The "Quality of Life" Adjustment That's Not Even on the Roadmap, even as Thargoids Loom Larger

[insanephoton]

I don’t bother with Thargoids because I like options, and we don’t have any except to fight them or be pirated by them. Makes them pretty boring.

This^

One of the unfortunate effects of FD having gone down the AX + Guardians weapons route is that realistically they have to keep Thargoid conflicrt optional or face rivers of salt. Many people would have preferred the approach of previous version of Elite where the threat was unavoidable but you had a fighting chance with a decent setup.

 

[bootsam]

You have to run different set ups if your doing CZ's, mining, exploring, trading, passenger ferrying, bounty hunting, material farming, guardian farming etc etc. I fail to see how that should differ when zapping thargoids. Youre no more or less vulnerable than when in a t9 full off slaves or similar.

 

[Brrokk]

I don't agree with OP; I don't think there should be a ship build which can do everything.

 

[Ian Skippy]

+1

Human weapons > AX weapons > guardian weapons.
And no more 4x weapon limit, and please please please add some gimballed weapons!
A guardian plasma repeater, or guardian phase beam/pulse/burst laser or something, so I don't waste all my limited ammo on empty space.

I would be fine with this, but only if Thargoids have health and DPS multiplied by ten. Most proposals I see are just about making them farm able at zero risk, as with everything else. Any proposal that just makes Thargoids easier without anything else changing gets a solid no from me.

 

[MrReynolds]

Finally got to King the other night. So triple Elite and double top navy ranks. Yay go me, yeah yeah
So I know my way around the 'Verse.

I too just can't be with all this Tharoid stuff.
Would like to - but just can't bring myself to figure out what exactly I need!
Thargon blasters, xeno scanner, limpets (plus their stupid controller). Seems a different game.
We all know at some point I will get to Thargoid bashing (ooh-er) but for now it's not for me.

 

[Mephane]

For me it's simple. If I have to equip a gimmick weapon loadout that is restricted to weapon types I do not at all enjoy using, against enemies that bypass shields and require you to chug poison-cleansing-potions (because that is what decon limpets are) - in other words, if there's no fun at all in this for me, why should I even bother? I play games to have a good time, and everything about Thargoid combat screams the opposite to me. Yeah, tastes differ and I am happy for those who enjoy it because (or in spite of) the way it is, but for me that's just a big no.

 

[Stigbob]

One of the reasons I drifted away from the game: When combat becomes more convoluted than the Crime & Punishment debacle you have to wonder who's actually planning all this out.
True, traders aren't good at fighting, that's why you should be able to hire escorts - NPCs or players (or get missions protecting trade routes).

C&P isn't complicated at all, just have a dedicated naughty ship if you decide to go for it and a couple of factors bookmarked for sorting out careless shooting and the like.

Same as anti-thargoid builds you just need one ship for it, it doesn't really effect anything else.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Still waiting for C1 AX weapons.

 

[Ian Skippy]

For me it's simple. If I have to equip a gimmick weapon loadout that is restricted to weapon types I do not at all enjoy using, against enemies that bypass shields and require you to chug poison-cleansing-potions (because that is what decon limpets are) - in other words, if there's no fun at all in this for me, why should I even bother? I play games to have a good time, and everything about Thargoid combat screams the opposite to me. Yeah, tastes differ and I am happy for those who enjoy it because (or in spite of) the way it is, but for me that's just a big no.

But isn;'t that just basically saying "I like having a good time, and I dont have a good time doing things I dont like doing, so I do things I like doing because then I have a good time." Nothing wrong with it, but that is how 'having a good time' works for everyone.

 

[Stealthie]

I would be fine with this, but only if Thargoids have health and DPS multiplied by ten. Most proposals I see are just about making them farm able at zero risk, as with everything else. Any proposal that just makes Thargoids easier without anything else changing gets a solid no from me.

Totally down with that but, OTOH, what's the pay-off?

For all the reward we get, 'goids might as well be "bowling pins" for us to knock down with zero effort.

FDev seem to have this philosophy whereby you can achieve anything by doing stuff a sufficient amount of times.
That's fine as a "fallback" way of achieving things but doing extraordinary things should yield extraordinary rewards.
Killing 'goids should fall into that category, IMO.

 

[Arkadi]

Thargoid gameplay:

4 AX Weapons limit:
it is part of making the Thargoid combat challenging, so I say yes, it makes sense, as it is part to balance the difficulty. I don't know how hard it will be with new combat zones now in beta. For me Interceptor combat is multiplayer gameplay. I can't solo any of the interceptors yet.

