Odyssey Combat missions too hard? (Threat 4)

Thargon

Thargon
So most of the basic starting combat missions (Threat 4) e.g. kill 10 scavengers I feel are too difficult. Whilst I'm no expert of fps shooter games, even if you are half competent at them, it still feels pretty hard.

e.g. you find a lone target go to take them out... and suddently all 10 of them on the map automatically converge on your location in no time at all and suddenly you are outnumbered and outgunned.

Is this normal behaviour? I get that you need some challenge to the game, but starting off, it feels incredibly difficult to get started. Are you meant to upgrade everything from the basic stuff right away? Failing these missions seems super harsh too. Often I receive crazy stupid fines for doing nothing wrong at all, when I'm trying to e.g. kill these scavengers from the corporation that I took the mission from. Then failing (e.g. dying) leads to you having to respawn in some damn penal colony light years away from the mission location.

You are then penialised for having to take a shuttle back... wait endless amounts of time to get back. Then you have to wait again to get your ship transferred (even more time penalised).

You end up for a combat mission that took about 5 minutes (to failure) to having spent like 40minutes of pointless time. This just isn't fun. I don't find endless failing to be fun.

The game balance just feels off to me. E.g I have to hit 2 or 3 dead centre rockets with the rocket launcher to kill 1 commando, and in that time the others are swarming around me. I've tried hit and run, I've tried cheesing it by returning to the ship multiple times.

Also, thinking about it, the npc commandos seem to have endless grendades to lob at you too.

What does anyone else think?
 

Thargon

Thargon
Yes I kind of realise that. I've taken a sniper build but it's pretty hard to one shot targets, even with headshots. Once for the shield, and by that time they've started noticing you and dodging. Is there something I'm doing wrong?
 

Shintai

Shintai
Combat Zones are more forgiving as you can easier lose focus fire. So it´s a lot more brawlish.

I don´t use a sniper so I dont know.
 

Thargon

Thargon
Is that the enlisting thing? I've only ever tried the missions at the moment (from mission givers or the terminals)
 

Dimensions

D
Well they are factoring in engineering which means your weapons are quite weak and the npcs are quite tough and probably have engineered weapons/suits. Getting one shotted when shields are down is not fun. Then there's the npcs swarming to you. I played the Alpha up to Phase 3, and it definitely seems much harder to complete a mission without dying. Ive found stealth kills help a lot, but for some reason the overload stun sometimes has no effect on unshielded guys, but it aggros them and then everyone else= dead. You can, as mentioned above try guerilla tactics, but this can mean takings 2hrs to clear a Kill scavenger mission (sometimes with reinforcements), and that's if you are do everything 95% perfect. On top of that settlements on the night side are far too dark, which means you have to use a torch which seems to make it even easier in getting yourself spotted.

You can use an SRV to clear them, but you'd be surprised at how many hits it takes to take out one commando, and when you get swarmed you'll be surprised at quickly they'll bring your shield down and rapidly start trashing your hull. So basically the AI is too overtuned in health/firepower and accuracy (FD always does this for new features/gamplay) and there are probably bugs that aren't in your favour occurring. Scavenger missions are easier (as you can more easily use a SRV), but there isn't much variation and become quite repetitive.
 

lefty1117

L
Yes there's no doubt that the balance is way off. Either it needs to be tuned down or they need to auto balance the enemies when they spawn in, based on what you're wearing. Just failed two Threat 4s in a row, the weapons don't pack enough punch even at grade 2, and weapon switching is very slow. Combine that with the swarming and flanking of 8 to 10 enemies - yeah it's VERY frustrating. Probably going to stop purposefully going into combat situations until FD has made some adjustments. Not worth the aggravation.
 

Cmdr Bernard

Cmdr Bernard
Similar experience here. So far I have not managed to succeed a restore-reactor mission unless no enemies spawn. The scavengers were doable, but only because the AI pathfinding gets confused when you are on a roof. Just sucky equipment currently, though. Not really complaining, I guess it will get better with stronger gear, but I cannot be motivated to do the relogin cheat to loot your required materials over and over from the same spot as some of youtubers show.
Some level adjustment and then lower rewards might be nice, or like with the space missions, lower ranked missions are doable with weak gear/ships but give less rewards. I mean, I don't fly in a hazres with a sidewinder, same with ground missions, but so far I only found threat 4 reactor restore missions. Just bad luck? Are there any other?
 

