Engineers 2.1 Beta - findings so far

[pargyrak]

Let's wait and see what will be the NPC after 2.1 is released. My money is on that they will dial the NPC intelligence a notch or three

[Roger Wilco Jr]

I finally got a chance to try beta 4 today for about an hour. The AI seemed pretty much like they are in the regular game, except a bunch of them are flying around backwards. Of course, I was flying a Vulture, so if they are more maneuverable, it's a little harder to tell. Still, on any ship Python and up, I've always used some turrets to handle swatting the flies.

There is quite a light show with all the special effect weapons and explosions. It's on the verge of looking like an arcade game. It does look cool, but I wonder if maybe it should be dialed back a bit.

I don't plan on playing the beta much more - seems like a waste of time. Even with a beta, I can't believe they let that out with all those bugs. Don't their play testers do anything? I imagine they just have fun and don't bother with much else.

[JohnLuke]

I spent some quality time at Felicty Farseer's Engineer station yesterday, to see how the whole Engineer's upgrade thing works. I found that there are some very impressive modifications that can be done!

I took my BB runner Python, and did the following enhancements:

Gained 2.94 ly on my FSD (max of 16.54 went up to 19.48) It was at 20.2 initially after the FSD mod, but some other mods added mass, lowering the end result to 19.48.
Shield generator- strength up about 20% at the cost of slower regeneration times.
Thrusters- optimal multiplier up 21%, which got my boost speed up 25m/sec (174 m/sec to 199 m/sec) More responsive thrusters in combat scenarios, too.
Power distro- 17 more mw of charge (about 27% increase) in all 3 capacitors, at the cost of slightly slower recharge rates. There are othjer Power Distro mods to increase one specific capacitor at the cost of lowering the other two slightly.

There were more mods available at Felicity's that I tinkered with as well, regarding beams and SCB's.

We will be able to tweak our upgrades to tailor fit how we want to use our ships. If you're interested in maximizing an Asp or Conda for exploring, you can lighten modules by reducing their productivity and/or generating slightly more heat. You can make a trade ships shields and SB's stronger, with little or no additional weight. Of course, increasing the jump range on just about any ship is a welcome sight.

One of our FB members posted a pic of his Asp with it's 40.86ly jump range after some mods at the Engineers.

I think The Engineers will be a good addition to the game, for those who want to tweak their ship's configuration to suit their own individual play style. The big.... or should I say.... HUGE question is.... how much grinding will be needed to gather the level 5 crafting items needed to get these upgrades.

[Xebeth]

<snip>
The big.... or should I say.... HUGE question is.... how much grinding will be needed to gather the level 5 crafting items needed to get these upgrades.

I suspect the answer will be lots, but for me the questions is how well will we be able to integrate the grind into the other stuff we do?

A lot of the complaints seem to be that you can't just go to an Engineer and get the upgrades you want straight away, I have no problem with this, after all Engineers isn't just something for 2.1, it's there for the rest of the life of the game, so if it takes ages and I'm still enjoying what I do as I build up too the upgrades then I have no issue.

The only caveat to this is NPCs with modifications, but as long as they are sufficiently rare enough that they can be avoided without detriment too the rest of the game play, then I'm happy to take my time, after all we'd didn't get our Anacondas in the first few weeks or even months of playing.

PVP (so not something that will affect most of us) will be the real issue, here I can see people seriously grinding to gain every slight advantage, but that's nothing new.

[Phillipus]

Some observations on the NPC AI in Hi-RES for beta 5:

• They spam chaff. A lot.
• They spam SCBs. A lot.
• They're good at flying circles around you.
• They're fond of ramming you head on.
• They take longer to kill.

[Phillipus]

Me:
What have you got?

NPC:
Well, there's plasma and lasers,
Plasma, lasers and cannons
Plasma and chaff
Plasma, cannons and chaff
Plasma, cannons, lasers and chaff
Chaff, cannons, lasers and chaff
Chaff, plasma, chaff, chaff, cannons and chaff
Chaff, plasma, chaff, chaff, chaff, cannons, chaff, lasers and chaff
Chaff, chaff, chaff, plasma and chaff
Chaff, chaff, chaff, chaff, chaff, chaff, baked beans, chaff, chaff, chaff and chaff.

(Choir: Chaff! Chaff! Chaff! Chaff! Lovely Chaff! Lovely Chaff!)

[Xebeth]

Me:
What have you got?

NPC:
Well, there's plasma and lasers,
Plasma, lasers and cannons
Plasma and chaff
Plasma, cannons and chaff
Plasma, cannons, lasers and chaff
Chaff, cannons, lasers and chaff
Chaff, plasma, chaff, chaff, cannons and chaff
Chaff, plasma, chaff, chaff, chaff, cannons, chaff, lasers and chaff
Chaff, chaff, chaff, plasma and chaff
Chaff, chaff, chaff, chaff, chaff, chaff, baked beans, chaff, chaff, chaff and chaff.

(Choir: Chaff! Chaff! Chaff! Chaff! Lovely Chaff! Lovely Chaff!)

But do they use chaff?

[TorTorden]

Me:
What have you got?

NPC:
Well, there's plasma and lasers,
Plasma, lasers and cannons
Plasma and chaff
Plasma, cannons and chaff
Plasma, cannons, lasers and chaff
Chaff, cannons, lasers and chaff
Chaff, plasma, chaff, chaff, cannons and chaff
Chaff, plasma, chaff, chaff, chaff, cannons, chaff, lasers and chaff
Chaff, chaff, chaff, plasma and chaff
Chaff, chaff, chaff, chaff, chaff, chaff, baked beans, chaff, chaff, chaff and chaff.

(Choir: Chaff! Chaff! Chaff! Chaff! Lovely Chaff! Lovely Chaff!)

But do they use chaff?

Kind of makes you whish there was a special effect.
immune to chaff

[Roger Wilco Jr]

They are minor things, but more than the chemists themselves, I'm enjoying:

When popping into a RES, it happens almost instantly, rather than the one 1-2 second delay. It seems much more natural.

When approaching a station, you can now see inside it from all the way out. No more hazy fog and then have the interior suddenly pop when you get close.

Sitting on a pad and looking outside at the stars and planets circling about the slot.

Having tracks on planets is awesome.

The planetary rings look great. I just watched SW:TFA this week, and the rings they showed at the end of the movie looked very similar to the dusty rings in game.

[Cmdr Kharma]

Having tracks on planets is awesome.

Seconded....

Out of everything I like that and the planet textures the best......

I know.......

Soooo shallow.........