How to defeat nanobot clouds undamaged?

Iron_Claw

Is there any way to eliminate a nanobot cloud without taking massive damage? I've tried sniping it from 4km away, sniping then energized boosting away, hitting it then hiding behind a bid object, nothing works. I know about the mine cloud workaround, but that's not consistent. The damage it deals is more than the nanobots it drops most of the time I find, even with maxed out nanobot perks.

Also, for the devs, if there is no intended way to avoid the damage, please do something to make the clouds less annoying. Vastly reduce the damage radius when you get near it, make them not track you, make the HUD mark them, something.

Right now without a way to properly defeat them, the clouds feel like the single biggest sore spot in the game right now. They're hard to see and always show up in the most inopportune moments, when you're dealing with a big enemy horde or hiding from a solar flare with nowhere to go. This game frustrates me a lot, but that frustration always motivates me to try again, try harder; these nanobot clouds only motivate me to turn off the game.

ROCKFISH_HCK

You're right, they could be made better by colliding with objects and not always hurting you for the the full damage. I don't know if we will take the time to change that but until then you can always use damage limiters to decrease the incoming damage.

Pappy13

I guess not everyone has played the expansion. In a mission in the expansion you are given a mission of killing these 3 times, but you are also told how to defeat them. Grab a damage limiter and have it readied. Keep shooting the nanobot cloud until it bursts. When it does, pop the damage limiter. Problem solved.

Momber

You can also boost a short distance, then fly at normal speed in a straight line and leave a trail of Plasma Mines behind. About five will do the trick.
I killed three in one run recently, one just happened to come close as I deployed an ARC-9000 on an Okkar frigate - bad timing hehe
It still hate them and imho they should be nerfed or omitted altogether. Or maybe if we had a special shield or weapon to help combat them. Even being able to target them properly would be of great help.
And please, make it so that they can't munch up the playership through solid walls, like on the inside of a derelict station when they are on the outside (which happened to me recently).

invenio

As mentioned above, by far the easiest and safest way of defeating any of the cloud enemies is by utilizing a damage limiter. It works remarkably well.

In the expansion, there is a mission where you have to scan the grey goo's. Obviously, you have to be real close and it is next to impossible without a damage limiter.

PedalToTheMetal

invenio said:

there is a mission where you have to scan the grey goo's

Spoilers ahead, there is also a task of destroying the "evil bubbles", and you are directly instructed to use the limiter prior to doing so. As long as you will know about both beforehand you should remember to spare a couple of limiters and not take that scout for those .
Removing the goo altogether as suggested above doesn't feel right to me as it is one of those random factors that make the game fun and also works as a neat "chaos injector", especially when two factions happen to fight each other with goo nearby

Momber

PedalToTheMetal said:

invenio said:

"chaos injector", especially when two factions happen to fight each other with goo nearby

Only they don't get damaged the way the player ship does. Big difference.
I swear I watched (from a safe distance) two goo clouds follow a couple of G&B fighters in close proximity for a full two minutes before I decided to leave. The fighters continued their patrol like nothing was up. They remained completely undamaged.
Then again, solar storms don't seem to affect NPCs, either...

PedalToTheMetal

Storms do damage the NPCs iirc. The *spoiler*-storm doesn't seem to, however. Or they were out of the way. The goo seems to inflict some damage sometimes, but not sure. Probably it requires the NPC to be really close, almost colliding. What never hits the NPCs is the heat in solar sectors, the one that causes no damage to you as well, only (only?!) subsystem overheating.
Anyway, I somewhat like it the way it is - no idea why. Probably because in a game where you are supposed to get your tail kicked it somehow feels right to get it kicked differently. Also they are not that annoying after all, it took me a few runs to just scan them (as we only need to scan 2 of them, I decided to do it one at a time so it wouldn't become a "someone give me teh nanobots" run afterwards).

ps Just seen it. The goo seems to ignore NPCs and vice versa (the goo flies around them though). Storms do the same damage to everyone however (didn't reset so can't tell for the story-driven thingie).

