Odyssey Combat missions too hard? (Threat 4)

[photomankc]

The issue is not that it should be 'easy'. It should be.... approachable. When I got hit with a reasonable number of enemy, it allowed me to start to work out HOW to approach it, vs a mass of 5 reds running at max speed on open ground and me doing nothing but panic firing and running as I die. The main issue it seems is I took low threat salvage missions early on thinking that sounded more approachable to start with than CZs or base raids. Turns out that may have been backwards. Many times that puts you on open ground facing 5 or more plus reinforcements with little to no cover. However as soon as I got one with 3 instead of 5+ I had a chance to actually start getting into it. Now I feel okay against up to 4 or 5 but it's still challenging.

That's all I want. A way to feel consistently challenged and choose to push that more vs my big brother shoving my face in the dirt every time I stand up. The former is fun, the latter is not.

 

[RaymontP]

Another problem to add to the pile, especially when everyone is a beginner is even when you took a threat 3, AKA the lower threat, the enemy will be all grade 2 opponent.
Hardly something I would call a fair fight...
Oh and don't forget they don't have Suit power or Grenade shortage.

 

[ImmerseMe]

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.

I was worried about controller usage as well but no, it's absolutely perfect. No issues whatsoever even with sniping and this is before I fine tune the settings.

Some minor issues with the aim assist in face to face combat (the reticle remains slowed the entire time it points at them so hard to gain away) but otherwise spot on.

 

[Murfelton]

The issue is not that it should be 'easy'. It should be.... approachable. When I got hit with a reasonable number of enemy, it allowed me to start to work out HOW to approach it, vs a mass of 5 reds running at max speed on open ground and me doing nothing but panic firing and running as I die. The main issue it seems is I took low threat salvage missions early on thinking that sounded more approachable to start with than CZs or base raids. Turns out that may have been backwards. Many times that puts you on open ground facing 5 or more plus reinforcements with little to no cover. However as soon as I got one with 3 instead of 5+ I had a chance to actually start getting into it. Now I feel okay against up to 4 or 5 but it's still challenging.

That's all I want. A way to feel consistently challenged and choose to push that more vs my big brother shoving my face in the dirt every time I stand up. The former is fun, the latter is not.

Combat zones (low intensity) are easier than solo missions - you have AI teammates to keep you from being swarmed.

with solo missions, you either need to cheese them with SRV/ship, or pick them off one at a time sniper style - at least until there’s a manageable.

The SRV contacts panel is a great way to know what you are up against.

 

[Breytac]

Basically I see 3 problems here

1) The AI swarms the player (in a mission where you are heavily outgunned, this is a problem)
2) The AI knows where you are, even if you run away (seems to be that way for me anyway)
3) The AI's gear seems to be of a higher grade/engineered.

Which means that you can't run away because the AI will just chase you you and kill you. I remember in phase 2 guerilla tactics worked because if they couldn't see you for x amount of seconds, then the NPC's went back to patrolling, leaving you free to re-engage. Personally, I'm not asking for easy, I'm asking for doable.

 

[photomankc]

Which means that you can't run away because the AI will just chase you you and kill you. I remember in phase 2 guerilla tactics worked because if they couldn't see you for x amount of seconds, then the NPC's went back to patrolling, leaving you free to re-engage. Personally, I'm not asking for easy, I'm asking for doable.

They still have that timer. You have to really be gone though. If one sees you, all see you and the T800s keep coming. They also seem to have an anchor point they dont chase forever. If you get far enough away they turn and head back then forget you exist. (That’s pretty cheese too).

For me its grenades that suck the worst. They are perfect with them lobbing right onto you. I have to handle multiple gravity situations with precisely jack squat to use even for learning to correct my throw. Meaning they are largely wasted unless chucked at danger close range.

 

[Guyperson]

Threat level poorly reflecting actual resistance is a real problem.
Ten 1-chevron hostiles plus two dropships dumping a total of 10 more on you = Threat 2
Four 2-chevron hostiles and no reinforcements = Threat 3
I'll tell you right now that the mob of anklebiters is immeasurably worse.
The threat assessment doesn't seem to account for the actual numbers much if at all.

 

[PurpleHairMcgoo]

The difficulty is rough at the first few tries but it isn't nearly as bad as it feels early on. Once you get used to the fact that, on foot you are far easier to kill (but then again, so are your enemies!) you will have a much easier time. Don't treat it like other shooters such as Battlefield or Halo, where you can easily walk through a 1v50 encounter and be unscathed. Abuse grenades, keep your shield at a healthy charge, pick off enemies one by one and stay on the move to prevent yourself from being flanked. Don't forget to bring consumables, grenades are game changers and a spare medkit and battery are wonderful in a pinch. Give it time and you'll easily be able to clear a base alone even in standard un-engineered gear.

