Kickstart Ideas for 12 Missions

Banjo1012

Can’t really think of anything to get immediately beyond 1800 VP. Even with using 4* boosts

[DB-DO BETTER] [7TW] Captain plim123

Right. And now you've realized what DB is actually trying to do. They want to prevent players from actually using strategy so they're manipulating the rules of the game without notice.

[SSR] GTMET

Yeah, best I could do was 25 shuttles for mid 1800 range:

Open 12 (first batch)
Run 11
Open 11 (second batch)
Run 2 of the second batch with *** boosts
Open 2 (third batch)
Run the 2 from the third batch with ****boosts
Run the remaining mission from the first batch
Run the remaining 9 from the second batch with *** boosts

Dark Matter

Banjo1012 wrote: »

Can’t really think of anything to get immediately beyond 1800 VP. Even with using 4* boosts

I'm afraid there is no such strategy.

Dark Matter

[DB-DO BETTER] [7TW] Captain plim123 wrote: »

Right. And now you've realized what DB is actually trying to do. They want to prevent players from actually using strategy so they're manipulating the rules of the game without notice.

I don't care about such changes as long as they are properly communicated. In fact I would be very happy if they completely removed possibility of opening more than one mission at a time.

Banjo1012

[DB-DO BETTER] [7TW] Captain plim123 wrote: »

Right. And now you've realized what DB is actually trying to do. They want to prevent players from actually using strategy so they're manipulating the rules of the game without notice.

And now it is up to us to outsmart them

Banjo1012

Dark Matter wrote: »

[DB-DO BETTER] [7TW] Captain plim123 wrote: »

Right. And now you've realized what DB is actually trying to do. They want to prevent players from actually using strategy so they're manipulating the rules of the game without notice.

I don't care about such changes as long as they are properly communicated. In fact I would be very happy if they completely removed possibility of opening more than one mission at a time.

Party pooper

Banjo1012

[TFA] GTMET wrote: »

Yeah, best I could do was 25 shuttles for mid 1800 range:

Open 12 (first batch)
Run 11
Open 11 (second batch)
Run 2 of the second batch with *** boosts
Open 2 (third batch)
Run the 2 from the third batch with ****boosts
Run the remaining mission from the first batch
Run the remaining 9 from the second batch with *** boosts

That’s one up on me. I was thinking run the 12 then 12 more with 4* to get 24 at 1800. I like your idea much better though. It burns less 4*’s

Pallidyne

Dark Matter wrote: »

[DB-DO BETTER] [7TW] Captain plim123 wrote: »

Right. And now you've realized what DB is actually trying to do. They want to prevent players from actually using strategy so they're manipulating the rules of the game without notice.

I don't care about such changes as long as they are properly communicated. In fact I would be very happy if they completely removed possibility of opening more than one mission at a time.

So you get what you get and can't choose to try for a mission that has a better skill match for your crew? That sounds completely awful.

[10F] Belle'Anna

Pallidyne wrote: »

Dark Matter wrote: »

[DB-DO BETTER] [7TW] Captain plim123 wrote: »

Right. And now you've realized what DB is actually trying to do. They want to prevent players from actually using strategy so they're manipulating the rules of the game without notice.

I don't care about such changes as long as they are properly communicated. In fact I would be very happy if they completely removed possibility of opening more than one mission at a time.

So you get what you get and can't choose to try for a mission that has a better skill match for your crew? That sounds completely awful.

Yeah. That's bad. And it removes strategy even more. That's not good.

I understand how DB want us to climb the ladder, it's how the game was designed (otherwise all shuttles would be the same from the very start, at 4000VP) but we do need to be able to pick and choose where our carefully leveled event and bonus crew go.

Paladin 27

There is also some strategy involved in how you climb the ladder to 4k. For example because of the plus 1 for success and -1.5 for fails you may actually climb faster by not using time boosts at some vp levels and using skill boosts instead.

I actually think that having fewer shuttles makes people adjust their strategy for climbing to 4k based on their own bonus crew available and shuttle configurations. The correct strategy will likely be much more variable for players of different crew strengths,

I think all in all it provides a much more interesting type of strategy than the old quick starts where everyone spammed 30 one minute shuttles and ten using boosts.

Plus I like being able to complete the whole start for 12 shuttles in like ten minutes rather than the half hour I needed for 30.

