Against all odds: I'm enjoying the Bubble and the Engineers

[[VR] optimal_909]

After being away for a very long time (I left last Summer to Colonia, and have been out in the void since October), I was looking forward at going back to the Bubble. On the other hand, after reading all the vitrol on the dangerous threads, I was a bit worried that it will become old fast, leaving me empty and burnt out of exploration - and with nothing to do.

Now I think the Engineers is a fantastic layer that leads me through the bubble, I'm playing in open, visiting exciting places and doing stuff I never done. I'm mining, collecting combat bonds (still novice in combat!), I'm in awe of the new station interiors, especially high tech and garden. I destroyed power generators and making thrilling run back to the ship with less than 25% hull left as a pair of skimmers and a Dropship bombarded me. I occasionally stopping by at signal sources*) And those salvage missions are fun too!

*Does anyone know what are those scrambled/encoded data sources are about?

I visited Pleiades, and yes, got winterdicted, which was awesome experiencing first hand. Oh, and I haven't even tried SLFs and passenger missions yet, there are so many things to do!

I also have my fleet set up for various roles:
- T7 for hauling lots of cargo
- the trusty exploration FDL is now rocking a combat build
- I also have a Vulture for more risky combat zones
- a do-anyting Cobra MKIV that is now set up as a miner
- an Adder I usually summon if I want to have a transfer to an other ship

Sure, I will be back into the black sooner or later, but for now it is very exciting to be involved in and experience all these stuff. I don't consider it a grind, I'm simply having fun.
Am I alone with (re)discovering the Bubble this way?

 

[marx]

After being away for a very long time (I left last Summer to Colonia, and have been out in the void since October), I was looking forward at going back to the Bubble. On the other hand, after reading all the vitrol on the dangerous threads, I was a bit worried that it will become old fast, leaving me empty and burnt out of exploration - and with nothing to do.

Now I think the Engineers is a fantastic layer that leads me through the bubble, I'm playing in open, visiting exciting places and doing stuff I never done. I'm mining, collecting combat bonds (still novice in combat!), I'm in awe of the new station interiors, especially high tech and garden. I destroyed power generators and making thrilling run back to the ship with less than 25% hull left as a pair of skimmers and a Dropship bombarded me. I occasionally stopping by at signal sources*) And those salvage missions are fun too!

*Does anyone know what are those scrambled/encoded data sources are about?

I visited Pleiades, and yes, got winterdicted, which was awesome experiencing first hand. Oh, and I haven't even tried SLFs and passenger missions yet, there are so many things to do!

I also have my fleet set up for various roles:
- T7 for hauling lots of cargo
- the trusty exploration FDL is now rocking a combat build
- I also have a Vulture for more risky combat zones
- a do-anyting Cobra MKIV that is now set up as a miner
- an Adder I usually summon if I want to have a transfer to an other ship

Sure, I will be back into the black sooner or later, but for now it is very exciting to be involved in and experience all these stuff. I don't consider it a grind, I'm simply having fun.
Am I alone with (re)discovering the Bubble this way?

But but RNGineers and pew pew crowds!

If you're having fun, that's what matters for you. Personally, I've long since been a player who goes out to the black to explore for extended amounts of time, then back to the bubble to do stuff for a few weeks, then back out to explore, then back... There's always plenty of stuff to do and try out. The Engineers have certainly prompted people to do more than just the latest overpowered cash grab, although some don't like them because they feel they are forced to do stuff. To each their own. Mind you, an important point is that since the last time you were in the bubble, the "grind" of Engineers has thankfully been lowered quite a lot.

A recurring problem of the game is that it does have plenty of things to experience, but they are often difficult to find and(!) offer precious little incentives for players to go out and actually seek them out. A good example from exploration: the Guardian ruins. The addition of the unique mission pertaining to them has gone a good way towards solving this particular issue, but there are still plenty of others.

Oh, and you mean the Degraded and Encoded emissions signal sources? You can drop by on those for micro-materials or data, for Engineers. Degraded emissions are often junk (but do drop in on one if you see a Threat 2 around an ammonia world), Encoded are often better, and High Grade contains rare and very rare stuff.

 

[Mengy]

Yes, surface salvage missions are my favorite style of missions in the game! I wish there was a consistent way to get only them and nothing else.

As for the engineers, they are much less frustrating now without the commodity requirements, and now that they've tweaked them to use less of the hard to get stuff. It was much, much worse at release. I do like visiting all of the different engineer bases though, some are very scenic and interesting.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

That is true, without EDDB and INARA, it would be a pain to find the required commodities (like landmines) for the engineers buy-in.
I guess Braben and the others who set the rules still live in the '80s. I mean, at about probably 1/3 into the story I'm struggling to make progress with the Day of the Tentacle without a walkthrough.