Returning and new player issues/question

[Jimpson]

So I haven't played for quite some time and do not own Horizons. I used to be able to destroy anacondas with relative ease even if they were elite in my courier. I have read about the changes and such to ai and the engineer updates. I can not kill anything due to either engineer weapons(the hell does thermal and impulse damage mean) or due to if I enter any zone that deals with combat i instantly get focused fire by the npcs. So i have a question/gripe about the changes.

How am I supposed to play this game in a combat role without getting engineer upgrades? Do I need to change ships, is it honestly just not feasible? Must i buy horizons, and even if i do how am i to grind out whatever the requirements for these engineer upgrades without having to run away 9 out of every 10 fights due to engineer weapons or getting teamed up on? I died a total of 5 times before i started playing again, I am now up to 13. I have played probably 5 hours since i came back. I am competent combat ranking and i can knock down the training simulations with ease. (except that last anaconda on advanced)

Any advice or insight into this strange unexplained world of engineer upgrades would be helpful. Because right now I am ready to stop playing for another year to see if anything gets fixed or if this power creep will continue. How am i expected to get my friends into this game when it is so stacked against new users? It's not like I am trying to 1v5, I just want to be able to farm bounties or stay in a crime sweep without dying in 2.5 seconds with no ability to high wake. Seriously, i'm in an A ranked courier not an eagle...

TL;DR: I am frustrated at the power difference between npcs and myself simply because engineer upgrades and a slight ai tweak happened, how do i compete?

 

[AutoMechancal]

First off the NPCs do not use any engineer weapon mods as when they did it broke them. As for the AI itself it's been buffed slightly as it no longer spins on one axis so it has some time on target, can shield bank properly, and as such can defend itself. If you struggle to deal with ships that have the ability to defend themselves you may want to buy horizons, as it breaks the balance of the game to the point my corvette can sit in a haz Res with zero pips to shields until I run out of ammo.

 

[Jimpson]

I only play solo play, why am I told impulse damage and thermal? Is that not exclusive to engineer upgrades? I have read impulse can come from mines, but I doubt they are mining me from a kilometer behind me. Am I mistaken in this assumption? I am trying to find all this info online, but a concise list of what does what is surprisingly hard to find (up to date at least)

 

[Lucifer Hate]

I only play solo play, why am I told impulse damage and thermal? Is that not exclusive to engineer upgrades? I have read impulse can come from mines, but I doubt they are mining me from a kilometer behind me. Am I mistaken in this assumption? I am trying to find all this info online, but a concise list of what does what is surprisingly hard to find (up to date at least)

No it is not exclusive to engineered weapons. Plasma cannons are 1 example of this as they do have some heat damage. The reason you see those warnings now is they were not in the game before to be shown to you

 

[Miko_Stargazer]

My understanding is Dangerous and Elite NPC's still use engineered weapons but lower level NPC's don't.

Horizons is not necessary to compete combat wise, but you won't be killing elite condas in a courier anymore. A Vulture would be a good ship to use to get the hang of new enemies, and I'd recommend you stay out of conflict zones and go fight at res sites. As long as you don't have any cargo in a res site, pirates won't attack you, and you can focus on fighting them one at a time.

A lot of people found they had trouble adapting because the new NPC updates give you opponents of comparable combat rank to you, but getting high ranks used to be far easier. You can send a support ticket and request your combat rank be reduced to help you get up to speed with the new AI.