Banjo1012

Paladin 27 wrote: »

There is also some strategy involved in how you climb the ladder to 4k. For example because of the plus 1 for success and -1.5 for fails you may actually climb faster by not using time boosts at some vp levels and using skill boosts instead.

I actually think that having fewer shuttles makes people adjust their strategy for climbing to 4k based on their own bonus crew available and shuttle configurations. The correct strategy will likely be much more variable for players of different crew strengths,

I think all in all it provides a much more interesting type of strategy than the old quick starts where everyone spammed 30 one minute shuttles and ten using boosts.

Plus I like being able to complete the whole start for 12 shuttles in like ten minutes rather than the half hour I needed for 30.

All good points. Bonus crew is also a variable. This event I had barely any. I only have one Ferengi. Some events I have tons of bonus crew. Either way though, if I’m going for as high a ranking as I can, I’m using time boosts on every shuttle except when I’m going to sleep. I see it as it’s all or nothing so go for it.

Pallidyne

Banjo1012 wrote: »

Paladin 27 wrote: »

There is also some strategy involved in how you climb the ladder to 4k. For example because of the plus 1 for success and -1.5 for fails you may actually climb faster by not using time boosts at some vp levels and using skill boosts instead.

I actually think that having fewer shuttles makes people adjust their strategy for climbing to 4k based on their own bonus crew available and shuttle configurations. The correct strategy will likely be much more variable for players of different crew strengths,

I think all in all it provides a much more interesting type of strategy than the old quick starts where everyone spammed 30 one minute shuttles and ten using boosts.

Plus I like being able to complete the whole start for 12 shuttles in like ten minutes rather than the half hour I needed for 30.

All good points. Bonus crew is also a variable. This event I had barely any. I only have one Ferengi. Some events I have tons of bonus crew. Either way though, if I’m going for as high a ranking as I can, I’m using time boosts on every shuttle except when I’m going to sleep. I see it as it’s all or nothing so go for it.

I tell ya, if you're ok with just hitting top 1000 on a faction, knowing when to skill and knowing when to time boost really can get you further..... though multiple bonus crew helps.

Secret Journey

Banjo1012 wrote: »

[DB-DO BETTER] [7TW] Captain plim123 wrote: »

Right. And now you've realized what DB is actually trying to do. They want to prevent players from actually using strategy so they're manipulating the rules of the game without notice.

And now it is up to us to outsmart them

Close to impossible when they simply need to monitor these threads to check player progress on that...

Banjo1012

Secret Journey wrote: »

Banjo1012 wrote: »

[DB-DO BETTER] [7TW] Captain plim123 wrote: »

Right. And now you've realized what DB is actually trying to do. They want to prevent players from actually using strategy so they're manipulating the rules of the game without notice.

And now it is up to us to outsmart them

Close to impossible when they simply need to monitor these threads to check player progress on that...

Ha! Yes I suppose advertising our ideas isn’t good for business

Pallidyne

Banjo1012 wrote: »

Secret Journey wrote: »

Banjo1012 wrote: »

[DB-DO BETTER] [7TW] Captain plim123 wrote: »

Right. And now you've realized what DB is actually trying to do. They want to prevent players from actually using strategy so they're manipulating the rules of the game without notice.

And now it is up to us to outsmart them

Close to impossible when they simply need to monitor these threads to check player progress on that...

Ha! Yes I suppose advertising our ideas isn’t good for business

Just creates a chase -- considering how long the jump start has existed (well over a year) I imagine if something new were worked out in 2020 DB would do something about it and we'd be having this discussion again.

Banjo1012

Pallidyne wrote: »

Banjo1012 wrote: »

Secret Journey wrote: »

Banjo1012 wrote: »

[DB-DO BETTER] [7TW] Captain plim123 wrote: »

Right. And now you've realized what DB is actually trying to do. They want to prevent players from actually using strategy so they're manipulating the rules of the game without notice.

And now it is up to us to outsmart them

Close to impossible when they simply need to monitor these threads to check player progress on that...

Ha! Yes I suppose advertising our ideas isn’t good for business

Just creates a chase -- considering how long the jump start has existed (well over a year) I imagine if something new were worked out in 2020 DB would do something about it and we'd be having this discussion again.

