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Can we please have more crew slots!

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  • Crew slots WITHOUT incremental costs, or allow credits to be used to expand crew costs or buy dilithium to buy the aforementioned slots and still without an incremental cost.

    Nicer yet would be to refund the extra above spend dilithum or expand the extra slots for the abundance of dilithum used.

    Set the cost at a fair flat rate.
  • Mirror CartmanMirror Cartman ✭✭✭✭✭
    It has to do with crew and equipment. Every single time you are in your crew quarters, it checks every single crew, and every single item that isn't built on those crew and compares it to everything in your inventory to show crew where you have an item you can build. If every player had 500 crew slots full of crew it would slow the game down significantly making those checks.

    If that is the real problem, then the server will only have a problem with crew that are not levelled.

    As I have said before, the solution for both us and DB would be to have extra crew slots that can only be used for FFFE crew. Make them a third of the price of the current 5 slot upgrades, and give them as rewards for cryostasis achievements.

    It would help DB because there would be an incentive for players to immortalise crew, freeing up more expensive levelling slots.
  • Shy KhanShy Khan ✭✭✭✭✭
    Shy Khan wrote: »
    Let it never be said we are not willing to SING for our supper! (And by "supper," I mean, "crew slots...") So, in the grand tradition of @Magisse :



    OUT OF SLOTS AGAIN

    Wa’, Cha’... Wa’, Cha’, Wej, LoS...

    I’m out of slots again.
    I can’t believe I’m out of slots again
    A card collecting game should have have more space, my friend
    Yet somehow I’ve run out of slots again

    I’m out of slots again
    Oh, Jor Lon True, can’t keep my Romulan!
    I threw too many crew out the airlock, my friend
    I can’t believe I’m out of slots again

    I’m out of slots again
    Like a game of Pokémon with just one red ball
    I know Good Things Must End
    But they will too soon if you keep thinking so small

    Walk down the hall (and tell them)

    We need more slots again
    I’m getting tired of saying, “He’s dead Jim!”
    It’s simple logic you green blooded hobgoblin
    I can’t believe I’m out of slots again

    (music break)
    Mr. Spock, we are out of slots again!
    That, sir, is illogical.
    That’s what I told them
    Most unpleasant situation, Captain
    Ugh, it just *Amazing Poutine*.
    Being a red blooded human obviously has its disadvantages
    Yes it does, Mr. Spock, yes it does.
    Affirmative


    I’m out of slots again!
    Like a replicator not programmed with Earl Grey
    Shall always be your friend
    But without slots you are going out the hard way

    Shut up Wesley

    I’m out of slots again
    Bajorans, Vulcans and Andorians
    I guess Today is a Good Day to Die, my friends
    I’d say, "Live long," but we’re out of slots again
    My crew, so long, cause we’re out of slots again.

    Lol I just listened to this! You did a great job on it. It was fantastic and I don’t even like country music!

    Thanks! Karaoke makes for great procrastination :)
    Come join the Steeler Nation Fleet!
  • [TLA]  84wb[TLA] 84wb ✭✭✭
    ... there aren't any immediate plans to dramatically change the crew slot system ... Although we may not be able to deliver the answers you would like on this topic ...
    You are absolutely right, that this is not the answer, I would have like to get. ;)
    Nevertheless, and in fact more important, it is a quick answer and straight to the point. So, thanks for that! :)
    Interested in being part of the TLA fun?
  • IronagedaveIronagedave ✭✭✭✭✭
    Shy Khan wrote: »
    Just saw that someone posted a whiny post whining about how some people were whining about wanting more crew slots.

    coin-slot-on-blue-background-allan-swart.jpg

    I actually like this image it's very symbolic to the issue, with only one slot only one coin can be put in at one time, if there were multiple slots more coins can be inserted several times over.

    More slots, more space, more premium/event pulls.

    No more slots, no more space, no more premium/event pulls.

    Do the economically viable thing DB - do it right now!
    [was on Sabbatical/Hiatus] Currently a trialist at Galaxy SquadronSTAY SAFE and KBO
  • cmdrworfcmdrworf ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2018
    They've said what the technical issue was in the past.

