what does combat look like?

[Iptest1]

as title says what is there to hunt and kill?

[Zak]

Combat is basic, simple and accessible. This is not a game for gamers looking for satisfying and complex combat.

[Sentient_Pickle]

there IS combat in NMS, but if you're looking for a satisfying and robust combat experience, NMS isn't going to do it. It's an exploration game in a procedurally generated sandbox universe with incidental combat that is entirely avoidable. AI and NPC ships aren't very smart or tough. It's not a looter shooter, so no collecting of weapons, but you can equip your "multitool" with a small handful of different weapon types and purchase and equip up to 3 upgrade modules to improve their stats, but for all the upgrading you can do, all that it changes is how quickly you mow through enemies. There's not really much the game presents that you can't circumvent with money or nanites, an in game currency. The predator type fauna is also easily killed and the only thing that makes them tougher is the fact that they will aggro if they're within range and if you're not paying attention, they can get a sneaky hit or two in, which CAN down you. People keep wanting more robust and refined combat mechanics, and they HAVE made improvements, but I don't see them ever taking it into like action rpg/shooter territory. All the missions that set you out to kill are very samey. It's basically go here or anywhere and kill this many creatures or predators. The variety is all superficial procedurally generated fluff that gets samey as it only pulls from a limited pool and thus generates a limited possible pool of permutations, and again, this is all just the superficial stuff.

[Johnny in the Clouds]

Combat is tremendous fun. It just plain and simple is. Especially with friends and you can PvP in bases you build which is so cool. If you all jump into a Permadeath save it's fun to remain the last one alive.

Otherwise combat is everywhere, if you dial up hostility settings in the difficulty options. Seek out the more challenging environments (storms, radiation, falling asteroids etc) to battle and take on hoards of relentless sentinels, so much fun. There are lots of ways to balance and improve the weapons you carry, and weapon tech in ships too. The massive space battles in the most recent update are awesome and sound great too.

There are spooky derelict freighters to raid (think alien atmosphere) and all sorts of procedural predators to face on planets and at abandoned locations or even settlements you build (without spoilers) :D Predators and aggressive aliens can be understandably sparse in the vast universe. But if you know where to look for them it can be fun to seek them out with friends on the higher difficulty modes and more hostile settings. But in missions and adventures they pop more frequently than not.

The game does not really have any 'Boss' fights which could be a great addition to the game. The closest to that are the more instanced derelict freighters but they don't really have a challenging boss but are a more challenging experience like freighter battles. What is good are the procedural layouts so you never know what to expect when entering them and they can be entered with friends (or randoms) too with PvP enabled or disabled.

PvP is a player choice in the game. Combat is never 'forced' on a player and only the Expedition mode may be more demanding for non combat loving players as that mode is the only mode with semi-controlled, pre-set game settings. Past expeditions have varied from permadeath to normal, with community focused missions all players take part in, starting out equally, on a loosely scripted journey to earn special rewards.

The game would benefit from the addition of a greater variety of 'bosses' or evil story characters to cross paths with and build more tense anticipation. There are well animated special monster spawns (spoilers) you encounter which are procedural fun, but too few. More need to be added across different biomes and to the combat in oceans. That said, pirate systems are fun to visit with ship battles but again no unique character antagonists to seek out, nor tactical ground combat with scattered pirate figures - at least not yet like in the new Starfield. There are random combat attacks from pirates pilots and robot sentinels on planets and in space and all can be balanced to your expectations with changing difficulty settings.

Combat is not competitive like say Call of Duty. It is what you make of it. But combat in small co-op groups is a lot of fun. It is possible to have 32 players battle it out if you organise things but I've only ever been part of 8 or so players at one time.

You have weapons on vehicles and mech robots and AI remote Mechs to help fight with you too and the sentinels attack on sight on hostile planets. It works like GTAV using an alert system. There are ways to escape them which can be easy or not if you get caught out unexpectedly. I think the AI is good for what it is.

The game is also 'family' entertainment for all ages, so combat is not (thank fully) hard core violence to the same degree you might find in more adult focused combat games. But it does manage some unexpected scares and intense combat at times which are more fun than heart thumping.

Potential SPOILERS below:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2986575364
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2637053926
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2653753123
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2271551773
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2040694952
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1594104550
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1595533244

[zombygunner]

Its just as good as starfield maybe better. Starfield isnt optimized yet and the graphics are terrible unless you have an exspensive pc rig

[umadzbro]

On foot combat is terrible and boring, space combat is kinda fun. Stick to space combat.

[momopovich]

Originally posted by Iptest1:

as title says what is there to hunt and kill?

You will mainly kill sentinels (robot drones with hive mind that roam everywere and annoy all civilizations for unclear reasons)

On planets and in space, the main enemy encounter is a wave based system : you start aggroing first threat level (like 2 or 3 basic enemies), kill them, and an other wave spawns after few seconds. Each wave is a bit stronger than the previous one, it ends after the 5th wave is cleared.

