N00b towers still exist

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Logged in to do the thing. I typically check the hof list when I start mining b/c if there's a tower on the list I mine more conservatively.

Noticed there was a 21k tower. A HUGE congrats to knife party :yay:. I had actually just done a vault run with him, so I knew him. He had only been mining for a few days, noob equipment, no skills; he was in AU, and I warned him that was an expensive way to get his feet wet mining. Holy shit was I wrong, lol.

I don't want to detract from his achievement by venting, but this does paint a very clear picture of how the game's mechanics work. It's dumb luck, nothing more. I have been mining for 13 years, burned through thousands of dollars, broken hundreds of D-class in AU, FOMA, etc; never gotten more than a 1.5k hof. Turns out skills and equipment are completely irrelevant.

So take note everyone just getting started, big HOFs happen at all skill levels!
 
So there have been quite a few more since I posted this. There had been speculation that MA had nerfed the noob towers due to complaints from higher level players, but there have been at least 5 or 6 more that myself and some friends have documented, including the most recent 41k.

If it was just the one, I would say it was just a very rare lucky occurrence, but now it's clear that MA has changed something.
 
Noon towers have always been around.

I use to make this mistake.

I wouldn't take everything at face value.
 
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Could be. Might also be a psychological mechanism. Give people a big payout early on and they think that's the way the game works.
 
This is a good thing even if it sting and hurt old players. Im sure some big hofs are part of the 90% return cycle and some clearly arn't. Noob towers are like the mulmum #1 ath. Right time right place and here it comes.
 
Noon towers have always been around.

I use to make this mistake. I wouldn't take everything at face value.

It seems like bigger hof 's are back

Maybe to push people to risk more

no no, they just have check out, that a lot ppl dont play much, as in old days, about the super nice loot we have since one year or longer. I play 80% less as 2 years ago, just about i dont get fun by just loosing. 9 of 10 runs are just a lost between 40% - 60% payback. the 10. run then is maybe a 110% payback.. It feels like i loosing all the time. In old days it was much better. maybe 2 bad runs, then a nice one.. or if you got 10 bad runs, after that you got a nice hof.. all this is lost now.

Once greedy, stay greedy.
 
no no, they just have check out, that a lot ppl dont play much, as in old days, about the super nice loot we have since one year or longer. I play 80% less as 2 years ago, just about i dont get fun by just loosing. 9 of 10 runs are just a lost between 40% - 60% payback. the 10. run then is maybe a 110% payback.. It feels like i loosing all the time. In old days it was much better. maybe 2 bad runs, then a nice one.. or if you got 10 bad runs, after that you got a nice hof.. all this is lost now..

This is pretty consistent with my results also, and another long-time player I know.
 
plz tell us what amp knife party was using while getting that huge tower (gtz to him!)

because recently it seems really hard to get 21k unamped, even with treasures.

so if he was using an amp like lv5-7-8/dc thats likely a "common" hof in foma/AU areas and any noob could grab it if he's mining right time/right place.

are noob towers back? dunno ive seen 14k unamped planetside long ago, so 21k (if its amped and i bet my ass it is) doesnt seem like something weird even atm when hofs are crap.

sorry but in my eyes your thread looks like all those desperate "this noob looted and I didnt!" threads

look ill take your EL profile assuming its yours (syntax syntax error)

1 575 PED Narcanisum Stone 10/28/2013 amped with d/c = 7.8k tower
920 PED Banite Stones 01/17/2016 amped with d/c = 4.6k tower
739 PED Crude Oil 11/17/2015 amped with d/c = 6.6k tower
456 PED Crude Oil 02/14/2016 amped with d/c = 3.9k nearly a tower
440 PED Blausariam Stone 11/16/2015 amped with d/c = 2k+
391 PED Niksarium Stone 12/12/2015 amped with d/c = near 2k

all that in 3 years man. you say you were there for 13 years. maybe its time to amp a bit? :)


and if "knife party" wasnt amping and you were amping all those 13 years dude im sorry, ill give you 5k ped if you can prove it.
 
