Newcomer / Intro If you think the game will get easier later, think again. I really think I'm done with it:(

[AdamDZ]

I was naive to think that I finally got off the ground so I started running missions again.

I was just on a mission to pick up a data canister. Just my third mission. I'm in a A-graded Python with two Shield Boosters. Four NPCs (FOUR!!!) jump in. My shields are down by the time I was able to turn around to face them. I didn't even have the time to see what they were, my hull was already taking damage. I jumped out only to be interdicted by a        ing Master AI in an Anaconda few moments later. I rage quit, literally reset the computer power.        ck this game seriously. I gave it 300 hours. I'm not an idiot. I've played games most of my life. This game is not playable in its current state.

Frontier Dev: KNOCK IT OFF WITH        *ING INTERDICTIONS!!!!! THIS GAME IS BROKEN!!!!

 

[Chris Simon]

In other words, you want to be able to choose when you want to be interdicted and when you don't? Hmm...

 

[AdamDZ]

No, I want less fighting and I want fair fights. That's all.

 

[Chris Simon]

Allow yourself a bit of a cooldown, and we can talk it through, tomorrow.

 

[AdamDZ]

No, I'm done. Thanks for all the help in the last couple of weeks but this game is not for me.
I'll keep an eye on the news and forums. If there is any indication that FD fixed the game I'll be back. But in its current state it's unplayable.

Cheers!

 

[Chris Simon]

Okay. Fair enough.

So, just for everybody else, who might experience the same issue, I'll leave several points lying here. Free for grabs.

1) What other game gets easier as you progress. More importantly, what game would WANT to do that. One of the points of the game is to present a challenge. Without things to overcome, the game becomes dull and stagnates in gameplay which is boring. You suffered something I started to call "A Robigo syndrome". If you progress through the game faster than you should (and faster than your skill is growing) You'll run into problems. Stepping up into the big ships game requires both mental readiness and that of a bank account. Big ships present big opportunities, but also big risk and potentially big losses. Big ships also attract a lot of attention.
That there isn't a bug or badly designed mechanic. It works very well for rooting out people not ready for it.
That's why so many people are asking support to reset their ranks. They stepped into a level they are not prepared for.

Blazing your own trail is nice and shiny, but too much freedom can lead to a disaster. By your own fault. The game does what it says on the box.

2) It has been said too many times, already, during the past weeks, but I'll repeat it, nonetheless.
Missions are dangerous. How dangerous they are is written in their description. If you think you can't handle whatever the game throws at you at that given level of dangerousness, don't accept it. The fact that you did that kind of mission several times and nothing happened doesn't mean anything. It is, again, a base mechanic of the game that stuff happens randomly. Randomly, but within the rails YOU chose to follow when you accepted the mission.

3) "I'm in the A-rated Python, and..." is used as an argument against the game's difficulty way too often. Python is a trading ship. And armed transport, to be precise, but still the fact that she has five big guns, doesn't make her a combat ship, not does it make her any kind of universal ruler. Python is a ship in which you can trade a tad bit safer than in Lacons. But that's it.

4) Combat is not fair by default. There are no recorded occurrences of perfectly even ships, piloted by perfectly even pilots, equipped with perfectly even weapons. In a fight, you either have the upper hand, or you don't. The outcome depends on your judgement, not the fairness of the fight.

I hope you will come in terms with the Elite, one day. Until then, good luck in 21st century and o7, commander.

 

[D.G.Cerberus]

I don't get you.
You get a great run on the CG - enough to buy you a 'Conda.
You have plenty of advice on here about combat and interdictions which you thank the guys for.
and then every so often you seem to have a melt-down

This game is NOT "BROKEN". There may be some things which could be improved, sure. But think of this: I delivered 8000 tons of Gold in the last CG. How many times interdicted? Answer=1. Elite wing. They couldn't mass lock me as in 'Vette but you know this already - in a Python you could have high waked. Even with two shield boosters!

So what do you want that is "fair" exactly?

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Okay. Fair enough.

