free. So when I eventually get to the point where I can invest in advanced blueprints I feel like things will become much less grinding by a huge margin.

[darkky]

i will give up with that bug if u dont want to undestend or at least to try to test it.....even if it show me that i switch, i cannot move any ship from outpost if one is wreched and other is repaired until the one wrecked is not full repaired to, this happend only is about 2 privateers....when is a privater and a noob ship is ok , it work fine...i am thinking that is happend becouse are 2 ships of same type and game is not programed to  see it, or dont know...for that reason it tell me that i am already pilotating that ship with red...after i pres undocked it tell me that i dont have enough energy...even if it show me i switch the ship, i mean the wreckerd privater with the repaired one will not let me leave outpost telling me that i dont have enough energy...only after the 50 minutes past i can move from there, i can explain simple then that...if u can test it you will see that i am not talking unbelivebele stories, is not in my interest to lie.....about crafting, the peoples are right, u nerfed it to much and will be hard for noobs.....once 90% of mining materials or even more is copper u cant let the copper market to noobs....i am not interested in this becouse i am not mining anymore, but with this nerf they will have alot of hard days....i suposed u dont want to give me any clue about orbital canon, maybe a riddle ) thanks for answer, and i will not insist with that bug...if u dont belive me and u dont want to test it, probably with not be other then me that will do like i am doing with more pirvateers...time will tel us....

[darkky]

i think now i find another bug...i suposed shooting rockets is not a bug, i can kill them with beams....problem is when i try to shoot a ion torpedo, when i press target will throw my out from the game and apear that error with try again....i suposed is a bug, becouse shooting normal rockets is ok, only when i am trying to shoot ion torpedos will throw me out from the game...when i left this game many months ago i was realy bored...not the thing with planets war, to fight with others give me a motivation to came back in game and probably to stay for a while...showing my skills in guerila tactics and not only ) for me is much more interesting now, but i see the point of people that are noobs and is realy hard to advanced now then before....

[Przemax]

Page seems to not work for me. Sometimes I had an issue with ion torpedo as well as darrky but its not so often.

[darkky]

same for me, page isnt working....at the begining was more often, now przemax is right, is happend rarely with ion torpedo but is happend from time to time

[5leepyJoe]

Hey toecutter,

Something is seriously wrong with the blueprints tab in stations. A lot of blueprints are now missing for the past few days (guessing since the update and trying to add the missing motherboard blueprint).

Circuit blueprints are entirely missing in all the stations I've been in. I travel from Alhena to terebellum-e at least 2 times a day and all the stations have that problem.

Also the text is some light grey or blue colour (this might have been intentional).


Regards,
5leepyJoe

[5leepyJoe]

Hearing about downtime last night and players having many issues while playing this morning.

Should we expect more downtime today?

[toecutter]

Ugh, there was a DDoS attack on the server, we're assessing the damages :(

[5leepyJoe]

Ugh, there was a DDOS attack on the server, we're assessing the damages

Have a look at these guys perhaps:

https://sucuri.net/website-firewall/ddos-protection


I know everyone uses cloudflare but imho cloudflare sucks.

[toecutter]

Ugh, there was a DDOS attack on the server, we're assessing the damages

Have a look at these guys perhaps:

https://sucuri.net/website-firewall/ddos-protection


I know everyone uses cloudflare but imho cloudflare sucks.

Thanks for the tip. Cloudflare was indeed our first instinct, but we'll have to evaluate all the options. (Being able to pay with bitcoin is a crucial feature).

I'll keep you guys up to date.

Blueprints shall re-appear on the next reroll.


Rockets throwing you to a 404 page (@darkky) - yup, thanks for the report, that was added to the TODO list.

Still can't reproduce the "2 privateers" bug.

[5leepyJoe]

toecutter, the devs seem to be having some serious problems with blueprints...

Every time you guys fix something the blueprints screen is messed up even worse. Only seeing literally a hand full of blueprints now.

[toecutter]

toecutter, the devs seem to be having some serious problems with blueprints...

Every time you guys fix something the blueprints screen is messed up even worse. Only seeing literally a hand full of blueprints now.

Them guys swear nothing was done to bluprints, so I have to ask for details.

Are you saying some blueprints are missing again? :(

Or is it a strictly visual problem? If it's the later, could you please try refreshing your cache (Ctrl+F5) and if it doesn't help, provide a screenshot?

[5leepyJoe]

toecutter, the devs seem to be having some serious problems with blueprints...

Every time you guys fix something the blueprints screen is messed up even worse. Only seeing literally a hand full of blueprints now.

Them guys swear nothing was done to bluprints, so I have to ask for details.

Are you saying some blueprints are missing again?

Or is it a strictly visual problem? If it's the later, could you please try refreshing your cache (Ctrl+F5) and if it doesn't help, provide a screenshot?

Circuits - http://prntscr.com/cfdlci
Components - http://prntscr.com/cfdlqd
Equipment - http://prntscr.com/cfdm7f


Maybe it is just me but I am used to seeing a heck of a lot more stuff than that. Earlier the Circuits and Components tabs were both empty.

[5leepyJoe]

Also, are missile supposed to be able to follow you through sectors? That seems illogical that a rocket would travel between star systems, yet I am unable to land on a station in the next sector.

EDIT: Make that 2 sectors away. Still can't do anything.