As it stands the AI works great. it's smart enough to keep fights threatening if you don't manage them well, toning it down would just dull the experience and make fights a chore rather than an exciting conflict.

 

[[VR] Trye]

Question. Why go into a dangerous place if you're not ready? Prepare yourself in more accessible levels.
Turn on logic, not whining.
Because of such whiners, after 2.1 NPCs, the ships became whipping boys.
I don't want a repeat.
Return the smart bots to the ship's cabins.
And most importantly, make the difficulty level already.

 

[Insane4un]

Basically I see 3 problems here

1) The AI swarms the player (in a mission where you are heavily outgunned, this is a problem)
2) The AI knows where you are, even if you run away (seems to be that way for me anyway)
3) The AI's gear seems to be of a higher grade/engineered.

Which means that you can't run away because the AI will just chase you you and kill you. I remember in phase 2 guerilla tactics worked because if they couldn't see you for x amount of seconds, then the NPC's went back to patrolling, leaving you free to re-engage. Personally, I'm not asking for easy, I'm asking for doable.

1) Yes
2) Absolutely no
3) Yes, but not always

 

[Insane4un]

I can barely find any reason for this thread to exist. You are a CMDR.. USE YOUR SHIP. You have missiles, mines, do what you do best. No need to even bother with on foot combat if you can't handle it on their terms, do it on yours. Use your brain for once. Play smart. No one is forcing you into on foot combat, you can use ship, SRV, anything you like and anything you want.

 

[lysan]

I can barely find any reason for this thread to exist. You are a CMDR.. USE YOUR SHIP. You have missiles, mines, do what you do best. No need to even bother with on foot combat if you can't handle it on their terms, do it on yours. Use your brain for once. Play smart. No one is forcing you into on foot combat, you can use ship, SRV, anything you like and anything you want.

You can, however as you go up in threat level it gets more difficult using ships and SRVs, and there is something weird going on with the threat levels, I’ve had level 5 that was kind of easy.

Source: https://youtu.be/RcsHI0_tQKk?t=6m40s

 

[FlyingBrick]

Whilst I'm no expert of fps shooter games, even if you are half competent at them, it still feels pretty hard.

Why do you choose threat level 4 then? When you become an expert in shooting games, then come back. There is no need to spoil the fun for people who want to be challenged.

 

[Insane4un]

Why do you choose threat level 4 then? When you become an expert in shooting games, then come back. There is no need to spoil the fun for people who want to be challenged.

This. Thank you.

 

[Nyres]

Tried to do a mission and it wanted me to restore power, then it informed me of 9 scavangers. I try and shoot one from a roof a nd immeaditly all 9 of them that are on the ground below snap to me and proccede to fire with pretty damn good accuracy, there was really nothing you could do and I was using the sniper and trying to move around. If this is a thing where we need to get engineered suit and weapons that's kinda a roadblock since you have to do these missions to get the materials to upgrade but its hard to do them reliably because you lack the engineered gear.

 

[Insane4un]

Tried to do a mission and it wanted me to restore power, then it informed me of 9 scavangers. I try and shoot one from a roof a nd immeaditly all 9 of them that are on the ground below snap to me and proccede to fire with pretty damn good accuracy, there was really nothing you could do and I was using the sniper and trying to move around. If this is a thing where we need to get engineered suit and weapons that's kinda a roadblock since you have to do these missions to get the materials to upgrade but its hard to do them reliably because you lack the engineered gear.

Next time, you see scavengers on site - you take your SRV, dominator suit with Aphelion + AR50. That should be more reliable and effective than what you had at time.

 

[Nyres]

Next time, you see scavengers on site - you take your SRV, dominator suit with Aphelion + AR50. That should be more reliable and effective than what you had at time.

Are more gonna drop in on me because at some point i have to be in the maverick suit to be able to cut into the building and restore power? I had gone in with my maverick suit since the mission said it was required.

 

[Insane4un]

Are more gonna drop in on me because at some point i have to be in the maverick suit to be able to cut into the building and restore power? I had gone in with my maverick suit since the mission said it was required.

If there are scavengers at site, it's all that this site have. More will come only if you power down the site, that you already powered up. So you clear site in dominator and srv first, and then you switch to maverick and do your mission. I recommend to always start with SRV, because SRV scanner can see entire site, and if there are scavengers or anyone else, you will see them. If you don't see anyone - that mean exactly this.

 

[Nyres]

If there are scavengers at site, it's all that this site have. More will come only if you power down the site, that you already powered up. So you clear site in dominator and srv first, and then you switch to maverick and do your mission.

Oh okay good to know then. Thanks for the help =)

 

[St0rmFury]

When you powered up a settlement, the turrets should target the scavengers since they are the bad guys here.