Horizons Missions scripted/harder

[TinyLewis]

Missions. Used to be fun. Haven't had the chance to play for a few months, but found some spare time this week.

Accepted a few missions, and OMFG they are impossible to complete. Collect the blueprints/buy goods/transport data... and am ALWAYS interdicted. Always. No matter if I jump to random systems, randomly drop out from supercruise in the destination system, always interdicted.


Interdiction attempts are ALWAYS successful. No matter how long I hold the escape vector for, my 'blue indicator' drops like a stone, and I drop out of sc.
The interdicting ship is always an FDL or Fed Gunship. No matter which way I twist and turn it always manages to hit me (even with cannon, go figure). Shields drop like a stone.
9 - yes NINE - mission attempts in the last four hours have followed the above script.


I've abandoned the missions and quit gaming for the day in disgust. I'm not a bad pilot (not elite by any stretch) but I use the word 'script' deliberate, because it feels scripted as opposed to any free-flow gameplay.

It never used to be like this, missions were not always interdicted, and the NPGs were not always so invincible. Please, retweak the game!

 

[StiTch]

So you've come back to the game after a break of several months...after those several months you aren't doing as well...and so you want the game brought down a few notches?

 

[karl napf der abwaschbare]

This guy enjoyed playing ED. He had to stop for a while and finally got the chance to play again. He found that the game has changed in a way that makes it to be no fun for him any longer. He's asking back for the game that he enjoyed. Sounds entirely reasonable to me whether you see the changes the same way he does or not.

 

[Nephatia]

one thing you can count on in life, and this game, is change.

 

[Faded Glory]

I've abandoned the missions and quit gaming for the day in disgust. I'm not a bad pilot (not elite by any stretch) but I use the word 'script' deliberate, because it feels scripted as opposed to any free-flow gameplay.

It never used to be like this, missions were not always interdicted, and the NPGs were not always so invincible. Please, retweak the game!

Just a couple of suggestions...

Check the rank of the mission (if it's a trade or exploration rank, compare it to what the equivalent combat rank would be). The NPC opposition will typically be the rank of the mission (and the higher the mission rank, the more likely that you will meet that opposition), so if you've taken an Elite ranked mission because it pays well, you will probably meet some tough opposition. Scale it down until you get comfortable with the game again by taking the lower ranking missions.

If you've collected cargo as rewards, don't carry it around, sell it. It's like NPC-nip, and you will be attacked by high ranking NPCs for the few tons of it in your hold.

It is possible to spend hours doing missions and not get interdicted at all, but at the same time, if you stack a number of higher ranking missions, then the result is often never ending interdictions.

 

[Warshrike]

Just a couple of suggestions...

Check the rank of the mission (if it's a trade or exploration rank, compare it to what the equivalent combat rank would be). The NPC opposition will typically be the rank of the mission (and the higher the mission rank, the more likely that you will meet that opposition), so if you've taken an Elite ranked mission because it pays well, you will probably meet some tough opposition. Scale it down until you get comfortable with the game again by taking the lower ranking missions.

If you've collected cargo as rewards, don't carry it around, sell it. It's like NPC-nip, and you will be attacked by high ranking NPCs for the few tons of it in your hold.

It is possible to spend hours doing missions and not get interdicted at all, but at the same time, if you stack a number of higher ranking missions, then the result is often never ending interdictions.

A valid point mate but, selling everything is not an option if you are trying to put together mats for upgrades. You have to carry that stuff around as the genius's at FD didn't think to give us cargo storage, you know like every other game in history. As i have said before i cannot fathom the amount of retardation in their thought process that goes into putting systems in game, that require you to have multiple mats for upgrades then have to lug all said stuff around with you in every ship you try to fly. So as a result you get interdicted every time you undock. I understand what the previous poster is on about because that post could have been written by me as i feel exactly the same. So i ask you how do you get around that or have you simply not tried to upgrade your gear and simply sell everything as you say?

 

[Agony_Aunt]

A valid point mate but, selling everything is not an option if you are trying to put together mats for upgrades.

You don't worry about the commodities before you get the mats, unless you can be sure of getting the mats quickly, otherwise dump commodities, its just not worth it, no matter how rare they are. Its still less frustrating to go getting those commodities after the materials as the last thing.

Not saying its good gameplay design, just saying since its the design we have, this is the best way of dealing with it.

 

[Lucius-Darcia]

Ah sry *deleted*

 

[Faded Glory]

So i ask you how do you get around that or have you simply not tried to upgrade your gear and simply sell everything as you say?

