BP Decryption

[Redthorne]

Before (and still today) when you are a new player they are usually in a clan and before and now the clans have always remained within 4ths and 5ths, at least in Aurora, the 4ths are only visited because they are the only way to reach other 5ths, if you had a clan you did not need to have a mix of kenyte/clay because let's be honest, in Sirius most of the work is done by those who help you, you are only there to receive cryo, BP, XP

That was still in the hypothetical scenario of a group of new players going up the rings. I've agreed already that basically all new players jump straight to r5 with a clan and just wait to be spoon-fed everything:

I must admit though, practically nobody does that because new players join clans that boost them to r5 directly so they can't enjoy any sense of progression.
It's also a part of the problem. Lvl 70 players that reach sirius, if they join r5 clans they are completely robbed of their agency and ability to do anything to progress, they can only wait for others to grind for them while they basically watch. That combined with the long wait for BPs, it's a gamekiller for most new players.

It all depends on each person's personal tastes, but I think the general consensus of what Sirius is for many is pretty obvious, don't just stick to your own experience that you did it 3 times and you would do it 5 times more happily, when Sirius came out many people stopped playing it just to see how it worked, and many new players were happy with their progress in the game until they came across Sirius, there are those who endure Sirius 1 time, but repeat it, never

I still think it has more to do with the fact that players are boosted to r5 because there is realistically no other way. There is a consensus around Sirius being that bad for new players because no new player does it the "intended" way.
Now I'm not accusing new players from doing that, in fact it's a huge design flaw from split to have made it in such a way that new players are forced to be spoon-fed until they are fully r82 equipped.

What I am defending (and still subjective to each player's liking) is the experience Sirius was supposed to be: going up the rings with friends of the same level to progress.
Very few players have actually experienced that, and I think it is a fun experience in itself.

The actual experience new players have when they reach Sirius is terrible and I absolutely agree with the consensus here.
I would not suffer through this multiple times.

 

[Vesperion]

"Currencifying" the BPs outside of sirius would kill a lot of the interest of BP hunting, you could just farm harvs forever and unlock all items without any effort. To me it's part of the fun having to find and hunt specific units. Although I'd like to say, rarer units (like resurrectors/menders/minelayers) should have increased drop rates or heavily reduced required parts.

This could be easily solved by Split themself to either reduce the droprate for BPs from interceptors to an abysmal chance of maybe 1% or even more simply by giving interceptors a 0% chance to drop BPs at all. Sure it would be a tricky thing to balance as some players also use Harvs and interc for "endless grinding" when they have no membership due of the BP > Energy conversion but if we are honest there is and always will be someone who will complain about something anyways.

In the end tweaking the numbers is what Split could do but chances for an actual change of the BP system as it is now is unlikely to see anyways cus then for sure the ones who did spend the time and effort to get all the BPs and decrypt them would complain how easy it´s now for new players to get the BPs they need/want.

 

[Redthorne]

This could be easily solved by Split themself to either reduce the droprate for BPs from interceptors to an abysmal chance of maybe 1% or even more simply by giving interceptors a 0% chance to drop BPs at all. Sure it would be a tricky thing to balance as some players also use Harvs and interc for "endless grinding" when they have no membership due of the BP > Energy conversion but if we are honest there is and always will be someone who will complain about something anyways.

In the end tweaking the numbers is what Split could do but chances for an actual change of the BP system as it is now is unlikely to see anyways cus then for sure the ones who did spend the time and effort to get all the BPs and decrypt them would complain how easy it´s now for new players to get the BPs they need/want.

I was simply giving an example, it's not about the numbers. My point is, I'm against removing the entire "hunt this unit for that BP" concept that is a core part of game.

 

[_Atlas_]

Hi,

i thinks the whole "Sirius sucks" boils down to uneven BP-distribution among Sirius units and therefore the Sirius-RNG being OK for some Bp, but unbearable in other cases.


To use the Hitchicker therminology here:

Boss (Giza,Armana,Soris) drop 207 (+-) BPs in total, but 9 per Planet! It takes only 23 Spawns to get through the entire pool, ca. 2-3 month

Commander Unit (Anubis,Keops,Osiris,DS) drop 93 BP and sometimes need half a year+ to return

Strong Unit (Odin,Ignomes,Abasis) 81 BP - not quite as bad, but still

Medium Unit (Isis,Horus,Physus) 42 BP - OK

Weak Unit (Kohns,Shysis,Ammon) 9 BP - easy to complete


At the same time preparing and killing a boss takes 15-30min and most of the time you will complete mutiple BP with one or two kills.

