Make it hard

[VR StarLightPL]

Wow, so if true, those playing the non-horizons version get slammed by engineered NPCs. Just another great 'design feature' of the game I guess. Sheesh...

I seriously wonder what's stopping people from buying horizons now. Four years after release and counting, if I'm not mistaken. If the figure is true and only 50% (ish) players can land on planets, then I am loss for words. I would understand at launch when Horizons did cost 55€ and the best sale price was around 29€, but now? Small pizza costs more and lasts 10 minutes ;-) IMHO there's no excuse now to not have horizons, if not for planetary landigns then just for canyon SLF races

 

[Drelthar]

No, if you are hostile with the controlling faction in a system the enforcement ships can (and do) greet your arrival with guns blazing every time you come in to dock... The FC ignores them

Seems like the first word in that sentence should be yes then?

If you are hostile, the system security try to shoot you when you go to your carrier - so, the mechanic is working, and they are making your life hard.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Seems like the first word in that sentence should be yes then?

If you are hostile, the system security try to shoot you when you go to your carrier - so, the mechanic is working, and they are making your life hard.

I'd read the question to mean did the FC act in your defense - if so I'm correct, otherwise then indeed the first word should have been Yes

 

[VR StarLightPL]

defected from a Power you should be pursued like a dog

Ah, funny you should say dog, I fondly remember my imperial "pet adjusters". Come to think of it, it is finally time to defect from patty, now that I have those plasmas

 

[Drelthar]

I'd read the question to mean did the FC act in your defense - if so I'm correct, otherwise then indeed the first word should have been Yes

Ah, I see.

Nah, I was just asking if the security turned up at your carrier if you're hostile - as, the previous poster said that, working in a hostile system was "completely negated" if you used a carrier.

I feel like it isn't -completely- negated, as the security hound you as you try to land at your carrier.

 

[Riverside]

Ah, I see.

Nah, I was just asking if the security turned up at your carrier if you're hostile - as, the previous poster said that, working in a hostile system was "completely negated" if you used a carrier.

I feel like it isn't -completely- negated, as the security hound you as you try to land at your carrier.

I hadn't really given any consideration to system security ships, the defining feature of being hostile is docking permission & the station guns.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Ah, I see.

Nah, I was just asking if the security turned up at your carrier if you're hostile - as, the previous poster said that, working in a hostile system was "completely negated" if you used a carrier.

I feel like it isn't -completely- negated, as the security hound you as you try to land at your carrier.

Happy to have been wrong

Certainly the Sys Sec ships can pound on you even while on the pad and the FC ignores it completely. I even got a fine carrying 2nd owner commodities landing on a friends FC even though it had 'secure storage' but that may have been just a bug in the 1st beta.

 

[Robert Maynard]

True- it might be an idea that you lose rank (or standing) by killing weak ships to keep you seeking harder targets (if desired).

As all ranks only ever increase, it'd need to be a separate metric, in my opinion, "infamy", maybe?

With respect to player/player interactions, "infamy" could be a metric assigned by the Pilots' Federation to identify those CMDRs who attack CMDRs in weaker ships - and could have longer term implications for those who seek it (much longer than notoriety).

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

It should be situational- in an anarchy system it should be hard at Elite ranks in general travel as it should be in missions.

The problem is then what are ranks for? Its one indicator of your progress in game. Make getting Elite harder (thus tuning out the hard NPCs) perhaps.

It shouldn't be tied to rank at all. Especially not game time counter fed ranks. I don't think it'd be difficult to set aside areas in the game - like some anarchies e.g. - and have the "hard" stuff spawn there so the edgelords can go there and finally shut up.
Diffuculty should be a choice - not some counter ticking and choosing for the player. I get bulletsponged enemies all the time - and it just isn't fun anymore.

 

[ornot_demar]

I don't have a problem with the quality of the NPCs' ships and flying. Sure, if you're in an engineered combat ship you can plow through individuals easy enough, but if you're an experienced combat pilot in an engineered combat ship that's not surprising. As stated above, you want a non-xeno combat challenge? PvP some willing CMDRs (if they aren't into it and just flee without fighting and you still kill them you're not looking for a challenge, you're ganker scum).

I do have issues wtih NPCs being able to do things that players can't.
Example: I'm space-trucking in a T9 and I get a wanring that enemies are coming. That's fine. I get interdicted by an Anaconda. Again, fine. I hold him off with a SLF, shield cells and chaff, until system security show up, and with them helping I drive him to High Wake with no shields and a battered hull. Great. My shield is slowing recharging and I'm on 35% hull, but I'm only a few light seconds from my destination and over a kilo light from the star; by the time he has jumped back into system and caught up with me again I'll have docked. Or so I thought. I low-wake and am immediately interdicted by the same NPC, who has magically repaired himself, and with no more shield cells, only a ring and half of shields, my SLF still on cool down, and a thoroughly battered hull I'm wiped out. I have to eat the rebuy, I get fined for the cargo I lost and I can't finish the delivery mission after already trucking 3 loads... and because I can't complete the mission I lose the completion bonus for killing the first anaconda that came for me on the previous leg (which was less than the bounty on a RES anaconda anyway).
All in all I'm down 20million for the ship, fines and lost earnings. I just about broke even due to the return leg mission covering the rebuy and the fine, and all because NPCs spawn wherever, instead of only at the sun like players. #salty

tl:dr You want it to be hard? Try making a living from cargo missions.

