You just described pretty accurately exactly how I play
When I get on top of things I push harder until I start making mistakes again. If all I did was tend to my home system I'd be bored.
Make it hard
- Thread starter Galafrey
- Start date
You just described pretty accurately exactly how I play
When I get on top of things I push harder until I start making mistakes again. If all I did was tend to my home system I'd be bored.
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I find that if you announce to the room/the house/the universe (basically say it out loud), "I'm going to play my game for a while and I would appreciate not being disturbed", then the game becomes very difficult to play because suddenly EVERYONE on the planet needs your urgent attention right now.
Tough enough for me at the moment, I'm a dreadful combat pilot and also prefer to not wander around in a combat specialised build all the time. A result of this being most of my builds are geared towards more multi-role play with a good dose of Sir Robin capability.
And this is another reason I try to avoid combat, I don't want the game to say "Hey, this chaps is Elite, better send a fleet of Anacondas after him".
If I wanted a fight sure*, but if I'd like to be quietly doing some trading or mining I don't really want to be hunted down by a pack of rabid killers every step of the way.
How about contextually appropriate combat response. I go somewhere dangerous to do something dangerous then sure, otherwise not so much. Arguably Elite rank, for instance, should have most people giving you a wide berth just in case you really do know what you are doing and are in a bad mood.
* Maybe, did I mention the rubbish combat pilot and builds thing?
Well, I'm Elite, but that doesn't mean I'm good at combat - I just play a lot. Generally I submit to pirates and collect materials, but apart from that I don't seek combat. I wouldn't want routinely-met NPCs to be much more of a threat.
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.
If you are talking about PvE, then not really. Just don't fly a death machine.
If you are talking about PvP, that's because the play area isn't conductive to encountering other players unless you go to certain places.
But there again, anyone playing ED for PvP is somewhat strange, as there are a bazillion other games out there that provide a much better PvP experience.
Boy oh boy, just fly around Jameson Memorial in SC for a couple of minutes and you'll see what danger is.
Or, choose a couple, or why not more than 3 wing missions to kill high leveled terrorists, (or is it pirate lords) in the same system. Once you drop out, they'll follow you, drop out of SC and when they are all lined up, agro them all. It is a blast having like 3 or 4 fully engineered FDL's, with their escorts blasting you.
I end up fleeing 1 out of 3 or even 2.
Or, choose a couple, or why not more than 3 wing missions to kill high leveled terrorists, (or is it pirate lords) in the same system. Once you drop out, they'll follow you, drop out of SC and when they are all lined up, agro them all. It is a blast having like 3 or 4 fully engineered FDL's, with their escorts blasting you.
I end up fleeing 1 out of 3 or even 2.Even then its not exactly difficult (not to mention why unlock everything if there is no challenge to meet that effort).
I don't really get the resistance to adding ultra hard PvE missions above what we have now. Its blind luck stacking to get something sweat inducing, while NPCs work to simplistic rules that are easily identified making them predictable.
Is there such resistance?
To me this looks like a good idea.
But I resist the idea that all encounters should scale with (combat) rank. That would be just plain stupid and lazy approach.
It certainly feels like it, which is odd. Its strange because FD almost got it right and then went in another direction.
Scaling to rank is an odd one, because it then makes things a bit forced. Elite has to mean something, but it can't be a one way thing (since on its own Elite rank is meaningless). If its used as a key to unlock harder missions then I say make stuff difficult.
The other problem then becomes to get hard to need engineering in the NPC- so the mission board would have to scale to that, or grade non engineering 'hard' at say 3 or 4, and rock hard G5 engineered scary missions at say, 8 or 9.
Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
All of the Elite ranks follow a one way path where actions only ever increase the rank (no matter by how little) - with trade being able to be achieved very, very quickly now. With that in mind, both trade and exploration ranks are more a measure of activity rather than skill. Similarly, to an extent, so is combat rank - as every kill apparently increases it (remembering that kills too many ranks below the CMDR's current rank used to count for nothing) - so it's not necessaryly a measure of skill either.
True- it might be an idea that you lose rank (or standing) by killing weak ships to keep you seeking harder targets (if desired).
Well, that's already well in the realm of it depending on the person. Its hard to die to anything when flying a death machine, no matter your skill level. I'm pretty sure if i was flying an unengineered ship i'd have a much harder time.
By the way, i have no problem with FD adding ultra hard PvE missions for higher rewards. I just doubt they will be effective. Firstly FD will likely just make them bullet sponges, resulting in increditly protracted fights. Secondly, people will as usual find a method that works against the AI and then it becomes easy, and people then "farm" those missions the same as they grind out mining for LTDs, at least those that can handle them. In short, they would just become another grind, and then those people, probably the same people who are here right now complaining about how easy things are, will say FD should give even harder missions.
There isn't resistance to adding harder mission templates, or more challenging USSs & POIs. There is resistance to raising the general existential threat.
Since 2.1 the game has sent rank & ship based NPCs after the player every few instance changes. They are not as irritating as they were (I am triple Elite & no longer interested in combat, having Elite Condas improbably sent after my tasty (salvaged) cargo was what drove me to leave the bubble in 2016 & not return for 18 months) but this is the area where a player could reasonably expect to survive an exciting encounter rather than have to fight for their livelihood. I'd have preferred location based challenge rather than rank & ship based - the whole 'anarchies are dangerous' bit. And they are, sort of. The difference just isn't much, and with report crimes off, there is no difference at all.
The game already provides more PvE challenge for those that want it, more could be done in this area, more could be done in a lot of parts of the game.
I think if FD actually crafted ships that were not just bullet sponges then it would be better- rather than one ship try a swarm of G5 Sidewinders, or gangs of ships (like they originally had) where you have to work out who to kill first- they could bring in Thargoid Scout levels of interdependence (healing beams, one missile ship etc).
The thing is though, part of me wants it to scale- if I'm a persistent criminal with notoriety at 10 all the time, I want BHs to be G5.
I rarely stay wanted for long, but yes it is a little surprising how easy it is to remain wanted. I am often hostile to the controlling faction though, that makes for an interesting logistical challenge (completely bypassed if a carrier is used) but essentially the threat is still one where it should be exciting but escapable rather than deadly force. If I make a mistake & go to a large station owned by a faction I'm hostile to there is deadly force. If I'm wanted & get scanned near the station, there is deadly force. If it's an outpost it's an exciting but escapable challenge.
Does the carrier status not create loads of security around your carrier then? I thought that was the point of that mechanic?