I do see that point. At least there weren’t any blockbuster ideas presented. My bad. Didn’t mean to expose our hand

Marko Ramius

We're playing right into their hands. More than anything, I think DB is trying to keep the playing field level. Despite their tactics for eliminating the kickstart (dressed up as a favor to us to prevent lag), I do believe that they have everyone's enjoyment in the game in mind, and not just the people who have figured out how to game the system (which I have absolutely no problem with). Therefore, by posting all of our new strategies to get the best kickstart, we're letting them know that they have more nerfing to do in order to achieve their goal.

In the end we may end up with a scenario that Dark Matter described in which we may only open one mission at a time, completely eliminating the kickstart, but also eliminating crew matching. So here's my suggestion. If you figure a good way to do it, DON'T POST IT. Share it with your friends and fleet members to help them, or just keep it to yourself. Sounds selfish, but it'll keep the status quo. I mean let's be honest, if it weren't for that dude posting the video about the kickstart, we would still all be happy doing it the old way and getting to 4k in the first 20 minutes.

Pallidyne

Marko Ramius wrote: »

We're playing right into their hands. More than anything, I think DB is trying to keep the playing field level. Despite their tactics for eliminating the kickstart (dressed up as a favor to us to prevent lag), I do believe that they have everyone's enjoyment in the game in mind, and not just the people who have figured out how to game the system (which I have absolutely no problem with). Therefore, by posting all of our new strategies to get the best kickstart, we're letting them know that they have more nerfing to do in order to achieve their goal.

In the end we may end up with a scenario that Dark Matter described in which we may only open one mission at a time, completely eliminating the kickstart, but also eliminating crew matching. So here's my suggestion. If you figure a good way to do it, DON'T POST IT. Share it with your friends and fleet members to help them, or just keep it to yourself. Sounds selfish, but it'll keep the status quo. I mean let's be honest, if it weren't for that dude posting the video about the kickstart, we would still all be happy doing it the old way and getting to 4k in the first 20 minutes.

I actually disagree that it was all down to the kickstart vid. There have been discussions on the kickstart under a variety of names going back to 2016 in the old forums. In fact, I remember some folks discovering it on their own and thinking they'd found something brand new getting a golf clap from other forum goers when they posted about it.

There are other methods that aren't this forum like Discord etc. I really don't see DB staff having the time to hang out there.

Marko Ramius

Pallidyne wrote: »

I actually disagree that it was all down to the kickstart vid. There have been discussions on the kickstart under a variety of names going back to 2016 in the old forums. In fact, I remember some folks discovering it on their own and thinking they'd found something brand new getting a golf clap from other forum goers when they posted about it.

There are other methods that aren't this forum like Discord etc. I really don't see DB staff having the time to hang out there.

Maybe it wasn't the only factor, but the timing of the video and then the nerf seemed very convenient. Either way, I still think it should be like religion and politics. Keep it to yourself.

Ironagedave

Banjo1012 wrote: »

Can’t really think of anything to get immediately beyond 1800 VP. Even with using 4* boosts

The thing is you can't not without using dilithium to auto complete after using what 5* time boosts you have (if any)
The maximum you can complete on free auto completes is 26 shuttle runs which is mid 1800 tier.

It's therefore slightly easier when there are 3 factions obviously - more missions to play with between tiers - but I suspect they will become a rare occurrence.

Now I'm not saying I'm happy about the change to kickstart, because I am not, but what I am especially not happy about is by clamping down so hard on this, they have obliterated (shall we say) more legitimate strategies like opening missions in advance for shuttle returns and cherry picking best mission options for what crew you have available - this is what has killed the fun out of this event.

[OPA] Sky Marshall DaYng1

Let's be honest here. With the Kickstart in place and a moderate amount of people knew about it was acceptable. Once the majority of users started using it and DB had to pay extra for more server processing to cope with the lag it was a dead duck.

Oh yeah some money hungry senior staff also probably said hey look at this projection. If we kill the Kickstart we are projected to make x $ more per events and lead up to them in boost sales. Win Win for us.

Ivanstone

I ran 4x 1min.
Than 4x 20min?
Than 3x 1h.
Than 3x 1.5h.
Than ran everything else. That 1500 VP shuttle start was grand. I only did it because I completely face planted on getting 1.5h time reducers.

I still got top 1000 for a character I don't care about. The crappy start probably did cost me a top 650 finish.