Now that Odyssey is running pretty darn well (at least on my rig and GFN), I've been spending time doing more things around planetary settlements. During my playtime I've noticed some things that need improvement. First up: ammo.
I found myself in a situation where I was taking on 16 enemies during a raid on a settlement (supposedly this qualifies for a threat level of 3...more on that later). Well, not being the most accurate shooter out there, I found myself running out of ammo about midway through the raid. It was at that point that I realized that I had no clue how ammo works. Was I supposed to buy more at the store? Can I engineer my gear to carry more? It was somewhat of a startling revelation because every other shooter I played makes ammo management mechanics pretty clear early on. Well, long short, I found myself forced on the defensive because I was out of ammo. I couldn't return to my ship because I took a shuttle to the settlement (does returning to your ship even refill my ammo? I now know it does but at the time I had no clue because, again, Odyssey explains nothing about ammo), and the one ammo crate I found was locked! I even tried looting some of the fallen enemy but...there is nothing to loot.
After I retreated out into the wilds and had a shuttle pick me up, I went straight to the outfitters to see if I missed something about ammo. Incredibly, I did not! Apparently, ammo just magically appears in your gun when you deploy from your ship. I was actually stunned when I made this realization. How can you implement ammo but not sensible mechanics to go with it?! As in EVERY OTHER SHOOTER EVER MADE, I should be able to buy ammo at stores and/or be able loot it on the field of battle from my victims. I should also be able to engineer my ammo-carrying capacity (so I can stock up to a level that fits my style). And if Frontier wants to really be smart, they should give us the option of different types of ammo for different situations. Lastly, seeing the general paucity of ammo in this game, ammo crates should NOT be locked! These are changes that I believe need to be made post haste. Either that, or just get rid of ammo and go strictly with energy weapons that feed off of our suit energy.
Next suggestion for improvement: "Threat Levels" need to be sensibly balanced. I've taken "Threat Level 1" missions where I encountered 6 fully-armed soldiers dropped onto the field; "Threat Level 2" missions where I encountered zero opposition, and "Threat Level 3" ops where I had to take out 16(!) defenders. To call this balancing haphazard would be giving it more credit than it is due. While I don't mind a bit of randomness to mission difficulty, the current threat levels seem to be completely out of whack. For me, a TL1 at most should be 1 or 2 poorly armed enemies that are easily defeated, just like a TL1 mission in Horizons where the pirate has no shields and flies a cheap ship. TL1 should be missions for when you are early in your career. TL2 should step up from there - maybe 6 moderately equipped foes - with TL3 being maybe 8 or so enemies with decent equipment that is equivalent to the player's. I wouldn't expect 16(!) foes in anything less than TL4 or higher. The mission TLs need a lot of balancing to be anything less than frustratingly random.
Next, the stealth mechanics in this game also need to be better fleshed out. I really like how many missions in this game have that Deux Ex feeling of sneaking around and taking out tangos stealthily. Unfortunately, the game is far too unforgiving for this to really work well in Odyssey. First off, I am tired of sneaking around a settlement building only to have a guard say, "Hold it right there, commander" when he is on another level and lacks any sort of LoS to me! The vision cone of sentries needs to be reduced as it is hard to be stealthy with sentries that apparently have x-ray vision. Second, as in other games I have played, if I kill a guard and no one is around to see it, the entire base shouldn't be instantly alerted. If there is a witness, sure; sound the alarm. I would even allow for a kill in X seconds - that is, if I don't down a lone guard in 45(?) or so seconds, he gets to alert the base. But if it is just me and a sentry having a shootout in an isolated room, and the fight concludes quickly, the entire base shouldn't descend on me. Maybe have a sentry in a neighboring room investigate (i.e., be attracted by the noise) but that should be the extent of the alert. And I certainly shouldn't be attacked by lab researchers and ordinary folk! They should be off hiding, not throwing down into the fight as well. Lastly, and this ties into the threat level discussion above, low level settlement missions should be at bases with poor and few sentries.
Now that Frontier is making progress with optimization, I hope the above gets a top-down review and polish because settlement missions still feel very "alpha" in how much of it is currently implemented.
(As an aside, I have another pet peeve. I had taken a shuttle to a station...for some reason I don't recall. Anyhoo, I thought I would transfer one of my ships over to the station. While I waited for it to arrive, I'd thought I take a ground mission or two to kill time it would take my ship to be shipped to me. It was then that I realized there is no way to have your ship sent to a station from within the concourse! I mean, am I missing something here? I checked every kiosk and even the lift menu but there was no way to have one of my ships sent to my current station! Apparently, you can only do that from within the station menu that is only available in your cockpit. In Braben's Name, why?!? This forces you to take a shuttle to the station that you left your ship at. Is this part of an Apex no compete clause?