So, just for everybody else, who might experience the same issue, I'll leave several points lying here. Free for grabs.

1) What other game gets easier as you progress. More importantly, what game would WANT to do that. One of the points of the game is to present a challenge. Without things to overcome, the game becomes dull and stagnates in gameplay which is boring. You suffered something I started to call "A Robigo syndrome". If you progress through the game faster than you should (and faster than your skill is growing) You'll run into problems. Stepping up into the big ships game requires both mental readiness and that of a bank account. Big ships present big opportunities, but also big risk and potentially big losses. Big ships also attract a lot of attention.
That there isn't a bug or badly designed mechanic. It works very well for rooting out people not ready for it.
That's why so many people are asking support to reset their ranks. They stepped into a level they are not prepared for.

Blazing your own trail is nice and shiny, but too much freedom can lead to a disaster. By your own fault. The game does what it says on the box.

2) It has been said too many times, already, during the past weeks, but I'll repeat it, nonetheless.
Missions are dangerous. How dangerous they are is written in their description. If you think you can't handle whatever the game throws at you at that given level of dangerousness, don't accept it. The fact that you did that kind of mission several times and nothing happened doesn't mean anything. It is, again, a base mechanic of the game that stuff happens randomly. Randomly, but within the rails YOU chose to follow when you accepted the mission.

3) "I'm in the A-rated Python, and..." is used as an argument against the game's difficulty way too often. Python is a trading ship. And armed transport, to be precise, but still the fact that she has five big guns, doesn't make her a combat ship, not does it make her any kind of universal ruler. Python is a ship in which you can trade a tad bit safer than in Lacons. But that's it.

4) Combat is not fair by default. There are no recorded occurrences of perfectly even ships, piloted by perfectly even pilots, equipped with perfectly even weapons. In a fight, you either have the upper hand, or you don't. The outcome depends on your judgement, not the fairness of the fight.

I hope you will come in terms with the Elite, one day. Until then, good luck in 21st century and o7, commander.

And this....again.
(Chris - no more Rep to give sadly)

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

3) "I'm in the A-rated Python, and..." is used as an argument against the game's difficulty way too often.

About half of the rage quit threads on the forum start with this.
A Python is the first ship where the cost of a rebuy becomes pretty high. A combat fitted Python is formidable, but still has weaknesses - its agility being the main one. But a multi-purpose build, or worse a trade build, is never going to do well against elite NPC wings. A Python doesn't usually have the speed to low wake out of an interdiction, so tactics that worked for a smaller ship don't always apply to the Python.

 

[Chris Simon]

Oh, and just to make things clear, Adam, I DO understand you.

I feel the same about the Dark Souls games. They are challenging up to a point where it doesn't seem fair and at the same time (for me) they aren't capturing and entertaining enough for me to WANT to over come the challenge. Overcoming the challenge just for the sake of overcoming the challenge isn't for me. So I don't play Dark Souls.

But I also don't get on their forums, shouting how the game is broken and I want it changed. Because it's not broken. It just isn't made for me.

If you feel the same about Elite, then quit. Nobody will try to keep you here, if you don't enjoy it. But for me, Elite is SO MUCH more beyond this initial challenge.

 

[Manticore]

No, I'm done. Thanks for all the help in the last couple of weeks but this game is not for me.

Sorry to hear that CMDR.

I feel the same about the Dark Souls games.

Yes; I have DS too but I've never felt motivated to progress the game very far either....

 

[AdamDZ]

It's not about credits. I don't mind the rebuy costs at this stage. Yes, I got lucky with the CGs and have enough credits to buy that Python back several times over and have 500,000 Anaconda and an Asp Exp parked at Shinrarta Dezhra.

