PS Give me something I can spend Replicator Rations on. It just feels dumb that I'm almost maxed out on them. The only reason I'm not is because I don't feel like mindlessly pushing the same buttons over and over again for no reward.
It's possible you could spend them on...replicating stuff? 🤷♂️🤔 I know, 😱 right?
I have crew that I don't level up past a point so you will never equip the item & craft faction only items
Replicator? Oh right that thing I use once a week.
I have tens of thousands of components, equipment, schematics and trainers. One crazy thing about this game is that a maxed starbase gives out replicator rations yet you’re still accumulating star base materials which can also be thrown in the replicator.
The starbase replicator rations were built as a perpetual motion machine. It solved the issue where once all other rooms are built fleets would lose access to the chrons because they couldn't donate starbase components. So you feed in random items and get out their value in replicator rations.
PS Give me something I can spend Replicator Rations on. It just feels dumb that I'm almost maxed out on them. The only reason I'm not is because I don't feel like mindlessly pushing the same buttons over and over again for no reward.
It's possible you could spend them on...replicating stuff? 🤷♂️🤔 I know, 😱 right?
I have crew that I don't level up past a point so you will never equip the item & craft faction only items
Replicator? Oh right that thing I use once a week.
I have tens of thousands of components, equipment, schematics and trainers. One crazy thing about this game is that a maxed starbase gives out replicator rations yet you’re still accumulating star base materials which can also be thrown in the replicator.
The starbase replicator rations were built as a perpetual motion machine. It solved the issue where once all other rooms are built fleets would lose access to the chrons because they couldn't donate starbase components. So you feed in random items and get out their value in replicator rations.
There are other things more useful that the Starbase could produce.
Like ship schematics because it’s, ya know, a starbase.
Or credits because it’s a centre for commerce.
And so forth.
It’s a little better then effectively trading a replicator material for a different kind of replicator material.
It’s a little better then effectively trading a replicator material for a different kind of replicator material.
Yeah Given that the exchange rate is the same as the replicator ration creation if everyone contributes. Worse for those that do contribute if not everyone else does. It is just busy work for the chron reward. Yet another point where the age of the game and lack of upkeep shows.
There are other things more useful that the Starbase could produce.
Like ship schematics because it’s, ya know, a starbase.
I think you mistake a starbase with a shipyard. And based on gameplay features, I would extend Crew Retrieval and would put it in there. No game developer would give ship schematics so easily by making them replicable.
I think what irritates me about these new voyage 5*'s and the gauntlet jackpot crew is that unlike the voyage 4*'s, none of these can be earned.* They're meaningless as rewards. They either drop in your lap or they don't. I won a Gauntlet way back a few months after they launched. Didn't get a Locutus. In another Gauntlet on 12 September 2019, I had two Caretakers drop. One was at the end of a streak of 3 (as in, it was win #3, not some multiple of 3). The other was in a loot box and I wasn't even in the top 20. I didn't earn those Caretakers. I got lucky. At best I "actively participated," but they're not the same.
*And by "earned," I only mean the 4* voyagers are unlocked by choices we have control over, not that they require anything from us other than tokens and patience.
Gauntlet RNG is the worst - but we have always known that!
In the last 5'ish years I play it daily and as often as possible - based on the following:
- Never care with results / outcomes
- Use best crew I have that meets criteria / crit
- Play as many times as the timer allows during my day, when i open game (typically 3 to 4 rounds per day)
- Hit any challenger, typically the first on the left
- Don't use mertits to refresh
This process regularly finishes between 8 - 20, on busy days between 80 - 120. I've won more then 12 but less than 24.
Midweek OE's are always done without fuss & effort, due to start time & zero play the day before.
For my lack of care but repeitive efforts I have
- 4 each of TKK, Caretaker, Locutus & RA
- 2 Balok, 1 Guinan.
- 0 each of Arimus, FFA, Mirror Mariner
One of these was a reward from #1 another 2 or 3 were from my low end finishes (pity prizes), the rest were streak of 3 or 6 drops.
