HarryHenryGebel wrote:Even hanging out around Azrael I don't think I've seen another human player yet in the game; is there any way to see how many total people are online in a group? I know other players are there because the market data on EDDB keeps getting updated more frequently than I land, but either they are always in another group or I'm just landing at times they aren't around (I figure most people don't spend too long in a station's vicinity.)
There are more than a hundred groups registered, so there can be many players in the same location who are completely unaware of each other. You can also be placed in one of several instances even when you are playing in the same group as another player. The game tries to put Friends in the same instance, but it's not a system that's perfect: I've been in an instance with two Friends where A could talk to B, B could talk to C, but A and C couldn't communicate. There are reports of wing members who can see different targets.
You're right when you say most people don't hang around. If you're trading or doing mission, you're likely to be only around a station for 10 minutes or so - all too easy to miss the one other person who might be put in your instance.
HarryHenryGebel wrote:I think I've about exhausted how many missions I can get at this time; whenever I pull into a station or settlement the mission board only has one or zero missions from the Order. If I go off and trade for a while or run missions for somebody else (somewhere else, so it doesn't hurt the order), about how long will it take until the missions "recharge".
It depends on a number of factors. If your faction is in Boom there will be lots of missions on offer and you can stack a few. If the faction is in a Bust state, they are very few and the list of items in the Commodities market is shorter and there is not much available for what is on offer. When the faction has no State active, most factions offer between none and six missions and the list seems to add one/remove one every 5-10 minutes.
HarryHenryGebel wrote:Also, a question regarding trading and faction influence. Googling, I've seen several posts mentioning that buying from a station increases influence for that station's faction, and selling at a station decreases it. Then I've seen other posts that this has been changed, and still others that the results of tests have been inconclusive. What is the current opinion on the best way to trade without harming your faction's influence if you are trading with stations that your faction controls?
Buying goods from your faction certainly helps and selling, under certain conditions - such a Famine or Conflict - also does. As you have discovered, the jury's out on whether selling to your faction under normal conditions helps or hinders. You've probably discovered the BGS thread on the main forums where these things are tested (with differing results). There seems to be a reluctance to start experimenting at the moment as no-one is really sure if some of the changes introduced during the 2.1 update are working as intended or are bugs - FD seem to be very reluctant to answer bug reports on the BGS. What we're all waiting for is the introduction of update 2.2 when everything will be made clear.
Of course, there's nothing to stop you doing your own trials. Find a system that has little or no traffic (you'll have to go to the edge of what's known as 'the bubble'). Pick the lead faction at the nearest station, find out what they like to import and take in a fixed amount of that product for a few days. Don't buy or sell any other product, don't take any missions and keep a record of what your sell, the influence changes over a few days and the number of visitors through the system. Ideally, the system will only have outposts so many of the passing traffic won't be able to land to screw up your figures.
The do the same thing but buy a single product from your target system and see what happens after a few days.
As you may have gathered, playing the BGS requires a certain dedication.