This has been raised previously, but there seems to be a balance issue with the strength of crafted items, compared to those found in-game. While it is reasonable, given the difficulty in finding schematics etc, for crafted items to be superior, they seem - routinely - to outclass found items two categories higher. As an example, I include a screenshot comparing a found Epic rife compared to a crafted Rare one. The crafted item is significantly superior in all respects (range, damage, ammo) despite the lower quality rating, and has a lower value also.

Crafted items have 3 benefits:
* ability to select specific details (weapon type, skill level);
* ability to "re-roll" initial statistics;
* ability to improve via Finishing Points.

The first part makes sense and should remain. The second part could be restricted (limit number of re-rolls or have each one consume a resource) but this would probably be counter-productive. The third is where I suggest an adjustment could be considered. While there are cases where the number of Finishing Points allocated is limited (most often to 5), there are several where no limit applies (with Nanos, I have one providing +12 Agility and +35 Dexterity). In these cases, an escalating cost (e.g. 1 FP per improvement for the first 3 steps, 2FP for the next 3, 3FP for the 3 after) could provide a way to tone-down crafted items.

Or...

(and this is just an idea)

You could use the already existing in-game sliders to make the game more or less difficult in order to adjust the game balance to fit your personal preferences, including using a little self-control to limit how much you improve crafted items so they don't get more powerful than you think proper...

Instead of trying to convince the developer to modify the game to force everyone else to play according to the difficulty that you personally feel is appropriate.

I assume the existence of those sliders is to appease people like yourself who feel the game needs more (or less) challenge. Please make use of them. Personally, I don't think the crafting system needs to be changed with respect to difficulty. I would only request two changes to crafting, and neither one imposes my "balance" preferences on anyone:

1) Don't make the default skill requirement for weapons set to 100, since this means the default value is useless to most players - not the best choice for a default. A default requirement of 1 would be better, since everyone could use an item crafted that way, and anyone that wants one that requires a specific level would have to use that slider to adjust it anyway.

2) Allow weapons the same "reroll" option that every other crafted item has, even though weapons have no randomized stats, they DO have a randomized icon, and if I prefer my weapon to use a specific icon, I have to reset to a different weapon/level and then back again, and then re-adjust the slider and then press the crafting button again, adding unnecessary steps. Of course, fixing suggestion 1 would eliminate one of those steps, but putting in a re-roll so I could get the icon I prefer without having to jump through four or five hoops each time, sometimes a dozen times or more would be a better solution.

Just in case you managed to misread my entire post above (and the thread title) this is about BALANCE - not difficulty. Essentially, once you have the ability to craft Rare items, you no longer need to bother checking loot or visiting merchants since you won't find anything better.

That cuts out a significant portion of the game. This is an "in development game" - that means there will be bugs (which should be reported) as well as balance issues (which should also be reported). What the developer subsequently does is completely their own choice - but failing to address balance issues will result in a game that is more exploitable and therefore less fun to play.Given that it is possible to quite rapidly gain Rare schematics (once you have Basic, you can gain Exceptional and Rare within a few hours by crafting/salvaging) and then Legendary and Epic, this is currently not just the best way to get items (and ship equipment) - but the best way to advance your character, period. With Legendary schematics in the four armour types, you can craft amour that gets you as much as 180 attribute points (4 items, each giving up to 15 points in 3 attributes) - you'd need 36 level rises to achieve that via character experience.

I would argue that making higher quality items (Legendary and Epic specifically) should be much tougher, as reflected in their names. There are several ways to do this:
* prohibit Legendary/Epic crafting entirely - such items should only be found or purchased from specific locations. This is a hard line choice which would probably upset many here.
* allow Legendary/Epic schematics to be gained, but require a quest to "activate" them - such as visiting and gaining favour with a particular NPC (such as a revered weapons master, eccentric engineer or visionary scientist). This could add depth to the game if done correctly - particularly if choosing one NPC ruled you out of favour with others, limiting how many items expertise could be developed in. However this would also need the most development work.
* allow Legendary/Epic schematics to be gained, but require "special" (and rare) items to manufacture them. These items could be the focus of quests, or only available in high-level systems. However this would also add more complexity to a system that is already pretty sophisticated.
* modify the Salvage skill so it doesn't provide higher quality Item Parts when salvaging Rare or better items, and only provide one item at most. This would mean that multiple (purchased or looted) Legendary items would have to be salvaged to gain Legendary parts, and ditto for Epic - making Legendary fabrication much tougher and even more so for Epic (gaining an Epic schematic would become almost impossible, since you need to salvage about 1,000 Legendary items to acquire the experience). This would be a small change to make, but could certainly keep merchants relevant for far longer in the game and is the one I would argue to be the best option.

In order to avoid any misperception of qui tacet consentire videtur, let me just say that I disagree with every point you made including the implication that I disagreed with you because I didn't understand or misread what you wrote, as well as the suggestion that your use of the word "balance" in some way means that you aren't actually talking about the relative difficulties of various aspects of the game.

And we'll let it go at that. I would just remind the developer that this IS ostensibly a role-playing game, and role-playing in additional requirements and limitations are nearly infinitely flexible, limited only by the imagination and willpower of the player, while role-playing OUT hard-coded requirements and limitations is virtually impossible without a save-game editor or cheat engine.

Disagreeing is fine, particularly when examples are provided to back up a point.

To be clear, I am not against having the ability to craft uber-powerful items - it is that these should be proportionately harder to get, such that they serve as a bonus to character progression - rather than being the easiest/most effective route.

On a related topic, ship weapon crafting is covered by just two categories (missile and turret) which seems inconsistent with personal weaponry having a few dozen categories.