Not my feedback and a lot might change before it goes live, but you should all read this thread
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=248603
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=248603
2.1 beta feedback - warning for explorers....
- Thread starter Allitnil
- Start date
So much shiny stuff added - the galaxy just got even more beautiful.
Sweet!
Explorers who don't use Engineer mods are going to be in for a world of hurt
Not sweet. I went exploring to escape the "Jump through this hoop a ziljon times" mechanic. If the assessment is correct this is now forced upon me in order to survive the 1% of my time I plan to be in/near the bubble?
Exploration is going to be greatly slowed down if explorers now need to spend time in the bubble to get all the top-rated modifications necessary to try and keep safe out in the Void and especially in the buble with these seemingly way-overpowered NPC's.
[mad]
I wasn't planning on returning for months. And when I do it's with a shedload of data that matters to me. So .... not a happy bunny.
Sweet!
Explorers who don't use Engineer mods are going to be in for a world of hurt
Not sweet. I went exploring to escape the "Jump through this hoop a ziljon times" mechanic. If the assessment is correct this is now forced upon me in order to survive the 1% of my time I plan to be in/near the bubble?
Exploration is going to be greatly slowed down if explorers now need to spend time in the bubble to get all the top-rated modifications necessary to try and keep safe out in the Void and especially in the buble with these seemingly way-overpowered NPC's.
[mad]
I wasn't planning on returning for months. And when I do it's with a shedload of data that matters to me. So .... not a happy bunny.
An interesting thread!!!
I'm glad for sure that Iv returned & sold all my DWE data before 2.1 hits...though I do always try to be in the bubble on update day - just in case.
It may well hold off my decision to buy & outfit an 'Annie' for exploration until the dust settles.
As for returning with data - I'm combat ranked at Mostly Harmless & to date Iv never encountered any NPC's until Iv reached my 'Home system' Caucuma & even then, due to my Allied status with this system, I get to Fu Station without incident.
Though this update may now mean that jumping into my Python to spread the data could well be a thing of the past.
Explorers who don't use Engineer mods are going to be in for a world of hurt
Not sweet. I went exploring to escape the "Jump through this hoop a ziljon times" mechanic. If the assessment is correct this is now forced upon me in order to survive the 1% of my time I plan to be in/near the bubble?
This particular panic pops up for nearly every update (both major and minor), and usually ends up being quite a bit overblown. In this case there are plenty of people popping up in that thread to say they aren't seeing a significant increase in NPC aggression, just that if you do fight NPCs they're a little bit tougher. I wouldn't panic about that yet.
I would recommend panicking about Synthesis Materials. Namely: if you are currently located in an area that you cannot return from without jumponium then you should at least farm enough jumponium for your return trip before 2.1 goes live. The 3-2-1 rule is probably gone (there are five tiers instead of four, and materials have moved, so at the very least the rule has changed). Further it is extremely punishing to get anything better than Common mats right now (Metallic Meteorites are now a great resource for Common mats, but that's about as good as it gets). There's some evidence that mat distribution has changed entirely, so you can't rely on planets you have surveyed before even if you have the insane levels of tenacity that it must now take to get tier 4 & 5 mats.
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Sounds like a plan to stock up on synthesis materials before all the hard work done by the rock rats (and others) are made obsolete
I am less worried about NPC interdiction upon return to the bubble. This just gives a good reason to get some friends together for an escort wing.
I am less worried about NPC interdiction upon return to the bubble. This just gives a good reason to get some friends together for an escort wing.
The statement "Explorers who don't use Engineer mods are going to be in for a world of hurt" is somewhat misleading. An explorer whose ship is not in any way ready for combat is going to be in a world of hurt, true, as NPC-s have gotten much more capable. Those of us who fly ships that can handle combat will still do fine without mods. (Note: having enough shields to run away is also handling combat.)
In fact, going with a combat-ready explorer ship will hurt the jump range less than it does now, what with the increased FSD range mod and the lightweight weapon mods. Sadly, there are no lightweight shield mods that I'm aware of, but you can still get some boosts without increasing the shield generator's mass.
I would recommend stocking up on the rare materials though. I'm hoping that the current beta distribution system will get changed, but from what I've heard (I haven't gone planetside much in the beta yet myself), things don't look good with planetary rare materials. Don't forget that you need some for the best mods too, like Polonium for the increased FSD range.
