Special Thanks to Frontier for Black Friday sales, to outfit my scout killer!

Anti-Xeno combat (AX) needs to evolve in order to encourage more players to join into the game mode. Currently, the base skill level to fight all interceptors is too high, the number of viable ships is too low, there are too few viable weapons and modules, there are too few roles, and there is no leeway for pilot or build error.

Preview: I highly recommend the following changes: new gimballed AX weaponry (less damage for better targeting), AX shields (much heavier or weaker, but can prevent caustic damage while they are up), new sizes of AX weaponry (along with gimbals, this will allow more types of ships to be viable), revision/removal of the AX outfitting grind, and removal of the 4-only experimental rule (that seems only to exist sabotage the utility of several ships that would otherwise be very useful). If Frontier cannot give us an evolution to AX technology, then it should do a pass where there are zones where common pilots (like myself) can be effective. These zones might have huge numbers of scouts, but would not have the interceptors constantly coming in, ending the instance for all the people who cannot fight them.

Yes, it's a book. No, don't read it all if you don't want. I am no expert, after all!

Practical: The Reason Evolution Is Needed

Frontier has decided that AX will be taking center stage and is, essentially going to be the fourth pillar to Elite. (The first three pillars are: 1. Exploration, 2. Trading and Mining, and 3. Ship-to-Ship Combat[or FPS, in Odyssey]). AX combat used to be an ultrahigh-end variation of the third pillar, Ship-to-Ship Combat. It was where the very most elite pilots went to show off their amazing skills. Now, however, things are very different.

We all need to fight for the Bubble or consign the galaxy to humanity's oblivion. Frontier has made that obvious. This means, AX should be a priority for the masses equal to, or perhaps exceeding, the other three pillars. But all the roadblocks that made AX excessively difficult to do are still in place.

AX combat has always been intimidating to me. And it still is. I have two craft that can hunt scouts. But that is it. I cannot do interceptors. I am a terrible shot with fixed weapons. I always had the impression that AX combat was there as an endgame for the very elite and would always be inaccessible to casuals like me. I wanted to do AX. I tried to do AX. But in the end, I accepted that it was beyond me. In the previous paradigm, that was fine. I left AX to the hardcore elites and played whatever game mode suited my mood.

Now, however, I am very motivated to help defend the Bubble. No Bubble, no game. But now, I am frustrated. I cannot do anything useful, unless I want to ferry passengers or murder a fist full of scouts before resetting the instance as soon as an interceptor comes into the picture. That is a stupid way to need to play the game. Fight for 7.5 minutes and log out. Fight for another 7.5 minutes and log out. Why? Because every time my scout hunter goes up against an interceptor it dies. And, according to the current paradigm, there is nothing I can do to change that. That is the way it is supposed to be.

I do not have more time to spend in-game. Right now, I actually have less. I am not going to suddenly find the hours of practice needed to elevate myself into the elite tier of combat pilots who can solo interceptors. I have nothing but respect for those commanders. They rock. I do not want any changes that would make them obsolete. We need them leading the war effort. But I am not one of them. I would love to join them, but right now, that is out of the question. (For those who will say, "Hey, that's easy." No, it may be easy for you, it is not easy for everybody, because I, in fact, am somebody. There are a lot of somebodies like me who just cannot fight interceptors with the current structure.)

So in the end, the question I face will be:

Will Frontier give me (a commander that is probably only average or slightly above average) the ability to effectively fight the thargoids with my skill set?

If so, I can see myself playing as much Elite as I can to help with the War. This is an exciting time in Elite. If I am included, I will go as far as I can in the time I have.

If not, then I am not the type of commander they are writing the game for and I should probably look elsewhere. I am not going to be happy as a shuttle jockey ferrying passengers. I have killed thousands of enemy ships. If the game mechanics decree that I am not enough to fight thargoids for humanity, it is probably time for me to find a new game.

Lore: Evolution is Inevitable

Is this really the priority for all humanity? Frontier is really selling the "defend the bubble or lose it" angle. If that is really the case, where are all the developments? If this is really top on everyone's charts we should be seeing new weapons, new weapon variations, and probably even new anti-xeno ships. All we have gotten previously was engineered versions of already existing weapons. I did the CGs, got the weapons, and they are useless to me. If you could not use the prior version, you are absolutely no better off with the engineered version that you still cannot use.

It seems to me that if everyone is supposed to be pitching in, they would find ways to make everyone useful (hopefully without repeated relogs or perpetual retreats into low wake). It does not make any sense that all of humanity's engineers across the galaxy working on the same problem 24/7/365 would have absolutely no new ideas or designs that would help us against the thargoids. If all we get is a CG where Ram Tah offers a lightweight 1D fixed guardian shard canon, how does that improve anything for anyone? Where is the Guardian Rail Gun? Did these past, brilliant aliens know nothing about magnetism? What else could we have if the engineers were focused on winning the war rather than tweaking previously released garbage?

