Encounter Attributes

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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.