Difficulty?

Running is an option, but it is a very poor option. Nine times out of ten you end up fighting whatever was in the new system, plus whoever was just beating you. Making a bad situation worse. All you get out of it is one load screen more time. That last one of ten I usually get chased and have to flee again, leading right back to the nine of ten odds. Thity something games and running has never once saved me, just delayed the inevitable.

I have tried, I think every combination of starting gear possible. Including one amusing game with all point defence weapons. Looked pretty, but totally useless. I have tried the bolter drones, but I don't often get to upgrade them last the third drone before dying. And while they are nice, they get swarmed and overwhelmed easy. Wanderers aren't as bad, they don't seem to field carriers right off the bat.

The issue is simply the colossal jump in difficulty after the fist few fights. Typically the first two or three systems have only fighters, then capital ships start appearing. This would be fine, except the ambushes of three enemy ships right on top of my Nightingale are unwinnable that early. Especially whichever tralgar ship it is that can spit out 12 fighters. It gets to five or six turns into the game, and I'm sitting on four weapons, two of them point defense and they have two main guns, two hangars and six point defense each. That doesn't fit my definition of easy.

I did get one lucky game wher3 I started with 2k scrap and 11 upgrades. Managed to complete three missions. No traps, no suicidal "dfend the starbase" b.s. But then I hit some enemy ship with a blue weapon that took me down in two hits. I'm guessing a plasma cannon since it was celestial and I've seen those as loot drops. But it didn't target my fighters and neither they or my point defence targeted it. Again, not my definition of easy.

In general, I kind of expect easy to be, you know, easy. Like you can make a lot of stupid mistakes and still win.