I benefit from this occurrence when I was a noob. I got a 6.4k Belkar tower on my 2nd day playing. Unamped with tt gear. Definitely kept me around.
 
plz tell us what amp knife party was using while getting that huge tower (gtz to him!)

because recently it seems really hard to get 21k unamped, even with treasures.

so if he was using an amp like lv5-7-8/dc thats likely a "common" hof in foma/AU areas and any noob could grab it if he's mining right time/right place.

are noob towers back? dunno ive seen 14k unamped planetside long ago, so 21k (if its amped and i bet my ass it is) doesnt seem like something weird even atm when hofs are crap.

sorry but in my eyes your thread looks like all those desperate "this noob looted and I didnt!" threads

look ill take your EL profile assuming its yours (syntax syntax error)

1 575 PED Narcanisum Stone 10/28/2013 amped with d/c = 7.8k tower
920 PED Banite Stones 01/17/2016 amped with d/c = 4.6k tower
739 PED Crude Oil 11/17/2015 amped with d/c = 6.6k tower
456 PED Crude Oil 02/14/2016 amped with d/c = 3.9k nearly a tower
440 PED Blausariam Stone 11/16/2015 amped with d/c = 2k+
391 PED Niksarium Stone 12/12/2015 amped with d/c = near 2k

all that in 3 years man. you say you were there for 13 years. maybe its time to amp a bit? :)


and if "knife party" wasnt amping and you were amping all those 13 years dude im sorry, ill give you 5k ped if you can prove it.


He was using a d-class in foma, and I agree that's not extraordinary for that setup.

And no, this wasn't meant to be a "desperate" whining thread, as you asserted. Alex is a very nice guy, and I'm very happy for him and all the others. I think it's great if it brings new players and stimulates the economy. I brought this up because there had be speculative posts that MA had put a limiter in place to prevent certain sized hofs under a certain skill level. For a while we didn't see them. I was pointing out that not only are they back, but back with a vengeance. Some people take interest when there seems to be an algorithmic change, which based on speaking with a few other players does seem to be a general feeling lately, since about Nov 2015. My intent was simply to bolster this with some data.

My history wasn't relevant, but since you've brought it up, I've done amped and unamped. I've cycled a lot of d-class in AU and never hit anything over 2 digits. I take the amp off and I get the hofs you listed. Go figure. You'll also notice how sparse my history is. I play off and on, sometimes breaking for a couple of years at a time. That's why after 13 years I'm only lvl29 prospecting.

Of course, is it frustrating sometimes? Sure. I somehow doubt I'm the only person who gets frustrated with this game from time to time. It has nothing to do with who is getting the hofs. It's like playing a lottery ticket and watching the person standing next to you win. You can be happy for them but still wish it was you.
 
okay! no offence for sure, it sounded really frustrated post with all the text about your 13 years etc, but that doesnt mean you are in the end ;)

I personnally never complained about any noob getting a tower within 10 bombs and will never do, just because I would have liked a lot to get a tower when I was a noob. Complaining about that is basically saying remove all the luck in the game and thats totally bs :p

hope you get your first tower soon :wtg:
 
okay! no offence for sure, it sounded really frustrated post with all the text about your 13 years etc, but that doesnt mean you are in the end ;)

I personnally never complained about any noob getting a tower within 10 bombs and will never do, just because I would have liked a lot to get a tower when I was a noob. Complaining about that is basically saying remove all the luck in the game and thats totally bs :p

Yea, I re-read it and I guess it does sound frustrated. I probably was frustrated at the time. It was meant to be an observation, not a complaint.
 
13 years, if I do my math right, means you were here when the game went gold.

And after this much time you still think there are rules or reasons? Come on now.

I am an avid miner, always was, always will WANT to be, despite how !#%!ed the ore market is now. But I realized early on that there is nothing behind the tower. Amping is simply a way to spare yourself spending forever in the field.

Many many years ago a friend and I were out in the middle of nowhere. I dropped a bomb, geared up to the teeth. NRF. He dropped one, TT gear. NRF. I did the usual complaint. He said, "Hmm hang on." And logged off. Then he logged right back in, same spot. Dropped a bomb. Hit 300 peds.

