I've been playing Odyssey through alpha and since launch and I think I've played it enough to have some clear ideas on it. As of now, I've tested every on foot mission type.
I will share my takes on scavenging, exploring and combat with a focus on weapons.
I will not provide System/Galaxy/Outfitting UI feedback as I've done it already in the thread opened by CMs.
SCAVENGING
I think that currently scavenging sits in the best spot. At least for me, it's one of the best rewarding activities throughout the on foot activities. Be it in settlements, using your plasma cutter to get inside abandoned bases, looting them, potentially eliminating other scavengers on your way. Be it on POIs, landing near a crashed ship or SRV, keeping your eyes open towards the sky in case some scavenger ship lands nearby to kill you.
That's how I've been getting engineering materials and honestly I've had fun doing that.
SUGGESTIONS:
- NPCs
I would like to see scavengers inside the buildings, too.
When you find scavengers in a surface settlement, be it because you have to eliminate them for a mission, be it because you have to reactivate a settlement and you find scavengers there, these NPCs are always wandering outside of the buildings. How is it that not one of them has a maverick suit and tries to actually scavenge valuable components from the building interiors? It would be nice to have some of them inside the buildings and fight them there.
- EXPLORING
Being an explorer myself, I love being able to land on the planets I discover and map. Especially if they have a nice atmosphere that reminds you of home. Being able to see plants up close and scanning them is a nice touch too, although I would like to see more diversity. I haven't left the bubble yet, so I can't comment on what it's like outside of it.
I'm personally both impressed and disappointed with the new heatmap. It surely is interesting to find biological life throught the heatmap. The same can't be said for geological sites, though.
Overall Odyssey doesn't add anything specific to exploring except for the things I've mentioned, but I can say I'm enjoying it.
SUGGESTIONS:
- PLANETARY TECH
The new planetary tech is a great achievement but it clearly comes with some issues. Fixing those issues would greatly improve not only exploring, but the overall Elite experience. Planets are sometimes gorgeous, sometimes very bland and repetitive. Unfortunately bland and repetitive planets are more common than the gorgeous ones and that worsens the experience. There's not much to suggest here, as we can only wait for it to be fixed.
- HEATMAP
Having the ability to find geological sites as possible in Horizons, through signal sources, would be better than the current system.
- ALIEN LIFE
More plants diversity in case it's all the same outside of the bubble. Fauna would be a great addition too, maybe in future updates where more planetary compositions are added.
COMBAT
I've played lots of FPS titles, from the more arcadey ones like COD or BF, to games like Planetside 2, to the combat sims like Hell Let Loose or Post Scriptum.
I remember reading that the plan for Odyssey combat was to have a system between arcade titles like COD and sims like Arma.
Although I don't dislike Odyssey combat, I honestly don't think it can be placed between the aforementioned titles.
In a 1v1 scenario Odyssey TTK (Time To Kill) is too high because of shields and the combat system can result at times too convoluted because of the constant switching between laser and kinetic weapons when in a 1vX scenario. This is what bothers me the most, and that's why I've been mostly using plasma weapons only. In every FPS game I can think of, I'm not going to switch weapons for damage types.
Weapons are usually fun to use. Some weapons are more satisfying than others and some weapons feel really weak.
Laser weapons are usually the first you use against soldiers, since they're better against shields. Then you switch to kinetic weapons that have better damage multipliers against armour. In the Elite Universe this makes sense, as even ships have shields and armor that require lasers first and then kinetic armaments. The main difference is that on ships you don't have to wait for your character to switch to the holstered weapon. In my opinion the weapon switch time is too slow.
I will share my takes on the different weapons, from the weakest to the strongest. I'm basing my thoughts on grade 3 weapons and on a grade 4 Manticore Executioner.
First of all, I really like their designs. All of them are nice looking and weapons of the same manufacturer have common major shapes that really feel as if they're produced by the same manufacturer.
