OK, NOW you can start carrying weapons on your exploration ships

[Mengy]

Well since we're speculating, I'll venture a guess that our existing weapons and shields will be pretty useless against these ships that can power us down at will, so until such time the threat, and recourse is known, I'll continue on my present journey non-armed.

I'm actually guessing they will go more of the Independence Day route; meaning we'll need some method of getting past their super defenses first, and then our standard weapons will damage them. Soon followed by new alien tech weapons that will do a better job later on, but I doubt Frontier will want to completely negate all of the Engineered weapons they've spent so much time implementing and balancing.

Just my hunch though.

 

[Allitnil]

Been ready since last year.

The responses back then were lukewarm leaning towards not listening. One or two were listening or had the same idea.

Those explorers who still refuse to protect themselves, I had no sympathy for you then, and I have no sympathy for you now.

So you've been completely wrong for the better part of a year but now we should pay attention to you. Not sure if "Chicken Little" or "The boy who cried wolf" is the appropriate response.

 

[Fandomlife]

There is no point carrying weapons when exploring. Unless you want to face the very high likelyhood of an early return you're best investing in stuff that allows you to cut and run.

 

[Straha Yeagar]

There is no point carrying weapons when exploring. Unless you want to face the very high likelyhood of an early return you're best investing in stuff that allows you to cut and run.

Exactly my point earlier, and what I have always advocated when ever this subject comes up. Either equip for fighting or equip for running. There is no reasonable in between. That said, a pure combat ship CAN double as an exploration vessel, albeit a limited range one, but no pure exploration vessel can double as a combat vessel...so make up your mind as to what it is that you are actually wanting to do.

 

[WR3ND]

Whaddya mean now? I've always had weapons on my exploration ships. How effective they're gonna be remains to be seen.

This. ↑

I've been using a fully combat loaded Vulture as my main exploration ship for a couple of years now.

Evidence. → https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...Ships!/page3?p=2828837&viewfull=1#post2828837

 

[Traveller_GG]

I did actually posit this previously: It is possible that FD have provided the engineered huge increases in jump range to off-set the (new) requirement to carry weapons and defensive shields. It could simply be that our p***ing contest on who can jump over 200LY in one go is over. We could jump something like 35-40LY in an exploration-centric Anaconda previously, if you now add a G5 FSD boost with the accompanying engineered modules you could get that again while carrying a full combat load.

I'd like to point out that I do not necessarily agree with this philosophy, merely point it out for merit. I'd also like to point out that we could get yanked out of hyperspace anywhere in the first iteration of Elite.

What we now have is a situation where you need to make a choice, and as is evident from the posts above: people are making different ones based on their gaming style / ethos. Personally I am in the run like hell when exploring / stand and fight when I'm not corner. Oh, look: we can choose what to do in the sandbox game....

 

[Darth Krayt]

The whole Thargoid thing doesn't hold any interest for me, however if there would be the opportunity to buy ship components or even ships from the Thargoids I'd be very interested.
I expect that the only kind of interaction that we'll be getting with the Thargoids will be via combat. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[WR3ND]

I don't really see this as a sandbox game, since there is no real building in it beyond ship loadouts, but that's neither here nor there.

Having not lost a ship since 3301 and only 5 ships in total, my strategy and playstyle seems to be working out fairly well for me. It's also nice not having to bother switching out my ships and worrying about where I can sell my data and the like when I return to the Old World systems.

I look forward to seeing how the Thargoids influence this dynamic, if at all. It might even convince me to bother taking another look at my combat rank. We'll see.

Edit: As mentioned in the post above mine, I do also hope that there is more to the Thargoids than combat. I guess there's been some mention already of discovering their bases.

 

[space voyager]

I sincerely hope there will be a reason to carry some weapory in exploration. I have been packing two medium light mount beams to SagA in hope FD will give me something to shoot at in between but asteriods remained the only targets.

That said, I wouldn't want exploration to become a thing of armed-to-the-teeth warships.

Lightweight optional combat content is what I want. Space bees to swat and gather the honey, that kinda thing. Same for SRV on planets. Something to kill the dull.

 

[Macros Black]

I'm looking forward to see what gameplay the Thargoids will bring us. Although I hope it will not be like Jump, Honk, Jump, Interdicted, Disabled, Dead though. That would be really boring and not fun at all.

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

So you've been completely wrong for the better part of a year but now we should pay attention to you. Not sure if "Chicken Little" or "The boy who cried wolf" is the appropriate response.

Oh hey now that is definitely aggression

How about Frontier were, a best part of a year ago, telling explorers they should carry weapons? Or hyping up that 'Winter is coming'? And because of that I and some other Rifters sped back to the bubble last year from the Formidine Rift before a major patch appeared because at that time we listened to the hype and genuinely thought Frontier were going to be introducing some Big Bads back then? And then nothing much happened after that. So I can see how it might have appeared as being 'Chicken Little' as you so pleasantly suggested

Anyway, time will tell who's right or wrong. I sincerely hope you peacenik hippies are correct. I really do. Then again, it might turn out that what happens to those who haven't tried to prepare for the worst, closely resembles your burning avatar

 

[Allitnil]

Oh hey now that is definitely aggression

Yeah, I probably shouldn't have posted that but your "no sympathy" was kind of asking for a not so friendly response!

