Yeah the encounter I had in NG+ was her all alone and everyone else dead and it was pretty brutal
Well wherev you go you will fight starborn so think of it as do you want to fight in a more open (lodge) or confined (eye) location. There’s also another set of choices near the end of a playthrough that takes some consideration in what loot you can get and how long you can use it. That one is really just how hard you want the last fight to be/your principles. Here you could conceivably “avenge” your comrade and make the final choice based on what best honors their memory.
The last choice is essentially whether you want to go into ng+, just be aware that if you opt for the ng+ you keep your skills but lose all gear so that shiny weapon(s) you get in the final fight don’t carry over if you actually want to use them.
Not necessarily, it still comes down to a choice between two and it’s really just whoever you “abandon”. But that’s not even really it as again depending on how you play or roleplay experience I’d say in story, Sarah should be the most capable to go “solo” as the leader of constellation and her background. Though that has no actual bearing on it as whoever you leave will die regardless.
For what it’s worth too without going into spoilers about NG+ you can also make your choice differently each time and have different companions too. I had one instance where Andreja didn’t exist, another where everyone in constellation was already dead too.
It’s a hard choice to recommend for because it is based on a companion you’ve spent the most time with. So depending on how you have been playing and feel about that companion will really drive the choice. In my first play through it was between Sarah and Andreja. Sarah had been my companion for the first 20ish hours and then I switched to Andreja to do her questline and ended up liking her around more (versus Sarah constantly making remarks about disagreeing with me). So it was easy to let Sarah die. Hope that makes sense.
Yup, but not super common. You can occasionally stumble across space battles happening that have a few ships. Can pick whichever side and help out or try to get them all.
As for big ships like capital ships there are three legendary ships you can fight that are pretty difficult like the Ecliptic Battleship Camulus.
Another option is during the Crimson Fleet questline, regardless of which side you take the final quest part is a pretty large space battle. If you side with the pirates you can help take down the SysDef capital ship. Can’t blow it up in space but eventually you board it and then can decide the fate or it and its crew.
I believe it only applies on major settled planets like Neon, etc. and again it is only on arrival to the planet.
If it is any other planet in a system controlled by a faction they don’t scan because there’s no need for a major security presence. For example, if I ever run afoul and end up with a bounty I have an outpost built on Maheo which is freestar collective jurisdiction, but there’s no one to scan me when I go there. Drop down to outpost, clear bounty, on my way.
With regards to if you are smuggling, either get a signal jammer from the Crimson Fleet, or shielded cargo pods from any of the ship vendors that sell them. The easiest is might also just to sell any contraband before you leave the planet you are on to the Trade Authority. If you are already on a settled world you can offload all your illegal goods before hitting atmo. Plus they don’t scan you on the way out so you can always just set a course for somewhere more neutral like the Wolf’s Den.
No they don’t, only when you arrive and it’s a settled planet.