How much of this game is combat

[sektor_mk2]

I am wondering if this game is for me and so far I have one last question that reviews did not satisfy

- How much of the game is combat ?
- Is combat integrated in the oberall game loop or it is contained in its own activities ?

I do not expect an action game from No Man's Sky, but I do not feel engaged if there is no enemy threat. From what I have seen in the internet, the game has some enemies but they are not a concern most of the time. Is my assumption correct ?

[Zigamus Wizard]

correct, the little combat this game has is rather unsatisfying

[ignition]

Only if you play survival or permadeath (pd is survival rules with save deleted) will you really get challenged. And that too right in the first 25 hours or so.

- In survival pirates attack you every-time you're in sapce for long, say while jetting around planets. The starter ship is not well equipped to deal with this: added trouble with limited Shield recharge material (sodium coz of limited inventory) makes for a tense situation.

On foot: you will find more aggressive sentinel planets (attack on sight). The corrupted sentinels attack harder too.

- The combat is not integrated in the game-loop. There is no game-loop. Every activity is self-contained: but there are missions (from npc at your base, space stations and even the anomaly (central hub)) that are combat oriented.

The weapon variety is quite good. If you like combat play survival mode. Early game is tense for sure.

Normal mode is very little combat/ its optional mostly. And relaxed/creative its non-existent.

[Jouchebag]

Originally posted by V#J#:

There is no game-loop. Every activity is self-contained

That's a solid description of NMS in general. Everything you do, including combat, is something you had to intend to do for it's own purpose. Many of the disjointed features don't "loop" or feed into other features in any meaningful way. Combat can be easily avoided for the most part, and you won't be missing any significant portion of the game doing so. Likewise, it's never a real threat to you or something you need to focus on.

[Filthy Habits]

Sentinels are always ready for combat.

[Guh~hey~hey~♫]

Combat's optional and integrated differently depending on the type of combat.

For ground combat it's completely optional. You get warned when scanning a planet if it's occupied by hostile sentinels.... if you land anyway be prepared for combat.
Otherwise dont mess with the sentinel present and they will watch but mostly leave you alone (dont beam things around when watched or shoot at them and they will ugnore you).
You can also come accross predators on some planets, nothing too difficult a shot of the worse mining beam is enough to take any wild animal down.
There's planets with "alien" corruption where the entire fauna is out to get you... but you can identify those planets from space too.

You also got derelict freighters which contain dangerous things you need to kill when exploring them.... also an optional activity (you need to find a derelict freighter, land on it and start exploring it).


For space combat.... it's mostly a random encounters. You can figure out how dangerous a star system is before warping to it if you equip a conflict scanner on your starship.
Then once inside a star system, on your starship dashboard there's a timer showing you when the next pirate encounter will occur, the hgher the conflict level, the faster the timer.
Once the timer is full, a bunch of pirates will try to ransom you (you can trick them, pay for your safety, run away, kill them all... up to you).


Then you got the special space encounters that happen periodically when entering a star system. It takes 2 forms:
1 - You find yourself mixed into a space battle between a civilian fleet and a handfull of pirate starships.
You can intervene to protect the fleet (kill the pirate starships), and get a reward for doing so, or just ignore it alltogether and move on (landing somewhere will definitely end the event).
2 - You find yourself into another civilian fleet against pirates.... difference being that the pirate will have a dreadnaught alongside torpedo frigates and starships.
Same as above, participate for a reward (destroy the dreadnaught or make it flee) or just ignore them and go on with your own objectives (same thing, land somewhere, space station, anomaly or a planet, to end the event).


Special mention for sentinels.... if you get in conflict with sentinels on ground, taking off in your starship to try escape from them will turn that into a space combat (sentinel ground infantry will get replaced by sentinel interceptors and ultimately a sentinel freighter). The other way around is true too.... if you're into a space combat with sentinel and land on a planet, sentinel interceptor will retreat and ground sentinels will come at you instead.


Another thing about space combat: warp drive. If you warp into another star system the combat will end immediately....
Later on you can also acquire an emergency warp drive that can be activated instantly without having to set a destination (you get sent to a random closeby star system), to escape from any space combats.


Then you can make yourself a pirate and attack starships or civilian freighter you come accross to steal their cargo... authorities will often intervene to deter you from doing so, nothing un-handleable though.... Playing pirate is a perfectly fine activity, if you dont mind the consequences (lower reputation with local races).


TL;DR: Every combat can be escaped from or avoided, while you can easily make searching for troubles your main activity... there's plenty of combat mission or hostile encounter available, be it in space or on ground.

