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[code99]

I realize I might be in the minority here but leave normal difficulty as is and just create a new difficulty ("hard" seems a good name for it ) when starting the game where you remove the stipend and make supplies/fuel more expensive or similar tweaks and call it a day.

Don't ruin normal difficulty for those who find it, well, normal. I like normal diff and I wouldnt want to play on easy either because I get bonuses to damage and such which I am not a fan of in any game.

[Thaago]

I realize I might be in the minority here but leave normal difficulty as is and just create a new difficulty ("hard" seems a good name for it ) when starting the game where you remove the stipend and make supplies/fuel more expensive or similar tweaks and call it a day.

Don't ruin normal difficulty for those who find it, well, normal. I like normal diff and I wouldnt want to play on easy either because I get bonuses to damage and such which I am not a fan of in any game.

This is exactly how I feel. Normal as it stands is a nice relaxing place for vets to try new things and not worry, but the fights are on the level. Its still quite the challenge for new players, even with the stipend. Ironman/Spacer start is a good 'hard' mode.

[Megas]

I like Normal as is.  I avoid Easy because I do not want permanent damage reduction just because... easy.

Ironman just means I quit game while in combat to prevent game save then relaunch game to save scum.  Too bothersome when I can simply not take Ironman.  Ironman does not go far enough; it needs permadeath where if your fleet wipes, your character is killed and game over.

It seems Spacer (which I have not tried yet) just puts the player into a deep hole where part of the challenge is to eventually attain parity with a normal start before proceeding as usually.  There is a pre-early game before the early game.

[TaLaR]

It seems Spacer (which I have not tried yet) just puts the player into a deep hole where part of the challenge is to eventually attain parity with a normal start before proceeding as usually.  There is a pre-early game before the early game.

You start with Kite(S), which has no weapon slots and 2k credits (+you still have Hermes with Degraded Engines in abandoned platform). Your debt payment is 1k*level per month. Basically, a harder smuggler start.

[Megas]

Can you pay off the debt, or is it just a constant money drain to reduce income and slow progression?  I probably would have no patience with that.

[TaLaR]

Can you pay off the debt, or is it just a constant money drain to reduce income and slow progression?  I probably would have no patience with that.

Constant money drain, as far as I've seen. There is no progression/total sum indication. Just 'An obligation from your past' -income line with tooltip saying 'You never talk about it'.

[Megas]

Sounds like I will not touch Spacer start.  Less income means more grinding, and I dislike unnecessary grinding.

[TaLaR]

I does make you consider time constraints even before colony phase, which is good (for difficulty). Galatian stipend income makes game too easy, here you have reverse of it. Also never needed to smuggle as main form of income before, so doing it once was kind of educational.

[Megas]

Galatian stipend income makes game too easy...

I do not think so.  Maybe if player takes commission on top of that, but for my first game (without commission), the stipend helped my total income stay out of the red for a while.  Of course, I built my first colony almost immediately, on a 175% hazard planet (with huge resources), before everyone knew how to colonize the right way.

I would not mind if the stipend duration was lowered to one year, but otherwise, I am fine with it.

[TaLaR]

Maybe if player takes commission on top of that, but for my first game (without commission)

Why not? TT are easy to please (just don't attack them directly), improve my access to high-tech ships and while commission does not prevent raids, it provides enough relation boost to just pay 25 each time.
Getting indulgence to raid other factions without locking myself into -100 relations is nice bonus too.

[Igncom1]

I mean the game isn't very difficult but it can be frustrating when you lose progress or get reset based on RNG which just eats real life time.

So I save scum as par for course when playing and play on easy for more rewards to get stuff going faster. It could be fun to work up from nothing, carefully managing every risk with the rewards over weeks of playtime. Or I can do it in about 10 hours without having to worry about being wiped out from that salvaging fleet that suddenly went hostile with their death fleet at the edge of the sector. They don't need to pay to be out there, I do.

Not to mention finding yet another star with no planets and no resources when exploring. Or worse, heavily defended deep space probes with nothing but a splattering of supplies and fuel to waste my time with. At least the mother ship gives a nanoforge.

[Megas]

Maybe if player takes commission on top of that, but for my first game (without commission)

Why not? TT are easy to please (just don't attack them directly), improve my access to high-tech ships and while commission does not prevent raids, it provides enough relation boost to just pay 25 each time.
Getting indulgence to raid other factions without locking myself into -100 relations is nice bonus too.

For my first game, I wanted to go without commission like when I first played 0.8.  Due to where the best planets were, my colonies are right next to Hegemony space, so if anything, I probably would have been encouraged to join Hegemony if I wanted commission.

If I play again, I probably would sign for commission early, then leave when I no longer need it.

I use a mix of all three techs, so no one faction has everything I want.

[Euphytose]

Just make an option to toggle the stipend on or off. I think it's way too easy with it. At least change it to a "your crew salaries were paid by an anonymous benefactor for the upcoming year" or something like that. It's still a little bonus but it's not a benefit, just makes things more neutral.

[Midnight Kitsune]

Just make an option to toggle the stipend on or off. I think it's way too easy with it. At least change it to a "your crew salaries were paid by an anonymous benefactor for the upcoming year" or something like that. It's still a little bonus but it's not a benefit, just makes things more neutral.

Just crew? No thanks. Crew, officers and admins? YES PLEASE!
At the same time, we're all pretty high level players. I'd like to see how the stipend helps out the newer players.

[azzogat]

At the same time, we're all pretty high level players. I'd like to see how the stipend helps out the newer players.

Sorry for necro-ing but I made an account just for this.  Just got about 10 hours under normal ( with one 7h run ) so I'd consider myself a new player. Here's my two cents:

As much as I'd love to sink another 100 hours into the game, the meta is just too easy. 2h in everything seems to lose purpose as your power level just explodes.
Hyperspace travel is essentially hassle-free. The factions are either not aggressive enough or they don't have enough fleets overall ( and I'm on negative with all but Hegemony ). The only hassle is the annoyance of navigating the "storms" and occasionally avoiding the very few stronger faction fleets. Avoiding the fleets is fairly easy as the strong ones are generally much slower.

The skill-driven power explosion was unsatisfactory as well. Overall skills feel meaningless when you get so many so quickly.

The stipend + commission down-right break the already fragile economy.
By fragile I mean:
 The over-supply of ships ( they are more common than ore or basic supplies .... )
 The ship prices are ludicrously low. Even at 2x their current cost they would still be ridiculously low. ( I had an Onslaught with 1D 4h in, did not break the bank either )
 Trade routes are way too easy to abuse ( it's worse than in the usual grind-trading systems since your viable options are actually lower but the payouts much higher )
 Rewards are way too big for non-combat "quests". ( to be read as those without a cost sink )
 Basic supplies are way too cheap and abundant.
 I have more weapons than storage slots to put them in ( from salvage ). Granted, they are not rare but nor did I ever feel the need for rare weapons or stronger ships ( 7h in this run ).
 
To make things worse, the faction standings are too easy to recover from and overall feel very artificial. They switch and change too often and easily, making them lose substance.
IMHO accepting a comission should be a big, game-changing thing, not just an easy way into cash.

Not much to comment on the combat. I skip it whenever I can, due to the overall goal of this run. The goal was to create a faction and ( possibly ) wipe the rest out. Simple stuff that should prove challenging and lengthy. While I'm hoping the end game will prove to be more challenging, I very much doubt it. It's already more of a chore than a challenge.

Sure, I can always "role play my own difficulty" but it feels unnatural.