What do you enjoy in 2.1+ ?

[Droid8Apple]

I'm guilty of my share of complaining, that's for sure. But I want to take a moment and let FD know that amongst all the complaining (also done by me) there is SO much good to be found.

Personally, my absolute favorite thing, is the need to equip things long forgotten. I remember some 3,000 hours ago when I started playing. I remember looking at an Advanced Discovery Scanner in the outfitting menu and thinking "1.5 million... I'll never have that much money." As time progressed I slowly saw different things becoming a reality in terms of affordability. But the problem was, unless I wanted to trying something new for a half an hour, I didn't NEED any of it. IE- "Limpets... they're cool...I'll go buy some cargo and eject it just to collect it again... that was fun" And never need them again.

In 2.1+ we don't have a choice but to bring certain things. This requires planning and thought that have nothing to do with megajoules (mostly). When I take my FDL out of my garage I have to consider how awful it is to scoop with and consider taking along collector limpets in an already confined space. I have to weigh the possibility of not taking a scanner and only visiting places I've been before. I need to weigh in AFM usage. I need to consider Military Bulkheads and Fuel Scoops to ships I wouldn't have needed to before. I have to consider everthing that I'd long forgotten. To some, this may be a hassle and I'm guilty of not stoppoing to smell the roses- but the amount of thought FD had to put into giving us situations to implement these kinds of things without spoiling the game we already knew? Amazing.

What do you want to praise FD for in this release? Does anyone else enjoy having to carefully plan their loadout or am I just creepy like that?

 

[Colonel Kenney]

I made a post of the positive things .. there are many needed improvements. Radio chatter, mining is better .. bug fixes. Trading is a little more interesting.

So far the only thing I've enjoyed is mining, and taking mining missions. Trading has been impossible to do even with missions. Too many interdictions and the pirates are completely cheating still, still overpowered and even though now we can escape some of them, its almost always guaranteed you will be damaged or couldn't take them in a fight.

I used to res hunt easily in a vulture. Now in a python I get my butt handed to me, takes much longer to kill stuff and the rewards are not any better.

 

[Roadblock]

No more waiting on blast doors to lower when launching from a medium pad!
Radio chatter is an improvement.
Enhanced thrusters on an Imperial courier is pretty fun!
Some of the new ship sounds are cool.
The new mission interface is an improvement.

I think that's about it. Almost everything else about 2.1 has made me sad.

 

[bamber]

Planetary work has just gone to a whole new level for me.

SO much good
.
The ability to follow your tracks - seems a simple thing but you can find a POI and get back to your ship and follow your tracks back, or you can stay in your srv just chasing your tracks
.
The commodities you find make the whole scavenging career path worthwhile, no more 3T of tea and 1T of Animal meat, its now 7 or 8T of good quality commodities
.
Before the "limit" on a planet was a cobra with a 40T hold, now Im up to a Type 6 (I clear saved) and happily scavenging 100T (made close to 1000000Cr the last time out and no dumping required)
.
Ships on the planet - its a bit duck and weave now
.
Dust storms as ships land - really nice to see
.
Overall the planets have been given a lot of love and its been worthwhile
.
To make it better
.
Mining stations need better commodities instead of gallite and Bauxite give us something better 10T of bauxite guarded by goliaths defence turrets and ships doesn't make sense
.
Overall its ace now
.
I'm even thinking of loading up a two bay planetary hangar as I find I need to refuel and rearm when I get over about 75T

 

[matthewpowers]

The most I enjoy is the incentive the game now gives you to do stuff that made no real sense before.

Like going to search for planets where you find materials.

Then we have the better graphics, finally some decent AI to play with, and the new mission board with faces.

Ah yeah, the radio chatter. All stuff that has been mentioned by the other posters. But it changes the game a lot. A lot more immersion.

2.1 has been a lot of fun

 

[kofeyh]

Hunting for arsenic. Actually no I hate that but it's given me an excuse to belt about low-grav planets in a SRV and have about the most fun it's possible to have (with pants on) by jumping the rim's of craters and sailing several hundred meters across, 30-100m off the ground.