- Plasma Rifle:
In my opinion the weakest weapon is the Manticore Oppressor plasma rifle. It's not really good against shields nor armour. There's nothing that justifies using it, as the projectile speed is too slow for an automatic weapon and its damage and range are lower compared to its kinetic and laser counterpart. I'm finding success with it only against civilians or low intensity CZ soldiers. This needs some sort of buffs.
- SMGs:
Both SMGs feel weak compared to other weapons, but still better than the Oppressor. Their range is low, but the DPS at close range is decent.
- Rocket launcher:
Using the Karma L-6 rocket launcher can only be justified against groups of enemies or against SRVs. It's not a great weapon to use gainst ships or a Goliath, as standard weapons will do better. Its low ammo capacity and long reload time don't help either.
- Pistols:
I would place kinetic and laser pistols here, their damage and overall DPS are pretty good.
- Karma AR-50:
The kinetic rifle is a good and reliable weapon. Almost hitscan projectiles, good range, decent damage output.
- Manticore Tormentor pistol:
Really good and fun to use weapon. The damage output is great and makes up for the low rate of fire and slow projectile speed.
- Manticore Intimidator:
The plasma shotgun is one of the funniest weapons to use imho. Feels great to shoot, but its range is really low. The main value of this shotgun is that since pellet damage counts as separate, it's able to damage shields and armour with the same shot.
- Manticore Executioner:
My favourite weapon to use. Long range rifle with a slow projectile speed but really high damage. It's great against single targets. Able to remove shields with one shot and armour with another.
- Laser Rifle:
Although not my favourite, the TK Aphelion seems to me the best weapon in the game, stats-wise. Really high damage per shot and hitscan projectiles. Since armour isn't as durable as shields, especially with higher suit levels, this weapon is capable of killing an opponent even without switching to kinetic weapons and works better than its kinetic counterpart. High range and accuracy are important and this weapon has them too.
ISSUES/SUGGESTIONS:
There are a couple thing that bother me.
- First one is that weapons generally (this is easily seen with plasma weapons) don't punch through shields, except for the plasma shotgun. If my opponent has 1 shield point left, and my weapon normally deals 34 damage, it will only deal 1 shield point damage because damage isn't carried through armour. This should not be the case in my opinion. This also stops me from upgrading my Manticore Executioner further, as there's no point in doing that if I can't deal 100% of my damage to my opponent. I get that maybe I shouldn't be able to one shot a shielded target with full health and shield points.
My suggestion is that a weapon could deal full shield damage and then carry through the armour a smaller percentage of damage. This would be especially helpful when dealing with already damaged targets that constantly regenerate shields.
- Some weapons need to be buffed, like Manticore Oppressor or the SMGs. I also think that KARMA L-6 rocket launcher damage should work better against Goliaths and ships.
- I also think that the rocket launcher should be the only weapon to be able to damage ships. Potentially I can destroy a ship with a pistol or even with punches. That should never be possible and it doesn't make any sense.
ENGINEERING:
I would also like to spend a couple words on weapon and suit engineering in Odyssey.
I think that Odyssey engineering is a huge improvement in comparison to Horizons engineering in terms of balancing. Weapon or suit engineering isn't as broken as ship engineering and I think that with same grade weapons it's possible for a non engineered player to win over an engineered one. This is great in terms of balance as it rewards skill instead of hours spent grinding for materials.
Suit and weapon engineering mainly add QoL improvements to said equipment, except for the damage reduction mod for suits, but that's fine in my opinion.
SUGGESTIONS:
I only have a couple issues with the current system.
- First of all I think Night Vision should be standard on every suit. It already is standard on ships and SRVs, so why shouldn't it be on ultra technological space suits?
- I also would like to see a sort of weapon outfitting system. Why not give the players the chance to customise their own weapons? I'm thinking about grips, different scopes, larger magazines for kinetic weapons. I would love to see such a system that adds a visual effect combined with a stat effect. It would create a larger environment with different builds and effects.
