2.1 - fun killer?

[*Al*]

I have no problem with the ai being better. I am not happy with my Vette now flying like a T9.

I just spent 10 mins turning on a Deadly FDL and got a wacking 400CR for killing it.
Is this fun or should I go iron my socks......

The Vette hasn't changed, FDL NPCs now fly like an FDL should. I made over 2m RES hunting last night in the Vette for a total of 90K in repairs, this is the new norm.

A wanted FDL with a 400CR bounty has a friendly fire bounty on it, yep happens to NPCs as well, I check the value of the bounty before engaging, along with checking their load out.

[*Al*]

Yeah, please don't start with "I laugh at you" type of responses, or this will end with people banned. Every single one of us have different amounts of free time, different skills, different equipment and ultimately a different perception as to if game demands too much effort and time from us. The idea that "you either adapt or I laugh at you" is totally single dimensional and narrow minded.

So, the whiners are free to whine but no one else is allowed to voice their own side of the coin? Hm. I'm a very casual player myself, but yet have no qualms with the so-called "effort".

Not Whining, just articulating.

[Golem]

My hope is that they tweak it a little bit (the AI and finding stuff). Right now i am wasting a lot of time finding materials or try not to get killed in RES.

Don´t get me wrong, i don´t want it to easy.

[JohnLuke]

So.... I ran some missions for OoM yesterday, and received some engineer goodies as rewards. Today I changed ships and went into a RES. Apparently the goodies that I got from the missions are desirable, as I was attacked unprovoked by a Vulture and Clipper. (one at a time, they weren't winged).

I guess I have to sell the items (energy grid assembly, neofabric insulation, and so on) before I can go into a RES if I don't want to be shot on sight. I was hoping to hang onto the items until I need them for an engineer upgrade. Disappointing.

[Walter]

So.... I ran some missions for OoM yesterday, and received some engineer goodies as rewards. Today I changed ships and went into a RES. Apparently the goodies that I got from the missions are desirable, as I was attacked unprovoked by a Vulture and Clipper. (one at a time, they weren't winged).

I guess I have to sell the items (energy grid assembly, neofabric insulation, and so on) before I can go into a RES if I don't want to be shot on sight. I was hoping to hang onto the items until I need them for an engineer upgrade. Disappointing.

According to some posters, they are also after any materials you may be carrying.

[anikaiful]

So.... I ran some missions for OoM yesterday, and received some engineer goodies as rewards. Today I changed ships and went into a RES. Apparently the goodies that I got from the missions are desirable, as I was attacked unprovoked by a Vulture and Clipper. (one at a time, they weren't winged).

I guess I have to sell the items (energy grid assembly, neofabric insulation, and so on) before I can go into a RES if I don't want to be shot on sight. I was hoping to hang onto the items until I need them for an engineer upgrade. Disappointing.

According to some posters, they are also after any materials you may be carrying.

Fancy enough, something like Soontil Relics (and possibly other rares) are something they deem unworthy their time and fly away.

[Gorf]

I think the big problem is that people bought a game, played it steadily and made good progress, and then overnight it's changed. It's not like any other game where you can tweak the difficulty settings for the AI. One day it was beatable, the next day - not.

The "git gud" brigade are ignorant of the issue, maybe because they can play for several hours per day and not worry about real life. For some, it's taken 18 months to get to elite, because the game gets a couple of hours attention per week. They aren't elite because they are "gud", it's because they've persevered from the beginning. And now, the game's been rendered unplayable.

[Loriath]

... They aren't elite because they are "gud", it's because they've persevered from the beginning. And now, the game's been rendered unplayable.

I will point out again that at one point in the early part of the games release, you could sit in a RES or CZ with a turreted Anaconda set to fire at will and just farm the NPC's. Good way to get to Elite, but it's like slipping the Driver License Tester cash to pass you. Does not mean you are qualified. I don't think the game is unplayable.

I honestly don't mind the new AI. It is definitely a challenge. I have not come up against the PA Spammer bug that they have documented or anything else I think is a Bug or what I consider cheating. I am sure that there will be fixes, adjustments, and tweaks that they make over the next while that will solve all the big complaints.

That being said, I am currently about 50% Competent. Getting to Elite in Combat is definitely going to be a hell of a lot harder. For me it is going to go one of two ways. Either it will cost me lots of money and will take me till Elite v.9 or 10, or I will make massive improvements in my ability and I will achieve Elite in Combat before Braben's 10 year plan ends.

Up until this point, ED has not given us a good reason for Winging up with friends. Everything in the game could easily be achieved playing alone. You could trade Alone till you have billions. You could become Elite in Combat all alone. And Exploring is by its nature a solo type of play. Sure the Sharing of Bounties, or Trade Dividends can be a good motivator, but not required.

Now, we have a reason to wing up and play together. Trading with a wingman is now a way to survive. Combat in a wing increases your chances. I am not sure what this means for Exploring yet, but Michael Brookes has said that Explorers should not go out unarmed now. (Exploring is hard to do in wing or group as it is, at least harder to see a benefit of working in a wing.)

The A-Team has been winging up regularly basically every day since 2.0 dropped. We wing up in game even if we are in different systems doing different things. It has allowed us to say to each other "Hey can I get a Hand" and we can move quickly to help each other. We have done a lot together, from Trading, to Exploring (both systems and planets), Combat, and missions. What we think is that 2.1 gives us even more reason to do this.

In fact, we may need it now that the AI is at the level it is.