Oddly, I've had 3 drops in the time FFA was the reward - so i guess that means nothing for thext 2 years!
- A behold for older exlusives would be most player friendly
- Publishing the current reward drop rate % clearly for exclusive and older exclusive per type of reward box would be an extremely player positive thing that WRG/TP could do
Those of us who have been round for years now been though a lot. No need to list them, but some have quit. I came close once but stuck it out. The new WRG approach seems like a war of attrition against players who love the game and spend money on it. That sentiment is being eroded daily. Please get a grip WRG and do so quickly. We don’t have to be here and can take ourselves and our wallets elsewhere.
I’ve come out of my apathy-induced absence from the forum to dogpile on ModBot 9000 and the rest of the WRG crew:
What the heck are you doing to the game right now? Do you not recognize that your drive to pump up engagement metrics is going to backfire? Are you able to remove your heads from your nether regions long enough to realize that players who stop buying offers, players who stop talking up the game to friends and coworkers, and players who get fed up with the endless tease of new crew that are just too hard to get leads to players who stop playing entirely?
The problem of second-chance drops for Gauntlet exclusives being diluted to the point of making it impossibly hard to get any given crew was always coming, but instead of doing something to address it you’ve made it worse by accelerating the schedule of new Gauntlet crew releases. I have played Gauntlet every day since it came out, winning only once but racking up countless streaks and top-15 finishes…Bartender Guinan still sits at 3/5*. Balok is at 1/5*. Koloth and Korax? Never got them, and there’s no hope I ever will (just like with Archer). Taking away the players’ hope that they’ll be able to get a card is not going to make you money.
Don’t even get me started on Voyage exclusive crew - I’ve missed hitting 10 hours just once in the last couple of years (a failed attempt at hitting 12 where RNGesus took me out behind the woodshed) and despite all those 6-, 8-, and 10-hour dilemmas I’ve never seen Chakotay…and don’t expect to see Admiral Black, either. If I didn’t enjoy the puzzle of assembling the best voyage crew, I’d strongly consider only doing the bare minimum for the daily mission.
In fact, I’m probably going to start skipping the Gauntlet - it’s been a great merit farm over the years but the chance that getting an exclusive crew made it that much more enjoyable. There’s no penalty for not doing it (my work/life schedule means I don’t get 45 battles in during Objective Events), so why bother?
WRG needs to strongly consider the number of us who are saying “why bother” and how that might impact their bottom line. And if they can’t do that, sell the game to a studio who can.
Those of us who have been round for years now been though a lot. No need to list them, but some have quit. I came close once but stuck it out. The new WRG approach seems like a war of attrition against players who love the game and spend money on it. That sentiment is being eroded daily. Please get a grip WRG and do so quickly. We don’t have to be here and can take ourselves and our wallets elsewhere.
I’ve come out of my apathy-induced absence from the forum to dogpile on ModBot 9000 and the rest of the WRG crew:
What the heck are you doing to the game right now? Do you not recognize that your drive to pump up engagement metrics is going to backfire? Are you able to remove your heads from your nether regions long enough to realize that players who stop buying offers, players who stop talking up the game to friends and coworkers, and players who get fed up with the endless tease of new crew that are just too hard to get leads to players who stop playing entirely?
The problem of second-chance drops for Gauntlet exclusives being diluted to the point of making it impossibly hard to get any given crew was always coming, but instead of doing something to address it you’ve made it worse by accelerating the schedule of new Gauntlet crew releases. I have played Gauntlet every day since it came out, winning only once but racking up countless streaks and top-15 finishes…Bartender Guinan still sits at 3/5*. Balok is at 1/5*. Koloth and Korax? Never got them, and there’s no hope I ever will (just like with Archer). Taking away the players’ hope that they’ll be able to get a card is not going to make you money.