There a few alien creatures that spawn in specific locations. They are wery weak (easy to one shoot with most weapons)

The power levels are really low so its very easy to beat the maximum threat with little effort upgrading your weapons. Combat is generally underwhelming. Only regular sentinels loot useful stuff.

[momopovich]

Originally posted by Johnny in the Clouds:

Combat is not competitive like say Call of Duty. It is what you make of it.

wtf are you about ? All sentinel waves are the same. There are 2 types of alien enemies and they always act the same. Combat has no variety whatsoever

edit : my bad thought you typed "repetitive" not "competitive". Well yeah for sure combat is not competitive :p

[Mr. Bufferlow]

The game is primarily about exploration. Originally, some space combat events with the sentinels (space police) were added in mainly to make space seem more alive. There were also combat events with the sentinels on land as well as aggressive critters that would attack.

All of those events could be avoided if you preferred by running. Even when you took part, they were extremely simple and the only AI was that they would not stop coming for you and the sentinels would keep multiplying in number until you ultimately decided to bag it and leave the area.

Originally, the ship types had some bearing on your offense or defense ability. The Hauler was the tank and while not very spry could soak up a lot of damage. The fighter class was the most powerful at offense and had less shielding. The shuttles and explorers had other perks and fit somewhere between the hauler and the fighter.

As updates have come along, they have added pirate attacks in space and increased the challenge a bit so you can adjust your game where they are a legit threat. The AI is still extremely simplistic but they will sometimes spawn in behind you at the start (surprising maybe the first time this occurs) but there is no real AI strategy.

They also added a squad you can purchase that are more for show than any real help. They are bullet sponges but that is about it.

The ship types are almost meaningless now, but they do retain stats similar to the original. With upgrades, any ship can be OP for anything in the game.

So if you like a taste of combat, you might enjoy the game. If you want the full course meal of combat, look elsewhere. And as always, you can still just run away and avoid conflict if you don't get it. There are even challenge sliders now so you can dial in the exact goldilocks zone you prefer.

[Johnny in the Clouds]

Originally posted by momopovich:

edit : my bad thought you typed "repetitive" not "competitive". Well yeah for sure combat is not competitive :p

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2987642692
It's okay. : D lol I will try to recall that bounty on you... But I already lost contact with the Vy'keen I paid... o.O : D

[momopovich]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

The ship types are almost meaningless now, but they do retain stats similar to the original. With upgrades, any ship can be OP for anything in the game.

yes, however i believe you can specialize your ship better with supercharged slots. I've yet to try a max shield bonus hauler with all shield upgrade supercharged. Combined with phase beam to recharge shields that could be fun and very convenient for never having to repair tech (which is the worst thing that can happen to you in survival).

Or that could be underwhelming, havent actuall tested

[Raven]

Originally posted by Iptest1:

what does combat look like?

Combat is inherently dangerous and can result in injury, loss of life, and long-lasting physical and psychological effects on those involved. Efforts are made to minimise harm through rules of engagement, international laws, and ethical considerations. However, it's still ♥♥♥♥.

[beamupstc]

The way I'd describe it is that combat is for the most part at the "random encounter" level. Sometimes you get interrupted in what you're doing and have to fight off something that's at too low of a power level to seriously threaten you (unless you decide to play a crippled variant, perhaps).

There are some bits that come closer to being set-piece than random, and some of THOSE can be a threat especially to new players, but they're fairly clearly telegraphed even if you know nothing about them ahead of time. Think "I'm not at all sure what will happen if I mess with that, but it'll obviously be bad." Or those times in horror movies where the audience is thinking "the characters would have to be pretty clueless to actually do that... so of course they're going to."

[robovader]

Enemies consist mostly of floating balls and some lone random animal here and there. There are no humanoid enemies in this game.

[UncreativelyNamed]

Originally posted by momopovich:

yes, however i believe you can specialize your ship better with supercharged slots. I've yet to try a max shield bonus hauler with all shield upgrade supercharged. Combined with phase beam to recharge shields that could be fun and very convenient for never having to repair tech (which is the worst thing that can happen to you in survival).

Or that could be underwhelming, havent actuall tested

I have a hauler like that in one of my saves, with two supercharged shield upgrades, one S-class and one better-than-S X-class upgrade, plus a non-supercharged S-class upgrade. She began life as a crashed C-class hauler, but now she's all S-classed out and, basically nothing gets through her shields. I can sit and let a sentinel freighter shoot and shoot and...yeah, nothing. LOL The trade-off is that (mostly because I only use tech and upgrades that I find, not buy) her weapons are weaker (mostly sentinel upgrades on the photon cannon, plus a phase beam), and though I've upgraded her maneuverability a bit, she still moves like she's flying through peanut butter. She's also ugly as sin, but I love her to death, and her cargo hold is maxed out, so I take her on all my "Whoops, I need to replenish my supplies!" trips.

[Krash Megiddo]

Originally posted by Iptest1:

as title says what is there to hunt and kill?

Space pirates
https://youtu.be/uKVq3jHWk0A?si=7Jm3z8aRfIF-HJRr