I'm going to destroy a SRV doing that at some point, but hoo boy if it isn't stupidly good fun.

edit: actually most of what I like is the quality of life improvements and that missions (apart from occasional bugs) are considerably more enjoyable.

 

[Cosmos]

The most I enjoy is the incentive the game now gives you to do stuff that made no real sense before.

Like going to search for planets where you find materials.

Then we have the better graphics, finally some decent AI to play with, and the new mission board with faces.

Ah yeah, the radio chatter. All stuff that has been mentioned by the other posters. But it changes the game a lot. A lot more immersion.

2.1 has been a lot of fun

Took the words out of my mouth. Has to be said, I've never been enjoying the PvE side of the game more and really love the improved AI; SJA really has done an exceptional job.

 

[Alpha087]

I greatly enjoy the radio chatter, better optimized planets (never drop below 60 FPS on a planet, even with a second planet close-by in the sky anymore!), the new mission systems have been loads of fun, the rebalancing of weapons allowing me to finally use something other than pulses, aaand... While it definitely needs some tweaking (and the ability to store commodities/more materials) I do actually like the crafting as it gives a sense of purpose that isn't just credits.

 

[Odan Brota]

I'm having a blast running around planet surfaces, and otherwise doing things that I simply wouldn't have pre-2.1.

For example, I'm now sitting in an anarchy system butchering trade ships.

 

[Mark Lock]

I love everything about this update,

AIs finally fixed and challenging enough
New Missions system is awesome, far better than before
Fog at station is a nice touch, now you really feel it has atmosphere and tons of CO2 from ships
Graphics enhancements are awesome, planets look much better from space and from ground level
Nav beacon feature is cool
Engineers, didn't try it yet but the idea is great
Stations chatter, good variety and now it feels like a Flight Simulator, I love it
Now we finally understand how mission rewards scale with risk thank to the new AI and missions.

Great job FD !!!

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

Right now enjoying 3 things - station chatter (so enriched sounds); AI (more variety is always welcomed) and the forums.

 

[Cosmos]

and the forums.

I'm watching you [hehe]

 

[RG-870]

I enjoyed the new radio communication of stations and the fact they finally fixed broken textures since Horizons launch. Except from that I kind of enjoy the fact that I now have much more time for other games because grindy RNGineers and the new AI finally made me no longer want to play E. I already played a lot less since Horizons (mainly because of the boring planetary landings and the textures bug which made my game look like back in the 90's). Now I don't even bother logging in except from trying out a few things here and then. If FD does not bring something really exciting during Horizons season this will for sure have been my last preorder season pass - all I got for it was a useless exclusive ship anyways (because they were afraid of a pay2win     storm if the Cobra Mk IV had been any good).
Maybe I'm gonna give it another try in the future. But for now I don't see myself putting any more money into E. It started out so promising in Beta, but I don't like the path they took since then. What I got so far with Horizons for the price of a full game is more than underwhelming.

 

[Mr_Blastman]

I enjoy all the

that are falling.

 

[Droid8Apple]

I made a post of the positive things .. there are many needed improvements. Radio chatter, mining is better .. bug fixes. Trading is a little more interesting.

So far the only thing I've enjoyed is mining, and taking mining missions. Trading has been impossible to do even with missions. Too many interdictions and the pirates are completely cheating still, still overpowered and even though now we can escape some of them, its almost always guaranteed you will be damaged or couldn't take them in a fight.

I used to res hunt easily in a vulture. Now in a python I get my butt handed to me, takes much longer to kill stuff and the rewards are not any better.

Lots of good points, it really is the most irritating thing (interdictions). It's the entire reason I quit powerplay months ago and here we are. 804 credits worth of cargo and no missions underway yet there's always an Elite Anaconda/FDL wherever I drop- 90% of the time they weren't even on the radar. So I really hope it's a bug. If it isn't, there needs to be a way to store our engineer commodities until we've gathered what we needed because this is awful.

And yes they cheat immensely more than they used to. I guess to have more of a challenge we have to deal with Anaconda's outmaneuvering our modded FDL. Their turrets aren't phased by chaff whatsoever either. Surely this cannot be the final product of the AI though. Couldn't imagine how hard it'd be to make them do what they do.