Don’t even get me started on Voyage exclusive crew - I’ve missed hitting 10 hours just once in the last couple of years (a failed attempt at hitting 12 where RNGesus took me out behind the woodshed) and despite all those 6-, 8-, and 10-hour dilemmas I’ve never seen Chakotay…and don’t expect to see Admiral Black, either. If I didn’t enjoy the puzzle of assembling the best voyage crew, I’d strongly consider only doing the bare minimum for the daily mission.
In fact, I’m probably going to start skipping the Gauntlet - it’s been a great merit farm over the years but the chance that getting an exclusive crew made it that much more enjoyable. There’s no penalty for not doing it (my work/life schedule means I don’t get 45 battles in during Objective Events), so why bother?
WRG needs to strongly consider the number of us who are saying “why bother” and how that might impact their bottom line. And if they can’t do that, sell the game to a studio who can.
Founding ADM - PoF family of fleets (POF, POF2 & POF3) - Dear TP: Non sequitur. Your facts are uncoordinated.
I 100% agree with this post. The gauntlet is already the WORST feature of this game, and they somehow managed to make it even more miserable. I play the gauntlet regularly because I like to finish collections -- I still DO NOT HAVE even ONE COPY of Archer, and now it's no longer at the top of the loot table with Mariner taking that spot.
On top of this nonsense, they introduced two legendary characters as random draws on voyages -- again, I always send out voyages and regularly check them -- so far, haven't seen either of the voyage specific legendaries, and all of my voyages go for at least 12 hours without assistance.
I sometimes think the folks working on this game sit around a table and come up with a list of the worst possible ways to make this game less playable. After being with it since the beginning, I'm only sticking around because of my fleet mates -- but I'm done spending money on it.
I can't even imagine how unplayable it is for someone starting out at the beginning.
I can't even imagine how unplayable it is for someone starting out at the beginning.
I've thought this for years, but it only gets worse as new things are added. How many new players do we get? When I started, there were constant questions by new people. Now we only get very rare questions. I have close to 700 crew slots well over half full of 5* crew. I have enough resources to get top 750 in any event and have regularly done this for dozens of events in a row. How can a new person hope to compete? I've backed off the past few events, so I suppose there is that, but my situation is hardly unique.
Consider other games. Take Angry Birds for an example. There are global contests, but most of it is competition with others close to your own level. Even the newest player can win now and then. And if they don't win as much as someone in a higher ranking, they at least are not competing directly with that person. Plus the game involves actual playing rather than simply setting up the most strategic crew possible and waiting.
Couldn't they set up fleet competitions with fleets that are similarly ranked? Or gauntlet based on captain level and/or crew size? Give hope to new players and they may come.
I sometimes think the folks working on this game sit around a table and come up with a list of the worst possible ways to make this game less playable. After being with it since the beginning, I'm only sticking around because of my fleet mates -- but I'm done spending money on it.
I'm not quite that cynical, but I do think the current team is under pressure to make changes and they aren't fully thinking through what those changes will entail and what they will do. Maybe they aren't being given sufficient time. Maybe they aren't familiar enough with the ecosystem of the game. I dunno.
I can't even imagine how unplayable it is for someone starting out at the beginning.
I can't even imagine how I'd explain it to anyone without making it sound like far more of a convoluted hassle than an enjoyable game. Hmm. Y'know, now that I think about it...
I can say as a player who started all over again, gauntlet is not even triable for a very long time
It’s really easy to get into gauntlet. Sure you’ll get pasted left, right and centre but you gotta start those 20000 rounds sometime. I doubt STT has captured 100% of the Locutus Superfan demographic yet.
I can say as a player who started all over again, gauntlet is not even triable for a very long time
It’s really easy to get into gauntlet. Sure you’ll get pasted left, right and centre but you gotta start those 20000 rounds sometime. I doubt STT has captured 100% of the Locutus Superfan demographic yet.