It's not about credits any more. I just want a fair, balanced, enjoyable and rewarding game. But FOUR NPC ships that take my fairly powerful ship's shields down in 2-3 seconds followed by an Anaconda?!?!?! I had no chances of winning that fight. My hull was down to like 60% by the time I jumped and then the Anaconda interdicted me and destroyed my FSD or engines, I don't even remember, I was unable to jump. This was an execution, not a fight. This was meant to destroy me, period. That is not fun any more at this point! That's not balanced. That's masochism. That's harassment and abuse, seriously. I want at least be able to defend myself in a fair fight. There is no meaningful leveling up like in other games. Unlike other games, each death has serious consequences in this game. This game is indeed designed to be the Dark Souls of space sims.

When I was flying an Anaconda it took me way longer than that to kill a Python NPC. This was literally seconds. Someone else posted in the Support section that he was insta-killed by NPCs. This is "broken".

This was supposed to be game about exploration and trading but it's become all about combat. This was not supposed to be like Dark Souls.

Missions are dangerous. I know. I told that people myself. But this is beyond ridiculous.

The best way to play this game is not to play this game


FYI:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/284972-One-shot-killed-by-NPC

 

[Para Handy]

I had not loaded up E D in over a month and hadn't played much at all since the last "update" (read mega-death-superpower-elite NPCs) but I have come back to it (NMS is so rubbish) and just avoid combat. Submit, boost, high-wake bye bye.

Yes the interdictions are a pain and the NPCs are too much for me (I only get deadly or elites) but I will just have to put up with it because there is nothing else even remotely in E D's league (even if they STILL can't fix the galaxy map tab and spider-lines bugs).


[alien]

 

[AdamDZ]

Okay. Fair enough.

So, just for everybody else, who might experience the same issue, I'll leave several points lying here. Free for grabs.

1) What other game gets easier as you progress. More importantly, what game would WANT to do that. One of the points of the game is to present a challenge. Without things to overcome, the game becomes dull and stagnates in gameplay which is boring. You suffered something I started to call "A Robigo syndrome". If you progress through the game faster than you should (and faster than your skill is growing) You'll run into problems. Stepping up into the big ships game requires both mental readiness and that of a bank account. Big ships present big opportunities, but also big risk and potentially big losses. Big ships also attract a lot of attention.
That there isn't a bug or badly designed mechanic. It works very well for rooting out people not ready for it.
That's why so many people are asking support to reset their ranks. They stepped into a level they are not prepared for.

Blazing your own trail is nice and shiny, but too much freedom can lead to a disaster. By your own fault. The game does what it says on the box.

2) It has been said too many times, already, during the past weeks, but I'll repeat it, nonetheless.
Missions are dangerous. How dangerous they are is written in their description. If you think you can't handle whatever the game throws at you at that given level of dangerousness, don't accept it. The fact that you did that kind of mission several times and nothing happened doesn't mean anything. It is, again, a base mechanic of the game that stuff happens randomly. Randomly, but within the rails YOU chose to follow when you accepted the mission.

3) "I'm in the A-rated Python, and..." is used as an argument against the game's difficulty way too often. Python is a trading ship. And armed transport, to be precise, but still the fact that she has five big guns, doesn't make her a combat ship, not does it make her any kind of universal ruler. Python is a ship in which you can trade a tad bit safer than in Lacons. But that's it.

4) Combat is not fair by default. There are no recorded occurrences of perfectly even ships, piloted by perfectly even pilots, equipped with perfectly even weapons. In a fight, you either have the upper hand, or you don't. The outcome depends on your judgement, not the fairness of the fight.

I hope you will come in terms with the Elite, one day. Until then, good luck in 21st century and o7, commander.

Not everyone plays games for the challenge of it. People play games for fun, to be immersed in a story, for relaxation, etc. Most games have difficulty settings to accommodate different playing styles. ED has no difficulty settings and no leveling up like other games and fails to match AI opponents properly against the player. It almost feels lazy and amateurish to design a game this way. I insist that the game is broken because of this. At least in Solo Mode I should be able to lower the game difficulty.

The game is grindy, everything takes time and getting executed but overpowered AI in seconds is really frustrating.

Games need to be fair to the player or the player will quit. Simple as that.

