Starbound [Winter Update!]

What I am surprised at is where people tend to get weapons from, because it seems nearly impossible to me. There's a few you can craft but once that's done there's really nothing to get better gear outside of that. The drops and loot all seem to be set for Threat Level 1. The game refuses to give me anything better through chests, drops, or scavenging homes.

You either craft them or you find them from enemy NPCs for the most part. Hostile NPCs drop weapons at probably around a 70~80% chance.

I think the generation might be a little bugged, because after I unlocked Sector Beta I went to a new world in Sector Alpha and found Diamonds and Platinum, but was fighting mobs that were clearly Threat Level 1. I've already reported it so hopefully it gets fixed. Overall differentiating between each Sector seems to need more refinement. For example you shouldn't find Diamonds in excess inside Bookshelves at Threat Level 1, and mobs that hit you for 50 damage at Threat Level 3 shouldn't be dropping weapons with 15 DPS.

I actually made a suggestion about that on the forums, but the thread pretty much went unnoticed with only 11views and no replies. Basically I pointed out how obtaining the vast majority of important minerals shouldn't be possible on lower threat planets, and should gradually "unlock" when necessary as you progress since at the moment you can skip a TON of work at higher tiers by already obtaining everything you need on threat level 1.