Subspace Signal Exploit : Avoid all difficult battles easily. Devs please fix this.

[Merlos The Mad]

So I've noticed that if you swap to a ship in a safer territory, like Iron space, right before subspace signals hit you, the contacts will spawn on the ship you swap to, with the stats of that area. So if I'm ever in a dangerous area like Ogonite or Avorion space, or maybe my ships damaged, or whatever, I can just take care of them safely in an easier area. Really takes the tension out of the game once you figure that out... Please fix this, Devs.

Just make it so when a system has an incoming subspace spawn of enemy ships that the sector stays open regardless of a server lock on area numbers. That way at the very least you will have to warp your ships out of the area to get them to safety first.

[Seqan]

Considering that you can just jump away after not firing your weapons after the Xsotan jump in on you, this doesn't really seem like an exploit to me. This is intentional game design. It is also nearly always true that Xsotan won't shoot you if you don't fire any weapons, salvaging lasers, PDCs, etc. I daresay the Subspace Signal Xsotan aren't even really designed to be a challenge. They're more part of the lore/ambiance of the game.

Additionally, the reverse is also true. I often switch to my stations deeper into the core in order to increase my salvage yields after blasting them all to kingdom come.

[Merlos The Mad]

Originally posted by Seqan:

Considering that you can just jump away after not firing your weapons after the Xsotan jump in on you, this doesn't really seem like an exploit to me. This is intentional game design. It is also nearly always true that Xsotan won't shoot you if you don't fire any weapons, salvaging lasers, PDCs, etc. I daresay the Subspace Signal Xsotan aren't even really designed to be a challenge. They're more part of the lore/ambiance of the game.

Additionally, the reverse is also true. I often switch to my stations deeper into the core in order to increase my salvage yields after blasting them all to kingdom come.

Personally, I feel like cheesing the game mechanic to get more profit out of the game or avoiding danger entirely by teleporting around is really, really lame. Feel free to disagree, but it takes me out of it, and destroys any feeling of there being a threat I need to be wary of. Also, yes you can warp away from the Xsotan if you dont fire a shot, but they alway attack the NPCs, and they can attack a system that you frequent for trade or systems, and destroy the stations in that system, though it is rare.

[Seqan]

I mean, at certain stages the Xsotan just cease to be a threat outside of rifts and events. By jumping to 1:1, I'm giving myself the hardest fight out of them I can potentially get from subspace signals.

Like I said though I don't think that particular mechanic is more ambiance than it is an actual threat, but that's my opinion.

[Merlos The Mad]

Originally posted by Seqan:

I mean, at certain stages the Xsotan just cease to be a threat outside of rifts and events. By jumping to 1:1, I'm giving myself the hardest fight out of them I can potentially get from subspace signals.

Like I said though I don't think that particular mechanic is more ambiance than it is an actual threat, but that's my opinion.

No your objectively right that eventually they arent a threat anymore, but after discovering this exploit they arent a threat at all, ever. See what I'm saying? It takes away from the best period of the game, the one where you're struggling to build up your ships and progress...

[Seqan]

Well that doesn't really make sense. Since Xsotan aren't hostile until you shoot, you can always run away even if this wasn't an "exploit." If they're a threat, you just run away and they don't even chase you.

That mechanic is not like FTL or Everspace where if you end up fighting them, you die. If it was, changing sector would reset the spawn timer. It's a completely different thing.

[Merlos The Mad]

Originally posted by Seqan:

Well that doesn't really make sense. Since Xsotan aren't hostile until you shoot, you can always run away even if this wasn't an "exploit." If they're a threat, you just run away and they don't even chase you.

That mechanic is not like FTL or Everspace where if you end up fighting them, you die. If it was, changing sector would reset the spawn timer. It's a completely different thing.

You must not have read my post earlier. I pointed out that Xsotan can destroy systems that you frequent as well. They're always hostile to the other NPCs. Also there are situations in which you want to prevent them from parking in a system with your alliance owned stations. We've had incidents where they warp in and someone tests their guns, and then they destroy multiple weaker ships or stations. Ever since discovering you can just hop out of the sector and back in, we haven't had that issue.

Again though, you're arguing they're not a threat, so the mechanic doesn't need to be changed, well to me that's a dumb argument. You should be arguing that they need to be an actual threat. If they're just part of the "ambience" as you put it of the universe then why are they even there?

[grrantu]

I always think of the Xsotan like my mercenaries. When I see a big group coming, I jump to a particularly challenging fight like a pirate base or a tough mission. Keep my guns off and let them duke it out to thin the herd before I jump in to clean up. Often times clean up involves nothing but salvaging all the wrecks hehe.

[Merlos The Mad]

Originally posted by grrantu:

I always think of the Xsotan like my mercenaries. When I see a big group coming, I jump to a particularly challenging fight like a pirate base or a tough mission. Keep my guns off and let them duke it out to thin the herd before I jump in to clean up. Often times clean up involves nothing but salvaging all the wrecks hehe.

If it was just that the incoming subspace signal followed the ship you were just on, like if you tried to outrun them by jumping away and then they appear in the new sector, I'd be fine with that, but what's happening is you can jump to an entirely new ship across the galaxy.

It doesn't make sense from either a game mechanics nor logical point of view. It feels like lazy coding.

Now, I can respect that some people enjoy it. The easy early game looting and watching enemy factions blow each other up thing is something I've enjoyed in other games myself. Nonetheless, it could be handled better than it currently is.

[grrantu]

Subspace I think it not really well known. Maybe distance makes no difference. Maybe they are tracking your conscience or something. The bounty hunters in the Star Wars galaxy seem to have a way of tracking DNA. Sauron could see his enemies in the Palantir. A lot of people in tin foil hats think that the CIA can read their minds. A lot of people think gods watch over them at all times. In Enders universe they had faster than light communication. Maybe they have spies tracking you and reporting your position. It could be you are a brain in a Vat and everything is an illusion. I have seen tons of movies where the bad guys seem to magically know where the good guys are until you find out later they have implanted a tracker into one of the good guys that tells them exactly where the good guys are. Just saying there could be a way to explain it you haven't thought of.

[Merlos The Mad]

Originally posted by grrantu:

Subspace I think it not really well known. Maybe distance makes no difference. Maybe they are tracking your conscience or something. The bounty hunters in the Star Wars galaxy seem to have a way of tracking DNA. Sauron could see his enemies in the Palantir. A lot of people in tin foil hats think that the CIA can read their minds. A lot of people think gods watch over them at all times. In Enders universe they had faster than light communication. Maybe they have spies tracking you and reporting your position. It could be you are a brain in a Vat and everything is an illusion. I have seen tons of movies where the bad guys seem to magically know where the good guys are until you find out later they have implanted a tracker into one of the good guys that tells them exactly where the good guys are. Just saying there could be a way to explain it you haven't thought of.

I really hate repeating myself, but I will, and I'll explain it more carefully.

****It doesn't make sense from game mechanics point of view.****

When I say "it doesn't make sense" I'm not referring to an in world "fluff" explanation as to why it happens, I'm talking about a reason for it to happen that way within the confines of the gameplay for the purpose of having fun.

TLDR: It isn't fun when there's an easily exploitable game mechanic that makes things drastically easier.

The fact there's no given explanation in the game's world sucks, too, but I'd rather have a poorly explained, yet fun and functional gameplay loop, than one that's both not explained and broken.