Solution to NPC woes...it's an easy one.

[CMDR_Vyse]

Don't have NPCs scale based on rank, have them scale based on security levels and location. Elite ranked pirates only found in Hazardous RES sites and Anarchy systems with a population of more than 100,000, this includes USS's. Elite ranked war NPCs in High Intensity CZs only. In contrast, high ranked police patrol high security systems, up to and including Elite. Missions spawn NPCs appropriate to their difficulty.

Scale back the difficulty of all NPCs except at the three highest ranks. Buff Elite NPCs a bit more. If they get modded weapons, only the top 3 ranks can have them, and only Elite NPCs get the really good stuff.

And there you go. Issue solved. Traders can trade, combat pilots can combat, explorers can explore, and the game is better all around.

 

[Meric]

I kind of thought that this was what they did?

I might be wrong but I thought the scaling was related to mission difficultly. I.e. If you take an elite couier run you get hounded by elite baddies.

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They have already taken away most mods from NPCS and according to the newsletter are going to only put them back for high level NPCs.

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And it seems 2.1 finally introduced proper scaling for security (a few people hereabouts are raving about it).

 

[Mohrgan]

I have come to believe that this approach, on it's basic level, should be the case. I am of the mind that to allow noncombat focused players to enjoy E|D there needs to be a way for the individual to have more control over the threat faced. Just as we have the modes to facilitate as many play styles as possible, there should be a way for players to actively choose to what degree combat dictates their experience.

My suggestion is to let locations like RES's, and CZ's be the focus for combat challenge, while leaving general space more forgiving. Just as we can rise to elite status in four categories, shouldn't we accept that not every player needs to be in a combat fit ship, and be interested in an elite level combat experience?