Hmm... well, that depends on how much you want to nerf things. In SP, all you're actually doing is increasing/reducing the hitpoints scales of the badguys... they don't get any "smarter" as you turn the difficulty up.

To get the same effect in MP, you could add the following line to every single Loadout in loadouts.ini ... the line I'm referring to is in bold here, as I'm putting it in context:

[Loadout
nickname = co_ge_fighter_loadout01
archetype = ge_fighter
equip = ge_gf1_engine_01
equip = npc_shield01_mark01, HpShield01
equip = infinite_power
equip = armor_scale_-4

Armor_scale_-4 is a special piece of "equipment" that gives any ships that have it equipped half of their usual hitpoints. I am fairly certain that it doesn't have any effect on shield strength.

Now, if you have people with special needs who really need a much more nerfed game experience to fully enjoy it... and are willing to put some work into things... I can tell you a whole bunch of things you could do that would make the game much easier... but most of these things include a fair amount of hard work, to really work the way you want.

Another thing you can do is edit the data\missions\NPCships.ini file.
Each ship has a pilot.
Each pilot (Except for cap ships) can be:
Ace, Hard, Med, Easy, or Easiest.
Make them all the level you wish.


Watch your 6!