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[Nick XR]

I personally love the current difficulty system, but I'll admit most people don't like it as-is as much as I.

Perhaps a chain of opt-in noob missions that when all is done the player is around level 7 or so and has familiarity with the game mechanics would be enough.

Anything that feels like wandering around the docks at night in Darklands is good by me.

[Tartiflette]

Personally I think the issue is not only that the early game is difficult but also that the later game is trivial and far less interesting.

[Midnight Kitsune]

I think a big portion of the early game difficulty will be relieved in .8 by both the skill changes and the tutorial

[orost]

Isn't there also a new starting starsystem in 0.8? It's not in the changelog but I swear Alex has said something about it.

edit:

Added campaign tutorial:
*Introduces major gameplay elements and goes through active abilities
*High-level, involves doing a multi-stage mission to get out of new starting star system
*Can be skipped; if skipped starts player with similar resources/standing as if they did it

[Gothars]

Yeah, early game will definitely be easier. But the moment you leave the starting system/tutorial you're still at the hardest part of the game, with every thing after getting progressively easier until you're unstoppable. Which, in a general sense, is OK, I think.

Personally I think the issue is not only that the early game is difficult but also that the later game is trivial and far less interesting.

Agreed. A solid solution to that are high-difficulty areas, but that's not straightforward in Starsector. After all, high level enemies are self-made, by going to war with a faction. As long as you don't do that you can go everywhere.

Maybe it would help if factions would establish patrolled no-go zones, where you are attacked on sight. Could be entire systems. I imagine there would be all kind of nice hardware and secrets to discover in these zones, if you manage to fight your way through (or get exclusively allied with the faction). At the moment there's just no real external motivation to start fights with the strong factions.

A high level general baddy would also be good, some kinda super pirates. Rough AIs or some such, hopefully story related.

[orost]

Also once outposts are in there might be opportunities to add high-level challenges. If you have something immobile and valuable to protect and running and hiding is no longer an option, there's a whole new category of problems you can have.

[FooF]

Agreed. A solid solution to that are high-difficulty areas, but that's not straightforward in Starsector. After all, high level enemies are self-made, by going to war with a faction. As long as you don't do that you can go everywhere.

Maybe it would help if factions would establish patrolled no-go zones, where you are attacked on sight. Could be entire systems. I imagine there would be all kind of nice hardware and secrets to discover in these zones, if you manage to fight your way through (or get exclusively allied with the faction). At the moment there's just no real external motivation to start fights with the strong factions.

A high level general baddy would also be good, some kinda super pirates. Rough AIs or some such, hopefully story related.

Good observation: the only tough enemies are the ones you make. Hadn't thought about it that way.

All of what you said is just one of the tips of the "no end-game" iceberg. Until we have a reason to lose our fleet, we're still just assembling a fancy ship collection.

I like the idea of quarantined/no-fly zones that only allies (i.e. "commissioned") parties can enter, even if you're on good terms with that faction. That would give the sector more "terrain" so to speak. A high level 'pirate' faction would also be cool: an enemy that everyone wants destroyed. Could be a Tempar-like faction, aliens, AI, a long-lost Domain enemy, whatever, but a real end-game threat.

[Megas]

Good observation: the only tough enemies are the ones you make. Hadn't thought about it that way.

But if you want the best stuff, you will almost need to attack someone other than pirates (who usually have junk or limited weapons).  Also, commission lets you buy more stuff from one faction, and that gives you enemies.  Not to mention the automatic commission bounty for killing enemies, which adds up after the player fights lots.

The benefits of commission outweigh the drawbacks, or the benefits of commission are better than no commission.  With commission, you will have enemies.

[Gothars]

With commission, you will have enemies.

But little reason to go and actually confront those enemies. Well, except that there's nothing better to do. Well, as FooF said, as long as there's no real end game, it's moot to talk about long-term motivation mechanics.

I had BTW several play-throughs were I got all my high-level gear from bounty fleets and had no commission to the end.

[SCC]

I like the idea of quarantined/no-fly zones that only allies (i.e. "commissioned") parties can enter, even if you're on good terms with that faction. That would give the sector more "terrain" so to speak. A high level 'pirate' faction would also be cool: an enemy that everyone wants destroyed. Could be a Tempar-like faction, aliens, AI, a long-lost Domain enemy, whatever, but a real end-game threat.

It would be nice if every major faction had bad subfaction, like luddics have pathers and Tri-Tachyon has starlight cabal. And independents sorta-have pirates.
No-go zones are a great idea, btw.

[Ranakastrasz]

I really like the mods that add a significant refund if you die, 80% of the price or more of the ships lost, but degrading as you level up. Makes it less stressful early game, although character level isn't everything.


Honestly, I wish you could tag along with another fleet that is heading to combat, so you would have support. Sell yourself as a mercenary, or something,

[Seth]

Wanna add another thought: Comms. Interactions are extremely minimal. If there would be an option to extend it, build some kind of a dialogue, try to reason with pirates, rival factions etc to give something and avoid fight or just smooth talk them would be great. Also if we could actually interact with allied fleets and etc, that'd be welcome too. Hopefully in the future it will be looked into, but as of now, I haven't seen anything related in 0.8 notes.

Btw, is there a chance of modding it into the game at some degree for now?

[Midnight Kitsune]

Wanna add another thought: Comms. Interactions are extremely minimal. If there would be an option to extend it, build some kind of a dialogue, try to reason with pirates, rival factions etc to give something and avoid fight or just smooth talk them would be great. Also if we could actually interact with allied fleets and etc, that'd be welcome too. Hopefully in the future it will be looked into, but as of now, I haven't seen anything related in 0.8 notes.

Btw, is there a chance of modding it into the game at some degree for now?

Doubt it. But I would love to be able to contact the enemy and do stuff like insult them to anger them, making them more aggressive or even reckless!

It's not a coincidence those bad difficulty curve comics are all of bethesda games. They are famously bad at balancing difficutly in an open world.

Except that the third one isn't. I'f I'm not mistaken, that is the new Legend of Zelda game

[BillyRueben]

It would also be nice to see engagements that have objectives other than "kill everything" or "escape". Maybe an escort mission (ie some fleet pays you for protection, the less damage taken by ships in that fleet, the more you are paid), or even dare I say it a stealth mission (blow target ship up while drawing minimal attention). Those always add difficulty, or at least a change in tactics.

[Dri]

Escort missions? Why...just why would you even mention that?

Escort missions in space games are pure devilry!