Nostrand Vor Station Refining

[Daath]

Lack of a refining terminal on this station causes undue irritation while doing Agrippa missions for Sentinals.  Currently the PS is required to fly clear to Endriago to refine ore needed for her missions.  Emporos doesn't have a refine terminal either.  Can we get one added at NV station please?

Edited November 12, 2013 by Daath

[Pakkrat [N7LA]]

Awww. That's part and parcel. Par for the course. Stocks breaking even. Lil challenge never hurt no one. Like a suggestion of mine in another thread. B obviously meant to do this purposely.

On location at Nostrand Vor, this is the Pakkrat

[Daath]

I am getting so tired of hearing "That's how Byakhee wanted it"...

 

There is no reason why the center of experimentation of the Progen Military Complex would NOT be able to refine critical ores needed for production.. None, Nada, other than pure sadism..

[Klyde]

Aside from the fact that progen are meant to die repeatedly in a blaze of projectile glory, and not in an orefield. :P

[Daath]

Aside from the fact that progen are meant to die repeatedly in a blaze of projectile glory, and not in an orefield. :P

Oh, so Progens don't need the Sabine? Great news..

[Pakkrat [N7LA]]

One has only to consider that the Collegia at Nostrand Vor split from the Sabine Order on purpose. Led by Theodoric Cassel (a skeezy used car salesman archetype), the Collegia has left to do business, retro-engineer rival technologies (via the Privateer signature skill Dismantle [we haven't forgotten it]) and finally to put the hurt on piracy. The Collegia isn't a mining or a refining operation. They are a manufacturing operation with a focus on gleaning technologies of the Jenquai and the Terrans. Badass geneticists and superior warriors may come from the hearty Progen race, but the Republic is actually behind the curve in many aspects aside from nanotechnology, chemistry, genetic engineering, and the more-personal applications to their ideal humanform.

The Collegia, perhaps in their desire to fully partition themselves off from their parent Sabine Order, have chosen not to have refining terminals at Arx Bursa, Arx Emporos, and Nostrand Vor City. They do enough to have one at Arx Ymir in Jotunheim.

Theodoric Cassel, according to storyline, is trying to bring down Magna Vinda by attempting to turn in reports of her creation of the Sabura Warrior project to the Centuriata's Anjuren Kahn. It stands to storyline (as opposed to player preference however much pull or push they muster) that the Collegia eschew the dirty job of mining and refining, leaving it to the Sabine Order. Then Cassel is tapping Imperator Agrippa's Agrippa Technologies in Research and Development of the top-of-the-line technologies gleaned from the above mentioned reverse engineering. This sub-contracting of Agrippa Technologies comes chronologically AFTER the Collegia split from the Sabine. How would Cassel predict that he'd need refining terminals at Nostrand Vor or Arx Emporos? He's a skeezy used car salesman, not a scientist.

In the end, however 'sadist' you claim the Agrippa mission lines are, we all go through it. We all eventually graduate with the systems, our embroidered straightjacket, and have a padded cell at Detention Center Onorom waiting for us.

The Developers may have given us leeway to express our displeasure and suffering over Agrippa. But they may also fire back at us by saying "Working As Intended".

Warning: Incoming Editorial
You know, while the rest of you pilots were leveling your Jenquai Explorers, racing to OL150, getting the hot drops from the Raids, there were a few of us, (e.g. KenPP, MightyPS, Plex, myself and a few others) felt the lashing sting of Agri- that mission line. We did the missions through the front door while others shelved their Progen toons and bitched. "We can't level our toons because we are being held back by Agrippa." Working As Intended, when you consider the storyline that the Progen are behind the technology curve when compared to InfinitiCorp, GETCo, Sundari, Nishido, etc. "We want a backdoor post-HU135!" Byakhee provided. But then the Project went Live and then the server started its instability issues. Story halted as the crews went to work on your feedback. Now the backdoor into Agrippa for "uber unz" thanks to Kenlz and the rogue Progen is held up since Der Todesengel isn't yet opened. I've written about this myself.

For those of us who can say to the newer students of Agrippa, "Grow up. We did it. You can too," thank you for answering questions, guiding the next generation of students and providing by-mouth walkthroughs. There have been hiccups between the front door missions and the backdoor missions, yes. But GMs like Blacklung have found them and they have had me, as your Anchor-rat, report on them. (I don't just get on the news channel to run my mouth.)

