Any way to adjust difficulty?

[kalnaren]

I'm thinking of picking up AA (already grabbed EL), so I was playing through the demo, but I'm finding the difficulty cliff beyond frustrating. I'm on the second mission.. probably played it 7 or 8 times now, fail every time, and it's seriously not even close to fun.

Yes, I've read all of the literature on this forum about flight tactics. I'm no stranger to 6DoF space sims (Star Citizen, Elite, Rouge System, Allegiance, Starshatter).. I'm just finding the difficulty in this game completely off the wall.

[Vice]

Hello and welcome.

There isn't a difficulty offset per se (game updated to include a difficult setting in the main Options menu), but if you're struggling with the second mission, perhaps something may not be working correctly/as expected or you are trying to engage in a dogfight when it's not necessary. Here are a few questions I'd have to help evaluate what may be happening:

- How are you being destroyed? Are you running into the planet atmosphere from not slowing down soon enough? Or are you trying to engage hostile ships?

- What IDS settings are you flying at to deliver the satellite? In short, how slow are you flying (and hence, how easy of a target would you be to enemy fighters trying to stop you)? Are you focusing on delivering the satellite as directed, or getting caught up in trying to fight hostiles?

- What orders are you giving to your wingmen and are you directing them to selectively attack while you deliver the satellite? Or is your entire squadron including yourself attacking the ships instead?

- How long is it taking before you are getting destroyed?

If you've read about the flight tactics specific to this game and are applying them, then the second mission shouldn't be so difficult. Particularly since the second mission does not require the destruction of the hostile ships trying to stop you. The objective of mission two is to deliver the satellite to the waiting capital ship as quickly as possible. You 'may' engage hostile ships (as the mission briefing indicates), but you don't have to. The capital ship is capable of defense and escape as needed, but it needs the satellite from you first... so that is the only/required objective. In Arvoch, some objectives involve doing something other than destroying all hostiles, even if/when hostiles may be present. Sometimes, delivery or escape may be the focus/requirement.

Edit: A difficulty adjustment will be added to the Options menu. It will also support changing the difficult level in the middle of a mission. The option will be available in a future update.

[kalnaren]

Hey, thanks for the reply.

I've been trying to tackle the mission in a couple of different ways, but each time I'm destroyed it basically comes down to the same thing: Too many hostiles shooting at me and can't evade their fire.

Different tactics I've tried is not dropping out of 'hyperspace' on top of them (30k-40k from the transport), but then the transport is destroyed before I get into range. I've dropped out much closer, followed my wingmates in with a bit of deflection, and managed to take out two or three fighters before the furball really starts. That's where things seem to go off the rails. 1v1 or even 1v2 I can hold my own without too much difficulty, but it seems to quickly degrade into multiple hostiles targeting the player and then you just melt and evasion seems practically impossible. If I try and save my wingmen I'm back into a multi-target furball.. if I don't, wingmen die and it's back to 1vs5 or whatever. Wingmates I'm ordering to engage as soon as hostiles are within radar range.

Speed I usually keep between 1,000 and 1,500, with occasional boosts to either evade or close range quickly. I have my translation thrusters mapped to my thumbstick so I'm rarely going in a straight line for any length of time.

Time to destruction is within 5 minutes (thought I haven't timed it).

I'll try re-prioritizing objectives.

I really want to like this game.. it has (along with Evochron) the best 6DoF feel of any Newtonain space sim I've played.

[Vice]

Give this a try... Drop from jump drive so that you arrive fairly close to the delivery ship. Ignore the hostiles completely, other than to avoid colliding with them on the way in. Keep your IDS to at least 5X and maintain a speed of around 3500 as you approach the ship after coming out of jump drive speeds. Aim for directly below the ship where the drop off marker is. As soon as you fly into it, deliver the satellite. Once delivery is confirmed, slowly turn around (so as to avoid losing speed), face back to the waypoint toward your carrier that you need to fly back to. Increase the IDS to 9X and keep your speed at maximum cruise until you can re-engage the jump drive to travel back to the carrier. Keep your wingmen in formation the entire time.

[Marvin]

What I usually do in this and similar situations is first, send my wingmen out of harm's way. Do this before jumping ... the timer probably doesn't start until you reach the delivery area. Then do as Vice suggests ... speed is your friend. Toss that satellite into the box like a paperboy delivering late on a Sunday morning. Then extend out of the area before turning around to rejoin the carrier group.

[kalnaren]

Thanks all.

Managed to get past it.

Checking out the mission editor now too, might use it to set up some simple scenarios to practise with.

[Vice]

You can also use the multiplayer mode to set up simple (or challenging) scenarios in-game. You can set up quick dogfight or team-vs-team (Squadrons) scenarios with different environments and ship/weapon configurations. And you can play in those modes solo for customizable 'instant action' battles without leaving the game.

Edit: Also, I am working on adding a difficulty option to the game for the next planned update.

Edit X2: Update 2.0728 now provides a difficulty setting in the Options menu.