Collecting 1 BP (5 parts) from a Commander Unit can take 2h+



When players say Sirius takes to long to complete they are right. Because of uneven BP-distribution and the decryption requirements some players may have to wait half a year or longer to be able to progress in TC. This is even more frustrating if you just missed an important BP an know it will not return in a long time. Many players will lose interest at that point and quit.



Solutions could be:

- reduce number of BPs that drop from Commander and Strong Units and transfer them to Bosses

- reduce HP and Dmg (adjust Kry value acordingly) of Commander and Strong Units to make them easyer to kill and decrease their respawn time

- make the decryption System more flexible and forgiving, if you miss something
(for example: Venar BP require ANY Sirius Strong/Agile/Balanced BP to decrypt; Earth 2 BP require ANY 2 of Sirius Strong/Agile/Balanced BP to decrypt; Calon onward requires all 3 Variants)

- all Sirius units could drop 2 different BPs per Planet (1 Sirius Ancient, 1 Vega-Draco Ancient)
Boss Untis could drop 1 garantied Sirius Ancient and 2 Vega-Draco Ancient BPs.
This would emphasize the importance of Sirius Ancient Tech to proceed in TC, while having the Vega-Draco Ancient BPs as an enticement to keep players engaged in Sirius long term.

 

[Highway]

What if the Sirius rings have more planets that currently? This would make the set of available BPs larger as the system never picks duplicates that are already available on a another planet. In additon the available BPs on a planet could be shown in the starmap (but that might remove the exploration factor though)

 

[Redthorne]

reduce number of BPs that drop from Commander and Strong Units and transfer them to Bosses

100% Agree, some BPs could definitely be moved to Bosses. (Think beacon, taunt, perf, scram)

reduce HP and Dmg (adjust Kry value acordingly) of Commander and Strong Units to make them easyer to kill and decrease their respawn time

Sirius HP is quite rigid, I don't see a point in changing this right now.

make the decryption System more flexible and forgiving, if you miss something
(for example: Venar BP require ANY Sirius Strong/Agile/Balanced BP to decrypt; Earth 2 BP require ANY 2 of Sirius Strong/Agile/Balanced BP to decrypt; Calon onward requires all 3 Variants)

That would be ideal but I can hear alewx in the distance saying something like "too hard to do"

all Sirius units could drop 2 different BPs per Planet (1 Sirius Ancient, 1 Vega-Draco Ancient)
Boss Untis could drop 1 garantied Sirius Ancient and 2 Vega-Draco Ancient BPs.
This would emphasize the importance of Sirius Ancient Tech to proceed in TC, while having the Vega-Draco Ancient BPs as an enticement to keep players engaged in Sirius long term.

Would be nice to guarantee sirius BPs, but at the same time you add a lot of frustration when you only drop the BP you don't want. It may lead to even longer time necessary to complete a BP.

What if the Sirius rings have more planets that currently? This would make the set of available BPs larger as the system never picks duplicates that are already available on a another planet. In additon the available BPs on a planet could be shown in the starmap (but that might remove the exploration factor though)

Wait, you can do that??

Adding planets I'm not too sure about, it's already a tough schedule going around every planet, you can only stay 1-2 days on each.
I would see this be a good thing if the BP completion was faster. The main issue is often the CU BP, as CUs are quite long to take down and there are only a handful of them on the planet. Perhaps if they had 100% BP drop chance like Bosses it would make BP completion faster, so moving planets every day wouldn't be so much of a problem.


Showing BPs in starmap, if done correctly would be a tremendous QoL update.
About the exploration factor, you could hide BPs until a clan members drops one, then share the info for the entire clan (similar to how the map exploration is shared).
Then you could have an UI in starmap showing the BP list, and most importantly how many parts of each BP you already have, so that you can see quickly if you need anything from the planet.

And if you feel adventurous, you could cook up a new UI section in the clan window where players can select a (discovered) planet to see the BP progression of each member to quickly see who needs help with what.

