On Foot Combat: Take 2

Published 2025-12-04 08:00:13.7976543 +0000 under 'games'.

With the 2 Dec update having just been released, I decided to have another go at on foot combat (having never really got into it the first time round). As you can see, I need some practice!

Suit (and Gun) up!

The plasma sniper rifle has always been my favourite, and with the shot speed now being far faster than previously it seemed like the obvious choice.

I took my rocket launcher as the secondary weapon (because explosion are fun!) and used my laser pistol as a "just in case", because you can never have too many guns.

It should be noted that at least half of the time I spent creating this loadout was deciding the suit cosmetics. If I am going to get my ass kicked, I want it done in style!

Am I a child? Yes. Do I care? No! 😄

Finding a fight

My first port of call was Inara to find the nearest system with settlements that was in war. Annoyingly the "HIP 87621 enclave" is completely settlement-less, so I got into Armed & Fabulous ¹and set off!

I found one a few lightyears nearby at "Schroder Drilling Installation", a mining settlement that had a low combat zone. Anyone who has seen my aim in FPS games knows why I have chosen a low one. Luckily the combat zone was a hundred or so light-seconds from the port, so this gave me plenty of time to make sure that I had my suit just right.

The first time around got off to a rocky start. See, I hadn't realised that rocket launchers also damage you as well as the baddies, so managed to almost kill myself with a badly placed rocket to the face. But then again I did also manage to get a screenshot for all of you, so it can't be that bad.

The extra speed that has been added to plasma shots is a welcome addition. Now I no longer have to aim half a mile in front of my target and hope for the best! Generally I found that my aim became the limiting factor, not the weapon itself.

I also had the forethought to bind the weapon swapping to my mouse scroll wheel like I have my fire groups in ships. This meant that I could far more easily swap weapons mid running away combat. Apparently the weapon swap time had also been improved, so this made combat far more fast-paced and exciting!

In retrospect, this was pretty obvious.

But I somehow managed to muddle through it all to victory! Having not died yet, I chalked this up as a personal victory too and headed back. It did take me rather a while to realise that you have to call the dropship with E.

I did learn from this one that the plasma sniper rifle requires far better aim than I have - otherwise you end up shooting the wall or your team more than the enemy - so I switched it out for the automatic plasma rile, the Manticore Oppressor.

Attempt 2: A medium!

Yes dear reader, I was feeling confident. Possibly too confident, but you'll have to read on to find that out. Unfortunately the low combat zone was the only one in the system, so it was back to Inara to find a new one.

They couldn't just say "You Died"? I suppose then the would need a lore explanation to get you back. Hmm

This turned out to be about my skill limit - as you can tell from the frequent deaths and occasional cowering behind a container. Still, I muddled my way through to a victory!

The Oppressor turned out to be much better than the executioner. It is less a aim-then-fire weapon and more a fire-and-maybe-aim-if-you-want one. Which suits me far better.

To Conclude

On foot combat is fun! When you're not getting absolutely pummelled. I would love to try a medium or high zone with a few friends some time, maybe we might have more luck?

Hope you enjoyed it! Sorry for the long break in posts...

Pew pew pew!