    It has to do with crew and equipment. Every single time you are in your crew quarters, it checks every single crew, and every single item that isn't built on those crew and compares it to everything in your inventory to show crew where you have an item you can build. If every player had 500 crew slots full of crew it would slow the game down significantly making those checks.

    Nod had told us that crew slots were put in place to prevent players from having too many crew so the game wouldn't be slowed down. He said they learned from their mistake on Game of Thrones: Ascent where they didn't limit the number of "crew" and it became a performance nightmare.

    However, this is where it puzzles me. If they knew that the design used in GOTA caused performance issues, why did they use the same design for STT? Why didn't they use a different design on this game that would solve the performance problem? There are many ways they could have did the back end architecture that didn't limit slots and didn't slow the game down. Instead they used the design that they already knew was a problem and put a big band aid on it called crew slot limits.

    In most modern application designs (speaking as an IT Enterprise Architect) you can add additional servers for more horsepower to run your application faster. This does assume the application was built to be split across multiple servers which should always be the case. The problem comes on the database side. This is a much more touchy area to run across multiple servers and keep the data in sync. Many applications run across multiple servers, but use a single backend DB (replicated for recovery) as keeping multiple DB's in sync can be a logistic nightmare. With all of the activity we do, it needs to be practically real time or we'd see issues should be bounce from DB server A to DB server B. With the volume of people playing these games, I'd be pretty confident that this is where their issue lies. There are ways to address this, but they are neither quick, no cheap as it would involve much more then just "throwing more hardware at the problem".

    Unfortunately, this is one time I can understand where they are coming from even though I really want more crew slots too.
    Sir, I protest! I am NOT a merry man!
  • MagisseMagisse ✭✭✭✭✭
    cmdrworf wrote: »
    They've said what the technical issue was in the past.

    It has to do with crew and equipment. Every single time you are in your crew quarters, it checks every single crew, and every single item that isn't built on those crew and compares it to everything in your inventory to show crew where you have an item you can build. If every player had 500 crew slots full of crew it would slow the game down significantly making those checks.

    Nod had told us that crew slots were put in place to prevent players from having too many crew so the game wouldn't be slowed down. He said they learned from their mistake on Game of Thrones: Ascent where they didn't limit the number of "crew" and it became a performance nightmare.

    However, this is where it puzzles me. If they knew that the design used in GOTA caused performance issues, why did they use the same design for STT? Why didn't they use a different design on this game that would solve the performance problem? There are many ways they could have did the back end architecture that didn't limit slots and didn't slow the game down. Instead they used the design that they already knew was a problem and put a big band aid on it called crew slot limits.

    In most modern application designs (speaking as an IT Enterprise Architect) you can add additional servers for more horsepower to run your application faster. This does assume the application was built to be split across multiple servers which should always be the case. The problem comes on the database side. This is a much more touchy area to run across multiple servers and keep the data in sync. Many applications run across multiple servers, but use a single backend DB (replicated for recovery) as keeping multiple DB's in sync can be a logistic nightmare. With all of the activity we do, it needs to be practically real time or we'd see issues should be bounce from DB server A to DB server B. With the volume of people playing these games, I'd be pretty confident that this is where their issue lies. There are ways to address this, but they are neither quick, no cheap as it would involve much more then just "throwing more hardware at the problem".

    Unfortunately, this is one time I can understand where they are coming from even though I really want more crew slots too.

    So DB has a DB issue? How apt.
  • SSR BarkleySSR Barkley ✭✭✭✭✭
    cmdrworf wrote: »
    They've said what the technical issue was in the past.

    It has to do with crew and equipment. Every single time you are in your crew quarters, it checks every single crew, and every single item that isn't built on those crew and compares it to everything in your inventory to show crew where you have an item you can build. If every player had 500 crew slots full of crew it would slow the game down significantly making those checks.

    Nod had told us that crew slots were put in place to prevent players from having too many crew so the game wouldn't be slowed down. He said they learned from their mistake on Game of Thrones: Ascent where they didn't limit the number of "crew" and it became a performance nightmare.