I was still standing there. That was the moment when I just realized it really is just a dice roll. Sometimes when I want to mine but I don't want to be out forever, I grab a level 8 amp and just go and drop a few bombs. Else I just use a 105 and carpet bomb. The end result % is the same.

Tldr is, don't work yourself into a knot trying to find rules around the way it works. Trust in the gamble. And ask your buddy for some peds :laugh:
 
With mining at least I would say it is mostly random luck when it comes to the size of the hits. When it comes to the number of hits increasing the range of ones finder probably improves the probability of hitting something (and therefore I guess the probability of hitting something big using fewer bombs).

The benefit of having skills is that one can mine deeper and access rarer ores which should be more valuable in terms of MU (as fewer people can access them) and therefore this might lead to better returns. In my experience though usually these rarer ores come in smaller amounts which compensates for the increased MU, it is just less annoying then hitting tons of lyst (which usually still happens anyway). Recently I was looking at ways to raise some peds and believing that skills aren't important I sold most of them, including my mining skills, and started over with the TT gear. I personally have experienced no difference in loot and i still get the same returns :laugh:. What is important in mining is experience to know where to find different ores as then one can target stuff for the missions/crafting.

Hunting on the other hand is completely different, without skills to handle the right gear then it is a loss unless one is very lucky indeed.

From experience I know that I can get a global if I just cycle enough bombs into the ground. I guess HOFs are the same. I used to believe that one had to cycle the bombs in one go i.e. keep mining continuously over several hours and mine through the bad patches rather than changing location in the hope of better finds. I.e. I had to first cycle at least 50 peds of bombs (usually nearer 300-400 peds of bombs) in order to get back 50 peds of ore as a global. Now all I know is that it is just luck lol.

Just my 2 pec on the matter :)
 
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I benefit from this occurrence when I was a noob. I got a 6.4k Belkar tower on my 2nd day playing. Unamped with tt gear. Definitely kept me around.

I think there is some truth to this... I hit a 5k unamped tower on FOMA (cnd at the time lol) with a 102 finder I think about 2 weeks into starting to play. I think that was a big influence in keeping me around for a long while.

I think it's just how the game goes. These guys aren't stupid I'm sure part of their marketing is in doing these types of things.
 
Disciple of mine hit a 4k tower on his first FOMA run, with a Level 5 amp that he bought off auction that was almost broken. So he hit the tower after a couple drops. Total newbie.

These things do happen. But I don't think it's right to call them "n00b towers". Though maybe "newbie multipliers" do exist for marketing/retention purposes.

If you are amping indoors (especially with something as high as a D-class, which I wouldn't refer to as "newbie gear"), you are gambling, plain and simple. No different than clicking explosives. Obviously if you're doing 5000+ clicks it becomes less and less of a risk, but if you're banking on 90% return you already know you've lost, because you're probably not going to hit much markup (though the occasional ignisium tower does happen). For the most part, skills/depth don't matter indoors in my experience.

Back in the old mining system any newbie with TT gear could hit massive towers planetside unamped, but I think we can all agree that system was a little silly.
 
yep long time 10 year miner here

Logged in to do the thing. I typically check the hof list when I start mining b/c if there's a tower on the list I mine more conservatively.

Noticed there was a 21k tower. A HUGE congrats to knife party :yay:. I had actually just done a vault run with him, so I knew him. He had only been mining for a few days, noob equipment, no skills; he was in AU, and I warned him that was an expensive way to get his feet wet mining. Holy shit was I wrong, lol.

I don't want to detract from his achievement by venting, but this does paint a very clear picture of how the game's mechanics work. It's dumb luck, nothing more. I have been mining for 13 years, burned through thousands of dollars, broken hundreds of D-class in AU, FOMA, etc; never gotten more than a 1.5k hof. Turns out skills and equipment are completely irrelevant.

So take note everyone just getting started, big HOFs happen at all skill levels!
My biggest globals were two 1000 ped ones I got in the first month I played . Never got anything bigger since. I am pretty uber now and can barely break even.
 
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