Guyperson

Guyperson
Thargon said:
Once for the shield, and by that time they've started noticing you and dodging. Is there something I'm doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Yeah, you let them a) see you and b) turn their shield on and shoot at you.
I cleared* my first mission in a G1 Mav suit by slinking around stealth** killing everybody with a G1 Karma L-6 or by shooting nearby red barrels with a sidearm, and repositioning to their periphery each time to find a fresh victim.
* Technically. Still couldn't turn it in though because of a mission board bug and then it expired despite being flagged compete.
** They never figured out where the explosions were coming from. It counts.
 

lysan

lysan
Thargon said:
So most of the basic starting combat missions (Threat 4) e.g. kill 10 scavengers I feel are too difficult. Whilst I'm no expert of fps shooter games, even if you are half competent at them, it still feels pretty hard.

e.g. you find a lone target go to take them out... and suddently all 10 of them on the map automatically converge on your location in no time at all and suddenly you are outnumbered and outgunned.

Is this normal behaviour? I get that you need some challenge to the game, but starting off, it feels incredibly difficult to get started. Are you meant to upgrade everything from the basic stuff right away? Failing these missions seems super harsh too. Often I receive crazy stupid fines for doing nothing wrong at all, when I'm trying to e.g. kill these scavengers from the corporation that I took the mission from. Then failing (e.g. dying) leads to you having to respawn in some damn penal colony light years away from the mission location.

You are then penialised for having to take a shuttle back... wait endless amounts of time to get back. Then you have to wait again to get your ship transferred (even more time penalised).

You end up for a combat mission that took about 5 minutes (to failure) to having spent like 40minutes of pointless time. This just isn't fun. I don't find endless failing to be fun.

The game balance just feels off to me. E.g I have to hit 2 or 3 dead centre rockets with the rocket launcher to kill 1 commando, and in that time the others are swarming around me. I've tried hit and run, I've tried cheesing it by returning to the ship multiple times.

Also, thinking about it, the npc commandos seem to have endless grendades to lob at you too.

What does anyone else think?
Click to expand...
Well everything is relative right? for some 10 is hard, for others it's easy, the threat level is not very good defining how much resistance you meet, I've take many level 5 missions and they are pretty easy. So it's all about loadout and tactic.

Here is something for ya, combat is fun!

Ok the title gave it away, yes there are bugs, yes some are really annoying, yes the graphics is not where it’s supposed to be, however combat is really good now! AI is better, TTK is more balanced now, it’s a challenge now and I’m enjoying myself a lot. The prison is a nice feature and overall...
forums.frontier.co.uk forums.frontier.co.uk
 

the100thmonkey

the100thmonkey
Before you start the engagement, think in terms of bottlenecks and suppression. Make sure you know where the ammo crates, health packs, energy cells and suit recharge points are. In other words, do some reconaissance before you start fighting. Force the enemies to fight you on your terms. Roofs are good, but make sure you have plenty of space to back away from the inevitable grenade spam. Putting yourself at the top of a flight of stairs is also useful, as it forces the NPCs to come up at most two abreast, and when you fire at them, they'll try to use the stairs for cover. You can then pop forward, shoot and duck back, forcing the NPCs to attempt to maintain their cover. If they run away, they often run towards their mates, so don't get too greedy and chase them - you will lose your situational advantage and may be swarmed.

Remember, you can switch suits in your ship/SRV, so open with the Dominator suit and switch to the Maverick after you've killed most or all of the scavs (some might be inside a building, perhaps).

If you're playing with a controller, reconsider keyboard and mouse. I don't think controllers have aim assist, which makes landing your shots a lot harder. Make sure to aim for the head once the shields are down - there's a headshot damage modifier, and the time to kill is so high that you get plenty of time to get the shots in. In general, the plasma weapons are pretty hard to use. The Executioner (marksman rifle) suffers from very slow projectile speed, so while it's powerful, it's a difficult weapon to use. It rewards skill and experience with how the bad guys move. Use the Takada Aphelion laser rifle instead - it's very effective against shields, and is effective within the same range as the Executioner. With the Dominator, you get two primary weapons slots, so equip the Karma AR-50 kinetic assault rifle - it has basically no recoil, a decent magazine size and high shot speed, which enables more accurate fire.