I seem to remember saying at the time something along the lines of if explorers really need to carry weapons then FDev would need to give absolute clear and unambiguous warning that all CMDRs should return to the Bubble asap and refit. They didn't do that then so I didn't believe it was necessary. They might think they've now done that but they haven't and if things are changing substantially then they need to do so. In single syllable words that cannot possibly be misconstrued, eg "you WILL be blown up if you can not fight or run fast".

The thing is, many if not most of the current explorers aren't all that interested in combat. They want to see the sights, see how far they can get, work out how the galaxy works or just chill out. If that's going to be taken away from us then FDev are going to annoy a lot of people. And I just don't think they are that stupid or uncaring. Same goes for those who just like trading or mining as a way to get away from the stresses of real life for a few hours. They don't want overpowered Thargoids (or even NPCs) interfering with their peaceful hobby.

So I am expecting Thargoid encounters to be somewhat optional. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong but there's no point my fitting weapons because if they become necessary I won't be able to do the things that I do like about ED so I won't be playing.

That might all change if and when they flesh out the core mechanics. Maybe, like giving us something to do other than seeing the sights etc (and isn't just another form of combat). But forced Thargoids before mechanics is just going to decimate the non-combat player base.

 

[Ozric]

I've been carrying a pair of burst lasers on my Asp ever since 1.1 and an encounter with a rather enthusiastic Eagle well outside the bubble on my first exploration trip. Won't be much use against anything bigger, but if something tries at least I can say I had a go

Your tone was, yes absolutely. Plus it's my opinion and perception. Let me put it this way: if I spoke to a works colleague in that way I would probably get reprimanded. And if I posted a post with that tone then I'd probably feel uncomfortable and edit. You even said your opinion would "not make you many friends" which implies unconsciously you agree with my sentiment.
So yes. Aggressive. Super in fact.

I don't think there's any need for the word unconsciously.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

Thargoid encounters will certainly be localized, that is to say between the bubble and Barnard's Loop in the foreseeable future.

In any case, I always equipped my ships with the best available thrusters and shields (even though I don't max out the boosters). And so far my favourite exploration ship was the FDL anyway, it can boost 500+ m/s and has adequate shields.

 

[gravedodger]

I'll not be carrying any weapons on my Exploration trips but I will probably stick to A Grade distributors and engineered thrusters to hasten a speedy escape should the worst happen out in the black.

Small precautions that might just make the difference.

I hope FD will consider improving an effective 'stealth' dynamic part to the Thargoid game for those of us who prefer to use guile and sneakiness instead of brute force and thuggery

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

"Frontier Developments is fully aware of this, and will be investing resources into ensuring that exploration has interesting interactions and perhaps even more compelling gameplay loops. Some of this will arrive with v2.4, including the new discoverable Thargoid locales.."

https://i.imgflip.com/unajz.gif

Let's be real here. Most exploration gameplay features suggested by the community would get boring very quickly and/or unfeasible. Exploration needs stuff to see, atmospheric landing and a more fleshed out environment (bubbly giant stars, comets, large scale volcanism, planetoids, etc.).

 

[marx]

A couple of people have claimed that when they spoke to FD around E3, they said that Thargoids will be an optional thing. For 2.4, at the very least. I'd say that makes sense - you wouldn't want to cram a full-blown invasion down everybody's throat right away. I'd wait for Frontier to come and say officially that yes, people who don't want to interact with the aliens won't be forced to before coming to conclusions. (Probably at LaveCon?) Still, if that's true, then it's likely that you'll only encounter Thargoids in certain regions of space. Which is much better than galaxy-wide interdictions. In that case, you'll need to prepare your ship if you want to explore alien territory, and you won't need to if you'll just be careful not to.
And if somebody should fly a cardboard ship in there and get destroyed, well, that would be on them.

 

[Mengy]

So I am expecting Thargoid encounters to be somewhat optional. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong but there's no point my fitting weapons because if they become necessary I won't be able to do the things that I do like about ED so I won't be playing.

Yep. If 2.4 makes playing non-combat an impossibility then an awful lot of commanders will be resigning their wings very soon. I do not think Frontier will do that willingly. I hope not.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Let's be real here. Most exploration gameplay features suggested by the community would get boring very quickly and/or unfeasible. Exploration needs stuff to see, atmospheric landing and a more fleshed out environment (bubbly giant stars, comets, large scale volcanism, planetoids, etc.).

Sure. But my frustration is triggered when a couple of Thargoid locales are handplaced at specific places and this is called exploration content.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

Well, yes.
But we've seen very little of 2.4, and on top of it to me this is the most interesting stuff since Horizons itself and the later hit&miss planet generation update (much better textures with loss of colors - although major update may come with 2.4). Provided FDev keeps working on the atmospheric landings and futher refinement of the Stellar Forge, I'm all in to play 'their game'.