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No more waiting on blast doors to lower when launching from a medium pad!
Radio chatter is an improvement.
Enhanced thrusters on an Imperial courier is pretty fun!
Some of the new ship sounds are cool.
The new mission interface is an improvement.

I think that's about it. Almost everything else about 2.1 has made me sad.

YES I totally forgot about blast doors! HaHa! That was one of my chief complaints early on in the game and never understood why they were slower than large.

You're absolutely right though, there are a fair amount of disappointments but hopefully they'll continue tweaking it until it's sensible. The hunt for engineer stuff is still atrocious that's for sure. Just certain things. IE- Specialized Legacy Firmware, Mechanical Components are my two biggest so far.

I couldn't agree more about the courier though lol- something tickles you inside about not having to boost to outrun a clipper.

 

[Droid8Apple]

Planetary work has just gone to a whole new level for me.

SO much good
.
The ability to follow your tracks - seems a simple thing but you can find a POI and get back to your ship and follow your tracks back, or you can stay in your srv just chasing your tracks
.
The commodities you find make the whole scavenging career path worthwhile, no more 3T of tea and 1T of Animal meat, its now 7 or 8T of good quality commodities
.
Before the "limit" on a planet was a cobra with a 40T hold, now Im up to a Type 6 (I clear saved) and happily scavenging 100T (made close to 1000000Cr the last time out and no dumping required)
.
Ships on the planet - its a bit duck and weave now
.
Dust storms as ships land - really nice to see
.
Overall the planets have been given a lot of love and its been worthwhile
.
To make it better
.
Mining stations need better commodities instead of gallite and Bauxite give us something better 10T of bauxite guarded by goliaths defence turrets and ships doesn't make sense
.
Overall its ace now
.
I'm even thinking of loading up a two bay planetary hangar as I find I need to refuel and rearm when I get over about 75T

That was one of my other things I've been enjoying too. Before you could drive and shoot rocks essentially. Now, you're right. In the perspective of someone not looking for money even, it's quite fun and there's still a reason to go out and search for things other than profit for me. There are POI's everywhere and I won't forget in beta how my heart sank to my stomach as I saw a massive shadow on the ground coming towards my SRV (forgetting ships now flew down there) and looked up to see a T9 with 2 vipers creeping along. Especially as that intriguing piano music was playing. It really creates a feeling of immersion when you're down there all alone.

But yes, the mining stations although plentiful really are junk. Always low-grade stuff. Never got into mining so the minerals are all new to me. I was excited at first but then looked up their worth.

On another note- how was it since you cleared save? I could never do it. It was grindy back then even if you weren't trying to make it so, as of now, I sincerely doubt I'll ever fly a Corvette/Cutter unless I'm in beta. I get it out of my system in there and I personally like my Anaconda better anyhow.

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The most I enjoy is the incentive the game now gives you to do stuff that made no real sense before.

Like going to search for planets where you find materials.

Then we have the better graphics, finally some decent AI to play with, and the new mission board with faces.

Ah yeah, the radio chatter. All stuff that has been mentioned by the other posters. But it changes the game a lot. A lot more immersion.

2.1 has been a lot of fun

I agree! It really does give the incentive to do things you normally wouldn't. And the mission board is pretty great. there seems to steadily be more to do on the boards than ever before. Neat little things are thrown in too like asking you to dock your loaded Anaconda in less than 2 minutes for a bonus. I love the surprises like that.

 

[Droid8Apple]

Hunting for arsenic. Actually no I hate that but it's given me an excuse to belt about low-grav planets in a SRV and have about the most fun it's possible to have (with pants on) by jumping the rim's of craters and sailing several hundred meters across, 30-100m off the ground.

I'm going to destroy a SRV doing that at some point, but hoo boy if it isn't stupidly good fun.

edit: actually most of what I like is the quality of life improvements and that missions (apart from occasional bugs) are considerably more enjoyable.

really, nothing compares to that moment when you're pitching slightly forward as a helicopter would while thrusting to keep yourself moving forward and level while trying to hit F10 with your pinky to review your highest jump- surprised I've never died that way yet either lol

and how someone else said the tracks the SRV makes- really didn't know what I was missing until I spun out and couldn't remember which heading I was going towards or wanted to retrace my steps without using the scanner after transferring the 2 canisters onboard to my ship.

