This guide is made for those people who've played the game long enough to realise how many hours of grinding there is ahead of them. As an older gamer, I don't have much time left in this world, so I'll try to reduce needless repetition where I can, especially if that repetition actually detracts fromt he overall experience.

Modding is not for everyone, some people like to play the game as is, some don't. This guide isn't about the merits of either option. If you want to save some time grinding away then here are some helpful tips.

First off, you'll need to go here:

http://www.soldak.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=31

This is where most of the mods can be simply downloaded and plugged in. But for those in the need, I've sourced 2 quick mods (not my own work, merely cut and pasted) and also an easy fix to help with the zoom level.

You can further zoom out the game from the locked in perspective. Go to the file "default.cfg" in the user fold of drox operative (usually in the same folder as all your other steam installed games). Open it up with notepad then search for the string "ZoomMax 1.3" and change it to something higher like 2 or 3. Note that objects will still remain hidden further out, so it will look like they're popping up closer to you. You can fix this by upping your radar ability and object will appear further away.

Also, while you may be zoomed out, your ship size is still the same, so this is a double edged sword because you ability to dodge mines will become more difficult despite being able to see them further away.

There are quite a few threads asking about this, instead of making a whole slew of changes that ups the experience points per kill, the best one I've found to work is one that reduces the required EXP to the next level. You can create the script yourself as it's pretty easy or you can go right here for a downloadable link that already has the changes inbuilt and just require you to put it in the asset folder:

http://www.soldak.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24802

You can either increase it or decrease it depending on if you want to make walk up the levels longer or shorter. This speeds up the game pace and I've found it doesn't unbalance it as you'll need to clear a sector before the game respawns with new enemies around your level.

This annoyed me quite a bit as 5 crew points per level is just BS. Especially considering the massive requirements for bonuses and the utter waste of points that the command attribute is.

http://www.soldak.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24787

Go there to grab the file if you dont want to create the mods yourself. This does unbalance it quite a bit (especially if you tweek the default), but if you're playing for the challenge then you can mod it the other way also to make it harder for yourself. It's all about your own preference on how to play.

These 3 changes shouldn't unbalance the game too much (unless you feel like tweeking them). They will remove much of the grinding this game requires of you.