 

[Dreadnouhgt]

Showing BPs in starmap, if done correctly would be a tremendous QoL update.
About the exploration factor, you could hide BPs until a clan members drops one, then share the info for the entire clan (similar to how the map exploration is shared).
Then you could have an UI in starmap showing the BP list, and most importantly how many parts of each BP you already have, so that you can see quickly if you need anything from the planet.

And if you feel adventurous, you could cook up a new UI section in the clan window where players can select a (discovered) planet to see the BP progression of each member to quickly see who needs help with what.

Make it Alliance wide, this way you not only give Clans something new but also Alliances. Make Clans overall more usable, they are currently just a big permanent Group you need for Sirius.

 

[Dreadnouhgt]

What if the Sirius rings have more planets that currently? This would make the set of available BPs larger as the system never picks duplicates that are already available on a another planet. In additon the available BPs on a planet could be shown in the starmap (but that might remove the exploration factor though)

It would help but not fix the "problem" like me and others said the biggest thing in Sirius are Blueprints from 5-14, you only have one per Planet, let's say you double the 5 Rings, make it 12, this would cut the waiting time in half, yes, but also turns Sirius into a full-time Job until you have at least all the blueprints you need for TC.... I can speak for myself, im missing the long and normal Repair Turret, i have a Parragnais with a Sirius Strong Turret in Tau Ceti. i have a Slate I'm Missing the Trap and the Jump because I'm missing here something as well. I can't add a Protector into any TC ship because I'm missing the Normal Sirius one. That just sucks, and the worst is i cant farm them right now.

Add a 6th ring that only drops Sirius blueprints could be maybe a solution?

 

[Redthorne]

Add a 6th ring that only drops Sirius blueprints could be maybe a solution?

I used to be somewhat sceptical about a 6th ring, but I think it makes sense now.
Only I would make the 5th ring drop sirius tech only, and 6th ring drop lower system tech as a "bonus ring" of sorts.

 

[Highway]

In therory with more planets in the ring5 (eg double) you will automatically have more differend BPs available and if we show the BPs before you can skip the planets you dont need Bps from.

 

[Redthorne]

In therory with more planets in the ring5 (eg double) you will automatically have more differend BPs available and if we show the BPs before you can skip the planets you dont need Bps from.

That... could work indeed.

I'm still sceptical about adding more planets, from personal experience "skippable" planets are rare, at least for clans that are either large or helping newbies.
Adding planets might turn sirius into a full-time job.

I think either the token idea (would need a lot of work I know) or moving some BPs to Bosses are better solutions.

Another issue with that is showing BPs of unexplored planets. That would kill the "exploration" factor of sirius. It's not that important but still should be considered.

Nevertheless, it remains better than what we have now.

 

[Redthorne]

Forgot to add, with double planets it could very well spark conflicts of interest between clan members as there is only 1 JS

 

[Dreadnouhgt]

In therory with more planets in the ring5 (eg double) you will automatically have more differend BPs available and if we show the BPs before you can skip the planets you dont need Bps from.

That would be a perfect "quick and dirty" solution, yes. Still Sirius needs something done with

 

[Kryptonit]

In therory with more planets in the ring5 (eg double) you will automatically have more differend BPs available and if we show the BPs before you can skip the planets you dont need Bps from.

Well, I don't really know, if double the ring planets would do the job. Yes it would be a simple "dirty" solution, but I think this rill result in pretty full-time job like grinding.

Another possible solution is, to randomly spread more bps to various units.

Example: Abasis, Odion, Ignomes all drop different random blueprints. Same for the 14bp units and the 18 and 5 ones.

Or all units can drop Multiple bps. Like Giza and some units in the lower systems.

Maybe a system that supports reappearing bps after a maximal amount of time would be good. So bps can no longer have half a year between before they drop again.

I mean the randomness have something for its own, and to a certain point is a good solution. But I think Sirius definitely needs a rework, so new players have a estimate in sight, when they can progress further in story.

Some users can't progress in story for quite a while, when certain bps won't drop, they'll definitely need. Like Siri ancient rep, ancient ab and so on.


Some other things that might be a good extra are things like randomly generated "invasion" events, where certain planets (maybe an extra planet for this) have a highly increased spawn count (would be good for farming, or just to have fun when you can hunt down massive amounts of ancients).
Such events could also be unannounced.