Repeatedly, those of us who have completed Agrippa suffered the mission lines with dignity. You can too. /end Editorial

Live from Nostrand Vor City, this is the Pakkrat.

[Daath]

My perspective is different Pakk.. I don't see the value of the Agrippa missions, having completed the entire set of missions for all three classes, to be worth anywhere near the effort and exasperation it creates.  Even with a lot of help from others, thanks to Lannister, Prre and others as well as bits from the WIki I was able to complete the series...  Yes as I look back on it they were not so horrendous as all the hype makes it seem.  That being said there are aspects to this line of content that could be retouched in various ways, not to make it easier, but to make it more rational, more logical... 

 

That is simply my opinion, and as you probably know I am all about expressing it when I feel the need.  I don't expect anything to change with the content, however I will not advocate anyone to experience it, in part or in full.  The 6 useful prints that are obtained when it is over are not even remotely worth the effort to obtain them.  The only people who should be going through this ordeal are those who are dead-set to have the ability to make those 6 items.  (Ambush 8 and 9, Skirmish 8 and 9, Tactical Advantage 8 and 9)  Some may find the Flechette PL worthy of consideration but it has a number of issues that make the weapon nearly useless to anyone who does not have a full compliment of Agrippa builders. 

 

I think it's great we have a race specific line of missions for some "slightly better than average" equipment that is not necessarily race specific.  But it seems to me that the Agrippa missions are excessive in their detail and restrictions for the end content they provide.  All of these opinions I had before I endured the content, but I have not spoken about it until I had experienced it first hand and could stand on the experience and give my opinion some spine. 

 

Agrippa is not worth the time, effort or credits it takes to complete it and maintain your sanity. That is my opinion and only my opinion, the entire thing needs to be revisited and rationally rethought given the grief it has caused, the number of abandoned toons it has created and the massive time sink it represents.

[Terrell [BT]]

Hopefully the Agrippa missions will have some future benefit to those who have successfully completed them.  I don't know if that's the case, but they could be used as prerequisites for future missions that are more rewarding, or at some point unlock some other content.

[Daath]

Hopefully the Agrippa missions will have some future benefit to those who have successfully completed them.  I don't know if that's the case, but they could be used as prerequisites for future missions that are more rewarding, or at some point unlock some other content.

That would also be a major improvement.  If there was something AFTER this that was "FUN" or "USEFUL" without further aggravation it would be a motivation factor and a reason to achieve this goal of finishing Agrippa.  So far I have only made the components and items for my own ships, the demand for them on the market is spotty and I doubt I will ever recover the "investment" it required to complete.

 

I have noticed that I am now able to complete Terran Advantage I - III missions with use of my new Progen team, so that is something for my TT to get out of this. 

 

If they did the following it would make HUGE strides to clearing up the "PITA" factor of this series.

 

1. Fix the back doors.  Either move the content needs out of the closed sector or change the mission to accessible content.

 

2. Back door missions that require items that are extremely rare or raid drops that are very hard for people to get need to be reconsidered.

 

3. The level restriction at 75 or be forced to back door the Stage I needs to be clearly understood by the prospective Agrippa apprentice. It says it in the mission but people just don't understand it.

 

4. The "Run around" aspect of these items is intense.  Having to go all over the place for one mission is fine, maybe two missions, but there is over a dozen prints that require 'unusual' items and components.  There are some ways that could be cleaned up, perhaps by a custom vendor that has many of the things you have to run clear to Mars or Endriago to get. The Level 4 vendor is a HUGE help, but it would be nice if there were a vendor that sold many of these peculiar components.

 

5. Fix the mission that bug out, specifically the SOOA mission and the L8 testing missions in stage III.  These missions can me a major obstacle if the apprentice is not able to complete them.

 

6. The L8 testing mission for the Flechette is completely unhinged.  How a CL42ish PW or PP is to kill 21 CL51 Ten-gu with any degree of success is beyond me without a group backing them up. If it is a test of the weapon a group of backup ships defeats the purpose of testing a weapon, the results would be inconclusive.

 

7. Look at the Flechette PL again... The ammo components issues are bad enough, but the sig reduction buff makes it useless for any PW that would be the "Tank" of a group.

[Terrell [BT]]

I pretty much agree with 1-4, especially for Progen who are supposed to be slow.  I'd need more information for 5+, but I do think your points are valid.