Engineers Combat Missions - What am I doing wrong?

[Solvolne]

So I have returned to the game after the engineers update and I have not been able to complete a single combat mission. I am not sure if this is bad luck, bad design, or me doing something wrong?

I am ranked as novice and have taken a handful of Mostly Harmless(Which to me you should be able to do in the stock ship you start with, maybe with minimum upgrades) missions and as soon as I get to the spot to do them. I get annihilated.

Last night I tried one (Mostly harmless) where you have to go to a conflict zone, and kill a few people of the opposite faction. As soon as I declared my faction everyone in the opposite faction went straight for me(Previously they would at least fight the other NPC ships). These ships were all ranked competent and deadly etc...(This was a low risk zone) and within 20-30 seconds they disabled my ship.

I've had this happen to me with various other combat missions, I get to the place and the people I am fighting are way higher then the difficulty of the mission itself.

Another instance of this was I had a mission where you have to go to a nav beacon and scan it to find salvage, I believe this was mostly penniless or maybe it was aimless I don't remember what those missions are classified as - but as soon as I got out of hyperspace, an elite anaconda attacks me essentially instant death.

These all have occurred in safe space near Barnard star, I am in good standing with the faction and have no bounties against me. Additionally this is Solo Play, so it is not players doing it to me.

I don't think I am the best player in the world, but surely giving newbie missions that are unbeatable is a little bit discouraging. I am not opting for a difficulty setting, but that the difficulty of the mission at least in Solo play or group play actually be reflective of the actual difficulty.

 

[matemaster]

I am deadly in combat and tried assasination mission worth 2.5mil credits.
Found the target it was ELITE fer de lance in wing of 4 NPC's
I started interdiction and soon my ship became unresponsive and just hurled towards the star, then I got too close to star and was kicked outta supercruise ofc. Never found my target afterwards but maybe it was good because I know what ELITE FDL can do in combat not mentioning in wing of 4

IMO, not worth doing combat, assassination mission in 2.1
Too dangerous and sometimes bugged

 

[goemon]

here is a very instructive guide to surviving combatzones: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=176767

bit old, but still very, very good! learned everything from it.

here is a new discussion on tactics in 2.1.: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=261805

if i take on a conflict zones mission, i mainly do hit and run tactics. same for assassinations.

enjoy!

 

[Belthize]

So I have returned to the game after the engineers update and I have not been able to complete a single combat mission. I am not sure if this is bad luck, bad design, or me doing something wrong?


Last night I tried one (Mostly harmless) where you have to go to a conflict zone, and kill a few people of the opposite faction. As soon as I declared my faction everyone in the opposite faction went straight for me(Previously they would at least fight the other NPC ships). These ships were all ranked competent and deadly etc...(This was a low risk zone) and within 20-30 seconds they disabled my ship.

Sounds like you declared while in the middle of the rats nest/furr ball. When you drop in boost away to sensor range, 7Km or so. Then declare then just drift toward them and look for 1v1 or 2v1 where your side is engaged and help. Watch your radar and stay on the periphery, do not go into the middle.

Another instance of this was I had a mission where you have to go to a nav beacon and scan it to find salvage, I believe this was mostly penniless or maybe it was aimless I don't remember what those missions are classified as - but as soon as I got out of hyperspace, an elite anaconda attacks me essentially instant death.

Not sure what to say here. I've dropped in to multiple nav beacons, scanned jumped out, haven't been interdicted once. But you don't have to scan the nav beacon. If you get an advanced discovery scanner it serves the same purpose in terms of updating your mission target.

I don't think I am the best player in the world, but surely giving newbie missions that are unbeatable is a little bit discouraging. I am not opting for a difficulty setting, but that the difficulty of the mission at least in Solo play or group play actually be reflective of the actual difficulty.

The AI has gotten a bit better but rather than view it as having become harder view it as less forgiving for certain types of playing. It's entirely possible to avoid dying as a new player.

 

[Solvolne]

The AI has gotten a bit better but rather than view it as having become harder view it as less forgiving for certain types of playing. It's entirely possible to avoid dying as a new player.

Don't get me wrong - I do enjoy that the AI is better. Part of the reason I stopped playing was because I felt combat had become stale. I just wish that it was more incremental in challenge. I am not new, I played before so I know there are resources and such that can help me improve(part of why I posted to see if there was some hope.) However if this was literally the first time I played, I would be super frustrated and annoyed, when I first bought elite - I just wanted to get into the action. Even if it was a minor sidewinder on sidewinder dog fight. After I killed my first couple easy ships I got hooked and joined wings and all that.

My personal view on this is when you start a game, you shouldn't need to do a whole ton of research to play - I do believe that later in the game, optimizing and really fine tuned strategy should be key. However like I said - these are the easiest ranked missions and some of them are just not doable without looking online and knowing that you should be equipping chaffes, and shield banks, and all that stuff you probably can't afford(Or even know what stations sell, when you start). I should be able to do at least some of the easy missions in a sidewinder with minimal upgrades, and then work my way up from there. I may start a new commander and see, maybe because I have my ship and upgrades and am essentially starting in the middle when everything has been changed so much I have missed out on some of the newly implemented progression. I am not sure.

 

[Belthize]

Don't get me wrong - I do enjoy that the AI is better. Part of the reason I stopped playing was because I felt combat had become stale. I just wish that it was more incremental in challenge. I am not new, I played before so I know there are resources and such that can help me improve(part of why I posted to see if there was some hope.) However if this was literally the first time I played, I would be super frustrated and annoyed, when I first bought elite - I just wanted to get into the action. Even if it was a minor sidewinder on sidewinder dog fight. After I killed my first couple easy ships I got hooked and joined wings and all that.

Apologies, I could have phrased that better, I wasn't commenting on your particular experience, just a general comment on survivability.