    However, this is where it puzzles me. If they knew that the design used in GOTA caused performance issues, why did they use the same design for STT? Why didn't they use a different design on this game that would solve the performance problem? There are many ways they could have did the back end architecture that didn't limit slots and didn't slow the game down. Instead they used the design that they already knew was a problem and put a big band aid on it called crew slot limits.

    In most modern application designs (speaking as an IT Enterprise Architect) you can add additional servers for more horsepower to run your application faster. This does assume the application was built to be split across multiple servers which should always be the case. The problem comes on the database side. This is a much more touchy area to run across multiple servers and keep the data in sync. Many applications run across multiple servers, but use a single backend DB (replicated for recovery) as keeping multiple DB's in sync can be a logistic nightmare. With all of the activity we do, it needs to be practically real time or we'd see issues should be bounce from DB server A to DB server B. With the volume of people playing these games, I'd be pretty confident that this is where their issue lies. There are ways to address this, but they are neither quick, no cheap as it would involve much more then just "throwing more hardware at the problem".

    Unfortunately, this is one time I can understand where they are coming from even though I really want more crew slots too.

    so, a few things
    • Mobile game companies are constrained by many things, one of them being budget/funding. They don't have the luxury of always hiring top level back-end architects and database gurus that can put out a perfect architecture/design. We got what we got.
    • If you've been around this game long enough, you've been aware of all the various issues that have come up, many of which come from specific design elements in the game, and how the back end is laid out. For those who sit in the discord channels, these points have been addressed continuously over the past 2 years. You can log onto them and discuss if detail if you like.
    • As the previous poster stated, database architecture is not simply solved by throwing more servers at the issue, you still have a central database sitting somewhere, and database architecture and performance is likely outside the comprehension level of 90% of people who read these forums. (I'm generously giving 10% because it's a star trek game and ....well, you know.)
    • DB can't just hand out more crew slots to 200k (rough estimate) users, laissez-faire. They've handed them out where they've felt their database server can handle the load, and you should appreciate those times they've done so. and it was always done OVER TIME, so there has been some behind the scenes discussions and analytics done. (side note - many of us make fun of their "analytics" but at least they're trying)
    • Trying to fix the database issues would likely end the game, because of the work involved, and the likelihood of it breaking. Mobile games can be a flash in the pan, so the cost-benefit of them undertaking such a task is not worth it.
    /SSR/ Barkley - semi retired
    Second Star to the Right - Join Today!
  • RNGeverythingRNGeverything ✭✭✭
    edited May 2018
    reasonable requests seen thus far:
    • unvault w/no merit cause

    Additional "reasonable" requests
    • warp cadet missions that have been 3*'d, just like regular missions

    this would immediately alleviate the need to keep 15-16 greens/blues on many active rosters

    Honestly I stopped doing the cadet missions entirely. Not worth the time and effort. I have no cadets. It still didn’t solve my crew slot problem. I just want to be able to warp them. That’s all. I don’t want to warp them for the slots, I want to warp them because I’m tired of doing them.
    239 Immortalized
    Gametag: ECH
  • edited May 2018
    People keep assuming an architecture reason to mean there is a technical limit to slots.

    If it was a technical limitation would they do everything they can to charge to get around the limit or increase it? Would they keep releasing tons of new characters every month if there was a technical problem with letting us keep them?

    There isn’t. The architecture reference means it was built this way on purpose.

    I respect DB’s need to make money. I just hate that it has to be in a way that intentionally forces us to pay to be inconvenienced less instead of just adding fun features that improve the game experience more.
  • Shy KhanShy Khan ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2018
    People keep assuming an architecture reason to mean there is a technical limit to slots.

    If it was a technical limitation would they do everything they can to charge to get around the limit or increase it? Would they keep releasing tons of new characters every month if there was a technical problem with letting us keep them?

    There isn’t. The architecture reference means it was built this way on purpose.

    I respect DB’s need to make money. I just hate that it has to be in a way that intentionally forces us to pay to be inconvenienced less instead of just adding fun features that improve the game experience more.