I can say as a player who started all over again, gauntlet is not even triable for a very long time
It’s really easy to get into gauntlet. Sure you’ll get pasted left, right and centre but you gotta start those 20000 rounds sometime. I doubt STT has captured 100% of the Locutus Superfan demographic yet.
I was referring to the why even bother factor
Locutus of course!
However this isn’t a problem with the Gauntlet in particular, it’s a problem with any well established game. There’s a long list of stuff you need to be even competitive in this game or similar games. There’s no real easy solution beyond giving away free or almost free stuff to at least get started.
I am on Day 3 of my new Gauntlet-free STT Experience and I gotta say, it feels great. No more strings of senseless defeats when you have the opponent completely dominated on paper, no more need to check in every 4 hours, and no more worrying about missing out on the shiny new cards. To echo Frank's sentiment, I have accepted that it is impossible to 'catch them all' and with that, there is no need to even consider playing Gauntlet anymore. With my new strategy I win just as many feature cards as I used to only now I no longer have to win the Gauntlet every 2 days, give up valuable resources, and sink time to it. I am liberated. I am free!
And the good news does not stop there! Since these shiny new Voyage cards that nobody can win anyway because the chances of them dropping are effectively 0 are only useful in Gauntlet I don't need to care that I'll never get one of them either!
Quitting Gauntlet is the key to happiness friends. If you take it seriously at all it is a waste of time, resources, a drain on mental health reserves and gives absolutely nothing back in return, and if you just run it to run it it doesn't matter what 5 cards you have, so either way playing Gauntlet is pointless. Stop giving it power over you, accept that it is an abusive and exploitative system and simply stop playing it, once the initial shock wears off you'll be so much happier.
I am on Day 3 of my new Gauntlet-free STT Experience and I gotta say, it feels great. No more strings of senseless defeats when you have the opponent completely dominated on paper, no more need to check in every 4 hours, and no more worrying about missing out on the shiny new cards. To echo Frank's sentiment, I have accepted that it is impossible to 'catch them all' and with that, there is no need to even consider playing Gauntlet anymore. With my new strategy I win just as many feature cards as I used to only now I no longer have to win the Gauntlet every 2 days, give up valuable resources, and sink time to it. I am liberated. I am free!
And the good news does not stop there! Since these shiny new Voyage cards that nobody can win anyway because the chances of them dropping are effectively 0 are only useful in Gauntlet I don't need to care that I'll never get one of them either!
Quitting Gauntlet is the key to happiness friends. If you take it seriously at all it is a waste of time, resources, a drain on mental health reserves and gives absolutely nothing back in return, and if you just run it to run it it doesn't matter what 5 cards you have, so either way playing Gauntlet is pointless. Stop giving it power over you, accept that it is an abusive and exploitative system and simply stop playing it, once the initial shock wears off you'll be so much happier.
I did this a while ago and it feels great. Well said. I still play for the mini-events, but I don't stress.
Yes, it is liberating to be free of gauntlet👍
Edit: as mentioned above and below I now prepare for midweek event gauntlet.🙄 oh well at least it is only two days.
This goes for arena too. I only did the daily 5 even if I needed the schematics
I don't even give enough of a damn about ships at this point that I think I'd bother chasing schematics. I do run ten Arena battles daily, though. Saves me 20 chronitons a day for the daily mission 20 ship battles requirement. As for the Gauntlet, I've limited my play time there to when it's necessary for a midweek event. And those Voyage 5*s? Pfft. Whatever. I run voyages daily for the loot already. If they ever drop, fine, sure. If they never drop, fine, sure. But it is stupid that they could have created a dilemma path to unlock them a la the 4*'s and didn't do that.
I understand the reasoning behind doing a Voyage Crew in Gauntlet and a Gauntlet Crew in Voyages. For trying to get engagement across play areas of the game. I think that the big issue people have, to summarize, is the timing of a new Gauntlet Crew so soon after Archer. Maybe people would have been less upset if the change was delayed. Maybe give at least six months or so for people to hunt Archer.