)
I found myself in a situation where I was taking on 16 enemies during a raid on a settlement (supposedly this qualifies for a threat level of 3...more on that later). Well, not being the most accurate shooter out there, I found myself running out of ammo about midway through the raid. It was at that point that I realized that I had no clue how ammo works. Was I supposed to buy more at the store? Can I engineer my gear to carry more? It was somewhat of a startling revelation because every other shooter I played makes ammo management mechanics pretty clear early on. Well, long short, I found myself forced on the defensive because I was out of ammo. I couldn't return to my ship because I took a shuttle to the settlement (does returning to your ship even refill my ammo? I now know it does but at the time I had no clue because, again, Odyssey explains nothing about ammo), and the one ammo crate I found was locked! I even tried looting some of the fallen enemy but...there is nothing to loot.
After I retreated out into the wilds and had a shuttle pick me up, I went straight to the outfitters to see if I missed something about ammo. Incredibly, I did not! Apparently, ammo just magically appears in your gun when you deploy from your ship. I was actually stunned when I made this realization. How can you implement ammo but not sensible mechanics to go with it?! As in EVERY OTHER SHOOTER EVER MADE, I should be able to buy ammo at stores and/or be able loot it on the field of battle from my victims. I should also be able to engineer my ammo-carrying capacity (so I can stock up to a level that fits my style). And if Frontier wants to really be smart, they should give us the option of different types of ammo for different situations. Lastly, seeing the general paucity of ammo in this game, ammo crates should NOT be locked! These are changes that I believe need to be made post haste. Either that, or just get rid of ammo and go strictly with energy weapons that feed off of our suit energy.
Next suggestion for improvement: "Threat Levels" need to be sensibly balanced. I've taken "Threat Level 1" missions where I encountered 6 fully-armed soldiers dropped onto the field; "Threat Level 2" missions where I encountered zero opposition, and "Threat Level 3" ops where I had to take out 16(!) defenders. To call this balancing haphazard would be giving it more credit than it is due. While I don't mind a bit of randomness to mission difficulty, the current threat levels seem to be completely out of whack. For me, a TL1 at most should be 1 or 2 poorly armed enemies that are easily defeated, just like a TL1 mission in Horizons where the pirate has no shields and flies a cheap ship. TL1 should be missions for when you are early in your career. TL2 should step up from there - maybe 6 moderately equipped foes - with TL3 being maybe 8 or so enemies with decent equipment that is equivalent to the player's. I wouldn't expect 16(!) foes in anything less than TL4 or higher. The mission TLs need a lot of balancing to be anything less than frustratingly random.
Next, the stealth mechanics in this game also need to be better fleshed out. I really like how many missions in this game have that Deux Ex feeling of sneaking around and taking out tangos stealthily. Unfortunately, the game is far too unforgiving for this to really work well in Odyssey. First off, I am tired of sneaking around a settlement building only to have a guard say, "Hold it right there, commander" when he is on another level and lacks any sort of LoS to me! The vision cone of sentries needs to be reduced as it is hard to be stealthy with sentries that apparently have x-ray vision. Second, as in other games I have played, if I kill a guard and no one is around to see it, the entire base shouldn't be instantly alerted. If there is a witness, sure; sound the alarm. I would even allow for a kill in X seconds - that is, if I don't down a lone guard in 45(?) or so seconds, he gets to alert the base. But if it is just me and a sentry having a shootout in an isolated room, and the fight concludes quickly, the entire base shouldn't descend on me. Maybe have a sentry in a neighboring room investigate (i.e., be attracted by the noise) but that should be the extent of the alert. And I certainly shouldn't be attacked by lab researchers and ordinary folk! They should be off hiding, not throwing down into the fight as well. Lastly, and this ties into the threat level discussion above, low level settlement missions should be at bases with poor and few sentries.
Now that Frontier is making progress with optimization, I hope the above gets a top-down review and polish because settlement missions still feel very "alpha" in how much of it is currently implemented.
(As an aside, I have another pet peeve. I had taken a shuttle to a station...for some reason I don't recall. Anyhoo, I thought I would transfer one of my ships over to the station. While I waited for it to arrive, I'd thought I take a ground mission or two to kill time it would take my ship to be shipped to me. It was then that I realized there is no way to have your ship sent to a station from within the concourse! I mean, am I missing something here? I checked every kiosk and even the lift menu but there was no way to have one of my ships sent to my current station! Apparently, you can only do that from within the station menu that is only available in your cockpit. In Braben's Name, why?!? This forces you to take a shuttle to the station that you left your ship at. Is this part of an Apex no compete clause?
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). It all smacks of placeholder shooter content.