Hard Mode: Regular vs. Advanced Edition

[freerealestate]

I've beaten the game on normal with every ship, with AE disabled. Recently I played on Hard with AE disabled (stealth cruiser type A) just to try it out--I had a pretty impressive run, found 2 weapons floating in space by the second sector, and seemed to have plenty of scrap (+scrap recovery arm from an event) at all times--I imagined how good of a run it would've been on normal. However, in Sector 6 I hit a brick wall and couldn't reliably get past shields, so I eventually died. My only regret was that I didn't have AE on to help disable shields (hacking)--if I did I probably would've made it.

My question to you all is this: do you think playing on Hard with AE disabled is actually more difficult than playing Hard with AE enabled? I think it is. I mean, hard mode wasn't around until AE content, so arguably hard mode was designed for use with AE. You don't have hacking to disable shields or mind control to use on an enemy's pilot to negate evade, and you don't have the utility weapons/items that AE adds to the game (like augments to bypass zoltan shields or flak weapons to get past shields, for example). The stealth cruiser type A only has 3 weapon slots, so a flak weapon would've been greatly appreciated. I guess boarding would be a viable strategy still, but I didn't have the chance to use it. What do you guys think?

[Tharsis]

I can beat the game on hard with the Lanius ships regularly. Wins with the base ships with AE off on the other hand are rarer.

[5thHorseman]

I have never played an entire game without AE content. I am having a hard time seeing why I would.

The only thing I can think is, in Regular mode does everybody still have L2 doors? If not, then I'd just go back to the old "teleporter on every ship" strategy and probably do fine. If so, then things can get tougher.

[Twinge]

It feels almost weird to me that AE disabling is even an option - the current game is entirely designed and balanced around the new content, and disabling AE is NOT the same as going back to the game prior to AE; it's quite different.

[Smauler]

In what ways is the current regular game different from the original?

[Twinge]

Events tweaked, weapon costs change, enemy AI different, etc.

[5thHorseman]

I played a couple games on non-ae just to see.

You can still get a Zoltan shield from the Zoltan homeworlds, and an engi can turn into Virus. This implies that while you can't get to Lanius sectors or the Rebel Stronghold, all sectors that used to be in the game have their new content.

Enemies seem to still have leveled up doors more frequently, and their guys start in their rooms instead of all being up near the cockpit. You can get pre-leveled-up crew at stores and from events...

Sector 8 starts you on the left instead of at the base, and you don't have to catch the flagship before it gets there (you still have 3 turns). The flagship doesn't have scanners (I think?) opposite the door room.

Essentially, everything but the new weapons, augments, race, systems, and sectors is different in "non-advanced" mode.

[RAD-82]

You can still get a Zoltan shield from the Zoltan homeworlds, and an engi can turn into Virus. This implies that while you can't get to Lanius sectors or the Rebel Stronghold, all sectors that used to be in the game have their new content.

The Rebel Stronghold should still be in non-AE. That was part of the update to the game, or "events tweaked" as Twinge put it, and has nothing to do with AE.

As far as I can tell about hardcoding, enabling AE-content only grants access to the Lanius and Type-C ship slots, and enables the <stunChance> tag on weapons. I don't know about the <stun> tag, as I haven't tried that, or if I did, I forgot. Any other AE feature, such as chain/charge/burst weapons, drones, augments, systems, and Lanius crew can be modded into non-AE.