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Ability to earn Crew Slots
in Make It So!
Far too often, I see the same issue of people not having enough crew slots to be able to enjoy the game. On one hand, I know that Disruptor Beam, as a company, has to make money and on the other hand, they have to have a strong loyal fan base. Giving away too many free crew slots sounds unfair to the people who spent money on Dilithium but not providing enough crew slots prevent Free-To-Play players from being able to truly compete and enjoy the game. So, after much thought, I have come up with what I think is a fair balance. *Please note, I have not really read thru the forums so I don't know if any of this has already been suggested. Furthermore, I am a VIP 14 so I am not trying to get something for free that benefits solely myself.*
A new player now starts with 70 crew slots. They then have the ability to get 15 more crew slots with credits. For 85 total.
I believe we should add the ability to obtain an additional 15 crew slots with Merits (the price of each set of 5 increasing with each level, set by DB in whatever amount they deem is fair)
After buying 15 crew slots with Merits, the player should be able to get 15 more crew slots with Honor (the price of each set of 5 increasing with each level, set by DB in whatever amount they deem is fair.)
I also think a new Base room could be added. Call it "Guest Crew Quarters", let it go up to level 5 and have it give 5 crew slots per level up to a maximum of 25 crew slots while in a fleet with a base that has the room finished. The Guest Crew Quarters level cap of 5 is based on the similar level cap on the Mess Hall and Transporter Room level caps. In the event that someone leaves a fleet that has the room finished, the lowest leveled 25 crew would be at risk of being lost unless some crew was placed in the vault or unless the player joined a new fleet that also had the room at the same level as the fleet they left.
Finally, I think we could add free crew slots as a reward for Captain Level Achievements. Currently, you get Honor. I think there should be a second set that awards 5 crew slots per 10 levels with either no cap or a cap of lv 50. With a cap of level 50, it would give up to 25 more free crew slots, with no cap, 5 slots per 10 captain levels would be incentive for people to continue to play.
With the ability to buy 15 slots with merits, 15 slots with honor, a base room that caps at level 5 giving 25 slots and a Captain Level reward of 5 slots per 10 levels with a possible cap of level 50 giving 25 more slots, that gives Free-to-play players the ability to have up to 165 crew slots. Possibly more, if the base room level goes up or if the Captain Level reward is uncapped.
This proposal should almost completely fix the long term issue of players complaining about not having enough crew slots. It allows us to use more of the in-game free currency and rewards us all for playing. If anyone has feedback, I'd love to hear it.
Admiral Caladis, Co-leader of TL Elite, VIP 14, Captain Level 66.
A new player now starts with 70 crew slots. They then have the ability to get 15 more crew slots with credits. For 85 total.
I believe we should add the ability to obtain an additional 15 crew slots with Merits (the price of each set of 5 increasing with each level, set by DB in whatever amount they deem is fair)
After buying 15 crew slots with Merits, the player should be able to get 15 more crew slots with Honor (the price of each set of 5 increasing with each level, set by DB in whatever amount they deem is fair.)
I also think a new Base room could be added. Call it "Guest Crew Quarters", let it go up to level 5 and have it give 5 crew slots per level up to a maximum of 25 crew slots while in a fleet with a base that has the room finished. The Guest Crew Quarters level cap of 5 is based on the similar level cap on the Mess Hall and Transporter Room level caps. In the event that someone leaves a fleet that has the room finished, the lowest leveled 25 crew would be at risk of being lost unless some crew was placed in the vault or unless the player joined a new fleet that also had the room at the same level as the fleet they left.
Finally, I think we could add free crew slots as a reward for Captain Level Achievements. Currently, you get Honor. I think there should be a second set that awards 5 crew slots per 10 levels with either no cap or a cap of lv 50. With a cap of level 50, it would give up to 25 more free crew slots, with no cap, 5 slots per 10 captain levels would be incentive for people to continue to play.
With the ability to buy 15 slots with merits, 15 slots with honor, a base room that caps at level 5 giving 25 slots and a Captain Level reward of 5 slots per 10 levels with a possible cap of level 50 giving 25 more slots, that gives Free-to-play players the ability to have up to 165 crew slots. Possibly more, if the base room level goes up or if the Captain Level reward is uncapped.
This proposal should almost completely fix the long term issue of players complaining about not having enough crew slots. It allows us to use more of the in-game free currency and rewards us all for playing. If anyone has feedback, I'd love to hear it.
Admiral Caladis, Co-leader of TL Elite, VIP 14, Captain Level 66.
5
Comments
This isn't asking for free spots. It is asking for alternate ways to earn them. A difference.
I've played since the game was new, so I don't remember all the things from the beginning of the game. If they only let you get 10 slots with credits before it's Dilithium, then all the more reason to add different player-friendly ways to increase the size of your crew.
I don't understand the reference, was there some kind of bet as to how long it would take before someone asked for free crew slots?
You can earn dilithium through collections and achievements. A lot of F2P are using that for extra shuttles and crew slots (wait for a 1/2 off sale). Perhaps this will increase when new cheevos and collections are added. Not as "easy" as if you could buy with honor perhaps, but...
I don't expect DB to let us buy Dilithuim with merits or honor. As I said in my orginal post, I understand the company has to make money. I was just trying to propose a reasonable long term solution to the crew slot shortage most players face as a way to earn more slots with loyal gameplay.
Like for example now i can regularly buy the 3 pack with merits, and I've gotten 3 gold crew from it, if there were something like the OP is proposing it would help a lot. Crew management is a pain when you get to have 20+ gold crew if you only have 80 slots, specially if there are 600+ possible crew.
No, they actually gave more free crew slots 12 days ago
I was hoping for the opposite. That we could buy honor with dilithium
Ha! Good one!
Ugh, I had two weeks.
And yeah- the #1 incentive to spend, for me, at least at first, was the VIP slots.
That's why I took the plunge.
But with 150 slots as a somewhat reachable goal, I don't know that I would have bothered quite so soon.
I spend my money on packs, and I don't have place to store crew, so...?
I stopped spending money on packs, cause I don't have place to store crew.
This is some kind of closed circle problem. And for sure I don't spend my money on crew slots: 5 slots for 350 dilithium - that is not acceptable in my opinion.
I understand that DB have to earn money, so let them earn on star trek content, not on some virtual things, which repel players from the game.
Maybe if the prices for crew slots were 10 times lower, many players in my opinion will buy it.
Maybe if crew slots will be placed into packs, for example:
- pack for 9.99$ should have 1 additional crew slot
- pack for 19.99$ should have 5 additional crew slots
- and so on...
The reason that this cannot happen (as provided by DB) is that the crew slot limitation is necessary for performance reasons.
Obviously, if you make something cheaper (like a 90% price drop you're proposing) more people will buy it. However, that wouldn't fix whatever architectural problem that DB has in its code base.
That is sad - technical issues as limitation. I hope DB can handle this cause I like this game very much, and I want to stay with it for a long time. Game needs improvements in many places, so maybe DB should focus on repair it first, before they add new content to it. I can live a month or two without new content or events (I don't know how others) if this will succeed with fixed server and client (resolved performance issues).
I'm good with everything except this. A player should never be at risk of having their number of slots decrease. There should never be a reason for them to lose crew that they paid for and worked on as a result of lost slots. For that reason, the base idea wouldn't work unless they never went away even if you left the fleet.