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Right now enjoying 3 things - station chatter (so enriched sounds); AI (more variety is always welcomed) and the forums.

the forums.... lol. it is a great time killer.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Almost everything.....but if I had to pick one, it'd be the new mission structure....and how connected it is to the faction type and system state overall. It can still be further improved and refined, & more mission templates added, but it is definitely 200% better than in pre-2.1.

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Hunting for arsenic. Actually no I hate that but it's given me an excuse to belt about low-grav planets in a SRV and have about the most fun it's possible to have (with pants on) by jumping the rim's of craters and sailing several hundred meters across, 30-100m off the ground.

I'm going to destroy a SRV doing that at some point, but hoo boy if it isn't stupidly good fun.

edit: actually most of what I like is the quality of life improvements and that missions (apart from occasional bugs) are considerably more enjoyable.

Yes, they need to tie finding materials on planets into using the Detailed Surface Scanner. That would make the process much more intuitive.

 

[Droid8Apple]

I enjoyed the new radio communication of stations and the fact they finally fixed broken textures since Horizons launch. Except from that I kind of enjoy the fact that I now have much more time for other games because grindy RNGineers and the new AI finally made me no longer want to play E. I already played a lot less since Horizons (mainly because of the boring planetary landings and the textures bug which made my game look like back in the 90's). Now I don't even bother logging in except from trying out a few things here and then. If FD does not bring something really exciting during Horizons season this will for sure have been my last preorder season pass - all I got for it was a useless exclusive ship anyways (because they were afraid of a pay2win storm if the Cobra Mk IV had been any good).
Maybe I'm gonna give it another try in the future. But for now I don't see myself putting any more money into E. It started out so promising in Beta, but I don't like the path they took since then. What I got so far with Horizons for the price of a full game is more than underwhelming.

I can understand the frustration, believe me you are not alone. But one way I look at it is that if the AI wasn't so curmudgeonly (#SkyrimVocabularyWord) I doubt I would have wanted to try some of the other things I've been doing. It seems a lot of people just want to argue whether they're too hard or too easy, but it's the cheating stuff that turns me off from them anymore as well as the lack of payment for them. Even though I have a fair amount of money in game I don't like feeling as though I'm not getting what I deserve or what did before. I still have yet to die, and doubt I will, but I've gotten down to 56% hull and that's the lowest an NPC has ever done. In ways I kind of like having to worry because it's a change, but don't want to worry because the wrong reasons.

Edited because I have died from an NPC before, but I meant within the last year or so I haven't.

 

[Droid8Apple]

I greatly enjoy the radio chatter, better optimized planets (never drop below 60 FPS on a planet, even with a second planet close-by in the sky anymore!), the new mission systems have been loads of fun, the rebalancing of weapons allowing me to finally use something other than pulses, aaand... While it definitely needs some tweaking (and the ability to store commodities/more materials) I do actually like the crafting as it gives a sense of purpose that isn't just credits.

Couldn't agree more with the weapons bit. Pulse were always such a "duh" choice for me and now it's much different. Forever ago when I first got my Vulture I remember thinking how awesome it would be to have a C3 MC with my C3 Beam... probably the first thing I tried in Beta lol. And with engineers you can make that slight improvement to a distributor's recharge that makes all the difference... IE- I love having 2x C3 turreted beams on the hood of my anaconda and with 4 pips to weapons and an A8 distributor they could run forever (wouldn't deplete but also wouldn't recharge) as long as you don't fire anything else. But with a recharge mod you can fire 6 MC's alongside them and when you aren't firing the MC's the lasers will recharge while firing. Sounds dumb but that was something I've personally always wanted and now we have the ability to make individual dreams like that a reality.

I'm having a blast running around planet surfaces, and otherwise doing things that I simply wouldn't have pre-2.1.

For example, I'm now sitting in an anarchy system butchering trade ships.

LoL, that's something I've never done either TBH... [hotas]... but now I will.