Alternatively, just go in with your SRV - it's actually pretty tanky. Switch between 4 pips to shields (when you're taking fire) and 4 pips to weapons (when you're doing the shooting), target the NPCs (who will stupidly try and swarm you), then blow them away with the plasma repeater. For bonus fun points, you can run NPCs over. The screams are hilarious.
 
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Ydiss

Ydiss
Yes it's OTT for new players but I'd put threat 4 like "advanced" at the moment. Threat 5 is "ultra challenging solo" until you've upgraded and understand the mechanics of engagement.

Now, I can engage 14 targets and barely need shields up throughout because I can pick them off one by one. But none of that is apparent to start and actually there's no "soft start" at all after the tutorial (which is easy).

I suggested this lots, since alpha and almost daily since, but there needs to be a threat 1 variant and the targets need to be not "hardened commandos". The thing that baffles me is all of these targets are "harmless". I've no idea how rough it'll be when they're elite... Or if they actually scale up at all. Who knows? Mercenary rank barely increases whatsoever.
 

Phoenix13

P
I find them all pretty easy honestly, and i doing okay fps much at all.

Wait for them to separate and not face you. Sneak behind 1 at a time and zap them by overcharging power charger, which is a silent kill. As long as no one was looking at you, it should go unnoticed. Then move to the next.
 

Reggit

Reggit
I'm sure in a few months time, I'll change my mind...
But for now - the missions do seems a little 'unfair'.
It's too easy to end up with a bounty on you - and the time lost is just ridiculous!
The commando's have a habit of ganking me.
And if I do kite them around successfully - it takes me so long, the game usually crashes before I can finish the mission!
(At one point, i finished a mission successfully - crashed - and logged back on to "mission failure" 🤬)
Fingers crossed FDev takes a look at all this soon (I like how you can respawn in CZ's!) but for now, it's very frustrating!
 

photomankc

photomankc
Thargon said:
So most of the basic starting combat missions (Threat 4) e.g. kill 10 scavengers I feel are too difficult. Whilst I'm no expert of fps shooter games, even if you are half competent at them, it still feels pretty hard.

e.g. you find a lone target go to take them out... and suddently all 10 of them on the map automatically converge on your location in no time at all and suddenly you are outnumbered and outgunned.

Is this normal behaviour? I get that you need some challenge to the game, but starting off, it feels incredibly difficult to get started. Are you meant to upgrade everything from the basic stuff right away? Failing these missions seems super harsh too. Often I receive crazy stupid fines for doing nothing wrong at all, when I'm trying to e.g. kill these scavengers from the corporation that I took the mission from. Then failing (e.g. dying) leads to you having to respawn in some damn penal colony light years away from the mission location.

You are then penialised for having to take a shuttle back... wait endless amounts of time to get back. Then you have to wait again to get your ship transferred (even more time penalised).

You end up for a combat mission that took about 5 minutes (to failure) to having spent like 40minutes of pointless time. This just isn't fun. I don't find endless failing to be fun.

The game balance just feels off to me. E.g I have to hit 2 or 3 dead centre rockets with the rocket launcher to kill 1 commando, and in that time the others are swarming around me. I've tried hit and run, I've tried cheesing it by returning to the ship multiple times.

Also, thinking about it, the npc commandos seem to have endless grendades to lob at you too.

What does anyone else think?
Click to expand...


I've been repeatedly assured this is fine. Took a threat 3 to repower a base and grab some data. Dropships arrive and drop AT LEAST 20 into the the map. The SRV radar showed a river of triangles walking the site. The threat level is meaningless. If I engage 1 of them I will be zerg swarmed with constant rain of grenades. Rooftops are meaningless. They will be up on those before I can complete killing one shielded opponent and of course grenades will be raining. If I use the SRV, when I power up the base I will be red to any defense systems it has because I used the wrong kind of gun to shoot the raiding party. Another threat 2 dropped in something like 12 to 13 guys.

On the rare occasions it drops a reasonable number of enemy for the threat, I can actually have a little fun with some risk of failure. Most of the time it's almost completely assured that I will fail if I try on foot alone.

I want to practice the stuff people keep describing and I have at least started to prevail in 3 to 4 on one situations but as you mention it's all backed by the knowledge that with a single small mistake you will be looking at 25 to 45 minutes to get another chance. That just blows. I also want the threat level to allow those of us that didn't pound away in the 'alpha' to get a scaled threat that is not an omnipotent overwhelming swarm.
 
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