Engineers I must have hibernated and woken up to...

[The_Dude]

A game that sends an endless supply of FAS, FDL & Anacondas to jump you on missions of 20-30K value. I have no desire to go on a 'where is Waldo' mission to find 4 subcomponents across the galaxy to increase my cannon range 15%. I bought the game for the joy of trading, exploring and simple missions. I earned 400M space bucks before I even got to the Competent Combat rating, and I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who didn't buy the game for its combat aspect.

The expansion should have read "Elite Dangerous Engineers - Forced Gladiator Edition" as no matter how small your mission or trade route there is a 300M value ship awaiting your 28K mission value. I understand there are pirates, and that keeps me on my toes, but the threat danger should be COMMENSURATE with the value of your cargo or mission. I never realized that Fish, Mineral Oil or in one case Scrap would be worth a high end pirates' time.

If people want to pursue the Engineers aspect of the game then let this god forsaken endless supply of high end pirates go after them. My Anaconda has been turned into the King Tiger of space ships, so many more shield boosters, armor and hull reinforcements just to protect those precious Maytags!

 

[Taranis Dekker]

Sounds about right. Since 2.1 release, I've the only NPCs after me have been Deadly or Elite, irrespective of mission. These days, I've shelved my Conda and use my iClipper because it's the only thing fast enough to run away from overpowered NPC weapons or super shields with.

Used to be that combat was a genuine hit or miss affair... now it seems mostly run away as fast as you can. I only play for a few hours a week, and the entire game has changed from being trading and fighting (maybe) to a new game mostly about fighting with the chance of surviving the odd mission / trade run you may be lucky enough to get.

 

[stripealipe]

"Used to be that combat was a genuine hit or miss affair..." ?! Lol, now i've said this before, but now i mean it doubly.... we have previously def been playing a different game dude.........

 

[Taranis Dekker]

What I meant by it was that sometime you'd get interdicted by a higher-ranked NPC, sometimes lower. Now it's always higher, and seemingly always with impenetrable shields. I've gone up against some pretty small ships that still seem to have either overpowered weapons for their size or shields that take forever to break.

Don't get me wrong, I prefer a good AI rather than a cr*pshoot, but when you scrap against ships that shouldn't mount more than 2 medium or small hard-points with low-class shields, how come the shields constantly recharge so fast, or the weapons strip your own shields in an instant?

 

[The_Dude]

I agree Mike, not only do they come after you more often and on Low End missions, but their weapons seem much more tougher now. For a while I was running a Class 7 A shield with 6 boosters and it was reduced to nothing on one pass. I can somewhat understand a high end pirate if I'm carrying 5M worth of cargo or missions, but we're talking nickel and dime missions. Risk should be commensurate with reward.

 

[GG7]

I made the mistake of taking on a few of those WETWORTH Assassination Missions and now I have bounty hunters coming after me every other SC jump! Its getting pretty annoying. I can handle them coming after me if I am in the system I am wanted in, but I am getting interdicted in clean systems constantly. All over these 6 to 10k bounties I have on me IN OTHER SYSTEMS!

And of course, when you take the time to destroy one of these losers, they pay 400CR cause they are not wanted for anything but firing on me.

 

[Drelthar]

There must be something going on with how it figures out what to send after you, because I've been mostly up against things I can handle.

I mostly fly a cobra 3 though, and none of my ranks are elite.

I think there is another thread gathering data on ranks/etc and what ships have been sent after them. Seems like a decent way to start figuring out what's going on as there seem to be a bunch of people finding a serious problem here even if I haven't.

 

[The_Dude]

Its probably because I hold mid ranks in both Fed and Empire, everyone thinks I'm a spy so I'm everyone's whipping boy!

 

[Taranis Dekker]

Agreed, Dude. I've blown(?) 20mil on upgrades to try and stay ahead, but it doesn't seem to work. Speed seems to be the best key to survival now.

 

[Cmdr Esteban]

Sometimes I feel like running, sometimes I feel like turning on my attacker and engaging.

Speed is vital, so I upgraded my Python's engines and now have a top speed of 295 (up from 267) and a boost speed of 385 (up from 348). It's not the best even as a grade 3 modification (10.6 out of a possible 14 optimal multiplier), but I'm happy with the performance and it gets me out of trouble.

Here's what also helps with the moments when I feel like running though: I installed a class 2 mine launcher in the forward underside hardpoint. Oh you want me to drop cargo? Here you go...

Mines won't destroy or even heavily damage big ships, but I find they often distract and stall attackers who are on my six; more than enough opportunity for me to get away. And if I feel like turning and attacking, I can spam enough mines first to disable my pursuer's shields, and then I can come about and bring the class 3 beam lasers to bear...

Anyway, I suggest mines for those traders who really don't want a head on engagement, and perhaps don't have the best speed performance.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

FD keeps building minigames and balancing ED on the basis of those minigames, rather than building a consistent world and letting the players affect it. Thus why you get the artificial Skinner grind everywhere ever since launch.

 

[Klab]

If you can get access to Lei Cheung, and upgrade your shields it makes surviving those encounters much easier.

 

[relayer]

I think there is another thread gathering data on ranks/etc and what ships have been sent after them. Seems like a decent way to start figuring out what's going on as there seem to be a bunch of people finding a serious problem here even if I haven't.

Just wanted to say, THANK YOU for being mellow, granting that other players might have a problem that you do not have, and in the main, discussing this problem civilly without resorting to name-calling & epeen-waving.

If I run into you out there in the black, I'll stand you to a Sidewinder Fang o7

 

[Drelthar]

Just wanted to say, THANK YOU for being mellow, granting that other players might have a problem that you do not have, and in the main, discussing this problem civilly without resorting to name-calling & epeen-waving.

If I run into you out there in the black, I'll stand you to a Sidewinder Fang o7

No problem.

I'm Novo Mundus in game though.

 

[Alderius]

I parked my Anaconda as I got decimated by NPC's while trying to mine, just couldn't outfly them. Picked up and outfitted a courier for mining, now it's all about running away. I've only had two gaming sessions since Engineers dropped as I've been traveling, if I spend more time running than mining/trading/fighting, this game is going on the back shelf. Glad I didn't spend money on Horizons, I'm still waiting for the core fixes....