Currently, I think repair costs are too low for t1-t3 ships.
What I really think is that even in the Patrolled Core ships need to be lost upon defeat, or at a minimum, modules and inventory should be dropped.
It is currently too easy to unlock module crafting. I think the blueprint system from Eve should be adopted (keeping the ins cost to unlock crafting is fine), along with being able to research upgraded, but consumable, blueprints of craftable items that have special stats like Engineered items in Elite Dangerous (not just T1-T5 but “T1+”, “T1++”, etc).
Eventually, I think new ore types and especially refining ores, creating special alloys and chemicals for more advanced components, should become a thing. Crafting really needs more investment from the player for us industry types.
This is fighting the current meta: MMO players generally do not enjoy hardcore PvP/Deaths, and full-loot PvP communities often shrink by driving away new and casual players. Veterans use newcomers as cannon fodder, making it difficult for the population to recover. I want the game to have a low time-to-recover (this includes the manufacturing) in general, an easy entry for new players, and forgiving deaths in highsec. This is especially important for a mobile game, where connections can drop or players may need to close the app unexpectedly.
Makes sense! I am currently still occupied with creating the base systems (only Guilds remaining for now). After I have implemented that I will focus on deepen the existing systems before creating new ones! Would love your (and others) input here on what things we could do to improve manufacturing for example!
I agree that keeping the game with only losing hard loot at very specific places with high rewards is a good thing. This, along with the game being accessible merely on browser and thereby also on phone makes the game accessible, casual, and dare I say, fun.
We could make it so that losing a ship in guild wars/pvp makes you lose things could make the game fill the niche of people who want a competitive/hardcore gameplay loot.