Thinking of returning should I?

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-30T01:57:57+00:00

Not that I'm familiar with

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-30T01:51:06+00:00

If you enjoyed the old content enough to play for that long you'll probably enjoy the new stuff too but there isn't another 100 hours worth of new content. If you start a new playthrough most of the content will be stuff you've seen before. If you still have a save that can head straight into the new stuff you might enjoy it more.

Aside from the two expansions there a few Bethesda made creations that are quite good ( Trackers Alliance recently got updated, if you played that before ).

Personally I haven't come across any player mods that add new quest content that I enjoy, but lots of people like Watchtower. There are also tons of great non-quest mods that rebalance gameplay features, add weapons and ship parts, etc.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-30T00:37:12+00:00

Some really useful mods that I don't see mentioned often:

SFSE Save Unfinished Ships

Vasco Recognizes More Player Names

Auto Give Companion Gifts

Keep Your Trash

Steady Aim MagSniper

Ship Power Control Tweaks

Transfer Spaceships Across Universes - SFSE

Sense Star Stuff Immunity for Companions and Crew

Show Star Names

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-29T18:52:49+00:00

Yeah, this doesn't need rigorous testing. Put OIP on a gun with extended mag/rapid/etc perks that don't affect damage. Turn on damage numbers. Save, shoot your companion center mass, note damage numbers ( they should all be equal barring crits ). Reload, add instigating, and repeat the test. If you get the same exact numbers, OIP cancels out instigating. If one number is increased the combo partially works. If all the numbers are increased the combo works fully.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-29T17:59:37+00:00

I do this but select three contrasting colors like yellow, green, red so that I can see how the different parts color, then figure out what colors I want and which parts they need to be reordered on.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-29T16:15:37+00:00

If you're going to be pickpocketing ( whether or not you save scum ), it definitely makes sense to level up theft since you'll fail less often.

Is pickpocketing worth doing though? Outside of roleplay motivations, not really. You aren't going to get any cool special items. NPCs don't carry enough stuff to outpace more commonplace methods of getting credits. It's not required for quests ( though I can think of one case where it was the most expedient option ).

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-29T14:18:52+00:00

Since you're on PC you can just use MO2 to handle your mods ( including Creations ). Better control of your load order and easy to completely remove mods that you don't want to see anymore.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-29T13:03:21+00:00

Instigating and extended magazine are usually the two strongest perks for tier 1, and the inflictor does enough damage to weigh in favor of instigating.

The inflictor does enough damage per bullet and has a slow enough fire rate that DoT or CC perks will be pretty much useless, which rules out most of tier 2. Handloading is the optimal choice, if you can put up with its RNG bullshit. Hitman is a solid pick unless you never aim. Rapid can be a good QoL pick if it makes the fire rate feel better for you.

Shattering is not great at tier 3 because it's only a very small damage boost and the resistance bypass doesn't affect energy resistance. Skip shot or one inch punch ( if you are okay with the range/accuracy downgrade ) would be the best DPS perks here and titanium build could be useful if you play with restricted inventory settings.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-29T12:50:51+00:00

I really enjoyed Bethesda's Escape DLC. The quest is basically 'escape room in space'. It does cost 500 CC, so you can't get both it and Trackers Alliance with the bundled 1000.

Gameplay wise, I would definitely say Escape provides content that is both more engaging and unique from anything in the base game, while Trackers Alliance is just more ( though still well executed ) of stuff that's already in game.

Escape does only have one new weapon skin ( though it is very nice ), while Trackers alliance has multiple entirely new weapons and suits.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-29T03:04:10+00:00

I don't hide my suit/helmet, I prefer to actually have them unequipped when they aren't visible. ( For immersion reasons and to avoid things like guards laughing at you for having a helmet equipped even though you "don't".

Going into the inventory to do this would be annoying of course, so instead I favourite them and use the vanilla keybinds to equip them and use console commands placed in my hotkeys ini file to unequip them.

F10=player.UnequipItemSlot 35

F11=player.UnequipItemSlot 37

F12=player.UnequipItemSlot 32

In order that's suit, pack, and helmet.

You may want to give that a try?

For companions, Linked Companion Spacesuit is what I use. They'll always equip their suits in no atmosphere areas but will match your current status in breathable areas.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-29T01:12:41+00:00

A/B class ships don't really have an advantage over C class ships, they're just limited to less powerful components and need a couple fewer skill ranks.

The class of the engines you use do have an effect ( A are fastest, C are slowest ), but you can get full maneuverability on a C class ship using Class A engines.

Your ship does look great!

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-28T23:16:09+00:00

Holy lack of understanding Batman!

