The MK5 to MK6 infamy trap

I used to be about 3400 to 3500 infamy with my mk5 enforcer and had been at that level for a good few weeks. I had been running a grenade for a guild quest and lost some infamy (a couple of hundred). I then hit level 40 and so upgraded my ship to mk6.
Since upgrading, I have won 54 matches and lost 80. During this time, I have been running my best weapons but my infamy has dropped to around the 2500 to 2600 level. The difficulty is that I am now stuck in the mk5 to mk6 infamy black hole and my infamy is such that it is rare that I gain any stars from winning and low battle rewards.

I definitely have not been tanking, and have been performing well in the vast majority of games. I am struggling to upgrade my ship as battle rewards are so low (due to infamy cap rule). There are many other MK6’s are also down here, and many of them have legendary weapons and some tier 5 weapons too. I only have mostly rares (plus one epic), tier 4 at best.

And so here’s the trap, I don’t can’t gain enough rewards to upgrade items or train crew members at a ‘normal’ rate, because even when I win, rewards are poor. My weapons are lower than most other mk6’s down here. I have plenty of items I wish to upgrade, but don’t have the sugar to do so.

So here’s the trap:
Genuine players struggle to escape the Mk5 to Mk6 trap as battle rewards are too low and so can’t progress. Many mk6’s down here have legendaries, and tier 5’s so am underpowered against Mk6 opponents that I face (and believe me there are many, and make up the majority of who I battle)

My only options at this stage seem to be:
- turn off VIP to slow down training of crew members (so that sugar can be focused on upgrading weapons)
- change to one of my other mk5 boats so that I’m not fighting so many mk6’s (but that involves learning a new ship, as I’ve specialised in enforcer), in the hope I fare better against the mk5’s
- buy lots of sugar (high cost solution) so that I can upgrade those weapons and shoot my way out
But - surely this is a farce of a situation. I have not deliberately tanked, I want to improve and get better, but the infamy mechanics brought in to penalise seal clubbers is instead penalising mk5 to mk6 players.

Trust me, the seal clubbers aren’t bothered about low reward, they already have fantastic weapons. It’s no penalty to them at all. The infamy cap penalty just penalises anyone crazy enough to upgrade to mk6 at level 40, and frustrates those mk5’s that we occasionally have to face.

I’m not asking for help or advice. I just want to act as a warning to any other Mk5’s who may be thinking about upgrading to mk6. My advice is don’t until you’re getting T5 weapons. Also, don’t upgrade if you’re not close to max infamy so that you give yourself more room with the infamy drop cap. And my advice to devs is - your infamy drop cap isn’t working, please think of another strategy to punish seal clubbers.

 

My opinion would be that 2000-2700 infamy is too low to upgrade. I would hold off until:
Your infamy is at least 3500
You have a mixture of epics and rares (min level 40) but probably need to be getting close to unlocking T5’s on your best weapon
You already have the additional weapons to fill the slots on your Mk6 levelled up
In essence, look at the Mk6’s that you get in your fights and look to see if your weapons are comparable. If not, hold off and continue to use your rewards to upgrade your ship and train your crew.
But you’re right, upgrade to a ship should mean more power, wins etc, but what it actually means is that you end up fighting better boats straight away, and so it actually feels like a backwards step (onto a steep slide) as matchmaking strongly focuses on ship level, not weapon/item level.

 

It is actually the other way around. The matchmaking algorithm matches you (as much as possible) against ships the same Mark as you. Therefore as a percentage of the ships at your ship level, you have a higher chance of fighting Mk6’s rather than Mk5’s. And if those Mk6’s have better weapons, it’s down the slippery infamy slope you go. If it was less based on ship level, and more on infamy, you’d have more chance of facing Mk5’s, you’d win and your infamy would rise. We’d actually see less complaints about high level ships being down at low infamy.

 

I was at 3500 infamy and facing mk6 boats most games and thought I was doing ok, and so thought ‘I’m facing so many mk6’s, why not be one myself?’
I think the devs need to consider your suggestion that matchmaking ignore ship mk. It would allow those genuine ‘trapped’ players to escape, leaving only the seal clubbers behind (and sticking out like a sore thumb).

 

Yes, and you’ll continue to see more and more due to the ‘trap’ I spoke about at the start of this piece.
There are two types of mk6 you’ll see:

• The ‘unfortunates’ like me who are stuck in this Mk5 to Mk6 trap, suffering from very low rewards and so not able to improve their boats and therefore can’t gain infamy
• The ‘seal clubbers’ with legendary weapons who don’t care about low rewards because they P2W.

You and the other mk4 & 5s aren’t happy about this, and the ‘unfortunate’ mk6’s aren’t happy either. Not good for anyone.

 

Lmao, trying to wind up other players. Such fun, so mature.