I don't seek challenge in games, particularly not in combat. I play for the story, for the atmosphere, for the overall experience, for progress. That's why I never touched Dark Souls and I would not have touched ED had I known how hard and unfair it is.

Also, games do start hard and usually become easier as your character levels up. Take Skyrim, Borderlands, Witcher for instance, I was wiping the floor with dragons, bandits and monsters half way through the game. There was clear satisfaction from having better gear, better weapons, from being able to craft powerful potions and swords. No game will send NPCs to execute the player the way ED does. There is no satisfaction in ED.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

I had not loaded up E D in over a month and hadn't played much at all since the last "update" (read mega-death-superpower-elite NPCs) but I have come back to it (NMS is so rubbish) and just avoid combat. Submit, boost, high-wake bye bye.

Yes the interdictions are a pain and the NPCs are too much for me (I only get deadly or elites) but I will just have to put up with it because there is nothing else even remotely in E D's league (even if they STILL can't fix the galaxy map tab and spider-lines bugs).


[alien]

Most interdictions are survivable. I learned how to run away. I was unable to run away from this one. This was an execution. Perhaps this was a bug but it was the last drop in the huge bucket of frustration to me. I agree that there is nothing even close to ED. That's why I tried so hard. I've put over 300 hours into this game and I'm just tired. I can't do this any more. There are other games to be played after all.

 

[aRJay]

I was naive to think that I finally got off the ground so I started running missions again.

I was just on a mission to pick up a data canister. Just my third mission. I'm in a A-graded Python with two Shield Boosters. Four NPCs (FOUR!!!) jump in. My shields are down by the time I was able to turn around to face them. I didn't even have the time to see what they were, my hull was already taking damage. I jumped out only to be interdicted by a ing Master AI in an Anaconda few moments later. I rage quit, literally reset the computer power. ck this game seriously. I gave it 300 hours. I'm not an idiot. I've played games most of my life. This game is not playable in its current state.

Frontier Dev: KNOCK IT OFF WITH *ING INTERDICTIONS!!!!! THIS GAME IS BROKEN!!!!

I am sorry to hear this, I hope you find what you want.

I will remark in passing what is it about missions that sucks so many of us in? I include myself in this although I take very few missions I do tend to look them over a lot.

I mean we all know that taking a mission attaches a target symbol on our ship that can be seen from Beagle Point but still we do it. I am aware that to actually achieve that next naval rank one mission must be performed, but most of the others merely provide credits.

 

[Chris Simon]

Not everyone plays games for the challenge of it. People play games for fun, to be immersed in a story, for relaxation, etc. Most games have difficulty settings to accommodate different playing styles. ED has no difficulty settings and no leveling up like other games and fails to match AI opponents properly against the player. It almost feels lazy and amateurish to design a game this way. I insist that the game is broken because of this. At least in Solo Mode I should be able to lower the game difficulty.

The game is grindy, everything takes time and getting executed but overpowered AI in seconds is really frustrating.

Games need to be fair to the player or the player will quit. Simple as that.

I don't seek challenge in games, particularly not in combat. I play for the story, for the atmosphere, for the overall experience, for progress. That's why I never touched Dark Souls and I would not have touched ED had I known how hard and unfair it is.

Also, games do start hard and usually become easier as your character levels up. Take Skyrim, Borderlands, Witcher for instance, I was wiping the floor with dragons, bandits and monsters half way through the game. There was clear satisfaction from having better gear, better weapons, from being able to craft powerful potions and swords. No game will send NPCs to execute the player the way ED does. There is no satisfaction in ED.

I will stop, after this post, because I don't want to come out too antagonistic, but since you argued that games do get easier as you go and named the games you named:

Games do get harder, actually. Opponents get more capable and their equipment gets more powerful. Just like in Elite.

It is countered by you, also getting better equipment and more importantly, a skill to deal with enemies. JUST LIKE IN ELITE.
Only in Elite you somewhat decided to ignore that and decided you rather want a walk in the park, instead. Which is not gonna work.

 

[Para Handy]

................................

....................... send NPCs to execute the player the way ED does.

