Bro'...if you consider a game that is relaxing and fun and relatively easy to clear content on PvE and getting rewards for having fun as "idle" as opposed to one like ED where you have to grind for engineering and cash to buy better ships up to the carrier and grind again and again to rank up just to unlock some areas - like the supposedly Sol system the home of humanity - or to unlock specific type of ships then you have a distorted image about what fun is...or you work for fdevs and try to defend them...
The thing is while you can grind to get those things, and I have been guilty of doing it at times, you only need to do it if you set yourself a time constraint on how fast you want that item.
Bro' grinding endlessly for meager rewards is not fun...at least not for me as a seasoned gamer...it might be fun to you if you enjoy having like a second job grinding for virtual cash... assuming you have a real job in real life grinding for real cash...
For me grinding endlessly for meager rewards is not fun...
If I grind little for big rewards in another game that doesn't mean that game is "idle"... That game is fun not idle...
I tend to think that a repetitive activity is only a grind when you are not enjoying yourself, ED is quite good in that there are other things to do that can break up that grind or even bypass it if you have the time. If you don’t it probably isn’t the best game for you.
I think I've mentioned that I fit 744 tons on my T9... anything less than that makes it inefficient to to cargo hauling for pure profits... anything less than 15-20 Mil per jump is a waste of time in my book...
The trouble with that definition of efficiency is it assumes you will always deliver the goods.
Personally I found not doing missions and not assuming I would always get through unscathed so building accordingly let me have more fun which was worth more than getting the credits faster.
And now as novice in combat I get attacked by a elite NPC pirate with a Anaconda and not just once being "unlucky" maybe, but twice in my 1-2 hrs session of game time...
But if you are doing trade missions the pirates are based more on the rank of the mission and your trade rank.
Luck might provide the occasional pirate based on your combat rank but each mission is likely to guarantee one based as above.
And now I lose the interdictors attempt to flee and I also lose the battle and with that the ship and over 30 mil cargo value...
When before 6-9 month before maybe more, same ship my t9 was able to escape interdictors or to defend myself against a NPC pirate that was not elite combat with a Anaconda... so something changed...the balancing changed the rewards vs efforts ratio changed...they want us to "work" even more for rewards even smaller...
Or your trade rank increased, or the system states changed, or you started getting offered and accepting higher rank missions.
Which is the reason I gave up on ED and I'm trying to let fdevs know how I feel about it...in case they care about why players abandon the game and why we - at least me - are not inclined to spend real money on arx to support the game...
I wouldn't mind to spend real money on arx to support the game... but I won't support a grinding mentality and a poor balancing of the rewards vs efforts ratio...
So play longer term.
And I feel sad about it because in fact I like the concept of the game especially with Odyssey and landing on planets and having space legs...
Just because you like the concept doesn’t mean the details will work for you.
Yet I can't play it anymore...the thargoids are attacking me while transporting pax in a cruise liner in the bubble, not outside of the bubble...the elite NPC pirates are attacking my bulky t9 and I'm losing ships and cargo...
So I'm out... I have other games that are fun and relaxing and begging for my real money too...
I am happy you have other games, it is a shame this one isn’t what you hoped it was.
I used to win the mini game and escape and flee...or if I couldn't escape the NPC pirates were not so advanced and my t9 was able to face them at least until the security vessels were arriving on site...
Now I lose the mini game of escaping the interdictors, like every time, so they've clearly kicked up a notch as you put it... and now I lose the battle since the pirates NPC are elite NPC in combat vs me novice, and I lose the ship and valuable cargo on the ship over 30 mil in gold or whatever cargo I'm hauling at the time...
No I never used a sco as it wasn't a thing when those pirates NPCs attacked me...
I don't have one now either because I didn't play anymore, I'm not sure if I fully understand what sco is or how it works...
It works like the boost function in normal space but works in super cruise, unlike boost you have to switch it off, there are side effects to burning lots of fuel to go very fast though.
that's why I write here to let fdevs know how I feel, in case they somehow care for why players abandon the game...