'PvP' in open space? 100% as you say. If you're close in power, there's some rock/paper/scissors crewing fun, though the devs have reduced that. However, PvP is best when there's a goal beyond blowing up another ship. I can't speak to Arena, haven't got to try it yet. However, contested raiding around a planet can be a lot of fun, and you can be effective against multiple players stronger than you - surprisingly so - once you've mastered both base defense - despite the devs clearly hating it and slowly eroding its effectiveness - and raid/counter-raid techniques. In a well-coordinated team, you can really punch up. It doesn't help that they've made RSS so abundant, raiding doesn't happen so much anymore. Territory capture can also be fun at times if not a total lag-fest. And wars are different altogether, where you can do a lot if you're just better at arranging things so you're getting their miners/grinders and otherwise inflicting damage that isn't straight up prepared ship to ship combat.

@AnOminous1 Back on the day when everyone on the server was small, pvp was fun as everyone was close in strength and some a few levels lower could hit a larger and have a shot without all the this or that. Now, if they make this or that setup able a special ability to kill a big as a one off. Ok, now it becomes a pvp lottery. I have advocated for auto self-destruction so the down punchers have something to fight against, and the smalls can fight back again, bringing back some danger to pvp down punching on a somewhat level playing field. But then, why would anyone pay for all the crap they develop to power up. See the hitch?

@@contracostaexpert My playstyle is a bit unusual, but I'm a weak F2P player who has generally put a focus on PvP vs much stronger opponents. There was a period when I used to chase around the top player on my server to interfere in his base raids. I had to level up just to keep within PvP range, and sometimes didn't even manage that. In various contexts, I've had a lot of success, and am generally well-known on my server, despite not being strong. In my odd playstyle, weakness is actually strength, lol. I don't raid a ton, and it has, unfortunately, been peaceful for quite a while now, but I am 34th and 69th on my server, respectively, in loot raided and power destroyed, despite being 356th in power. This makes me happy. My KtD is terrible :) The consequence of always looking to fight up.

If that happens it needs to be Ops lvl pairing or it just becomes the highest Ops wins.

Inorganic strain 58 sever 703