Hi. I'm playing this solo. I'm struggling with the bosses using only the mods endorsed by MSI II and some QOL mods. I'm trying to play this without "cheat" mods that give early advantages. I use Companion drones, but that makes it too easy in my opinion.
I have managed to kill a few bosses already (took about 2k armor piercing mags per boss), but now I have explosive boss 7 and one other. I only have the armor piercing rounds tech available, the rest is still locked. I thought about ignoring the boss till I at least have flamethrowers, but now its on its way to my base.

The difficulty setting is already at 1. Anyone have tips for me on how to deal with this?
Edit: Forgot to mention, this is a deathworld game, not sure if that affects boss HP/stats though.

No map in Factorio had a base with so many scars and random sprays of walls and power poles, as in "our" MSI2. Bosses were constant reloads of the server from backups, after practically loosing, and the success was not without substantial losses. While I get that this is the intent, I too wonder why there isn't a lower difficulty setting; just so that MSI2 could add a flavor to a playthrough, not causing rage quits and eventually removal of the mod. Especially for single player runs; those spits are heat seeking, dagnabit!

I wouldn't even consider playing this multiplayer. I have reloaded the game more times than I care to count, which is not fun. I eventually restarted after I found you could change the boss hp multiplayer to 0.2 (I thought 1 was the minimum). It helped a little, but I ended up adding the Companion Drones mod and also Bob's weapon mod. The plasma turrets from that mod slightly out ranges the massive worm boss that shoots artillery fireballs. I don't think I would have been able to kill that worm boss otherwise.

Judging from the discussion threads posted here, I don't think the mod author monitors/updates this mod anymore (or just don't look at the discussion threads), which is a shame, but people want to move on. I get it. We'll see if the mod gets an update when the new version of Factorio is released in about a year. I suspect hundreds of mods will become null and void once that update releases, unless the authors update their mods.

One fight we were three, one slow potioning the blue, one pushing walls up close, and all holding spacebar. What a glorius win/battlefield.

We used the waterfill treatment on them, eventually, though, still dying like flies by those spit missiles; but we won, in the end. It IS a shame, but this mod is something of its own. The restriction you have on tech locked behind missions is awesome stress, racing the evolution, and the paths and poles of every length, to mission areas, it is nothing like it. That we later had a save called SEK2MSI, though, a bit ambitious...

MFerrari is active I believe, though has a fair list of mods to make/maintain.

Yes, I'm always looking at the discussion threads.
I just dont want to spoil how to defeat bosses and other challenges here. Each team should find their path.. or die trying...
And I know the mod dificulty is not for every player... some ppl even like to build factiories with no biters...

Thanks for the reply MFerrari. I get that you dont want to spoil the mod, but some tips or hints would be nice :)

"I'm struggling with bosses"

Reply:
"Adding Arachnid bosses!"

Gotta love this mod! :D

=) Hahahahaha

Once I figured out how to deal with bosses it's very doable, even solo.
And now, a poem.
Gandalf 's 'last' words are wise.
I am the lord of the flies. ;)

I like the mod and I'm thinking of using it to make introducing some friends to the game more entertaining, but the phrase "but now it's on its way to my base" made me wonder—can this trigger even if no players are online? We play by the always-online rule, so the base must stay online (time running) even when no one is playing, which could be a big problem in that case.

Bahikka, the bosses typically opens up military tech, so after X minutes after that specific tech is available, the boss will spawn, regardless of your presence. There is a percentage chance for it to start moving towards "something" after Y minutes, based on difficulty.

Only way you can control this, is to unlock specific military techs when all of you are online, focusing on the boss.

This said, I'm confident that you should try it out, and see if it fits your playstyle. I have had a couple of always on servers, myself, in SE, Py, Nullius, with varying success, I would never consider do it with this mod, as you are so behind, if you don't get the missions done. Some tweaks on evolution by time and pollution map settings can mitigate this, though, pretty sure you can find a nice balance for a 24/7 server, too.

My experience: The hardest biter battles, the most ruined base, the weirdest factory structure, the most distinct battlefield... MSI II delivers something unique.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. This provides all the information I needed. I'll test it with as many saves as possible to see if it's viable as always on. Thanks again!