"Sigh !"
In the first purchase I metioned, an opportunity was seen and taken. On the face of it, nothing short of a smart business move. Regardless of my opinion of the tactics used, it was definetly a smrt move and to the advantage of the Buyer if they have long term Plans and Ivestments to consider.
Sadly, I feel, it opened the gate to create the impression of falling values of Motherships.
In the seond case: A situation had the ground work laid by the first for an existing Mothership Owner to see an opportunity.
Their current Mothership had an SI of around 26 K SI. Which they intended to sell on for 80 K PED.
The Mothership they purchased had an SI of 36 K and a purchase price of 82.5 K PED.
This too, was an extremely smart business move. It even holds two edges to it.
The first edge being that if the price of Motherships settles at their reduced current values they have softened thier initial investment loss by around 10 K PED.
The second edge forms if Mothership values rally and retain their original price range of around 80 K PED. In this case the buyers investment value has increased by around 10 K PED at little cost.
Regardless of which way Mothership values go this second case has gained an SI increase of 110 K for an extremely effective price of 2.5 K PED. A savings of around 3.5 K PED or more. As I said "An extremely smart business move". If they have not already sold the first ship on and hold off they may even be able to make an even better profit if the values rally.
Now to the smike and mirrors:
John B Knight said:
Another reason for the pricedrop might be, that mindark still hasnt made any progress in space and people are much more aware nowadays that a mothership without gunners is worse then a privateer.
They are also very expensive to use, slow to manauveure and provide little to no protection from Quad-Wing Interseptors that are behid a Mothership. With only a total of three Gun Seats available on a Mothership now, the once "Blind" areas have become expodential. Whilst MindArk may seem to have made no progress in the improvement of Space I am sure, like us, they are learning and working on what options are available.
John B Knight said:
It needs twice the amount of peds to be upgraded on an equal amount of si per section and you cant really travel between planets without seriously upgrading your spacecraft or you will just waste lots of time trying again and again to get past the pirates.
It is my experience that when Pirates do attack and destroy your ship more often they will leave you alone until you return to that location again. With minimal SI they will attack you as you leave a SPace Station at around Warp Range. With Medium SI they will look for you at a longer range from the Space Station so as to have more time to destroy the Ship. Often if you have the Repair Crew onboard they will continue to attack you for around 0.3 of an AU, Failing to destroy you over this range they will back off and let you pass as it is only a total waste of PEDs on their part.
Ships with much higher SI (70 K +) are in the position where Pirates are more likely to totally ignore them as a rule. Even if they succeed in destroying these ships more often then not anyone with stackables is long gone for two reasons.
1. They take immediate advantage of the "Log Off Option" when they board the ship
or
2.They take advantage of this option once they see the ship taking damaage and realise it may not withstand the onslaught.
Yes, higher SI does have advantages but I do not think it is entirely the basis you give it.
John B Knight said:
In effect a mothership only makes sense for people who operate it with a good sized crew or who want to do atmosphere dockings (which also means you need great SI and gunners to be secure) in all other cases a privateer will be the better choice, exspecially for those who seek one for personal flexible travels between planets.
It is more likely that the demands for Privateers:
1. Has risen because People are starting to realise that "Logging Off" on Mothersips and Privateers is not a "Bug" but a
"Feature put in place by the Design Team"(MindArk Support, March, 2012)
2. Along with Participants wanting to take less risks with their "stackables" and more often choosing to use the Security of Space Station Teleporters.
3. Coupled with the much lower costs of being able to travel between Planets and the abundance of Generic Fuses
4. As well as the fact that a Privateer can be purchased at a much lower price then a Mothership and its SI also increased on two Repair Points that are far more accessible than the four on a Mothership. (20 K SI is still 20 K SI whether it is spread over 2 or 4 repair points.)
5. A privateer is far more maneuverable and can reach maximum SUb-Warp Speed much quicker then a Mothership.
6. As for "Gunners" I feel I have already covered that to a degree earlier. The ideal defence for a Mothership is Quad-Wing Interceptors. Vecause the Guns on Both Motherships and Privateers are so wiely and cumbersome I believe they are far more suited to "Ship to Ship Combat" with each other, much rather then "Ship to Fighter" and most likely far more economical.
John B Knight said:
And last but not least, when mindark implements the remove of logged out stackable transports like they announced this will require lots more upgrades for spacecrafts and everyone with a mothership will have to pay double.
Nontheless motherships are the strongest ships in space - if properly crewed.
Again,once more into the breach !
Although it may be possible that somewhere down the track, MidArk may remove the "LofgOff" option currently available on Motherships and Privateers, I feel it may be a very long way down the track.
David Simmonds / CEO MindArk PE AB said:
The early focus will be on addressing several issues that currently allow for practically risk-free travel between planets.
It is very possible that this statement made in
State of the Universe Address 2013, has been somewhat misinterpretted. Either by desire or design there is a very small group who like to see the "Log Off Feature" removed. I do not believe that this statement has anything to do with this features function. It is highly possible that it is more concernig mainly two issues:
1. The use of "Logging Off" to "Server Line Skip" to the nearest Space Station to reduce travel times, costs and the possibility of running into a wandering Pirate, whilst travelling between Planets in Quad-Wings and Sleipnirs.
2. Stop people who are travelling between Planets in Quad-Wings and Sliepnirs from "logging out" to avoid being shot down and looted.
I guess some people will always insist on spinning half truths mixed with partial facts to create illusions that suit their needs and aims.
. Seems people are looking for a good deal as much as sellers are hoping for a fair ROI. The folks that play EU from a financial aspect are either hoping market trend and value will eventually bring home the bacon OR " I'll wait here in my quads passenger seat until my informant on the ground sends me some useful intel and I can rob some poor sucker who is just here having fun and frankly just to darn simple to factor in the "Pirate Formula" (which btw is if i think they have loot or i just need some practice i will kill and loot them just the same) Either way I hope to eventually land myself a ship and be able to engage fruit full hunting expeditions or be able to warp to the assistance of a friend in trouble and have them help me wipe the pirate guts from my windshield, then be on their merry way.