    Believe it or not, I'm actually fine with crew slots being limited as a function of game design and balanced play. As an old tabletop RPGer and Starcrafter, I get and enjoy resource management as part of games. But, I think what a large percentage of people can agree on is that, currently, the balance is way off with crew slot availability, crew inventory management and crew slot cost at most levels of play.
    Come join the Steeler Nation Fleet!
  • Dirk GundersonDirk Gunderson ✭✭✭✭✭
    reasonable requests seen thus far:
    • unvault w/no merit cause

    Additional "reasonable" requests
    • warp cadet missions that have been 3*'d, just like regular missions

    this would immediately alleviate the need to keep 15-16 greens/blues on many active rosters

    Honestly I stopped doing the cadet missions entirely. Not worth the time and effort. I have no cadets. It still didn’t solve my crew slot problem. I just want to be able to warp them. That’s all. I don’t want to warp them for the slots, I want to warp them because I’m tired of doing them.

    No cadet missions ever? You must not like getting honor, chrons, shuttle boosts, or hard-to-obtain items for a few minutes a day of tapping.
  • Yeah I skip them pretty often now too. This game is getting really boring. Spent almost two years playing the same two event types. I don’t even know if adding 1 new one now is enough to save it. Certainly can’t hurt.
    STAR TREK JUNKIES
  • Stop complaining about crew slots. Simply immortalize more cards and freeze more cards. I personally have like 40 open crew slots not being used.
  • Stop complaining about crew slots. Simply immortalize more cards and freeze more cards. I personally have like 40 open crew slots not being used.

    Your situation are prob different that other players.
  • *Nomad* {PoF}*Nomad* {PoF} ✭✭✭✭✭
    Even something as simple as allowing us to unvault crew without a cost of merits or dil would be hugely helpful.

    zyd45wh0rpld.jpg

    ......DB response......"closing this thread" because you were mean....
    Founding ADM - PoF family of fleets (POF, POF2 & POF3) - Dear TP: Non sequitur. Your facts are uncoordinated.
  • I am actually quite thankful they have kept this thread open. It definitely doesn’t do anything positive for their public image. There have been some pointed remarks towards them and perhaps some or all may be justified. However, I’m glad they are leaving this open to gauge the community on the subject matter. Especially after we got an official response. They could have said there is nothing more to discuss and closed up shop. I think our moderators have treated us rather well.
    STAR TREK JUNKIES
  • Even something as simple as allowing us to unvault crew without a cost of merits or dil would be hugely helpful.

    zyd45wh0rpld.jpg

    This is total Gold though.
    STAR TREK JUNKIES
  • I am curious what would happen if all the players bought up all the slots they could? Would it hinder the game experience? Perhaps it would force a solution to the alleged problem.
    STAR TREK JUNKIES
  • Shy KhanShy Khan ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2018
    The various “let them eat cake” and “why don’t people just pull themselves up by their bootstraps - I did it so everyone should” comments and threads popping up are certainly interesting to see in a game based around a post-scarcity Star Trek universe.

    Anyway, more slots please!

    parking.png

    Come join the Steeler Nation Fleet!
  • RNGeverythingRNGeverything ✭✭✭
    edited May 2018
    reasonable requests seen thus far:
    • unvault w/no merit cause

    Additional "reasonable" requests
    • warp cadet missions that have been 3*'d, just like regular missions

    this would immediately alleviate the need to keep 15-16 greens/blues on many active rosters

    Honestly I stopped doing the cadet missions entirely. Not worth the time and effort. I have no cadets. It still didn’t solve my crew slot problem. I just want to be able to warp them. That’s all. I don’t want to warp them for the slots, I want to warp them because I’m tired of doing them.

    No cadet missions ever? You must not like getting honor, chrons, shuttle boosts, or hard-to-obtain items for a few minutes a day of tapping.