I will share my takes on scavenging, exploring and combat with a focus on weapons.
I will not provide System/Galaxy/Outfitting UI feedback as I've done it already in the thread opened by CMs.
SCAVENGING
I think that currently scavenging sits in the best spot. At least for me, it's one of the best rewarding activities throughout the on foot activities. Be it in settlements, using your plasma cutter to get inside abandoned bases, looting them, potentially eliminating other scavengers on your way. Be it on POIs, landing near a crashed ship or SRV, keeping your eyes open towards the sky in case some scavenger ship lands nearby to kill you.
That's how I've been getting engineering materials and honestly I've had fun doing that.
SUGGESTIONS:
- NPCs
I would like to see scavengers inside the buildings, too.
When you find scavengers in a surface settlement, be it because you have to eliminate them for a mission, be it because you have to reactivate a settlement and you find scavengers there, these NPCs are always wandering outside of the buildings. How is it that not one of them has a maverick suit and tries to actually scavenge valuable components from the building interiors? It would be nice to have some of them inside the buildings and fight them there.
- EXPLORING
Being an explorer myself, I love being able to land on the planets I discover and map. Especially if they have a nice atmosphere that reminds you of home. Being able to see plants up close and scanning them is a nice touch too, although I would like to see more diversity. I haven't left the bubble yet, so I can't comment on what it's like outside of it.
I'm personally both impressed and disappointed with the new heatmap. It surely is interesting to find biological life throught the heatmap. The same can't be said for geological sites, though.
Overall Odyssey doesn't add anything specific to exploring except for the things I've mentioned, but I can say I'm enjoying it.
SUGGESTIONS:
- PLANETARY TECH
The new planetary tech is a great achievement but it clearly comes with some issues. Fixing those issues would greatly improve not only exploring, but the overall Elite experience. Planets are sometimes gorgeous, sometimes very bland and repetitive. Unfortunately bland and repetitive planets are more common than the gorgeous ones and that worsens the experience. There's not much to suggest here, as we can only wait for it to be fixed.
- HEATMAP
Having the ability to find geological sites as possible in Horizons, through signal sources, would be better than the current system.
- ALIEN LIFE
More plants diversity in case it's all the same outside of the bubble. Fauna would be a great addition too, maybe in future updates where more planetary compositions are added.
COMBAT
I've played lots of FPS titles, from the more arcadey ones like COD or BF, to games like Planetside 2, to the combat sims like Hell Let Loose or Post Scriptum.
I remember reading that the plan for Odyssey combat was to have a system between arcade titles like COD and sims like Arma.
Although I don't dislike Odyssey combat, I honestly don't think it can be placed between the aforementioned titles.
In a 1v1 scenario Odyssey TTK (Time To Kill) is too high because of shields and the combat system can result at times too convoluted because of the constant switching between laser and kinetic weapons when in a 1vX scenario. This is what bothers me the most, and that's why I've been mostly using plasma weapons only. In every FPS game I can think of, I'm not going to switch weapons for damage types.
Weapons are usually fun to use. Some weapons are more satisfying than others and some weapons feel really weak.
Laser weapons are usually the first you use against soldiers, since they're better against shields. Then you switch to kinetic weapons that have better damage multipliers against armour. In the Elite Universe this makes sense, as even ships have shields and armor that require lasers first and then kinetic armaments. The main difference is that on ships you don't have to wait for your character to switch to the holstered weapon. In my opinion the weapon switch time is too slow.
I will share my takes on the different weapons, from the weakest to the strongest. I'm basing my thoughts on grade 3 weapons and on a grade 4 Manticore Executioner.
First of all, I really like their designs. All of them are nice looking and weapons of the same manufacturer have common major shapes that really feel as if they're produced by the same manufacturer.