............

Yes I totally agree that this is what it feels like. I really feel that there is a mind-set in the development that leans towards "So they think they can beat my NPCs? Well, we'll see about that...."

It is definitely not - "Let's stick in some 'boss NPC' here and there to give the iron-men (and women) a challenge" it is more "Go get that commander, he has the temerity to have played for over a year and so is Elite trader rated, destroy the upstart with your Elite rated NPC in it's super-anaconda!"

Definitely needs to be throttled-back in my opinion but then again I can't fight my way out of a virtual paper bag.


[alien]

 

[AdamDZ]

I will stop, after this post, because I don't want to come out too antagonistic, but since you argued that games do get easier as you go and named the games you named:

Games do get harder, actually. Opponents get more capable and their equipment gets more powerful. Just like in Elite.

It is countered by you, also getting better equipment and more importantly, a skill to deal with enemies. JUST LIKE IN ELITE.
Only in Elite you somewhat decided to ignore that and decided you rather want a walk in the park, instead. Which is not gonna work.

No worries, I know you mean well and I do appreciate your help. But I never found any game as frustrating as ED.

 

[Red Anders]

I was naive to think that I finally got off the ground so I started running missions again.

I was just on a mission to pick up a data canister. Just my third mission. I'm in a A-graded Python with two Shield Boosters. Four NPCs (FOUR!!!) jump in. My shields are down by the time I was able to turn around to face them. I didn't even have the time to see what they were, my hull was already taking damage. I jumped out only to be interdicted by a ing Master AI in an Anaconda few moments later. I rage quit, literally reset the computer power. ck this game seriously. I gave it 300 hours. I'm not an idiot. I've played games most of my life. This game is not playable in its current state.

Frontier Dev: KNOCK IT OFF WITH *ING INTERDICTIONS!!!!! THIS GAME IS BROKEN!!!!

I did reply in the other thread that you posted this in too but here's my first question. Why the hell did you want to turn and face 4 npcs in a Python which can't possibly be a full combat build. If they jumped in behind you, you were already facing in the correct direction to implement the course of action that would have saved you a trip to the rebuy screen.

Boost > next nav key to select the nearby system that you should always plot a path to (not select in the left panel, actually plot on the galaxy map as soon as you jump in so that you can still target stuff in system as normal, but hit the next nav to get your wake out destination up when the excrement hits the air con) > BOOOOSSSSSTTTT > jump. Obviously you've also got point defence on your Python to deal with missile spam and chaff to break gimballed gun lock whilst you're jumping?

Other than that, if you think you should just be able to turn 180 degrees and flay 4 npcs (one of which was an anaconda...) in your Python with its cargo scoop hanging out, mkay.

I've flown my own mining python around tonight with 192 tons of painite, platinum, paladium and osmium in it and been interdicted by elite npcs. None of them managed to get a shot on me. It's easy for me to tell because I don't actually have a shield on my mining python... Seems OK to me.

 

[AdamDZ]

The real question is why the hell did 4 NPCs jump in and took my shields down in couple of seconds?
I did manage to jump out from that situation and I'd have made it safely to a nearby station if if it wasn't for the interdiction soon after.

So then the next question is why a Master AI in Anaconda interdicted me moments after I barely escaped with shields down and hull down to 60%?

A game is a piece of software and it has logic built in. The developers choose to set the logic in a way that it gave me no chance to survive.

Something like

IF shields down x%
and
player just been in a fight
THEN do not interdict?

Perhaps the kind developers at FD might have the answers to both questions.

 

[urFOOLISHNESS]

If you have accepted certain missions this can absolutely happen. My moderately engineered Python has about 1100 shields and I will boost and jump anything more than one NPC. I am still pretty new but I enjoy the game BECAUSE it's not for casual gaming. Its real fear when the msg comes that FOUR enemies are coming. Because it's a sim and not an arcade game I feel you should never be completely relaxed. Life is dangerous and there is always a bigger baddie with buddies. But they stay close to the bubble...