The main thing I want to know is: can you still unlock everything and see all of the varieties of encounter/map options in easy mode as normal+hard mode. I'm having fun with the game, and have progressed to sector 3 pretty easily, but the appeal of playing on easier mode is there a little, just to make progression go a bit faster, but, I don't want to sacrifice content for the sake of it, at all.


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ehhh, I just played easy for a minute and it was not rewarding at all and it felt boring, ok back to trying some more rounds at normal.

Thanks very much! However I couldn't stomach the easy mode, it was just no damn fun at the early levels. I will just work on my mastering and work through. I can get through sector 3 pretty easily but after that it's tough going. I feel like the game should tell you how many sectors until your destination is reached.

It does after the first sector, the map; always has 8 sectors. Here's a good general tips post. Don't forget to run away when appropriate.

Yeah, it's bizarre - it takes deviation from the intended gameplay formula to see the genius of the game's design. The game feels far too punishing on Normal, but then you switch to easy and discover that's a good thing. Similarily I was at first bothered by the rebel fleet, but after installing a mod which allowed for endless play I discovered importance of the rebel fleet in the game's design. It's a very carefully and tightly knit experience, and only after you see the deviations you can appreciate how much thought went into crafting the individual mechanics.

Duh, 8 sectors, I've seen them! I just wasn't thinking. I stay away from guides/tips for games like this because that is pretty much the whole game, figuring out what strategies allow you to succeed. I'm figuring it out pretty well for the limited amount of time I've had to play. I haven't felt punished on normal, well I did at the very first few attempts because I just wasn't thinking of any strategy, I was going at it blind, but if you disable shields with the missile then laserblast the weapons systems seems to be the strategy for the first 3 sectors anyway, I blow through them now and destroy everyone pretty fast unless they are elite.

I'm wondering if drones become a necessity for finishing the game or if you can finish pretty easily without them?

Strategies (drones or not, missiles, etc) depend on the ship you're flying mostly, and on the run itself: rewards, shops, types of sectors and whatnot.

If you're getting to sector 3 too easily/fast, you're probably doing it "wrong" and are underpowered for the following sectors. You said you dislike guides and tips, so I'll give you only the most basic one: you want to hit as many beacons per sector as possible and fight as many ships as possible; every bit of scrap counts (this is truer the higher the difficulty).

They give that tip in-game, so yes, of course I'm doing as many beacons as possible before exiting the sector (plus it is pretty easy to figure out the more places you go the more resources/things you get to make you stronger.) I've pretty much figured out how to manage it so I'm getting to the exit beacon 1 move before the rebel fleet. The only time I don't get it timed perfectly is when I encounter a beacon in the last 3 beacons that changes the timing of the rebel fleet (delays or speeds them.)