Ok, first off, I haven't posted this in the PvP section because it's about those of us in the community that aren't PvP players; Its for those of us whose PvP experiences are limited to those heart-pounding, pant soiling moments when you haven't been paying attention to your scanner and are interdicted by another (usually much better and higher ranked) player for no reason other than they want to ruin your day for their own gratification.
In my experience the main draw of ED for your average player is PvE, not PvP and I guess I would class myself as one of those.
That is not to say though that I want to play the game in isolation, I love playing in open, there's something great about sharing your experiences with other players but of course it does come with it's downsides.
Now I am not having a go at the PvP player's, it's a legitimate part of the game and recent developments to the crime and punishment algorithms do make it slightly less intolerable having your nice shiny new build vaporised.
Having played in Open for the vast majority of the last, near enough 4 years (has it really been that long since the beta release?), I can honestly say the number of PvP encounters I have had are probably less than a dozen which makes it quite surprising that I was unfortunate enough to be ganked/griefed twice last week on the same day (as you can see from the combat log - the identities have been redacted to protect the not-so innocent).
Both these encounters resulted in my demise - an un-shielded and un-armed exploration Krait lost on the way to engineer my FSD in the Deciat system and a newly outfitted Challenger taken down as I took beauty shots orbiting Shinrarta Dezhra.
Happily the players had notoriety ratings that reduced my re-buy's to a mere 1.5 million instead of the 4 million or so I was expecting.
The crime and punishment algorithms still have a way to go I feel but it's getting there. Being able to murder who you like when you like with no consequence is no longer possible but I still feel the consequences are not severe enough.
Now I am a fair pilot, my combat rating is Deadly so you would think I could handle myself but PvP combat is nothing like PvE combat and most battles come down to who has the more powerful weapons / better developed ship and how quickly they can take down your shields and strike some serious blows before you can run. The element of surprise is also with the protagonist - most PvP interdiction's will panic the victim unless they practice an escape drill or are proficient themselves at PvP.
So what can you do?
There you are, trapped in an interdiction wave - do you struggle in the hope you will escape or just power down your drives knowing that at least you can try to run for the hills? - (good luck with that if it's an Imperial Clipper or the like that yanked you).
Personally I tend to opt for the latter, but even as you do so you have a sneaky feeling that in the next 30 seconds the nice shiny new exploration vessel you have diligently been pimping ready for your next venture is about to become so much twisted scrap metal and your going to have a nice escape pod ride to the nearest station.
I guess there are a few options for the none PvP player, chief amongst them being to either develop your PvP skills or have a ship with sufficient guts to outpace your opponent. There are also those that advocate learning to fly with flight assist off and I think these suggestions have merit - after all, learning new skills is essential for your growth in any game.
There are still things I have yet to try in ED such as mining or serious trading and, just because I haven't yet doesn't mean I won't, and the same can be said of learning to PvP effectively or fly FA Off.
To that end, are there any other suggestions for PvE players in Open to make ED a more engaging experience and perhaps convince some of those that play Solo or player groups that Open isn't the hell it's made out to be?
Fly (mostly) safe Commanders
o7
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