[smurfy]

My current active save is "Pacifist" - not engaging in any combat whatsoever, even against wildlife (although "hostile" plants can be harvested) with all settings on max difficulty and Perma-Death (so Pirate/Sentinel/Predatory fauna attacks etc are very common).

Conversely, a previous save was a Sentinel Hunter, and that was equally engaging. Although once you are armed appropriately, and develop a viable tactic, the enemy AI is never challenging.

It is not possible to complete the "story" missions without engaging in combat/killing. You can only unlock the Echoes content (Autophage quests etc) with combat beforehand.

[ignition]

Originally posted by Jouchebag:

Originally posted by V#J#:

There is no game-loop. Every activity is self-contained

That's a solid description of NMS in general. Everything you do, including combat, is something you had to intend to do for it's own purpose. Many of the disjointed features don't "loop" or feed into other features in any meaningful way. Combat can be easily avoided for the most part, and you won't be missing any significant portion of the game doing so. Likewise, it's never a real threat to you or something you need to focus on.

I knew that statement would resonate with a lot of people's experience.

[Zak]

Originally posted by sektor_mk2:

How much of this game is combat

Minimal. Which is nice. I hardly ever fire my weapons in this game. This my chill game.

Originally posted by Zigamus Wizard:

correct, the little combat this game has is rather unsatisfying

I like it this way. If I want to shoot stuff I play other games.

[UncreativelyNamed]

If you're a combat junkie, this game isn't going to be your fix. For me, that's a selling point. For others, it's a deal-breaker. It's mostly a relaxed game about exploring planets, gathering resources, finding and upgrading ships and weapons, base-building if you want to do it. It's a sandbox, so there is no imposed gameplay loop. Ultimately you need to be a person who can make your own fun to enjoy the game. If you aren't, move on.

In terms of combat specifically, there are pirates that attack you randomly in space if you're flying, or from the air if you're running around on planets, in which case, unless your ship is right next to you so you can hop in and engage them, all you can do is quickly dig a hole and hide. But otherwise you have to seek out combat, if you want it, and when you find it, it's not very complex. In space, it's arcade-style, for the most part. On foot, you're fighting mechs of various types which, when your weapon is sufficiently upgraded, aren't difficult to defeat.

[Felis_Exploria]

As much as you want, but most who engage in it don't like the mechanics very well. I personally avoid combat as much as possible.

[BlueLightning]

Well, combat aspect in this game is merely an addition and not a focal point. In fact that you can find lot of better games out there for combat, especially dedicated ones. Either it's elite dangerous, everspace series, or even the relic grade galaxy on fire 2, nms would lack combat against any of these.

Still though, you can always mod the game in case you needed challenge

For example, this mod revamps space combat to the fullest, to make it imitating elite dangerous
https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/mods/1608
But again, the engine itself isn't that great, and there's a limit of a modder can do. Frankly speaking, even heavily modded NMS would lose to dedicated ones that i mentioned above.

Well, in short, NMS combat is merely a slap of half-baked feature slapped into the game. You can always mod it, but it will lose to any dedicated ones. Avoid buying if you looking for combat aspect of the game, and only buy it if you like to relax and to roam around. Hope it helps

[saintsfan36]

I don't know if anyone mentioned already, I didn't read every word of every reply. You can make a custom game and tweak the different aspects of combat in the game. You can even make the animals be aggressive.

[BlueLightning]

Originally posted by saintsfan36:

I don't know if anyone mentioned already, I didn't read every word of every reply. You can make a custom game and tweak the different aspects of combat in the game. You can even make the animals be aggressive.

Even then it will fell short compared to other games. Well, there's modding as well to make it even hardcore but that's that. Combat is never a core feature of the game, and will stay that way.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

If you buy the game for the combat you will be disappointed. Outside of a couple of missions in the main storyline, you can ignore combat completely by just running away. It is not really a major element of the story or game play loop.

The NPC AI is super basic and they just keep presenting themselves to be shot at. No tactics unless you consider spawning in behind you to be a tactic.

As noted, you can dial in a more challenging experience where they can damage your offensive and defensive systems and are generally more powerful- but they are still basic in their actions and movements.

They don't even really level up with your capabilities. The game does cut you a break in the "wake up" system and your super basic ship can easily hold court with pirates or sentinels. Once you leave that system, they become hard (as you have decided you want) and so you will get your clock cleaned if you are still in the un-enhanced starter ship.

[limelight1210]

If you kill enemies and/or animals do they give you any currency, resources, xp?