Just a heads up on something people might notice on the c2 test server: we're looking at increasing the costs of tech skills in c2. The reason is that they seem too cheap compared to other skills, and most players simply skip a lot of items as they level up. We want there to be more of a mid game, rather than jumping up to to a tech 16 ship and then jumping from there to tech 20.

These numbers are experimental, but attached is the chart of the numbers we're currently trying out, which will be about 300 more levels worth of SP required to max everything out. Each tech skill listed will have a constant cost per level and a multiple per level. So instead of just costing X SP to get level X, it will cost C+MX, where the constant C and multiple M are listed in the table. For example, Shielding level 10 would cost 13 SP under the new scheme instead of the 10 SP it currently costs. The big change is Piloting that costs a multiple of 5, so 5, 10, 15, 20, etc.

Existing players will be grandfathered in when their characters get transferred into C2 after the beta test is over, and will gain only 4 SP when they level up until their total SP and spend SP gets to where it should be. Until that happens, nothing will change in C1.

Nexus has been redesigned around these numbers and will last to a higher level and give a lot more XP for completing missions, so the beginning game should hopefully not be too stunted. And the cost formula for each tech skill has been added to the skill description in C2 so it's hopefully less confusing.

They should also cost more money, ideally. Of course, that would require ways for noobs to actually make money, but other than that, its an absolutely wonderful idea. /applauds

I like this idea but how will it affect people who already have the skill? Will they have to use sp? Cause otherwise a new player will have less sp than someone with the skills already.

I'm all for expanding the midgame, but you can't just imprison players there with no means of escape. In other words, make sure there's enough content along the way so that players can still level efficiently using the lower tech gear they will be bound to.

Sounds like a good idea but i dont think it will solve the problem - Even if you triple the SP cost - U need shield 15 , wep 14 (iirc) , piloting 18 and equip 14 to skip over the middle part of the game if you have a know how.

1000 new players will solve all you mid game probs

The problem lies in how fast you can level from 0-550 and get all your t20 skills, not that it doesnt cost enough. Hint hint: MF reavers

For a month.

I like this idea.



I suspect the ability to kill MF Reavers comes with how easily you can attain higher-end gear at lower levels.

I had a level 550 char with several skills bordering 20 with two or three at 20 + high level class skills, I could use some pretty darn good gear on him to level him to 1.1k in 5 hours .

I doubt I could do that again if this is implemented as I most certainly wouldn't be able to have the high class skills and tech skills together.

P.S. By darn good I mean bloody cheap stuff I found in my storage Thatch, there's a pretty big gap in-between T20 stuff and lower tech items.

People who have already bought the tech skills at the current price will gain only 4 SP per level until they are at parity with the new costs after their C1 characters have been merged into C2 when the C2 beta is done and it launches.

I agree that one reason a lot of the mid level content is too easy is because players can get high tech level equipment too easily. We are also going to be adding more mid-level content, but the way things are, there's no point to add mid-level content because there are no mid-level players. It costs so few SP to get high tech skills, that people leapfrog the mid level techs. If it takes you a couple hundred more levels worth of playing to get to the higher tech skills, then it will be worth it to actually use some mid level tech items rather than make due with the low level stuff until you can leap to the high level stuff.

And as I said, this is still highly experimental, and will be thoroughly tested in the SS2 beta. We're not just going to foist this on people untested. SS2 beta should be 2-3 months, with hopefully thousands of people playing from level 0 on up. And I intend to rigorously play through Nexus many times before even going to SS2 beta, and will test the values for the beginning game to start with before we even look at how to refine these numbers for the mid-game content.

This strikes me as a bit backwards. First of all, there are most certainly mid-level players. One particularly vocal one goes by the name of L0L, and he posted numerous youtube clips of various exploits in his first few months of play. In fact, new players like him do have to get through hundreds of levels in order to use higher tech gear, not because they can't get the skills till then but simply because they have to earn the cash to buy new things. Sure, even a f2p can currently get weaponry 13 but it's not too useful if they have no way of acquiring a decent tech 13 weapon like Excomm. The players who do take part in "leapfrog" behavior are the ones who have earned enough resources through long hours of playing that they can afford to gear their alts lavishly, and I see absolutely no problem with the practice. You yourself have said that you are not opposed to twinking, which is essentially what your proposed change would inhibit most.

If you genuinely want to improve the mid-game experience in SS, the logical first step is to add mid-game content. Where are all the tech 13-18 entry-level light fighters the playerbase has been calling for? When you have players going from Hotrod Megas to Vultures, that's not an indication that it's too easy to hop into a tech 20 ship; it's a sign that there wasn't anything worth a damn to hop into in between. It would be a rather poor joke on new SDs if instead of working their asses off to level 500 in a tech 7 ship, they suddenly have to do it a few hundred levels more. And don't get me started on the sparsity of AI-base-bought gear in the higher tech levels. How exactly am I supposed to make incremental advances in weaponry when there's nothing between Magcannon IV and Titan Mag (or Venu Mag, if you like)? Should I just completely abandon long-range combat for a few hundred levels?

FInally, you must realize that the augmenter system is in large part responsible for the "jumping" behavior you seek to rectify. If I spend several times the worth of my ship on augmenters, I won't be inclined to let it rot in the garage after 100 levels and make a whole new ship+augmenter investment. Nor will I be inclined to waste one of my precious aug resets just to make this moderate improvement to my combat abilities. Quasi-consumable gear like augmenters run exactly counter to the graduated system you envision. I quite like the complex calculations that the augmenter system engenders, but it certainly has its drawbacks such as this rather major one.

I think there are mid level ships and mid level items, but they get overlooked. I know that when I was leveling a new character 5 years ago or so, I was using all the mid level equipment and ships as I advanced. And there's even more now. It's maybe considered under powered, but that's in comparison with tech 16+ stuff.

You do make a good point about the augmenters, but I don't think that non-twinks actually have that great of augmenters on their ship, and are getting better ones all the time. The fewer ships you plan on going through because you're going to make big jumps, the more money and time you'll spend on augs for those few ships. If you know you're going to go through 6 ships in level progression, then you won't care nearly as much how each ship is augged. Also, this issue is why the aug reset missions are unlocked by level, so you can use the aug resets as you level up if you want, but can't waste them all when you're low. Maybe we should add several new level-locked missions that give high quality augs as rewards.

For whatever reason, I've been befriended over the years by a number of newer players, and the top frustration they have voiced to me is that there isn't enough content available to them. Several have quit at the prospect of capping themselves into oblivion for lack of any other viable strategy for advancement. I just don't buy the claim that new players are "leapfrogging" the way you say they are. It was legitimately tough going back when I started, and I can tell by talking to first-time players that it is still far from easy. When the mid-level SD finds out that the next step up from his 100mil Yallow costs over a billion credits, that's where content is lacking. You see plenty of new players scraping by in an EFF with Paximinus slaves using Mining Laser III's, or maybe even just Surgical Laser X's and Medium Lasers at first. Of course, wealthy alts have Open Heart Lasers and Mzungu Trading Defenses, but there's nothing wrong with twinking.

In short, we all agree there is a lack of mid-game content. I just don't understand why the solution to this isn't simply to add mid-game content, period. You claim that not even new players would use it, but all my experience leads me to believe otherwise. And if they do, then who cares what high-level players get up to with all their extra cash?