AX conflict zones

[Anakausuen]

Hi there folks, the update last month was pretty epic. It's very obvious FDev put in a lot of effort into making the game even more enjoyable. Although it's not perfect, some bugs are still around and all that, I really have only one thing to complain about: The way the AX conflict zones are. At the moment they're okay for people who play in wings, but it's near impossible for those who only play solo. More AI need to jump in when a few of them are killed, just like in normal conflict zones, because eventually you run out of friendlies and you're left on your own against a dozen scouts and 2 interceptors and you have to jump out. I've noticed a lot of people upset about this back on the actual game and Steam forums as well, so I speak for larger majority than just myself. All I ask is that AX conflict zones are made easier so a solo player can handle them. I don't mean to boast but I have nearly 3,000 hours on record, I have destroyed at least 500 Thargoid interceptors, I have the Elite combat rank and can take out Corvettes in a Viper MK4, so if it's this much of a challenge for me, it's something that needs looking at.

I'd really appreciate it if FDev could take a look at this problem, and have it scheduled for fixing next update. It's just not fair to cut solo players out of this amazing feature.

 

[Anakausuen]

Bump

 

[SpaceScania]

Yeah I am not a combat focused player but I was thinking of trying these at one point. I was going to try and figure out how to outfit an AX build and unlock the relevant guardian modules (long term goal). However, I do play in solo so if it is an impossible mission for solo players I guess I won't be able to try that out.

 

[Anakausuen]

Yeah I am not a combat focused player but I was thinking of trying these at one point. I was going to try and figure out how to outfit an AX build and unlock the relevant guardian modules (long term goal). However, I do play in solo so if it is an impossible mission for solo players I guess I won't be able to try that out.

Yeah, it's okay in wings, but in solo it's almost impossible. You get to just over halfway to victory, but by then all the AI have been killed, and you're left on your own against a whole fleet of Thargoids. That's why I posted this here, in the hopes that Frontier notices it and fixes the issue.

 

[CMDR Yates]

I agree. I noticed this when I tried them in beta, and it seems like a pretty straightforward thing to tweak.

Are NPCs able to target modules (hearts) yet? I seem to recall them not being able to. I ask because making NPCs slightly better at fighting Thargoids would be helpful as well. Even if they're still not particularly effective at it. I imagine most NPCs still getting their hides handed to them even with that ability (as it should be to keep the Thargoids frightening and powerful) but given the number and ferocity of the aliens in these scenarios, it would feel more balanced and believable if a swarm of elite-rated NPCs were at least able to significantly damage an Interceptor before being wiped out.

 

[Anakausuen]

I agree. I noticed this when I tried them in beta, and it seems like a pretty straightforward thing to tweak.

Are NPCs able to target modules (hearts) yet? I seem to recall them not being able to. I ask because making NPCs slightly better at fighting Thargoids would be helpful as well. Even if they're still not particularly effective at it. I imagine most NPCs still getting their hides handed to them even with that ability (as it should be to keep the Thargoids frightening and powerful) but given the number and ferocity of the aliens in these scenarios, it would feel more balanced and believable if a swarm of elite-rated NPCs were at least able to significantly damage an Interceptor before being wiped out.

Nah, unfortunately they can't target them yet. Though they can still deal damage to the actual Thargoid and make sure the heart is vulnerable for 70% of the time, it's still not good enough to have them without the ability to do proper heart damage to the interceptors. Some of them could be using Guardian weapons but that might be too overpowered. Of course we wouldn't want to make it too easy, like you say we want to keep the Thargoids as the terrifying threat they are. But at the very least we could make sure they're doable by getting more AX fighters to jump in when others get destroyed, and giving them the ability to damage Thargoid hearts.

 

[zblifteak]

Hi there folks, the update last month was pretty epic. It's very obvious FDev put in a lot of effort into making the game even more enjoyable. Although it's not perfect, some bugs are still around and all that, I really have only one thing to complain about: The way the AX conflict zones are. At the moment they're okay for people who play in wings, but it's near impossible for those who only play solo. More AI need to jump in when a few of them are killed, just like in normal conflict zones, because eventually you run out of friendlies and you're left on your own against a dozen scouts and 2 interceptors and you have to jump out. I've noticed a lot of people upset about this back on the actual game and Steam forums as well, so I speak for larger majority than just myself. All I ask is that AX conflict zones are made easier so a solo player can handle them. I don't mean to boast but I have nearly 3,000 hours on record, I have destroyed at least 500 Thargoid interceptors, I have the Elite combat rank and can take out Corvettes in a Viper MK4, so if it's this much of a challenge for me, it's something that needs looking at.

I'd really appreciate it if FDev could take a look at this problem, and have it scheduled for fixing next update. It's just not fair to cut solo players out of this amazing feature.

