So how is it now?

[NCFCpaul]

Dear Cmdr's, I've been away for quite a while. After the NPC's were buffed and everyone got all upset about combat being impossible I know there was some balancing but I still couldn't do it. I lost interest.
I've decided to pick the game back up after some months, so can people bring me up to speed? Is the combat more balanced? Or still people finding it too tough? Other than Git GUD (which really pushed me away)? I saw passengers now feature? How's that working? Basically, will I get back into the game OK? Or am I just going to get blasted repeatedly, frustrated and drift off to other games?

 

[Loskene]

The AI is stupid again if that's what you mean.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Howdy, not sure exactly when you left so I'll assume sometime before 2.2 (fighters/passengers) but after 2.1. Combat has been up and down for a while now, 2.1 saw bugged npcs getting plasma accelerators and railguns with the fire rate of multicannons but that was patched out, additionally they got hit a bit with the nerf bat in 2.2 update. Currently I think it's not great as it's difficult until you start engineering or get a huge ship or get very experienced. After that it's easy. There's no real middle ground or at least none that I've found.
Mixing weapon types is very much a requirement as is knowing slightly more than the basics (pip management is now very useful).
It'll not be impossible but it will be a challenge until you get say a Vulture or engineer the smaller ships. Rank is a huge thing now, avoid those Dangerous and Elite NPCs until you've mastered the rest, ideally check loadout and wing status before you engage. Even in a beefed up ship (without engineers) I'd be second-guessing myself before I take on a wing of 3 ships.


Passenger missions are mixed reaction but overall good. Tourist beacons are amazing and add interesting lore/depth to the game which previously just wasn't there. Long range passenger missions are very profitable. Some argue it's like cargo missions but occasionally the cargo demands something but personally I quite like it and just hope it gets expanded eventually when we can walk around on our ships again.

Fighters are a blast to fly, crew take a fair bit of a cut of your profits but as long as you can handle the decreased earnings then it's quite rewarding to find and level up a crew member you like assuming you have a fighter capable ship.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Dear Cmdr's, I've been away for quite a while. After the NPC's were buffed and everyone got all upset about combat being impossible I know there was some balancing but I still couldn't do it. I lost interest.
I've decided to pick the game back up after some months, so can people bring me up to speed? Is the combat more balanced? Or still people finding it too tough? Other than Git GUD (which really pushed me away)? I saw passengers now feature? How's that working? Basically, will I get back into the game OK? Or am I just going to get blasted repeatedly, frustrated and drift off to other games?

Depends on how bad you are, I guess. There was a bug when 2.1 came out, it gave NPCs insane firepower and such. That was fixed pretty soon. Not much changed after that. If anything, combat is, and always was, unbalanced in the players' favor.

- - - Updated - - -

Howdy, not sure exactly when you left so I'll assume sometime before 2.2 (fighters/passengers) but after 2.1. Combat has been up and down for a while now, 2.1 saw bugged npcs getting plasma accelerators and railguns with the fire rate of multicannons but that was patched out, additionally they got hit a bit with the nerf bat in 2.2 update. Currently I think it's not great as it's difficult until you start engineering or get a huge ship or get very experienced. After that it's easy. There's no real middle ground or at least none that I've found.
Mixing weapon types is very much a requirement as is knowing slightly more than the basics (pip management is now very useful).
It'll not be impossible but it will be a challenge until you get say a Vulture or engineer the smaller ships. Rank is a huge thing now, avoid those Dangerous and Elite NPCs until you've mastered the rest, ideally check loadout and wing status before you engage. Even in a beefed up ship (without engineers) I'd be second-guessing myself before I take on a wing of 3 ships.


Passenger missions are mixed reaction but overall good. Tourist beacons are amazing and add interesting lore/depth to the game which previously just wasn't there. Long range passenger missions are very profitable. Some argue it's like cargo missions but occasionally the cargo demands something but personally I quite like it and just hope it gets expanded eventually when we can walk around on our ships again.

Fighters are a blast to fly, crew take a fair bit of a cut of your profits but as long as you can handle the decreased earnings then it's quite rewarding to find and level up a crew member you like assuming you have a fighter capable ship.

I hear no complaints from people starting the game. New players only encounter low-ranked NPCs in small ships, and those are very doable.

 

[kpmop]

The NPCs got de-buffed, so they mostly (except allegedly high ranks) don't have engineered weapons, they also got skill turned down a bit. You will likely get interdicted at even the slightest whiff of any cargo, but the interdiction mini-game is currently stupidly easy to win. You don't need commodities for the engineers anymore (though this may only be a temporary measure, until some sort of cargo storage system is implemented), so they're a lot easier to use, although missions still offer commodities as rewards.

Passenger missions - two types delivery (fly to destination and drop off passengers) and 'sight-seeing' fly to multiple destinations and then return to start - they pay very well especially if you're allied with factions, nothing particularly special about them, but you do end up going to some interesting places you might not have known about. There's added complications about passengers not liking to be scanned or the ship taking damage and so on...

The other change since you last played is ship launched fighters which are available for some ships - these are kind of fun.

In general, you're just as likely to get interdicted, but it's significantly more survivable. This may or may not be a good thing...

 

[Alex Brentnall]

I hear no complaints from people starting the game. New players only encounter low-ranked NPCs in small ships, and those are very doable.

True although I distinctly remember getting my butt handed to me and delightfully arranged into a railgun sized hole the last time I took my Imp Courier out and realised I had a bounty on me. OP is a returning player so may well be high rank and therefore also have the higher rank enemies.

 

[NCFCpaul]

Thank you all for your replies. I did indeed drop out not long after engineers landed but I'm guessing some time before passengers.

I've decided to start out from scratch- I was ranked as dangerous in combat mostly through farming HazRes when it was far too easy and I know I was never dangerous to anyone remotely competent. I'm hoping to build up again from my shiny new Sidey and maybe play the game properly! Fly safe everyone!

 

[urFOOLISHNESS]

It's impossible to know what someone else's experience with a game will be. It's sooooo subjective and if you ask 100 people you will get 100 different takes. Even just listing the new content is skewed by personal experience.