In fact, going with a combat-ready explorer ship will hurt the jump range less than it does now, what with the increased FSD range mod and the lightweight weapon mods. Sadly, there are no lightweight shield mods that I'm aware of, but you can still get some boosts without increasing the shield generator's mass.
I would recommend stocking up on the rare materials though. I'm hoping that the current beta distribution system will get changed, but from what I've heard (I haven't gone planetside much in the beta yet myself), things don't look good with planetary rare materials. Don't forget that you need some for the best mods too, like Polonium for the increased FSD range.
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It's nice to see that all the effort that players have been putting into the study of materials are completely wasted.
Before DW I did indeed survey some planets until I had all the Jumponium mats covered. I needed to bring them to get to BP after all. Took me a couple of weeks.
I'm not prone to panic and by the sounds of things, fa/off and boost is still the name of the game, with NPC's being a bit more tough if you stay and fight. I do hope FD do finally code their NPC's so they only attack for a reason - i.e. if you have cargo, are a member of the opposing power play faction, or you attacked them first. Explorers shouldn't get blown to bits because they refused to hand over cargo they didn't have, because the NPC pirate apparently doesn't have a cargo scanner installed. This needs fixing.
I do hope they rethink the synth materials situation, though, sounds unnecessarily annoying. I also hope they stop buffing the AI in every patch. There's a point with the AI when it stops being fun in a challenging way and just becomes annoying. If we want to be truly challenged in combat we'll go PvP, stop messing with the AI, it's just making newcomers get burned harder, and then you get mixed reviews on Steam. Oh wait..
I do hope they rethink the synth materials situation, though, sounds unnecessarily annoying. I also hope they stop buffing the AI in every patch. There's a point with the AI when it stops being fun in a challenging way and just becomes annoying. If we want to be truly challenged in combat we'll go PvP, stop messing with the AI, it's just making newcomers get burned harder, and then you get mixed reviews on Steam. Oh wait..
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Um I hope looking for jumponium hasn't changed too much, I love driving around searching for stuff.
I think I might go and try this out in the beta.
From past experience I'd guess that Frontier currently have the AI dialled up past 11 at the moment and will probably tone it down for release. They seem to swing the tweaks to extreme ranges and sit back to watch the forum posts, probably having a good chuckle while doing so.
I think the earlier comment in one of the live streams about explorers having to be armed in the future, is probably only half true - I reckon you could still go out unarmed, but will need good shields and maybe some boosters to survive an attack. The frequency of interdictions doesn't seem to have gone up if you're not running a mission. There is also system authority assistance now and they are effective if you can survive long enough for them to arrive.
I think the earlier comment in one of the live streams about explorers having to be armed in the future, is probably only half true - I reckon you could still go out unarmed, but will need good shields and maybe some boosters to survive an attack. The frequency of interdictions doesn't seem to have gone up if you're not running a mission. There is also system authority assistance now and they are effective if you can survive long enough for them to arrive.
Please do, I'd like to hear how it goes for you.
I spent limited time in the beta: I landed on a 33% metal HMC. I spent a little time checking framerates under different conditions (performance planetside has been an issue for me, and the extra 5FPS or so that I'm seeing in the beta is enough that I won't have to turn the graphics down every time I land-- hurrah!). Then I popped a rock and noticed that materials were categorized a little differently, so I set out to do some material farming to see how it went.
After 45 minutes of surveying, including many, many Mesosiderite pops and several Metallic Meteorite pops, I had found almost exclusively tier 1 & 2 mats (Very Common and Common). I had found a single tier 3 mat (Element, Arsenic). No tier 4 or 5 pops at all in that time.
Compared to live this is certainly all within the realm of possibility, you can definitely have bad luck, after all. I figured my experience might just be an outlier, so I came here and ran a forum search. The results of that search were not encouraging. Many experienced surveyers were completely unable to find anything better than tier 3 (edit: I had written "tier 1" here, but not intentionally). Rock Rats were reporting that previously surveyed bodies were dropping different mats in the Beta.
Since my current exploration trip has been nearly 100% focused on surveying and compiling data about synth mats, a trip that I've been on since before DW started, I'm feeling a bit crestfallen at the moment. I've decided to take a break from the game, and if 2.1 goes live with synth mats in this state then I'll probably extend that break much further.