If you are normally a solo player, I would suggest looking at playing in a wing even if you have never done so would be not only a great benefit but also makes for a real fun time. The fun factor in the game has gone up by over 1000% since we got together. I have never laughed so hard at myself and others as I have with the A-Team. We have a blast no matter if we are being crushed or being victorious (And being crushed is usually a lot funnier, and a lot less stressful than it would be if we were playing alone.)

I hope that others get to experience things the way we have as it has made the game much more enjoyable. Even when we are getting blown up repeatedly.

(Oh, and using voice comms means that it is even more fun. And I don't mean in game voice, real voice comms, like Discord and TS.)

[Dudley]

... They aren't elite because they are "gud", it's because they've persevered from the beginning. And now, the game's been rendered unplayable.

I will point out again that at one point in the early part of the games release, you could sit in a RES or CZ with a turreted Anaconda set to fire at will and just farm the NPC's. Good way to get to Elite, but it's like slipping the Driver License Tester cash to pass you. Does not mean you are qualified. I don't think the game is unplayable.

I honestly don't mind the new AI. It is definitely a challenge. I have not come up against the PA Spammer bug that they have documented or anything else I think is a Bug or what I consider cheating. I am sure that there will be fixes, adjustments, and tweaks that they make over the next while that will solve all the big complaints.

That being said, I am currently about 50% Competent. Getting to Elite in Combat is definitely going to be a hell of a lot harder. For me it is going to go one of two ways. Either it will cost me lots of money and will take me till Elite v.9 or 10, or I will make massive improvements in my ability and I will achieve Elite in Combat before Braben's 10 year plan ends.

Up until this point, ED has not given us a good reason for Winging up with friends. Everything in the game could easily be achieved playing alone. You could trade Alone till you have billions. You could become Elite in Combat all alone. And Exploring is by its nature a solo type of play. Sure the Sharing of Bounties, or Trade Dividends can be a good motivator, but not required.

Now, we have a reason to wing up and play together. Trading with a wingman is now a way to survive. Combat in a wing increases your chances. I am not sure what this means for Exploring yet, but Michael Brookes has said that Explorers should not go out unarmed now. (Exploring is hard to do in wing or group as it is, at least harder to see a benefit of working in a wing.)

The A-Team has been winging up regularly basically every day since 2.0 dropped. We wing up in game even if we are in different systems doing different things. It has allowed us to say to each other "Hey can I get a Hand" and we can move quickly to help each other. We have done a lot together, from Trading, to Exploring (both systems and planets), Combat, and missions. What we think is that 2.1 gives us even more reason to do this.

In fact, we may need it now that the AI is at the level it is.

If you are normally a solo player, I would suggest looking at playing in a wing even if you have never done so would be not only a great benefit but also makes for a real fun time. The fun factor in the game has gone up by over 1000% since we got together. I have never laughed so hard at myself and others as I have with the A-Team. We have a blast no matter if we are being crushed or being victorious (And being crushed is usually a lot funnier, and a lot less stressful than it would be if we were playing alone.)

I hope that others get to experience things the way we have as it has made the game much more enjoyable. Even when we are getting blown up repeatedly.

(Oh, and using voice comms means that it is even more fun. And I don't mean in game voice, real voice comms, like Discord and TS.)

What Lori says.. ^^^

Guys, I have not laughed so much and had such a great time from such a small investment in RL money in a game - ever!!

You know the words people.. "..if you have a problem and you need help...A-Team..?" (but bring a new pair of shorts too.. )

[Arithon]

You have to remember that up until now, combat rank has been assessed purely on the number of ships you kill. Not their SKILL.

Any new player won't get hit as hard, because they'll be faced with low-rank NPCs, but those players - like myself - who have reached combat rank Elite, but are not especially good at combat will find it very tough.

Also, places like the eponymous "Hazardous RES Site" are now (by their lawless nature) very dangerous and not somewhere you would (or should) venture alone unless prepared to lose your ship.

What does all this mean? It means the swimming pool now has a real shallow end and a really deep, deep end. Don't go out of your depth.

Pick your targets. Equip your ship for fight or flight. Don't engage wings of NPCs unless they are low ranked. You'll be fine.

Materials are a grind only if you let them. If you stop and "clean up" after every fight or spend every moment USS hunting, then yes, it will be a major grind - but the game isn't making you do that, so don't!
One of my major issues with materials (and I voiced these concerns during the BETA on my blog) was their random nature. Any game should be a process, not pot luck. Now since the early BETA some critical changes have been made that address this issue. Firstly you can pin a blueprint for an engineer upgrade so you know what you are looking for in-game (notepad optional). Secondly the materials have "tooltips" that advise you where they can be found. So you have a clear idea of where they will occur.

Materials collection has two schools of thought. Packrat - grab everything! Best get a Collector Limpet Controller and a Cargo Rack so you can suck up materials quickly wherever you find them. The other way to go is just scoop those you know you need (from pinned blueprint) and discard the rest. This requires a quick check of the materials you find before moving on. With only one or two to collect, cargo scooping isn't a major issue.

I favour the second method, as this doesn't require the sacrifice of two internal slots.

For anyone who didn't know, you can unlock multiple levels of upgrades with Felicity Farseer by handing in exploration data at her base. I popped out 1,000Ly in my Asp on Sunday and took an hour out and and and hour back - discovered a few worlds - and unlocked all upgrades to level 3 straight away.

2.1 a fun killer? No. A game-changer? Yes. We must adapt, but the results will be worth it.