The more I play the more the game feels Econ centered. Yes you can fight but it almost feels like it's forcing you into trading in order to afford the best ships equipment to fight with. Almost to the point to where you have to chose between sailing long trade routes or hoping to find pvp.
Or I could be crazy lol.
Sorry, wall of text incoming...
Not crazy... or I'm crazy too... Wait! That is no consolation.
Before I begin: I don't hate eco in itself. It's wonderful that players come to this game for eco, we're all different and enjoy different things, this is by my definition a good thing and should be celebrated.
When crafting first came I started, blue eyed, like everyone else but stopped quickly because it took a lot of time, gold and was boring in the extreme. Later on when I w as Commodore and filthy (2-3m banked gold) rich they launched easy teleport, we could teleport our character (not ships) without limit between outposts. I was level 15 in crafting because I had slaved for our "dedicated" crafters, so I thought I should learn what crafting is about to be able to contribute with feedback and just know what they were talking about in general.
Crafting was ok back then simply because you weren't forced to spend accumulated hours hauling stuff. Because of easy tp we could teleport to far off places and spread the contract competition widely so everyone could get hold of what they needed for the clicking. It took a little bit of time, but not too much so I thought "this wasn't so bad after all!?". After the clicking was done we could tp back to civilization and try to find a fight or join a PB. Back then you could have your cake and eat it too.
Then teleport took an arrow to the knee, then deliveries were beaten with the ugly stick. To do eco and crafting now you have to spend a considerable unt of time displacing virtual seawater doing nothing.
I came to the same conclusion as you, Justme, that in order to have access to the true frigate and SOL endgame, you need pimped up golden ships with golden upgrades (A few things liberally implied, but hey!). So I decided that I would endure the crafting grind this time to unlock the full Naval Action gameplay for myself and friends. Based on what could be misleading alpha and EA environment I don't trust the economy to provide the competitive stuff to anyone. I've never seen the useful golden upgrades in any shop, nor heard of it. Those and the ships we really want are given to friends or clan members. RNG and eco drudgery simply make them far too valuable. You may spend the time and gold to click out 20 golden connies, but those that come out as crew/speed, build/speed or more importantly 3/5 slots you either keep yourself or give to friends. The suboptimal golden ones you might sell openly, but I don't believe there has been much of that either.
I'm level 34 right now and can command 200 sailors, that gives an indication of how much time I've spent afk sailing vs. bullying bots. I guess I'm casual+ in terms of how much time I spend in the game so my crafting level reflects that I've received a lot of help from my associates, far more than 1 million gold plus various resources and materials. I also always seek to pay my way out of painful situations, so while everyone were screaming for iron and fighting over oak at 200-450 gold per log, I was out emptying untouched ports of 5k logs and more iron at a discount with a second account. This is insane. When the angry young men show up here to kick my teeth in, they need to address me as a hardcore eco player, because that is what I have become.
Since they took away easy tp and easy deliveries I haven't enjoyed a second of it. I'm dragging my balls through broken glass because I know all grinds end. The only highlight is when I hand a golden frigate to one of the Rakers, the smile on their b ht young faces when they pull out in their first real ship gives me some consolation. When they ask me: "Why did you do it?". I'll say: "I did it for you. I did it so that you wouldn't have to.".
To those of you who are still awake, I'll add this: It's interesting that I personally know of three "dedicated" previous crafters, some of them even leading crafters from our third grind, who are either not crafting at all or doing it very casually. I won't name them. I'll leave it to them to join in or pass any discussion about the fun in crafting, this because of the angry young men who tend to insert themselves into discussions where I speak my mind.
Personal note to Justme: If you setup outpost in La Mona I can get you the stuff you want. Hit me up on Steam (jodgi, duh) and I'll give you a golden shower (giggles). Anyone's free to join the Rakers too, all we ask for is willingness to learn. This entails a bruised ego and some amount of pain and, as we have learned, this is n ot for everyone. You can be a filthy casual shitter as long as you're willing to get better.
In the beginning the game will naturally have more Econ than pvp. Once you have established your level and ship replacement methods the Econ and PVE can drop off as much as you like.
This fills me with hope and is exactly why I decided to do the crafting bit this time. I hope and think you're right.
btw, pvp loss has never driven any replacement demand is his game so far. And I don't think it ever will. Do you want the blue or the red pill?
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