Research Academy - (for discussion)

[Coops]

This is a Research Academy - Primer, it is NOT a full explanation on its uses or outcomes but covers enough so that you can understand how to use it and where to start.

Crystals - No more crafting
Due to the Explosion that Destroyed Research Star-base 2 in Hexham, crafting with Crystals has been removed from the game. You will find that the crystal option on certain builds no longer exists. This system of 'improving an item' has been superseded by the New Research Academy.

The Crystal Exchange Program
To use the services of the Research Academy you are required to provide them with 'Research Academy Points'. These you can gain by trading in your Crystals. As crystals have now been classified as extremely hazardous you would be wise to hand them over to the Crystal Exchange program in return for R.A.Points. You can still trade them and use them in other functions of Core-Exiles but you can no longer use them for crafting.

You should find the Crystal Exchange Program listed in the Finder. There should be roughly 2 in each major Galaxy. The exchange rate for Crystals is based on their rarity in game. Currently there are some 11K of crystals floating around so values are relatively low. Over time this MAY rise, but whilst players hoard them this will not be the case.

Research Academy
You will find these dotted around the Galaxies or you may find them on Settlements Level 5 and above if the owner has taken out a contract for one.
Take time to read the instructions inside the RA. All you need to do is to 'Load' an item in to the RA system. This is done from the Categories at the bottom of the screen.

Loading / Cancel
The process of loading moves the item FROM your ship Store TO the RA system. Should you decide to CANCEL the project simply do so and the item will be returned. IF you leave the office with the item still inserted into the system it will REMAIN there.

Luckily all the Research Academies are linked and you can visit ANY of them to either continue the project or cancel the project and retrieve the item.

Available RAP
If you have enough Research Access Points you will be informed that you can activate the project and a button will appear to do so. If you do not have sufficient you will not be able to continue and a Red bar will inform you of this.

Activate The Project
If you are happy to continue and have sufficient RAP you can press the Activate Project button. This will place the item into the RA queue and begin the project of disassembly and research. Once it is completed the item will be reassembled and you will be informed by Private Message of the changes. The item will also be couriered direct to your ship. So there is no need to go back and collect it.

Time Scale
The time will depend on the Captain Level of the items which in turn extends the complexity of the project. Once activated the project shows you the rough ETA it will be completed and returned.

RA Enabled Items
You will quickly spot that not everything can 'currently' be processed through the Research Academy. So far we have cleared approx 2400+ items to be processed through the RA. Over time we will clear more and more items and they will begin to appear in the category lists. Also you will see over time more Categories appear including things like Settlements, Pods, Specials etc.

RE Completed Item
Each category of items can be affected / modified / improved in ONE of various ways. As this is just a primer I wont list them all and in fact that's down to you the players to figure out. We can say however that the Single improvement is chosen at RANDOM and then passed through the system. There are lower and upper limits to the bonuses applied and again these are for players to figure out.

Account Bound
Items that are passed through the RA project process and completed are then Account Bound. This means they cannot be sold or traded. They also cannot be stored in the Secure Store. However - You can return unwanted projects to the Research Academy and using the relevant button inside the office you can 'Trade In' the items for a percentage refund in R.A.Points.

Coops

Reposted here so you can discuss it rather than adding to the Primer which I've locked.

[Akkamaddi]

Very, very nice. Bravo.

I emptied all my crystals this morning, got my Dimensional Helix 4 enhanced (the energy reduction will help when I can use that MK11 mining laser), and I have the aforementioned MK11 mining laser cooking now.

Lots of questions, but I know the answer to many will be "try and see".

With the "RE Completed Item", text, I would like clarification on: "Each category of items can be affected / modified / improved in ONE of various ways." I just had a power reduction bonus on my Dimensional Helix 4. Does this mean:
-- The category "cargo expander" can only be enhanced by energy reduction?
-- The category of "cargo expander, model 'Dimensional Helix'" will only be enhanced by energy reduction bonuses, while any Warp Vault expanders will all get a different bonus?
-- *That* particular Dimensional Helix 4 unit got an energy reduction bonus, and that is the only bonus that specific unit can have, but a different, "clean" Dimensional Helix 4, may get a different bonus?

Is this going to affect the rarity of finding crystals? The rate has dropped a bit with the addition of the AI materials.

I do have a big question about the pre-existing enhanced goods. First, is there any plan on making them get eaten by Ghost Ribbelz and disappearing? Will they stay trade-able? Enhanced Storm reactors and QE cargo expanders are supplied to new players who stick around, and are a big boon to lower level players. I think we all had our QE3+P3 cargo expander, and I think those are about to become very valuable. If they become non-tradable or scientists notice they are becoming unstable, can we at least trade them in for research points?

I would also like to say that a pool of RE points would be a great competition prize or padding for the "big spender" bonus for £25+.

If you want another NPC, one with missions looking for research supplies, paying in RE points rather than credits, would also be nice.

I eagerly await the enhancements on my asteroid and salvage scanners. This is really cool, Coops & staff. Thank you.

[Coops]

Hi there, I moved both the primer and your reply here so players can discuss the add without muddying the actual primer. I try to keep those clear or replies so that if we make changes etc they are obvious and not lost in 50 players replies that end in a Rexx fest ;p

First off - Yes your right 'Try and See' is the stock response for more questions on this

Each of the categories has a 'selection' of boosts for the random picker to choose. So EACH category has a selection. Some of you are already figuring this out I will also point out that the Random is not weighted, so it has an equal chance each time it pulls a boost type.

