Elite: Tranquil.
My one major disapointment as an 84er
- Thread starter Phier
- Start date
I have a feeling that the difficulty setting was set low on purpose for launch to allow as many people as possible to get into the game. I have no doubt that in time they will start to ramp it up (along with the number of times you get interdicted in an anarchy system) to something similar to the older games.
Well, as in any game the balancing takes a bit of time. Imagine if they had set the thing to slightly too hard: no sales, no money, no wages for the Devs, no more Elite.
So I can see where they'd go for the "let's play it safe and make it a bit easy at first"-card.
With the rebuy sytem they also have to make sure that chances of recouping the rebuy before the next death are high. Otherwise progression (whatever that may mean for the individual player) becomes a game of chance or downright impossible if you play the less profitable roles.
So while I agree that currently it's not terrifically hard i'm not terribly frustrated by it. I'm sure there will be challenges (*cough* Thargoids *cough*) to come. Now those were challenging in the original 84 game.
So I can see where they'd go for the "let's play it safe and make it a bit easy at first"-card.
With the rebuy sytem they also have to make sure that chances of recouping the rebuy before the next death are high. Otherwise progression (whatever that may mean for the individual player) becomes a game of chance or downright impossible if you play the less profitable roles.
So while I agree that currently it's not terrifically hard i'm not terribly frustrated by it. I'm sure there will be challenges (*cough* Thargoids *cough*) to come. Now those were challenging in the original 84 game.
One important thing: These unstable areas should be sources of goods that are illegal in most jurisdictions.
You don't need to go to an anarchy world to buy drugs, but if you want to purchase narcotics at a price that allows for profitable trading - you need to go to a place where they are legally produced.
Right now there really isn't much reason to trade in illegal wares. Many legal wares give higher profits!
If this was the case in the real world, all the smugglers would stop smuggling and start legally trading goods instead, until the drug price skyrocketed and it wouldn't be the case!
Also, related: We need non-bulk goods back. Some wares, such as narcotics should be traded by the gramme, not by the tonne!
Imagine the day when GalNet reports of the commander in an Anaconda who was captured by Imperial Security Service shuttling 945 kg (worth 103 million Cr!) into Cemiess!
Yes, remember that well!...
Players are already grouping.
Here are some easy ways you can turn up difficulty:
- use only fixed weapons
- don't fit shield cells
- don't upgrade your ships' modules
- fly without shields
- fly smaller, more vulnerable ships with less firepower
My enjoyment of the game went up quite a bit when I chose to fly with fixed weapons only, and created my own policy of fitting just one shield cell bank. If you choose to upgrade everything on your (bigger) ships, fly with multiple shield cells and use gimbaled weapons - that would be ED 'easy mode'
- use only fixed weapons
- don't fit shield cells
- don't upgrade your ships' modules
- fly without shields
- fly smaller, more vulnerable ships with less firepower
My enjoyment of the game went up quite a bit when I chose to fly with fixed weapons only, and created my own policy of fitting just one shield cell bank. If you choose to upgrade everything on your (bigger) ships, fly with multiple shield cells and use gimbaled weapons - that would be ED 'easy mode'
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I agree with the sentiment here but don't get your hopes up, the game was released last month they can't just change core mechanics without upsetting a lot of ppl.
Nice thread. Makes a change from all the cry-baby threads where everything from docking (even buying a docking computer module in one case rotflmao!) to assassination mission NPCs to comprehending the insurance scheme to encountering another Cmdr with an itchy trigger finger makes ED far, far too hard, difficult, upsetting, rage-quit-inducing, and challenging to be any fun.
I've said it before and i'll say it again, the original '84 version was a b@stard to progress with, and I expected this one to be true to the original on the difficulty scale. Sadly the "Dangerous" element of ED seems lacking and awry. Hitting the boost button whilst docking is undoubtably the most "Dangerous" it currently gets. I ought to be in fear of anarchist, pirate infested waters (- well in my case heavily policed, wealthy, Fed systems!) but alas I fear to tread nowhere and go about my salvaging and sequestering with an increasingly heavy heart.
I've said it before and i'll say it again, the original '84 version was a b@stard to progress with, and I expected this one to be true to the original on the difficulty scale. Sadly the "Dangerous" element of ED seems lacking and awry. Hitting the boost button whilst docking is undoubtably the most "Dangerous" it currently gets. I ought to be in fear of anarchist, pirate infested waters (- well in my case heavily policed, wealthy, Fed systems!) but alas I fear to tread nowhere and go about my salvaging and sequestering with an increasingly heavy heart.
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In the early gamma, there were much more npc interdictions everywhere.
BUT then some bunch of whiny commanders who apparently prefer to fly shieldless weaponless ships to maximize profits, started crying that trading is too dangerous! Too many interdictions! Elite has turned into a minigame where you try to fight off the interdiction!
They were really loud all over the forums so the devs listened them and now we can see the results.
Somehow they forgot that trading is supposed to be dangerous when it's high-profit. That's why we are supposed to have the shields and the guns in a cargo ship, too.
I'd love to see the NPC difficulty scale up with your combat rating, other pilots have heard of you and are seeking you out!
Things like this make me a bit angry being that you can learn and adapt to danger. This is the same mindset of player that would do the same trade run 1000 times, buy an anaconda and then fight sidewinders, though honestly I think most quit after they get bored of watching the numbers go up.
I think what he actually said was it was easy for them to make the AI too much of a challenge - I believe he used the word 'unbeatable'. The real problem was to make NPCs beatable yet still challenging, as if there was a reactive pilot at the controls rather than just a few lines of code.
I wouldn|t bet on such a possibility as long as the official "Race to Elite" is still going on witihin all of the 3 professions.
I thought is was more like: 'We don't want the AI to be much of a challenge, because other players should be the real challenge.' But you may be right... You know where to find that quote? ^^
Nah, I think that's a bit too cheap, and I think that in the lore, it's only when you reach the territory around ''Dangerous'' that there really is any ''fame'' (as in people knowing your name because of your rating) to be had.
However, I think it would be interesting if your combateer rating played a small factor in the ''awe'' effect you have on NPC's. Let me explain:
This was (I think) clearest around Beta 2, but the way I understood it was this: NPC's had a kind of awe-meter inside their virtual heads, and esitmated the ability of pilots. Important factors were ship type and weapons.
Some times, I would be interdicted by a NPC pirate who commenced with scanning, but upon brandishing my Twin Class 2 Beam Lasers, he would (literally) go ''Oh uh no, goodbye!'' And run off.