You don't worry about the commodities before you get the mats, unless you can be sure of getting the mats quickly, otherwise dump commodities, its just not worth it, no matter how rare they are. Its still less frustrating to go getting those commodities after the materials as the last thing.

Not saying its good gameplay design, just saying since its the design we have, this is the best way of dealing with it.

Honestly, what Agony_Aunt says.

Yes, it's not great design, and I'd have liked commodity storage too (as would almost everybody, I suspect), but I have managed to engineer a number of ships, some even up to grade 5 with certain modules.

The way I did it, and I'm not saying you should have to do it this way, is that I made sure I had any materials and data that I would need for the upgrades I was after, and only then did I bother with commodities. Some you could even buy, but those that you cannot, I would just spend a session scouring mission boards until I got them. Then a trip to the engineer, and done.

But for sure, I've sold many tons of reward commodities, not only to avoid the interdiction spam, but because for me at least, it restricted gameplay too much. I change ships a lot, and only one of the four or five that I use regularly has more than a few tons of storage, so it would just get in the way anyway.

 

[TinyLewis]

So you've come back to the game after a break of several months...after those several months you aren't doing as well...and so you want the game brought down a few notches?

Perhaps I didn't explain myself too well. No, am not asking for it to be "notched down", am asking for the previous "believable" gameplay balance to be restored. From beta, through to 2.1, interdiction seemed believable; not every attempt was successful - one could evade by keeping the vector within the circle. If unsuccessful, not every dogfight was game over within seconds - not every laser weapon hit, nor did every canon blast.

In 2.2, in my limited frustrated experience, it doesn't matter if the escape vector is in the circle, the counter still decreases. And every interdiction resulted in a one-sided dogfight against a far better ship, who had a prescient targeting system and canon shells that travel at sub-light velocity.

If Frontier have tweaked the NPC interdiction to increase the challenge, then I suggest that it has been tweaked so high that interdiction has been moved from "enjoyable" (sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometime your just lucky to scrape away), to unenjoyable (all the time you lose). The game is supposed to be enjoyable. If it wasn't, we wouldn't play it. If it isn't, people will stop playing - is that what FD want? I do understand that its hard getting the balance right.

@Faded Glory; re the mission ranking - yep, it was below my current level.

Regarding levels, other than trading/exploring, I've been "competent" for about 18months+, so it's not the result of levelling up leading to trickier foes.

All I can do atm is not accept missions.

edit: seems i am not alone! https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...er-submit-I-think-I-have-has-enough-finally-(

 

[Faded Glory]

[snip]
@Faded Glory; re the mission ranking - yep, it was below my current level.

Regarding levels, other than trading/exploring, I've been "competent" for about 18months+, so it's not the result of levelling up leading to trickier foes.

All I can do atm is not accept missions.

Fair enough, but just to be clear, when I refer to trade and exploration missions (which also have a rank level), then if you are Competent at combat, and you accept for example an Entrepreneur rank delivery mission, then that will send Master or Dangerous level NPCs to attack you. You can see which ranks equal which here, in case you weren't familiar.

If it's fighting the interdictions that is proving problematic, then don't, just submit by throttling to zero immediately, and then boost away from the attacking NPC and high wake to a different system (and then come back obviously so you can finish the mission) to break the interdiction cycle. If you just go back to SC, then the NPC will very likely interdict you again after a few seconds.

Anyway, sorry that you are having problems. I do sympathize, but I have to say that I can take quite a few missions at the ranks you are talking about and never get any interdictions, so not sure what else is going on unless you have a few tons of engineer commodities hidden away in your hold.

 

[rrobes]

Cargo ships are vulnerable, dumped my T7 8 mos. ago and worked/saved for Python, much better but expensive.

Avoid the mini game completely, it's rubbish.

Once you get your Python, NPC's are just a source of capital.

 

[CMDR MERANGO]

A valid point mate but, selling everything is not an option if you are trying to put together mats for upgrades. You have to carry that stuff around as the genius's at FD didn't think to give us cargo storage, you know like every other game in history. As i have said before i cannot fathom the amount of retardation in their thought process that goes into putting systems in game, that require you to have multiple mats for upgrades then have to lug all said stuff around with you in every ship you try to fly. So as a result you get interdicted every time you undock. I understand what the previous poster is on about because that post could have been written by me as i feel exactly the same. So i ask you how do you get around that or have you simply not tried to upgrade your gear and simply sell everything as you say?

Get ALL the Materials BEFORE you get any Commodities. And if it is a huge problem for you, stock up on (as in 100s) Sulphur, Phosphorus, Nickle, that way you can level up to Grade 5 without needing any more than a few Commodities for extra rolls for the Grade 5 modification you seek.

Good luck CMIV