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Re: Voyage event encounter VP - some observations
Time warp factor
However, what the analysis above doesn't take account of is the fact that the first 8 encounters all happen within the first 2 hours. If we look at it over time instead of by encounter number, we get this:
The first two hours are almost a perfect straight line; if we add a line to project that outwards:
This means that you have to get to the 16 hour dilemma before you've earned more encounter VP than you would have done by repeating the first 2 hours 8 times over.
My takeaway from this is that the way the first set of encounters are staggered makes the first two hours by far the best way to gain encounter VP for most players who aren't using resources to keep voyages running longer and/or Quip their crew.
Which is a shame, because that's the babysitting bit everyone hates.
In fact, theoretically, if you were willing to completely forgo sleep, you could lather, rinse, repeat doing the very first encounter at 1 minute throughout the whole event and still reach the 130k threshold for the third copy of the purple crew. (I suspect this isn't quite true as my calculation only allows for the minute of voyaging, not the time it takes to set up the crew and do the encounter at either end, which is probably longer.)
However, what the analysis above doesn't take account of is the fact that the first 8 encounters all happen within the first 2 hours. If we look at it over time instead of by encounter number, we get this:
The first two hours are almost a perfect straight line; if we add a line to project that outwards:
This means that you have to get to the 16 hour dilemma before you've earned more encounter VP than you would have done by repeating the first 2 hours 8 times over.
My takeaway from this is that the way the first set of encounters are staggered makes the first two hours by far the best way to gain encounter VP for most players who aren't using resources to keep voyages running longer and/or Quip their crew.
Which is a shame, because that's the babysitting bit everyone hates.
In fact, theoretically, if you were willing to completely forgo sleep, you could lather, rinse, repeat doing the very first encounter at 1 minute throughout the whole event and still reach the 130k threshold for the third copy of the purple crew. (I suspect this isn't quite true as my calculation only allows for the minute of voyaging, not the time it takes to set up the crew and do the encounter at either end, which is probably longer.)
Re: Voyage event encounter VP - some observations
Advice (things I learned not to do the hard way)
1. Don't use encounter skips overnight
I'm pretty sure the devs intended the encounter skips, especially the gold ones, to have the same effect as the "double the rewards, triple the time" shuttle boosts of allowing players to sleep without falling behind. If I recall correctly (I may not), in the beta they awarded the full VP you would have got from the skipped encounter, but then they were nerfed to only preserve the reward multiplier. At this point they became worse than useless. Here's the encounter VP over time for a voyage where you put a gold 3-encounter skip on after the 4 hour dilemma:
I think this is the root cause of the common complaint that long voyages didn't accumulate anywhere near as much VP as players were expecting; especially if you're using multiple skips on the same voyage (e.g. maybe you do one overnight, do a dilemma when you first wake up, and then put on another skip to get through the work day), you're going to be a long way behind the curve.
As I said in the event thread, using purple fast forwards to catch up is a much better tactic as you don't sacrifice any of the encounter VP. I think the skips are effectively useless, except for the very early stages if it helps you fit the babysitting into your schedule.
2. Whatever you do, stay on the reward multiplier staircase
Everything up to this point has been based on the assumption that you keep passing the mini-encounters and so preserve the reward multiplier. If you lose it, you fall behind very quickly. Here's an example where you get unlucky and lose on the final mini-encounter at 6 hours, but manage to pass all subsequent ones:
You can see the absolutely yawning gulf. If you do end up failing, it is definitely worth using the gold crew restores or dilithium to keep the multiplier going; if you absolutely can't, I genuinely think it's better to recall and start again so that you get back on the staircase from the beginning.
1. Don't use encounter skips overnight
I'm pretty sure the devs intended the encounter skips, especially the gold ones, to have the same effect as the "double the rewards, triple the time" shuttle boosts of allowing players to sleep without falling behind. If I recall correctly (I may not), in the beta they awarded the full VP you would have got from the skipped encounter, but then they were nerfed to only preserve the reward multiplier. At this point they became worse than useless. Here's the encounter VP over time for a voyage where you put a gold 3-encounter skip on after the 4 hour dilemma:
I think this is the root cause of the common complaint that long voyages didn't accumulate anywhere near as much VP as players were expecting; especially if you're using multiple skips on the same voyage (e.g. maybe you do one overnight, do a dilemma when you first wake up, and then put on another skip to get through the work day), you're going to be a long way behind the curve.
As I said in the event thread, using purple fast forwards to catch up is a much better tactic as you don't sacrifice any of the encounter VP. I think the skips are effectively useless, except for the very early stages if it helps you fit the babysitting into your schedule.
2. Whatever you do, stay on the reward multiplier staircase
Everything up to this point has been based on the assumption that you keep passing the mini-encounters and so preserve the reward multiplier. If you lose it, you fall behind very quickly. Here's an example where you get unlucky and lose on the final mini-encounter at 6 hours, but manage to pass all subsequent ones:
You can see the absolutely yawning gulf. If you do end up failing, it is definitely worth using the gold crew restores or dilithium to keep the multiplier going; if you absolutely can't, I genuinely think it's better to recall and start again so that you get back on the staircase from the beginning.
Re: Events, &c., December 2024
Thanks @~peregrine~. Appreciate your effort here as I don’t go on Discord.
Re: Events, &c., December 2024
~peregrine~ wrote: »The lack of communication right here by the company makes me sad.
The Forums are a website that does not require a login, whereas Discord requires a login.
Do better, Polo.
Agreed. I hope their plan wasn’t to wait until Thursday to announce it here.
Re: Events, &c., December 2024
The lack of communication right here by the company makes me sad.
The Forums are a website that does not require a login, whereas Discord requires a login.
Do better, Polo.
The Forums are a website that does not require a login, whereas Discord requires a login.
Do better, Polo.
Events, &c., December 2024
Since I have yet to see this information posted in Starfleet Communications, here are two screenshots and a link to the company's post on its Discord server:
https://discord.com/channels/764208662578987009/1304415993619288175/1313538314242097257
LLAP 🖖
https://discord.com/channels/764208662578987009/1304415993619288175/1313538314242097257
LLAP 🖖
Re: Player Positivity and Accomplishment Thread
Immo # 1300. Prolly the last milestone I will hit...
Re: Player Positivity and Accomplishment Thread
I just got my final missing voyage character today, and my final missing Gauntlet character a couple days ago (just went ahead and added stars).
