item level system

[Betelgeuse]

As most know items have levels for this game you get levels 1-10 with very few exceptions.
There are two problems with this. First in first system you already get level 3 weapons easily and level 4-5 weapons if you get a weapons dealer. It is useful to pick a new weapon every other level (with the level ten weapon being one of the few boss killing weapons) so that leaves very little room to try out weapons in game.

You can easily get the Hanzo blaster (a level 7 weapon) one system after St. K. (that is 7-9 systems in) out of a total of 22-32 systems. That is a total of 15-21 systems to go through with only three new weapon levels.

The obvious solution is to spread out item levels a bit so you are not going through system after system not caring due to you have what this system can offer. But I would love to hear other opinions on this.

[FAD]

For me, I don't see any problem with the weapon level availability...mainly because of reactors. I won't install any weapon that sucks 25% (or greater) of my fuel when it's idle, so I tend to stick with the lower power-hungry weapons that have decent damage rates. As each new and better reactor gets installed, I'll install a better weapon but will still keep it under 25% f/consumption @ idle.
Same goes for shields.

At any rate, whenever I do find a better weapon, I'll generally hang on to it until I get a bigger reactor--then have the weapon installed. And with reactors, the 100 is easy to get but the 150 is a bit harder and unless you can find a BM shipyard or Commonwealth fortress, the 250 becomes very rare and hard to find. So normally I'm stuck with what weapons I have installed, by choice, until I find a bigger reactor.

So overall, it's pretty much balanced out for me.

[george moromisato]

Interesting topic.

In general, I think the player needs to be 1 or 2 levels ahead of the system. In other words, in level 1 systems, the player should be using weapons of level 2 or 3. In level 4 systems, the player should be using level 5 or 6 weapons.

By that logic, having a level 7 weapon after St. K's (a level 4 system) is not too crazy (off by one).

Perhaps there should be more systems before St. K's and fewer afterwards? I seem to recall someone bringing that up before.

Another question: How far could you get with level 5 equipment? Could you get through all the level 4 systems (2 or 3 systems past St. K's)?

If the answer is 'no' then we also need to rebalance the enemies.

[Fossaman]

This sounds like we need some organized playtesting for this. Could be an interesting challenge...

[Betelgeuse]

In general, I think the player needs to be 1 or 2 levels ahead of the system. In other words, in level 1 systems, the player should be using weapons of level 2 or 3. In level 4 systems, the player should be using level 5 or 6 weapons.

Wouldn't that mean that the last 9-12 systems all have level 10 weapons used with no hope of advancement? Doesn't weapon/armor dealers violate that by not caring the level of system it is in?

Or are you thinking you are going to add level 11-13 level weapons?

I don't know about the adding more systems before St. K idea I like the rate of changing weapons in early game all that would do would make it even more likely to find your favorite weapon

[FAD]

Perhaps there should be more systems before St. K's and fewer afterwards? I seem to recall someone bringing that up before.

I think the ride to St. K's is the best part of the game since it's more about survival while trying to upgrade. Past St. K's becomes a little more balanced while still trying to upgrade, but most often less challenging. I say that based on repetitive play style as I'm certain it would be different should I deside to go off the "beaten path" with variations. So, I'd be for having a couple more systems pre-St. K's, but would prefer keeping the same amount of systems for post-St. K's.

Another question: How far could you get with level 5 equipment? Could you get through all the level 4 systems (2 or 3 systems past St. K's)?

I think this depends on item availability per game more than anything. Whenever I find an X-Ray laser (level 5) and a Flenser relativistic cannon (level 4) along with a Nephren P25 shield (level 5) (all enhanced w/what's available in the vanilla), I can make it all the way to Luminous territory before really needing to upgrade...but it's not easy.

However, with my ship rigged with an omni particle cannon (level 5), heavy slam cannon (level 5) and a Yoroi S100 shield (level 5) (again, all enhanced w/what's available in the vanilla), I normally can't get past Sung territory and I'm usually forced to find the best upgrades ASAP.

I think one of the biggest problems here is that there's only one level 5 shield that is worth having in general; The Nephren P25. The Yoroi S100 is what I consider the pincher, in that I'll grab it as a last resort. As for the superconducting shield generator, it's practically useless since it's extremely hard to find any coils until you can farm the Huari bases and Hurin destroyers. By that time, that shield is too far outdated to be effective. Perhaps if the armor dealers were to offer coils in their stores, may bring some life to the superconducting shield in early-mid game?

[Ttech]

Interesting topic.

In general, I think the player needs to be 1 or 2 levels ahead of the system. In other words, in level 1 systems, the player should be using weapons of level 2 or 3. In level 4 systems, the player should be using level 5 or 6 weapons.

By that logic, having a level 7 weapon after St. K's (a level 4 system) is not too crazy (off by one).

Perhaps there should be more systems before St. K's and fewer afterwards? I seem to recall someone bringing that up before.

Another question: How far could you get with level 5 equipment? Could you get through all the level 4 systems (2 or 3 systems past St. K's)?

If the answer is 'no' then we also need to rebalance the enemies.

More before and after can't hurt? But the Heratic gate and beond is what I can see having a lot of potential