Suggested Evolution

Here are some of the evolutions that I would like to see in AX technology. I do not necessarily think all of them are mandatory.

• Reduced Grind/Gatekeeping: It is unfortunate that the main AX experience is hidden behind hours of materials, items, and cost grind. I have friends who want to come back to the game to be involved in the AX aspect. But they won’t because they cannot return and start doing AX missions. Instead, they will have to go through a few weeks of intermittent play sessions to even develop the ship that can do AX missions. Thus, they won’t bother. I think the game would be better if AX were easier to get into.
• Gimballed Weapons: I believe that gimballed weapons, even if they have lower damage, would be invaluable to get commanders like me into the fight. As such, as the first evolution, I would suggest gimballed weapons for each type of guardian weapon and the AX multi-cannons.
• Removal of Experimental Limit: Realistically, the experimental hardpoint weapon limit is simply a nerf to large ships. Ultimately, it is silly, unnecessary, and a headache to deal with. The lore here is sloppy. With the years of research we have had, the engineers would have come up with a dozen ways to get around the four weapon limit. But no, the limit remains. Because. It should be removed. Whether by a new set of guardian distributors available at tech brokers (another horrid gatekeeping grind) or in some other generally available way, the Experimental limit should go.
• New Weapons: It has been far too long since we have had a legitimately new AX weapon. Now is the perfect time for Palin and Tah to reveal what they have been working on (weapons please, not a new form of engineering for lightweight life support) to aid the war effort. It should be easily available and effective for new AX pilots, while still being less efficient than the traditional weapons used by the upper echelon. With the removal of the Experimental Limit, vets could use these as back ups while the rest of us bring along some of the traditional weapons so that we can learn without being quickly killed in solo or an anchor in squads.
• New Ship: (We can dream, right?) Where are guardian vessels? We have these nearly worthless guardian SLFs. (Shows such a scrub I am, I actually use one while fighting scouts. I know it is not the most efficient, but hey it is more fun, IMO.) Why not a worthwhile guardian AX craft? I think that would be an outright hoot! (Can’t you just imagine them making the darn thing FA-off only just to screw with me now that I opened my big mouth?)
• Alternate – Thargoid Scout Zones: If nothing else works, why not create an area where hordes of thargoid scouts flock. It would be high intensity combat that even average pilots could participate with. As is, Scout hunting is all about instance resetting. Arrive, kill a few, leave/log before the immortal interceptor comes and wipes you out. Repeat on a 5-7-minute cycle. It's silly. Everyone knows that scout-killing builds do not fight interceptors. Yet, if you do well, you will always get an interceptor for your efforts. Thus, you can never win an AX combat zone as a scout killer and, from what I understand, they are a real pain even for experienced AX pilots in solo. The scouts suck away the ammo that you will need to kill the interceptors at the end. Unless, the push is to force everyone into squads where some sit on their thumbs for the first phase, while the others sit on their thumbs for the second, this just does not make sense.

Perspective

I am not a hardcore Commander. I am, at best, a "casual core" commander, who has enjoyed all aspects of the game resulting in Elite Trade, Triple Elite Exploration, and Dangerous in Combat. I may be a slightly above average pilot or not, depending on the reader's own subjective standards. I utilize both FA-on and FA-off, depending. No, I cannot manually land FA-off. I don't PvP. I can solo assassination missions. No, I cannot solo them in a Sidewinder. I always play alone, though I play on the Mobius NA group and will wave at other commanders. According to Inara I have 48 ships, more than 20 are engineered for their specific uses, an FC with 1Bil reserve, 5Bil liquid credits, 16Bil in assets, and Steam—which always overestimates—says I have 2,773 hours in-game. My home cockpit uses a triple monitor setup with an X-56 HOTAS.

I think–and hope–that I am a fair representative for a large faction of game players. Those who genuinely enjoy Elite but are not, and never will be, the best of the best. If Frontier gives us a chance to get seriously involved with the War, we will. If the answer is "git gud scrub," we will not. I understand that answer, even if the grammar leaves a lot to be desired. Some games require steep investment. If that is the intent for Elite–to go from a mid-user-investment game to a high-user-investment game–then I understand that choice in direction. But it is no longer the game for me. I hope that Frontier intends to expand opportunities and reduce the floor by making the AX experience available for everyone. Only time will tell.

Input

What do you think? (Outside of me being a newbie for AX. Yes, I already said that!) What type of ship-based AX evolution do you want to see. (Not talking about FPS here, that is for another day.) Do you think that an AX evolution will bring in more people and enhance the game for you or your friends? Is there a reason you do not want AX combat to evolve? Are there better ways to evolve the AX experience than the ideas I suggest?

Thanks, mates! Fly Dangerously!