I have about 4000h, I killed over 1000 thargoids and AXCZ aren't possible for me in solo mode.
we need more Npcs to fight because i've got 9 scouts on my back every time i try to fight a cyclop or basilisc.

 

[Anakausuen]

I have about 4000h, I killed over 1000 thargoids and AXCZ aren't possible for me in solo mode.
we need more Npcs to fight because i've got 9 scouts on my back every time i try to fight a cyclop or basilisc.

Exactly, the AXCZs are ridiculous. When they're that hard for players with as much experience as we have, you have to think about how bad it is for more casual players as well. If we had NPCs that jumped in to keep the numbers up... but like you say more of them too, we'd have more cover to keep those scouts off of us so we can focus on the larger interceptors. There's just far too many Thargoids, and not enough friendlies.

 

[macpeep]

Very much agree! Another issue is the short range of the AX scanner, making it very hard to scan an angry Thargoid interceptor so that you can target a heart. It might be easier in a faster and more agile ship but I am having a very hard time just scanning Thargoids in the AXCZ in an Anaconda so that I could kill them without fixed weapons.

 

[Anakausuen]

Very much agree! Another issue is the short range of the AX scanner, making it very hard to scan an angry Thargoid interceptor so that you can target a heart. It might be easier in a faster and more agile ship but I am having a very hard time just scanning Thargoids in the AXCZ in an Anaconda so that I could kill them without fixed weapons.

Aye that's something they need to look at too. Isn't the range on those things only like 500m or something? That's way too short a distance to try and maintain in the heat of battle, especially against something as fast as a Thargoid. I normally use Guardian weapons, but are gimballed AX guns effective enough against Thargoid interceptors if you have a lock? I haven't tried them before.

 

[macpeep]

Aye that's something they need to look at too. Isn't the range on those things only like 500m or something? That's way too short a distance to try and maintain in the heat of battle, especially against something as fast as a Thargoid. I normally use Guardian weapons, but are gimballed AX guns effective enough against Thargoid interceptors if you have a lock? I haven't tried them before.

I haven’t felt like doing the grind for Guardian weapons so I just go with plain AX weapons. For hearts that means turret multi cannons on my Conda. And that means you have to get a lock on the heart, which in turn means you have to scan the Thargoid. If the Thargoid is flying around at 400+ m/s then that’s pretty impossible as the scanner range is just 500 m.

The way I’ve figured it is that if humanity truly has a massive Thargoid threat and the bubble and all of humanity is in danger, then maybe focus on arming the population with good AX weapons, shields and scanners that don’t require each pilot to go through a crazy grind 1000 ly away. And work on AX megaships and coordinate station rebuild campaigns etc. As it is right now, it feels like the Thargoids are just a minor nuisance to humanity.

 

[Anakausuen]

I haven’t felt like doing the grind for Guardian weapons so I just go with plain AX weapons. For hearts that means turret multi cannons on my Conda. And that means you have to get a lock on the heart, which in turn means you have to scan the Thargoid. If the Thargoid is flying around at 400+ m/s then that’s pretty impossible as the scanner range is just 500 m.

The way I’ve figured it is that if humanity truly has a massive Thargoid threat and the bubble and all of humanity is in danger, then maybe focus on arming the population with good AX weapons, shields and scanners that don’t require each pilot to go through a crazy grind 1000 ly away. And work on AX megaships and coordinate station rebuild campaigns etc. As it is right now, it feels like the Thargoids are just a minor nuisance to humanity.

The expedition to the Guardian sites isn't too bad... the ambience there is pretty awesome if you head there. But I still agree, we do have to head there more often than we should. Even just synthesising Guardian ammo requires Guardian materials... and when you run out you have to go on another journey. I'm going to change to AX weapons soon because Guardian ammo cap is just way too low to last in a Thargoid conflict zone. Xeno scans on interceptors should work the same way they do on scouts: Passively and will scan as long as they are within ship's normal scanners (Avg 5km-7km).

 

[FrogsFriend]

Very much agree! Another issue is the short range of the AX scanner, making it very hard to scan an angry Thargoid interceptor so that you can target a heart. It might be easier in a faster and more agile ship but I am having a very hard time just scanning Thargoids in the AXCZ in an Anaconda so that I could kill them without fixed weapons.

Spent the weekend fighting the Thargoids in AXCZs and very much agree with this. Didn't manage to successfully scan a single Interceptor all weekend.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

+1 for better scanner.

I couldn't get close enough to scan an interceptor in my G5 DD Challenger.

I'd suggest either adding some more longer range scanners to the game, adding engineering to it, or just buff the original one to atleast 1km.
(I can easily keep one within 1km, but not 500m).
Ideally 1.5km would be a sweet spot allowing slower ships to do a scan, but not making it too easy.