    Yep. You read that right. I get enough honor from my fleet daily achievements and other things to get a 5* citation bi-monthly. STJ for the win! I’m currently sitting on 5,000 chrons. Got hundreds of 3* boosts. And hard to obtain items I just replicate.... so Yeah. I think I’m doing okay. Doesn’t change the fact that having all the cadet missions at 3* makes me want to warp the **tsk tsk** out of them.
    239 Immortalized
    Gametag: ECH
  • Althea BiermontAlthea Biermont ✭✭✭✭✭
    reasonable requests seen thus far:
    • unvault w/no merit cause

    Additional "reasonable" requests
    • warp cadet missions that have been 3*'d, just like regular missions

    this would immediately alleviate the need to keep 15-16 greens/blues on many active rosters

    Honestly I stopped doing the cadet missions entirely. Not worth the time and effort. I have no cadets. It still didn’t solve my crew slot problem. I just want to be able to warp them. That’s all. I don’t want to warp them for the slots, I want to warp them because I’m tired of doing them.

    No cadet missions ever? You must not like getting honor, chrons, shuttle boosts, or hard-to-obtain items for a few minutes a day of tapping.

    Yep. You read that right. I get enough honor from my fleet to get a 5* citation once a month.

    How are you accomplishing that? You get 570 honor a day from fleet rewards. That's 17,100 honor in 30 days. A 5* citation is 50,000 honor. How are you getting 50,000 honor a month from your fleet?

  • Peachtree RexPeachtree Rex ✭✭✭✭✭
    reasonable requests seen thus far:
    • unvault w/no merit cause

    Additional "reasonable" requests
    • warp cadet missions that have been 3*'d, just like regular missions

    this would immediately alleviate the need to keep 15-16 greens/blues on many active rosters

    Honestly I stopped doing the cadet missions entirely. Not worth the time and effort. I have no cadets. It still didn’t solve my crew slot problem. I just want to be able to warp them. That’s all. I don’t want to warp them for the slots, I want to warp them because I’m tired of doing them.

    No cadet missions ever? You must not like getting honor, chrons, shuttle boosts, or hard-to-obtain items for a few minutes a day of tapping.

    Yep. You read that right. I get enough honor from my fleet to get a 5* citation once a month.

    How are you accomplishing that? You get 570 honor a day from fleet rewards. That's 17,100 honor in 30 days. A 5* citation is 50,000 honor. How are you getting 50,000 honor a month from your fleet?

    Averaging 1000 honor/day from voyages isn't an outrageous amount...
  • Sorry I worded that wrong. Voyages are my go to source for everything now a days.
    239 Immortalized
    Gametag: ECH
  • Althea BiermontAlthea Biermont ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2018
    reasonable requests seen thus far:
    • unvault w/no merit cause

    Additional "reasonable" requests
    • warp cadet missions that have been 3*'d, just like regular missions

    this would immediately alleviate the need to keep 15-16 greens/blues on many active rosters

    Honestly I stopped doing the cadet missions entirely. Not worth the time and effort. I have no cadets. It still didn’t solve my crew slot problem. I just want to be able to warp them. That’s all. I don’t want to warp them for the slots, I want to warp them because I’m tired of doing them.

    No cadet missions ever? You must not like getting honor, chrons, shuttle boosts, or hard-to-obtain items for a few minutes a day of tapping.

    Yep. You read that right. I get enough honor from my fleet to get a 5* citation once a month.

    How are you accomplishing that? You get 570 honor a day from fleet rewards. That's 17,100 honor in 30 days. A 5* citation is 50,000 honor. How are you getting 50,000 honor a month from your fleet?

    Averaging 1000 honor/day from voyages isn't an outrageous amount...

    That wouldn't be from the Fleet and they specified from the Fleet.

    Also I'm running 8-10 hours of voyages every day and it's never more than 300 or so honor. Not sure how you could get 1,000 from voyages each day?

    Edit: Just saw his response about wording it incorrectly.
  • CloneClone ✭✭✭
    Am I the only one who thinks there are too many posts related to the number of crew slots?

    But seriously, we could definitely use some more slots. Vulcanoromulan month was a constant crunch as some of us thawed more than a dozen crew for those events.
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