General personal feedback on what 7.00 brings

[Starlight_Corporation]

Thought I'd give some general feedback on the things introduced in patch 7.OO so far.


The remodeled Argon/Teladi ships:
Been enjoying their looks, they look much more detailed & in line with other faction capitals detail looks now. Also a fan of the new Heron E heavy freighter & Crane miners, their big holds now give the Teladi a good niche of their own in large ships, that of heavy haulers/miners, who trade it all for bigger holds.


The new sectors:
The new sectors look good & the various landmark stuff was fun to discover & adds good variety & individuality for the new sectors. The pirate alley linked systems look the part, dark & foreboding, especially a fan of the Loomanckstrat Legacy system with its anarchy port.
The two faction owned sectors are nice too, good to see CEO's Doubt again, makes for a nice 'Do your shopping here before going into the pirate's alley!' feel. Cardinal's Domain is great too, has the Paranid feel on looks & the Second Duchy Palace was a nice surprise. Fund etail, the adding of this sector has helped the Paranid Empire to push back the Buccaneers/TEM in Sacred Relic in my game, they're much more invested in the region now.
Freedom's Reach was nice to visit, no idea if the Xenon Asteroid field near the racetrack there is a bug or feature, was a funky surprise nonetheless. Teladi are developing the sector in my game, but haven't claimed it (they build an additional station there to accompany the Obervatory). Adds some extra strife in the universe, HOP VS Teladi
Mists of Artemis was quickly claimed by Antigone in my game (Xenon in this corner have been wiped out in my game), but feels like a great sector that helps reinforce the Xenon here if they get beaten hard somewhere else.


Capturable Xenon:
Big fan, love the look of the Terraformer style ships. Haven't found much use yet beyond trophy's for most, but sometimes that's enough. Xenon SE did find a use as trader for me, it is a M class transport/miner that can carry all wares (solid/liquid/container), so I've captured a efw to use as traders that also move minerals & gases around (my stations tend to stock up well on minerals & gases, so can easily trade away some of it to NPC stations). Xenon H can double as a large trader this way too, but much harder to obtain as it has to be boarded & in my game that means entering the Xenon Stronghold that is Litany of Fury/Emperor's Pride, wich means a fleet expedition, just to capture & secure one. Does give me incentive to be more active with my military assets. Xenon H I currently own is being used as security as it makes for a great drone carrier, excellent to harass pirates that unveil themselves.
The research option so you can outfit your captured xenon ships was a fun surprise & feels like a reward to go the extra mile to cap the Xenon ships instead of outright destroying them.
Only drawback I feel is that the Xenon seems to build loads of the new ships, which weakens them (the new ships do die much easier then the old ones). Could be they just build them aplenty ebcause it is beta & to test the capture/research/equip feature for the new Xenon ships.


General stuff:

The new additional turret commands are great, gives me more control on how I like ships to behave, especially the command to shoot fighters or missiles first before other things is good, that way I know they still shoot other things if they can't shoot a fighter/missile & won't idle in tense situations where I need all the firepower I can muster.

The autocomplete/suggestions popping up when searching stuff in the search bar is great too, no more typing full names when you look for long-worded commodities & risking a typo. Now you type partial & click what you need the map to search for. Really big improvement this!

The glow is neat too, had to get accustomed to it first, but does add to the sci-fi feel. ben enjoying it ever since.

The new rooms for representatives looks wonderful & makes them feel much more integrated into the game. Especially visiting the Teladi/Split/Paranid representatives is great as their room now fits the faction they represent. Terran room is fun to visit as well. Boron Representative Room one was the one I liked least, it feels quite barren compared to the rest.

The observation decks are a good addition too. I often used docks to create makeshift observation platforms, so this addition was wonderful. Have been experimenting with them & used them in various stations to create viewpoints with them. Was fun to discover some of these observation decks in the wild/NPC stations (Tidebreak Observatory one was a fun surprise to discover & gives players a good preview of what to expect)


Existential Crisis

The idea is good I feel, give endgame players a use for their military. The delay option introduced in beta 3 is great too, 20 hour delay for 10 mill gievs you time to prepare if the crisis catches you at the wrong time or misjudged the firepower needed.
Of the various versions, I enjoyed Beta 2 hostile forces the most, felt like a proper threat with the high number of Khaak jumping in to fight (Beta 3 & 4 hardly sees any Khaak jumping in & they often get massacred by the locals in my game before I can join the fray)
I feel the main issue is the lack of player input/information at this time. As things go, the crisis likely will strike on a moment not of the player choosing & that means it can happen when the player is in the middle of building a large station, doing a military operation or doing a plot mission. Could be a good idea that the first crisis only starts happening after you talked to Boso-Ta warning you of the Xenon/Khaak attack. Lack of information on the waves is another I feel. Don't need to know how strong they are, but some form of progression bar would be nice, to know whether you are through 20% or 75% of the waves/incursions. Knowing you are at 75% of the waves while handling multiple engagements can help reduce the feeling of exhaustion/helplessness, as currently you don't know anything about what will happen or whether you are close or not to the end of one.
Khaak Ravager is a great ship, feels like a threat to fight & staying at a distance to rain plasma death on it isn't a good tactic with this ship due to its small profile & its capital beam weapon. Ride in, guns blazing has been the best tactic for me so far & feels fun.

In short: Patch 7.0 is great & feels like a free DLC by itself with all the features & stuff added.

[CBJ]

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