Encounter-Attributes.md
Behavior Difficulty
This section defines the various difficulty levels of encounters behaviors, ie how they interact with the player and other entities in the world.
| Rating | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ★☆☆☆☆ | No Challenge | Encounters are not hostile. |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Minimal | Encounters are passively hostile, will only use turrets if you get close. |
| ★★★☆☆ | Average | Encounters will likely not engage players unless provoked or approached. |
| ★★★★☆ | Hostile | Encounters will seek players and attack when conditions are met (visibility, signals, etc). |
| ★★★★★ | Nightmare | Encounters are easily aware of targets in the area and will relentlessly attack. |
Grid Difficulty
This section defines how difficult the ships / stations you'll encounter can be.
| Rating | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ★☆☆☆☆ | No Challenge | Grids are not significantly armed and/or armored. |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Minimal | Smaller grids that are lightly armed and/or armored. |
| ★★★☆☆ | Average | Average sized grids that are moderately armed and/or armored. |
| ★★★★☆ | Difficult | Larger sized grids that are heavily armed and/or armored. |
| ★★★★★ | Nightmare | Massive sized grids that are heavily armed and/or armored. |
Environments
This section defines the various environments that encounters can appear in.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Space | Encounters can appear in space (zero gravity). |
| Atmosphere | Encounters can appear on planets with an atmosphere. |
| Gravity | Encounters can appear on planets without an atmosphere. |
| Water | Encounters can appear on water surface (while using Water Mod). |
| Underwater | Encounters can appear under the water surface (while using Water Mod). |
Encounter Types
This section defines the various types of encounters and how/when they generally spawn.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Space Cargo Ship | Encounters that appear on a timer in space, fly in a linear path, and despawn when they reach the end of their path. |
| Planetary Cargo Ship | Encounters that appear on a timer near a planet's surface, fly in a linear path, and despawn when they reach the end of their path. |
| Random Encounter | Encounters that appear at random in space as the player travels across large distances. |
| Planetary Installation | Encounters that appear at random on a planet's surface as the player travels across large distances. |
| Static Encounter | Encounters that appear once the player has gotten close to where it should appear. These encounters only appear once. |
| Boss Encounter | Difficult encounters the player can optionally engage by traveling to a designated GPS signal. |
| Drone Encounter | Encounters that appear randomly on a timer near the player proximity. |
| Creature | Animal or bot encounters that appear on a planet's surface near the player. |
Spawning Conditions
This section defines various additional conditions that may also be used when determining if an encounter is eligible to spawn.
| Condition | Description |
|---|---|
| Chance | Encounters will use an additional chance roll to determine if they're allowed to spawn in certain environments. |
| Combat Phase | Encounters will only appear during a Combat Phase in the world. If Combat Phases are disabled, then this check is omitted. |
| Known Player Location | Encounters can designate an area around a player as a Known Player Location, which can potentially allow encounters to spawn more often or detect the player easier. |
| Reputation | Encounters will only appear if a player's reputation with an NPC faction is at a certain value. |
| Threat Score | Encounters will only appear once players have progressed / built enough grid resources in an area. |
| Weather | Certain encounters will only appear during specific weather events or times of the day. |
| Zones | Certain encounters will only appear in certain areas. |
Special Abilities
This section defines special blocks, attributes, and abilities that encounters may possess.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Defense Shields | Spawns with Defense Shields (if the Defense Shields mod is loaded). |
| Energy Inhibitor | Drains suit energy from unseated players while in the inhibitor block range (disable the inhibitor block to stop this effect). |
| Grinder Damage | Damages players that attack an encounter while using a grinder (disable the AI Control Module to stop this effect). |
| Hand Drill Inhibitor | Disables Hand Drills while in the inhibitor block range (disable the inhibitor block to stop this effect). |
| Jetpack Inhibitor | Disables Jetpack Dampeners while in the inhibitor block range, and disables Jetpack entirely at closer ranges (disable the inhibitor block to stop this effect). |
| Jump Drive Inhibitor | Disables Jump Drive blocks while in the inhibitor block range (disable the inhibitor block to stop this effect). |
| Merchant Equipment | Encounters may include store blocks, Shipyard System, and/or Suit Upgrade Stations. |
| Nanobot Inhibitor | Disables Nanobot blocks while in the inhibitor block range (disable the inhibitor block to stop this effect). |
| Personnel Inhibitor | Damages unseated players while in the inhibitor block range (disable the inhibitor block to stop this effect). |
| Reinforcements | Calls for additional support / spawns drones to assist. |
| Randomized Weapons | Spawns with randomized weapons, which also includes weapons from mods you may have loaded. |