AX weapons limited in size an type:
I think this is where Frontier could lift thing up a bit. Why there are no small sized AX weapons or why there are no gimballed ax weapons is beyond my comprehension. I see that fixed weapons make combat more challenging, but at least for small sized weapons this would be a very welcomed "QoL" feature for me - because I really fail with fixed weapons, when not using mouse. So basically I am forced to mouse use when battling Thargoids

Eagle Eye and station repairs:
I think there should be a way how results of Eagle Eye decoding can be made public in game. Not all players frequent the Forums and it's strange that attacked systems are kept kind of secret inside the game. Also station repairs still suffering from bugs failing to register deliverd materials and the sheer amount of deliveries necessary are "alienating" me a bit.

Bugged Missions:
In my experience 80% of the Thargoid Hunting missions are affected by a bug where kills are not registered and completition of the missions is impossible. Also in live version missions are not targeting the attacked systems and are not affecting the Thargoid incursion in any way. This will change in Beta and I really hope this annoying bug will be ironed out.

Because those hunting missions are the only way to make some money with the current Thargoid gameplay. Learning to fight interceptors will face most commanders with several rebuys and therefore is an expansive endeavour. I would very much welcome some pay-cheque for helping to defend attacked systems, more then the current pilots-federations bounties.

 

[jasonbirder]

Just out of interest - where does the misconception that there are NO C1 class (Small) anti-xeno weapons come from ?
Guardian Plasma, Guardian Gauss and Guardian Shard ALL exist in C1 (small) versions
No small Flak Launcher - that's the only omission...

 

[jasonbirder]

Because those hunting missions are the only way to make some money with the current Thargoid gameplay.

Once you've got a handle on them you can easily solo 4 -5 Cyclops in an hour with fairly manageable repair bills...
Giving something like 6.5 MCr - 9.5 MCr per hour (depending on skill and whether you have an SLF pilot leeching your money) which doesn't compare THAT unfavourably with conventional Bounty Hunting (and is a hella lot more fun)

(Don't know if the old "Cheesey" insta-kill with Shards/Premium ammo still works...in which case you can multiply that many times over lol)

 

[Arkadi]

Just out of interest - where does the misconception that there are NO C1 class (Small) anti-xeno weapons come from ?
Guardian Plasma, Guardian Gauss and Guardian Shard ALL exist in C1 (small) versions
No small Flak Launcher - that's the only omission...

I think some players refer to AX Weapons only for those easy available weapons made by Aegis (AX Multi, AX Missile). The other, harder to aquire weapons many player refer to as Guardian Weapons. What I know there are only guardian weapons available for small weapon slots.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I think some players refer to AX Weapons only for those easy available weapons made by Aegis (AX Multi, AX Missile). The other, harder to aquire weapons many player refer to as Guardian Weapons. What I know there are only guardian weapons available for small weapon slots.

This. So it means you dont have 'grind-free' anti-Thargoid weapons in C1 slots. Not that I care that much myself, but the point itself is valid.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Are you suggesting Sirius corp are justified and should continue to try and obtain Ram Tah's IP illegally?

Sounds like business as usual to me...

 

[Arkadi]

yep,

and now I just came to think that probably Frontier will just give us class 3 gauss canonns and a guardian heat sink module to fight the Thargoid Combat Zones. That would look like them

 

[Enderby]

I guess the problem is that the 'game' isn't the aliens, the 'game' is changing modules.

Hopefully 2019 might offer something more than this.

 

[Arkadi]

I guess the problem is that the 'game' isn't the aliens, the 'game' is changing modules.

Hopefully 2019 might offer something more than this.

actually this is what I am doing right now, changing all my Guardian weapons and deep plating, from my Chief to my FAS.

edit: missing sorting and filters in module storage right now! and hate that automatic core module replacement with E-rated modules.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

This^

One of the unfortunate effects of FD having gone down the AX + Guardians weapons route is that realistically they have to keep Thargoid conflicrt optional or face rivers of salt. Many people would have preferred the approach of previous version of Elite where the threat was unavoidable but you had a fighting chance with a decent setup.

I still want more. We got really close once, with the Star Map and the Thargoid Data Points. They just pulled a Frontier and cut a path they didn't go down. I'd love to have been able to spend a few days/weeks/months poking about thargoid sites, to decipher a basic language template. Even if it didn't lead to direct communications, at least let us tap into their signals and determine what they're doing, what they're about - let me listen in, let me learn and discover, reconnoiter and build a library of intelligence. Picture CG's where, instead of pulling well-smoked citizens from burning stations, we were evacuating them in advance of an attack instead. Thargoid hit an empty station and go ¿ЉѬʣ? because there's no one there. Why? Because we knew they were coming. Now they have to rethink their strategies, because we're staying one step ahead, rather than one step behind.

Now that makes for good game play. Now step that up - station's abandoned, but not unmanned - instead of arriving to strike a station, they find themselves kicking the beehive, as loads of CG participants, armed to the teeth with AX and Guardian weapons come pouring out of the station, engaging them, driving them back. Suddenly people have reasons to WANT to engage, and those who do not have reasons not to engage, because they'd rather evacuate or reconnoiter instead.

Game Play improvement: 6,416.8313%