Why was Vicki not expelled from Greendale after she literally stabbed Pierce in the face with a pencil?!?!?
I understand the reasoning behind doing a Voyage Crew in Gauntlet and a Gauntlet Crew in Voyages. For trying to get engagement across play areas of the game. I think that the big issue people have, to summarize, is the timing of a new Gauntlet Crew so soon after Archer. Maybe people would have been less upset if the change was delayed. Maybe give at least six months or so for people to hunt Archer.
I object to both. Gauntlets are one of the least enjoyable aspects of Timelines. Now to max voyages, I feel like I need to chase Mariner.
I understand the reasoning behind doing a Voyage Crew in Gauntlet and a Gauntlet Crew in Voyages. For trying to get engagement across play areas of the game. I think that the big issue people have, to summarize, is the timing of a new Gauntlet Crew so soon after Archer. Maybe people would have been less upset if the change was delayed. Maybe give at least six months or so for people to hunt Archer.
I object to both. Gauntlets are one of the least enjoyable aspects of Timelines. Now to max voyages, I feel like I need to chase Mariner.
Fair point. They are trying to increase "engagement". Some people are not engaged because they do not want to do one, the other, or both. {Well, I guess a "both" person would not care to do either to get the Crew for the other.}
Why was Vicki not expelled from Greendale after she literally stabbed Pierce in the face with a pencil?!?!?
No Mariner yet, but I just picked up Black. So now I have two crew slots wasted with 1/5 random-drop voyage-exclusive crew, which will likely take years to immortalize. Yay
No Mariner yet, but I just picked up Black. So now I have two crew slots wasted with 1/5 random-drop voyage-exclusive crew, which will likely take years to immortalize. Yay
Comments
The starbase replicator rations were built as a perpetual motion machine. It solved the issue where once all other rooms are built fleets would lose access to the chrons because they couldn't donate starbase components. So you feed in random items and get out their value in replicator rations.
There are other things more useful that the Starbase could produce.
Like ship schematics because it’s, ya know, a starbase.
Or credits because it’s a centre for commerce.
And so forth.
It’s a little better then effectively trading a replicator material for a different kind of replicator material.
The Advanced Reclamation Unit specifically is always more efficient than each player just creating their own rations, even with all buffs.
*And by "earned," I only mean the 4* voyagers are unlocked by choices we have control over, not that they require anything from us other than tokens and patience.
In the last 5'ish years I play it daily and as often as possible - based on the following:
- Never care with results / outcomes
- Use best crew I have that meets criteria / crit
- Play as many times as the timer allows during my day, when i open game (typically 3 to 4 rounds per day)
- Hit any challenger, typically the first on the left
- Don't use mertits to refresh
This process regularly finishes between 8 - 20, on busy days between 80 - 120. I've won more then 12 but less than 24.
Midweek OE's are always done without fuss & effort, due to start time & zero play the day before.
For my lack of care but repeitive efforts I have
- 4 each of TKK, Caretaker, Locutus & RA
- 2 Balok, 1 Guinan.
- 0 each of Arimus, FFA, Mirror Mariner
One of these was a reward from #1 another 2 or 3 were from my low end finishes (pity prizes), the rest were streak of 3 or 6 drops.
Oddly, I've had 3 drops in the time FFA was the reward - so i guess that means nothing for thext 2 years!
- A behold for older exlusives would be most player friendly
- Publishing the current reward drop rate % clearly for exclusive and older exclusive per type of reward box would be an extremely player positive thing that WRG/TP could do
Those of us who have been round for years now been though a lot. No need to list them, but some have quit. I came close once but stuck it out. The new WRG approach seems like a war of attrition against players who love the game and spend money on it. That sentiment is being eroded daily. Please get a grip WRG and do so quickly. We don’t have to be here and can take ourselves and our wallets elsewhere.
On top of this nonsense, they introduced two legendary characters as random draws on voyages -- again, I always send out voyages and regularly check them -- so far, haven't seen either of the voyage specific legendaries, and all of my voyages go for at least 12 hours without assistance.