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There are a couple of issues with AI right now. One is them Brave Sir Robinning when their shields drop, which is pretty annoying. I went to a Nav beacon to try this out and had this happen to me a couple of times. The other thing is that AI are largely faster than CMDR's, and we don't really have a chance at closing the distance when the shields drop.
Outside of PP interdictions, rarely have I been attacked in the beta for no purpose like I have in the release version of the game. Most of the time, when I get scanned and have nothing in the cargo hold, the other ship leaves me alone and goes away. There might have been one time so far in these few days of beta. I've seen a few people mention that other CMDRs have been more of an issue than AI.
Well... If this the case, is it worth me continuing to Beagles Point as very much a tail ender of the DW Expedition?
I'll be rather peeved if upon my return I get my handed to me on a plate and lose months worth of time, data and effort.
Fingers very much crossed that things get dialled down for the release.
I'll be rather peeved if upon my return I get my handed to me on a plate and lose months worth of time, data and effort.
Fingers very much crossed that things get dialled down for the release.
They said we shouldn't go out without at least defensive capabilities - I think a full armament still won't be necessary, but shields and a few point defences or ecm won't totally ruin jump ranges.
Personally my biggest disappointment is that there isn't a section of galaxy that's unreachable because everyone gets taken out in moments by mystery ships. Would be vastly more intriguing than region permits.
Personally my biggest disappointment is that there isn't a section of galaxy that's unreachable because everyone gets taken out in moments by mystery ships. Would be vastly more intriguing than region permits.
TiberiusKirk
Banned
So much shiny stuff added - the galaxy just got even more beautiful.
Sweet!
Explorers who don't use Engineer mods are going to be in for a world of hurt
Not sweet. I went exploring to escape the "Jump through this hoop a ziljon times" mechanic. If the assessment is correct this is now forced upon me in order to survive the 1% of my time I plan to be in/near the bubble?
Exploration is going to be greatly slowed down if explorers now need to spend time in the bubble to get all the top-rated modifications necessary to try and keep safe out in the Void and especially in the buble with these seemingly way-overpowered NPC's.
[mad]
I wasn't planning on returning for months. And when I do it's with a shedload of data that matters to me. So .... not a happy bunny.
That post is like some kind of montage. What are you saying?
IMO slap a decent shield and a chaff launcher on it, and make sure you can boost. You might also be fine without a shield, I just personally fit a shield all the time anyways.
I'd be more concerned with the changes that have been implemented regarding heat management that have effected all the ships in the beta.
It is a useful tactic for testing stuff though. Figuring out where exactly the extreme ranges are can be quite difficult at first, and it's much better to change them during public testing (beta) than after things go live.
For a "good" example to the contrary, see what went on with the Vulture and the Fer-de-Lance's original prices.
Yep, I think you have that right. Being armed well enough is for destroying other ships, but if your only goal is survival, then it's actually better to use the mass which your weapons would have for more shields or armour.
As an explorer, I think the only time where destroying enemies might be preferrable is if you're looking for materials in unexplored systems, and you find something good in a signal source where hostiles also spawned.
Ah, that's interesting. I thought I was just unlucky being repeatedly jumped by Elite 'Lances; I like it, but I do certainly think there should be some accommodation for returning explorers - maybe there should be a short grace period when returning from the deep black, during which you wouldn't be subject to high-class interdictions (because no-one would know where you were going to arrive back in the Bubble!) so you'd get an hour or so of relative safety on return provided you'd been far enough / long enough out.
I mean, it'd be hard enough to organise a PC interdiction against a specific returning explorer, even if you were on their friends list and could see the general direction they were headed. And NPC bounty hunters and pirates don't even have that much information.
I mean, it'd be hard enough to organise a PC interdiction against a specific returning explorer, even if you were on their friends list and could see the general direction they were headed. And NPC bounty hunters and pirates don't even have that much information.
I think making NPC's not attack unless there's a reason (cargo / opposing pp faction / you already attacked them / you are wanted in the system) would work nicely there. An unaffiliated explorer (power play-wise) returning from a months long trip won't be on anyone's hit list, and pirates might still interdict but should leave peacefully after a cargo scan comes up negative. Nobody really stands anything to gain by killing an explorer returning from a long expedition, so making NPC's act accordingly would also be good for immersion.
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