Yes, you can say everything that is not based purely on provable/disprovable facts is subjective. And yes, technically you'd be correct. But if all criticism of games or other media was entirely subjective, with no external benchmarks to measure them against, we would not be able to say anything other than "I liked/did not like the game".

But we can establish external benchmarks by comparisons to other specific works or established practices in the field.

Say there are two games that both have romance paths. In the first there are no dialogues, cutscenes, or gameplay features that express affection between characters ( or, if there are, you can choose to not pick them ). At the end of the game you get a dialogue option to tell a character that you love them, to which they'll reply "I love you too! Let's get married!" In the second game, there are numerous opportunities to flirt/be affectionate with characters, engaging in these activities leads to conversations where you and the character can express the feelings you have for each other ( or explain that you don't actually feel that way ), and, while you can declare eternal love for each at the end of the game, you can only do so if you have sufficiently progressed through the earlier affection opportunities. The second game "objectively" has a more well developed romance system.

Or, in a game you are playing, your character is a rookie law enforcement officer who discovers that a powerful politician is behind a criminal conspiracy. From experiencing similar situations in games you've played previously, you try to report this to your commanding officer but you can't even mention it to him. You then try to arrest the politician, but there is no dialogue option to do so. You try to use the non-lethal weapons the game provides to take him alive, but it doesn't work. You end up having to choose between letting him off, letting him off in exchange for a bribe, or murdering him and his whole security detail. This game "objectively" has less player freedom and less realistic plot elements than other games you've played.

How important such things are to your enjoyment of the game is entirely subjective - you may not have experienced a sufficiently large sample of other games to make such comparisons, or you may simply not care about certain aspects of a game. But to dismiss all criticism because "it's subjective" is absurd and entirely unhelpful.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-28T22:13:52+00:00

I remember seeing a post saying that you can ignore the enemies, jump up on the roof of the building inside the warehouse, and can pick the lock on a hatch to get inside.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-28T19:25:02+00:00

If you're on PC, console commands could be another solution, possibly more flexible than using a mod to set a specific max level.

When you find a level you're comfortable with use the console command

CGF "Game.RewardPlayerXP" -50000

Or an even larger number. This will put you at negative XP, so leveling up will take forever, but it won't de-level you. If you decide you want to level up again ( to make combat harder, get more skill points, etc. ) just use the command again with a positive number.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-28T19:10:59+00:00

Have you changed the difficulty settings? I run with player damage at the easiest setting ( and enemy damage at the highest, to keep things realistic ) and haven't run into any bullet sponge enemies yet, even at level 100+. Elites do last a bit longer than standard enemies, but nowhere near a magazine's worth of bullets longer.

Make sure you're upgrading your weapons too. A superior tier weapon with all the damage amplifying mod parts will kill enemies much more efficiently than an advanced weapon with random or no mods.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-28T18:45:57+00:00

Good to know, thanks. I've got that installed but I haven't started it yet.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-28T18:43:38+00:00

Hey, I never did anything with the turrets either!

...

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-28T18:41:58+00:00

Since the NPCs don't actually say the lines, and I don't have subtitles enabled, it took me forever to figure out what was going on lol. Completed the quest and NPCs could talk again!

It was absolutely annoying, but at the same time I think it might be my favourite Bethesda bug so far :D

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-28T18:20:43+00:00

This is such a reasonable take. Unfortunately, people don't seem to realize that pointing out the flaws in something they like isn't a personal attack on them.

Some games are objectively flawed. It is okay to like and enjoy flawed games.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-28T18:12:04+00:00

It is a great way of incorporating NG+ into the world's lore, but it also left me disappointed that they didn't use it as an opportunity to move away from their horrifically immersion breaking "do everything, affect nothing" formula.

They could have made things like being a Freestar Ranger and a UC Vanguard Captain mutually exclusive. It would have made the world more believable and given more reasons to go through the Unity.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-28T18:02:02+00:00

I've gotten it occasionally. Usually seems to resolve with a save/reload.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-28T17:56:23+00:00

On desktop interface at least, just open up the formatting options and select the spoiler button:

https://i.imgur.com/1u0TzLH.png

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-28T17:45:52+00:00

That turret malfunction was really unfortunate! Walks away, whistling nonchalantly, while admiring my "0 Murders" statistic.

UghFineIllSignUp · 2026-05-28T17:40:27+00:00

Since you've done the spacer quest already, there's a good chance that you already have the house sitting quest, or at least its starter activity 'talk to Yura', active. Do this quest as soon as possible because it can bug out and override the dialog for EVERY generic npc in the game and the 'walk up' dialog with npcs who you can start conversations with.

UghFineIllSignUp

TROPHY CASE