I sometimes think the folks working on this game sit around a table and come up with a list of the worst possible ways to make this game less playable. After being with it since the beginning, I'm only sticking around because of my fleet mates -- but I'm done spending money on it.
I can't even imagine how unplayable it is for someone starting out at the beginning.
I've thought this for years, but it only gets worse as new things are added. How many new players do we get? When I started, there were constant questions by new people. Now we only get very rare questions. I have close to 700 crew slots well over half full of 5* crew. I have enough resources to get top 750 in any event and have regularly done this for dozens of events in a row. How can a new person hope to compete? I've backed off the past few events, so I suppose there is that, but my situation is hardly unique.
Consider other games. Take Angry Birds for an example. There are global contests, but most of it is competition with others close to your own level. Even the newest player can win now and then. And if they don't win as much as someone in a higher ranking, they at least are not competing directly with that person. Plus the game involves actual playing rather than simply setting up the most strategic crew possible and waiting.
Couldn't they set up fleet competitions with fleets that are similarly ranked? Or gauntlet based on captain level and/or crew size? Give hope to new players and they may come.
I'm not quite that cynical, but I do think the current team is under pressure to make changes and they aren't fully thinking through what those changes will entail and what they will do. Maybe they aren't being given sufficient time. Maybe they aren't familiar enough with the ecosystem of the game. I dunno.
I can't even imagine how I'd explain it to anyone without making it sound like far more of a convoluted hassle than an enjoyable game. Hmm. Y'know, now that I think about it...
It’s really easy to get into gauntlet. Sure you’ll get pasted left, right and centre but you gotta start those 20000 rounds sometime. I doubt STT has captured 100% of the Locutus Superfan demographic yet.
I was referring to the why even bother factor
Locutus of course!
However this isn’t a problem with the Gauntlet in particular, it’s a problem with any well established game. There’s a long list of stuff you need to be even competitive in this game or similar games. There’s no real easy solution beyond giving away free or almost free stuff to at least get started.
And the good news does not stop there! Since these shiny new Voyage cards that nobody can win anyway because the chances of them dropping are effectively 0 are only useful in Gauntlet I don't need to care that I'll never get one of them either!
Quitting Gauntlet is the key to happiness friends. If you take it seriously at all it is a waste of time, resources, a drain on mental health reserves and gives absolutely nothing back in return, and if you just run it to run it it doesn't matter what 5 cards you have, so either way playing Gauntlet is pointless. Stop giving it power over you, accept that it is an abusive and exploitative system and simply stop playing it, once the initial shock wears off you'll be so much happier.
I did this a while ago and it feels great. Well said. I still play for the mini-events, but I don't stress.
Edit: as mentioned above and below I now prepare for midweek event gauntlet.🙄 oh well at least it is only two days.
I don't even give enough of a damn about ships at this point that I think I'd bother chasing schematics. I do run ten Arena battles daily, though. Saves me 20 chronitons a day for the daily mission 20 ship battles requirement. As for the Gauntlet, I've limited my play time there to when it's necessary for a midweek event. And those Voyage 5*s? Pfft. Whatever. I run voyages daily for the loot already. If they ever drop, fine, sure. If they never drop, fine, sure. But it is stupid that they could have created a dilemma path to unlock them a la the 4*'s and didn't do that.
It's freeing to let go. 🖖
More frustrating is that I need to get her to 5/5 before I can use her.
I've had much better results for post-Gauntlet boxes when I finish 50+ than the top ranked boxes. Archer, I think I finished mid/high 60s. Maybe 67?
I object to both. Gauntlets are one of the least enjoyable aspects of Timelines. Now to max voyages, I feel like I need to chase Mariner.
Fair point. They are trying to increase "engagement". Some people are not engaged because they do not want to do one, the other, or both. {Well, I guess a "both" person would not care to do either to get the Crew for the other.}
Just use cites. 🤗