A few suggestions for improving the Dvalin:

  • Dvalin rewards are generally underlevelled. By the time the player finds the manufacturing plant, most of the rewards are obsolete. Perhaps some of the lower-level items should be found in normal Rasiermesser stations (in earlier systems). And/or we can increase the power of the items to match the level at which they are generally found.
  • We should rebalance the kinds of items that Dvalin wants in order to make sure they match the rewards (e.g., it seems too hard to get the Ion9).
  • When first meeting Dvalin, the player should get a mission which describes the kinds of items Dvalin wants. Looking at the mission summary should show the items that the player has already provided, and maybe list (or hint at) some items that he's looking for.
  • We could alter the rewards based on the items the player brings. For example, if the player brings lots of ion weapons, they get the Ion9. But if they bring lots of thermo weapons, they get (a new) Dvalin thermo weapon.
ferdinand 12 Dec 2017:

One of the difficulties right now is that most of these items require either lots of backtracking, or hording stuff in mules along with you. I once had six mules loaded with all kinds of items Dvalin wants from the previous systems, but it was not enough to get me the Ion9.
This makes getting the Ion9 (which at the moment is the only interesting thing he has to give)too tedious and many players will probably never get it or even know that it exists. All other items he has to offer are obsolete when you get them.

george moromisato 12 Dec 2017:

@ferdinand: I totally agree. I'll revise the ticket to include that.

johnbwatson 13 Dec 2017:

My earlier suggestion for resolving this was to allow donating at all stations, and have Dvalin move between stations in a corporate cruiser when a new threshold is reached.

Essentially, whenever the player drops off an item, check if there are unclaimed rewards. If so:

- Remove the -dvalin flag from the previous dvalin station, and add it to the current one. Remove dvalin's cruiser from the system it is currently in, if any.

- Spawn a Corporate Cruiser that docks at the new station and, upon doing so, enables dvalin functionality at it.

Obviously, the destruction of a ship or station in which Dvalin currently resides would disable his services.

the_shrike 15 Dec 2017:

I would suggest giving specific sets of items for each 'recipe/quest', with you not needing all of them, but with which ones you DID take affecting what enhancements (if any) he gives.

johnbwatson 17 Dec 2017:

That might mess with mod balance. More weapons and items make each individual weapon or item rarer.

george moromisato 22 Oct 2019:

In 1.9 Alpha 2 I've rebalanced the value of items sought by Dvalin so you won't need as many.