Also compare that with going mining - virtually risk free (pirates bother you once - before you have any cargo) and payout is 10x better for less or the same time investment. Talk about EZ-mode.

 

[Rat Catcher]

It shouldn't be tied to rank at all. Especially not game time counter fed ranks. I don't think it'd be difficult to set aside areas in the game - like some anarchies e.g. - and have the "hard" stuff spawn there so the edgelords can go there and finally shut up.
Diffuculty should be a choice - not some counter ticking and choosing for the player. I get bulletsponged enemies all the time - and it just isn't fun anymore.

Fed & Imp rank, Combat, Exploration & Trade ranks are all just bucket filling and are not a 'de facto' indication of any particular expertise in any of the skill-trees despite the achievement (and combat elite surely is an achievement in extreme patience and endurance - I'm on my way there with an alt, but it is a challenge in finding enough high-ranked NPC's to push up 'the numbers' (now that AX CZ's no longer exist)) so perhaps 'challenge' should be formulated by the ship currently being flown?

That would permit the same equivalent challenge to be presented to a 'simple trader' in his T-6 as to one flying his 'Godlike' battleship, a win/win situation for everyone, surely?

 

[Rubbernuke]

Diffuculty should be a choice

To a point. Difficulty should be a combination of sec level, rank, criminal activity, cargo and feature.

 

[Rubbernuke]

As all ranks only ever increase, it'd need to be a separate metric, in my opinion, "infamy", maybe?

With respect to player/player interactions, "infamy" could be a metric assigned by the Pilots' Federation to identify those CMDRs who attack CMDRs in weaker ships - and could have longer term implications for those who seek it (much longer than notoriety).

I think you are right in that ranks should be a reflection of your skill + standing rather than a one-way accumulator. I'd love to see a tug of war scale between Pilots Fed and say, The Club where player killing / murder etc is reflected so you can never really be Elite unless you behave like it, or if you renounce them you get an equivalent rank from The Club.

 

[Rat Catcher]

I think you are right in that ranks should be a reflection of your skill + standing rather than a one-way accumulator. I'd love to see a tug of war scale between Pilots Fed and say, The Club where player killing / murder etc is reflected so you can never really be Elite unless you behave like it, or if you renounce them you get an equivalent rank from The Club.

Would you kindly stop posting ideas that appeal to my rather twisted sense of humour!
(I'm crawling along getting combat elite and the prospect of achieving the same by being 'naughty' is a particularly appealing one )

 

[Rubbernuke]

Would you kindly stop posting ideas that appeal to my rather twisted sense of humour!
(I'm crawling along getting combat elite and the prospect of achieving the same by being 'naughty' is a particularly appealing one )

It should be like this though, and like unlocking ships as you progress up or down gameplay elements, engineers, events etc should be triggered in a loose narrative.

 

[Robert Maynard]

I think you are right in that ranks should be a reflection of your skill + standing rather than a one-way accumulator.

That's not what I meant. The ranks have always been a measure of activity over time and not a measure of skill. I doubt that that will change this late in the day.

I'd love to see a tug of war scale between Pilots Fed and say, The Club where player killing / murder etc is reflected so you can never really be Elite unless you behave like it, or if you renounce them you get an equivalent rank from The Club.

A separate "infamy" metric might be useful in tracking CMDR behaviour over time - and whether the CMDR ought to be kicked from the Pilots' Federation.

If CMDRs could be members of only one of two over-arching entities then they would likely be differentiable on the scanner - which would likely give forewarning to CMDRs in each.

 

[CenturionPuch]

As all ranks only ever increase, it'd need to be a separate metric, in my opinion, "infamy", maybe?

With respect to player/player interactions, "infamy" could be a metric assigned by the Pilots' Federation to identify those CMDRs who attack CMDRs in weaker ships - and could have longer term implications for those who seek it (much longer than notoriety).

a weaker ship? what is that?
I can kill your anaconda with my viper most likely...so what ship is weaker?

 

[CenturionPuch]

ya'll just need to learn the game and you won't get killed anymore by random gankers.
making up a fantasy carebear galaxy with infamy and police that works is just a waste of your time.

 

[Robert Maynard]

a weaker ship? what is that?
I can kill your anaconda with my viper most likely...so what ship is weaker?

Which one has greater DPS, armour, shields, etc.?

Sandro indicated long ago that Frontier had an opinion on what constituted stronger and weaker ships in a way that could be determined by the game.

 

[Old Duck]

If Frontier were to just remove Engineering and Synthesis, and make military slots the only slots that can hold military modules (no more HRP stacking), all our problems would be solved.

Engineering broke one of our legs, and instead of wanting that leg to heal, you are all demanding Frontier break our other leg by making NPCs use the same wack Engineering that you all choose to use. Well, I suppose two broken legs is more "balanced" than one, but it's not the solution I'm looking for.