Momber

PedalToTheMetal said:

ps Just seen it. The goo seems to ignore NPCs and vice versa

You must be playing a different game then. Mine is called Everspace.
At any rate, imo the Grey Goo is -BEEP- and needs to go. If the game creators can't see the error of their ways, I hope they will at least open the game to modding soon.

invenio

In all honesty, what's the reason they have to go? They are completely avoidable and are very slow so they are never a threat. I have 140 hours of gameplay logged and I've died from grey goo maybe twice (and one was with the grey goo scanning mission before I decided to do it with a damage limiter). There is one mission in the game where you have to get close to them and with a damage limiter that is easy. Otherwise, they can be completely avoided.

One of the things I like about everspace is the variety of potential enemies and threats (that includes ships, natural phenomena [like black holes, sun bursts], and alien life forms). The more variety we have the better... IMHO.

Momber

I die from "goo exposure" all the time. Like on the last two consecutive runs. It's one of the many things in this game that will kill you for no good reason, is overpowered and just plain infuriating. You don't build a large fanbase by annoying the -BEEP- out of your players.
I'm done with Everspace. Playing Horizon: Zero Dawn now. Buh-bye.

PedalToTheMetal

To be honest, I never payed much attention to the goo's behavior Anyway, I actually see no reason for the goo to be any better or worse than anything else here. Blackholes that are pain sometimes, also they can't be destroyed. Mines that may get pretty sneaky. Some overwhelming enemy that has a jump suppressor. Warships ('nuff said). Ancients that can kill you in a blink should you not know what to expect. Fuel you always run out of should you stop keeping your eye on the gauge for a while. Webbers. Missile silos... Hey, there are a lot of annoying things here, and those are what makes the game not annoying on it's own! Or would it be fun should we have a game of endless shooting the harmless drones instead? So - sorry - but I prefer to have something that can throw some trouble at me instead of being able to become a one man army with nothing to worry about. And no matter what it is, it is ok as long as it does not get repetitive - and it does not.

invenio

Momber said:

I die from "goo exposure" all the time. Like on the last two consecutive runs. It's one of the many things in this game that will kill you for no good reason, is overpowered and just plain infuriating. You don't build a large fanbase by annoying the -BEEP- out of your players.
I'm done with Everspace. Playing Horizon: Zero Dawn now. Buh-bye.

Is there a reason why you are going near the green goo? There is only one mission in the entire game where you have to get close to one. They are so incredibly slow that unless you fly into them and then just sit around taking damage they are not a threat.

PedalToTheMetal

invenio said:

Momber said:

Is there a reason why you are going near the green goo? There is only one mission in the entire game where you have to get close to one

In fact you have to play around with the goo twice Also they are very useful as you can get some free nanobots from those without destroying them which can be a real hand sometimes.
The only chance to get them hitting you is when you are busy with something static like a drone carrier, a cruiser or some station interior. Though, again, that's what the different consumables are for.

Momber, what you refer to as a preferable alternative is not even a 6DOF, how is it relevant?

Momber

This forum software is about as irritating as the game itself. I just spent half an hour typing a response, then edited it for a typo - and now it's gone. Poof! Gone.
I don't feel like retyping it, either.
If you guys are happy with the game as it is, including the useless annoyances, that's fine. I'm not so I'm moving on.

PedalToTheMetal

Funny enough, as long as it is pretty clear Everspace is highly inspired by the older 6DOFs and spacesims it actually feels way less frustrating than say Descent or (aww!) Gunship Elite... Now if that still feels annoying wonder what is a "proper" spacesim nowadays...

troopi

In my opinion, the grey goo is a fine chaos trigger. Yet, as all other things in game, it should work both ways, to you and your enemies, and all npcs around. It should stalk the closest ship, and munch at their hull as it does to the player. Why? Because cunning, and using the environment against the enemies is one of the most rewarding feelings a player can get. Its death blast should be in the form of solid aiming bullets, much like the projectiles of a thermo gun. This way, one could use obstacles as cover.
Cheers