- Plasma Rifle:
In my opinion the weakest weapon is the Manticore Oppressor plasma rifle. It's not really good against shields nor armour. There's nothing that justifies using it, as the projectile speed is too slow for an automatic weapon and its damage and range are lower compared to its kinetic and laser counterpart. I'm finding success with it only against civilians or low intensity CZ soldiers. This needs some sort of buffs.
- SMGs:
Both SMGs feel weak compared to other weapons, but still better than the Oppressor. Their range is low, but the DPS at close range is decent.
- Rocket launcher:
Using the Karma L-6 rocket launcher can only be justified against groups of enemies or against SRVs. It's not a great weapon to use gainst ships or a Goliath, as standard weapons will do better. Its low ammo capacity and long reload time don't help either.
- Pistols:
I would place kinetic and laser pistols here, their damage and overall DPS are pretty good.
- Karma AR-50:
The kinetic rifle is a good and reliable weapon. Almost hitscan projectiles, good range, decent damage output.
- Manticore Tormentor pistol:
Really good and fun to use weapon. The damage output is great and makes up for the low rate of fire and slow projectile speed.
- Manticore Intimidator:
The plasma shotgun is one of the funniest weapons to use imho. Feels great to shoot, but its range is really low. The main value of this shotgun is that since pellet damage counts as separate, it's able to damage shields and armour with the same shot.
- Manticore Executioner:
My favourite weapon to use. Long range rifle with a slow projectile speed but really high damage. It's great against single targets. Able to remove shields with one shot and armour with another.
- Laser Rifle:
Although not my favourite, the TK Aphelion seems to me the best weapon in the game, stats-wise. Really high damage per shot and hitscan projectiles. Since armour isn't as durable as shields, especially with higher suit levels, this weapon is capable of killing an opponent even without switching to kinetic weapons and works better than its kinetic counterpart. High range and accuracy are important and this weapon has them too.
ISSUES/SUGGESTIONS:
There are a couple thing that bother me.
- First one is that weapons generally (this is easily seen with plasma weapons) don't punch through shields, except for the plasma shotgun. If my opponent has 1 shield point left, and my weapon normally deals 34 damage, it will only deal 1 shield point damage because damage isn't carried through armour. This should not be the case in my opinion. This also stops me from upgrading my Manticore Executioner further, as there's no point in doing that if I can't deal 100% of my damage to my opponent. I get that maybe I shouldn't be able to one shot a shielded target with full health and shield points.
My suggestion is that a weapon could deal full shield damage and then carry through the armour a smaller percentage of damage. This would be especially helpful when dealing with already damaged targets that constantly regenerate shields.
- Some weapons need to be buffed, like Manticore Oppressor or the SMGs. I also think that KARMA L-6 rocket launcher damage should work better against Goliaths and ships.
- I also think that the rocket launcher should be the only weapon to be able to damage ships. Potentially I can destroy a ship with a pistol or even with punches. That should never be possible and it doesn't make any sense.
ENGINEERING:
I would also like to spend a couple words on weapon and suit engineering in Odyssey.
I think that Odyssey engineering is a huge improvement in comparison to Horizons engineering in terms of balancing. Weapon or suit engineering isn't as broken as ship engineering and I think that with same grade weapons it's possible for a non engineered player to win over an engineered one. This is great in terms of balance as it rewards skill instead of hours spent grinding for materials.
Suit and weapon engineering mainly add QoL improvements to said equipment, except for the damage reduction mod for suits, but that's fine in my opinion.
SUGGESTIONS:
I only have a couple issues with the current system.
- First of all I think Night Vision should be standard on every suit. It already is standard on ships and SRVs, so why shouldn't it be on ultra technological space suits?
- I also would like to see a sort of weapon outfitting system. Why not give the players the chance to customise their own weapons? I'm thinking about grips, different scopes, larger magazines for kinetic weapons. I would love to see such a system that adds a visual effect combined with a stat effect. It would create a larger environment with different builds and effects.