Also, +1 for making guardian ammo synthesis a bit "cheaper" on the guardian materials. It's almost a 2000ly round trip to get more materials to stay in a battle, or increase the amount count.
I wouldn't mind being able to engineer guardian weapons for high capacity though. It's the kind of engineering that doesn't upset balance too much, especially since AX combat is PvE.
I'd potentially like to make my weapons sturdy too, due to using overheating to burn off caustic damage, I often end up with weapon failure before the first interceptor is down. Lol
(Of course, I could just avoid flying through the clouds of slime!)

And finally, +1 for spawning more AX ships in CZs. I didn't last too long in the CZ myself, but I was already the last man standing when I died. Lol

 

[Anakausuen]

+1 for better scanner.

I couldn't get close enough to scan an interceptor in my G5 DD Challenger.

I'd suggest either adding some more longer range scanners to the game, adding engineering to it, or just buff the original one to atleast 1km.
(I can easily keep one within 1km, but not 500m).
Ideally 1.5km would be a sweet spot allowing slower ships to do a scan, but not making it too easy.

Also, +1 for making guardian ammo synthesis a bit "cheaper" on the guardian materials. It's almost a 2000ly round trip to get more materials to stay in a battle, or increase the amount count.
I wouldn't mind being able to engineer guardian weapons for high capacity though. It's the kind of engineering that doesn't upset balance too much, especially since AX combat is PvE.
I'd potentially like to make my weapons sturdy too, due to using overheating to burn off caustic damage, I often end up with weapon failure before the first interceptor is down. Lol
(Of course, I could just avoid flying through the clouds of slime!)

And finally, +1 for spawning more AX ships in CZs. I didn't last too long in the CZ myself, but I was already the last man standing when I died. Lol

Sorry for the late reply! I've been off for quite some time. Aye the Guardian synthesis is a real problem... they should either make it cheaper to synthesise or increase the ammo capacity of the Guardian weapons. I'm still really disappointed about these Thargoid conflict zones though... they shouldn't be making this wing-only. Instead a good idea might be to add an automatic difficulty setting, where if you're by yourself, the AXCZ will be easy and doable as long as you fight skillfully, and if you're in a wing more interceptors will spawn and such.

 

[Hole in Head]

Synth shouldn't be a requirement to get through a CZ... Agree it should be cheaper, but also most weapons need more ammo overall.

 

[Anakausuen]

Synth shouldn't be a requirement to get through a CZ... Agree it should be cheaper, but also most weapons need more ammo overall.

Yup, 81 rounds for gauss cannon for instance is just far too low. 300-350 sounds more reasonable. I mean 81 rounds are okay for single Thargoid battles or even taking on two-three without visiting a station for RRR, but now that they've brought out these large AX conflict zones, ammo is one of the things we need if a solo player is going to cut it in an AXCZ without having to travel 1,000 lightyears for rare materials.

 

[Screemonster]

Definitely a +1 on the scanner comment. 500m range and a 10s scan time is fine for when the thargoids were introduced and we were meeting them in signal sources, but trying to scan the bleeding things when they're already aggro'd is damn near impossible.

As it stands the zones are completely inaccessable for someone that's not done the guardian grind - if I had the gauss guns I'd at least be able to eyeball the glowing heart, but trying to hit the blasted thing with standard, non-hitscan AX weapons is a nightmare.

 

[Anakausuen]

Definitely a +1 on the scanner comment. 500m range and a 10s scan time is fine for when the thargoids were introduced and we were meeting them in signal sources, but trying to scan the bleeding things when they're already aggro'd is damn near impossible.

As it stands the zones are completely inaccessable for someone that's not done the guardian grind - if I had the gauss guns I'd at least be able to eyeball the glowing heart, but trying to hit the blasted thing with standard, non-hitscan AX weapons is a nightmare.

Unfortunately they're still extremely hard even with gauss cannons, only if you get a very lucky roll with only cyclops and friendly AI don't get themselves killed will you have a fair chance. I don't really use scanners since I have gauss cannons but I can definitely see why it's a problem that needs fixing for those who do use xeno scanners.

 

[Screemonster]

Just got a zone where the interceptors didn't spawn (even though it still said the voice line) and I was able to mix it up in there easily until I ran out of ammo, synthed a reload for each multicannon, ran out again, finally decided to burn off the caustic damage I'd picked up at the start of the fight, sat there on the edge throwing fighters at the fray until I ran out of those too, and eventually cruised off because the scenario progress bar had been full for ages but wasn't registering a victory. Ho hum.

Once again, the difficulty spike between scouts and interceptors for solo players is massive. I'd love to have something in between.