The actual amount of bonus is different for each selection and has upper and lower limits again Random is your friend, or enemy. Each time you place an item in the RA it has a chance to be have a completely different outcome and even if the same selection is chosen it may have a different 'boost affect amount'.

The addition of the RA and the Crystal Exchange has ZERO I repeat ZERO affect on how Crystals are collected or their drop rates etc. When i started writing the RA code there were just over 11,000 Crystals in the game just prior to release there were 13,900. This morning around 23 hours later there are around 12,600.

As I say there are no 'current' plans to affect the drop rate or collection methods or ANYTHING that you used to do with Crystals OTHER than crafting with them. I reserve the right as a Dev to later on down the path change this but atm no - no plans.

As for items that pre-exist from Crystal Crafting - we have NO Plans to remove them or do anything with them. Stick them on the wall give them to newbies do as you wish. The fewer that exist over time the rarer they will become. That's all down to you guys.

As per your comment on the 'other items' not currently cleared for RA - I will diligently clear as many as I can over time. There will be a few I know that will be problematic but we shall see

Coops

P.S anything I didn't answer relates to answer 1

[Diarri]

Akkamaddi, from my few tries I can confirm some of your questions:

- You can get different modifiers on the same type of items - I got 8% energy requirement reduction on one Mining Laser 8 and 11% damage boost on the other one Mining Laser 8 (both enhancements quite useful, damage boost makes ML8 almost equal to ML9). I wish these items were tradeable though...

- About cargo expanders - I got Dimensional Helix Series 2 enhanced with Cargo Expander Capacity by 29 units so it gave me the best cargo expander I have at the moment.

[Pablem]

Coops, This change obsoletes a couple of the Angelina Vega missions. With them being behind me I cannot tell if that has already been addressed. Just raising a note as I have not seen it mentioned yet.

[Akkamaddi]

Hi there, I moved both the primer and your reply here so players can discuss the add without muddying the actual primer. I try to keep those clear or replies so that if we make changes etc they are obvious and not lost in 50 players replies that end in a Rexx fest ;p

I understand. As always, I appreciate your participation. Thank you.

I also understand your answer. It looks like I've been pretty lucky with the three results I've gotten.

As per your comment on the 'other items' not currently cleared for RA - I will diligently clear as many as I can over time. There will be a few I know that will be problematic but we shall see

I see why you didn't enable some sections.

Unless you make the properties a bit more fine grained, you have fewer boosts to choose from (energy, level, skill). A combat scanner that gives a boost to mining bonus would be viewed as a waste of research. To make something other than energy reduction useful for combat, mining, and salvaging scanners, they would all have to be addressed separately, and I don't know what you could do for derelict scanners beyond power reduction.

Ship specials are even more restrictive. All you can really do is decrease captain level, as most don't require skill or energy. Unless, of course, you don't mind random items getting random bonuses. A Quantum Space unit adding +50 energy or an Ablative Armor unit that adds +1 ship speed would both be cool, but then you would also get a flood of random crap.

Fine tuning could be useful for other things. If I could upgrade my salvage laser knowing it would get energy reduction, it would be cooking right now.

I also know that this would be a major overhaul to a major game addition. As I've said in other threads, I have an idea of the work involved, so I don't expect this to suddenly appear. I also can't say enough that I appreciate all the work that has been done, and as stated, I think this is a really cool change. I really hope you develop this even further. Thank you thank you thank you.

[Akkamaddi]

Coops, This change obsoletes a couple of the Angelina Vega missions. With them being behind me I cannot tell if that has already been addressed. Just raising a note as I have not seen it mentioned yet.

Per Kubaf's NPC tracker:
#4 1 Archangels Hammer AH1 + E3
#5 1 Hellhound RG1 + S1
#6 1 Stormbringer Phaser SB2 + S2
#7 1 Zenith Phaser ZP2 + L3

[Akkamaddi]

I wish these items were tradeable though...

Ok... Coops, what about a "Put A Bow On It"?

Are the CAMP mission tokens actually used for anything? I know they are supposed to be used to purchase high-level schematics, but no one has told me what they are. So, why not use the CAMP tokens to "put a bow on it"? Depending on the power of the item, say Captian Level /10, you spend that many CAMP mission tokens to be able to transfer an item to *or* from another player. Of course transferring from would have to be validated, so high level crafters can't just empty other players' cargo holds. The transfer both ways would let guild crafters be intermediaries for that combat player who wants to give another combat player a weapon he got lucky with. CAMP tokens are also uncommon enough that it would slow down underground markets in boosted items.

"Gift Wrap and Bow" could also be a CES store purchase, though it would be inexpensive. Using the Gift Wrap and Bow would put a bow on a player item, allowing him/her to transfer it.

Of course, there could be back-end name addressing in the database that makes this impossible. It's just and idea, and I understand a potentially impossible one.

[Coops]

Coops, This change obsoletes a couple of the Angelina Vega missions. With them being behind me I cannot tell if that has already been addressed. Just raising a note as I have not seen it mentioned yet.

Per Kubaf's NPC tracker:
#4 1 Archangels Hammer AH1 + E3
#5 1 Hellhound RG1 + S1
#6 1 Stormbringer Phaser SB2 + S2
#7 1 Zenith Phaser ZP2 + L3

These lines have been modified to look for standardised items, varying amounts but the mission lines have been neutered.

Coops