Can this game be "Played" actually?

[Sijaiko]

This "game" seems too hard.
Is it actually "playable" in terms of something other than cheating?

[2015-04-23 00:12:15] [SPAWN] Sijaiko spawned new ship: "Salvager 001"
[2015-04-23 00:25:03] [DEATH] Sijaiko has been killed by 'Resposible: Station_Piratestation Alpha_1_1_2_1429736952226_turret_0BA[Pirates]'; controllable: Ship[Station_Piratestation Alpha_1_1_2_1429736952226_turret_0BA](75)
[2015-04-23 00:28:48] [DEATH] Sijaiko has been killed by 'Resposible: Station_Piratestation Alpha_1_1_2_1429736952226_turret_0BC[Pirates]'; controllable: Ship[Station_Piratestation Alpha_1_1_2_1429736952226_turret_0BC](77)
[2015-04-23 00:30:24] [SHUTDOWN] Shutting down server

18 minutes of game "play" got killed at the shop... Two times! Then the core got blown up while I was trying to reach it (at least I think it did... Stuff keeps simply disappearing.).
That's like Ship 1: all my starting stuff... What am I supposed to do afterwards? Rage quit? (Well, I did).

Is it really like this? Like starting a new "world" every 20 minutes?

 

[starhaiden]

maybe you should reset the world, there is a pirate station with missile-beam turrets near you.

 

[therimmer96]

I think this is one of the most one sided polls i have ever seen.

 

[Spartan4845]

Not meaning to sound like an ass but...

Do we live in an age that any challenge is too much?

 

[kupu]

Not meaning to sound like an ass but...

Do we live in an age that any challenge is too much?

That station is particularly nasty when first starting the game though. I'd suggest starting a new world. ^^

 

[karkinosz]

Poll is a little one sided, I typically don't have issues in a new world so long as I mind myself. Typically I build up some credits by journeying between shops trading stuff until I get a relatively decent ship, then its hunt pirates until I can beat them easily. Build new pirate blueprint, rinse repeat. But thats just me ofc.

 

[CyberTao]

That station is particularly nasty when first starting the game though. I'd suggest starting a new world. ^^

I feel like the stations need a bit of cleaning up and proper-tizing, why hasn't stuff like that been fixed?

 

[idiotplaysgames]

It appears someone has never been faced with a challenge. Reset your world, avoid stations at all costs.

 

[Snk]

Poll was one sided, I picked "I cheat" because this whole thread is kinda dumb

 

[Dragleones]

Well i can understand op's point in some ways, but i definitly don't think the game is too hard.
Its more that its really unforgiving. Exspecially at the beginning without shields.

You are flying through empty space and BAM out of nowhere you are dead.
It would be really helpful to have a lock-on-indicator.

And even then when the enemy has missile-beam-turrets there is little you can do to avoid it at the beginning of the game.
So it would be even more helpful to have an enemy-contact-warning before you enter the weapon range.

Yes scanners are actually for this, but: A they must be triggered manually; B their range isn't too big; and C they aren't really available from the start.

tl;dr: Some warning indicators (enemy contact/ missile lock-on) before you are in the middle of a fight would be nice to have to avoid these frustrating deaths, where you feel like you couldn't do anything.

 

[Nauvran]

you obviously haven't tried Dark Souls yet.

And if you know how then starting is pretty easy, it just takes time.

 

[Mariux]

I guess you're just out of luck. If you're playing on SP, I'd reccomend that you start a new world. Pirate stations can be tough at first, try not to take on them early on. A ship that has at least 200k-300k shield capacity and a deent amount of rechargers should be able to take on any pirate station other than Alphas.

 

[Sijaiko]

Oh, actual responses! Didn't really expect much of those.
Thank you people.

The poll was specifically crafted to be lopsided. It was meant to be a joke/nudge.

I will try a new world (yet again) and hope there is no pirate station near the starting spot (this one was about 3km off the shop). And it seemed to shoot some kind of missiles/projectiles, while I was trying to 'salvage' the asteroid nearest to the shop, took most of the asteroid with me actually. Initially I thought I hit a gas pocket that exploded.

There is challenge and there is futility. While this game is considered 'sand-box' there are easy ways to get into a position from which there is no recuperation (loosing your only ship with no finance to buy a new core for instance).
Maybe a starter-pack would do the trick? If a player dies with credits below a certain threshold he might get the same set of starting blocks and pull the credits up to the starting point, a.k.a. start-over.

I didn't go to search for pirates. I have learned the hard way, that even on easy they tend to shoot anything I build in a few shots. I have never been successful at shooting back, and the pirates seem to have 100% precision with very fast shooting weapons that I can not outmanoeuvre or avoid.
This game actually lacks a progression challenge. Starting in Star-Made feels like getting drafted into a modern war with your underpants and if you're lucky a stick.
In most games the challenge to the player is roughly proportional to the player's skill level. This game lacks (IMHO) that progression. Hence the new players say it's too hard, and seasoned players say it's too easy.

 

[Nauvran]

Oh, actual responses! Didn't really expect much of those.
Thank you people.

The poll was specifically crafted to be lopsided. It was meant to be a joke/nudge.

I will try a new world (yet again) and hope there is no pirate station near the starting spot (this one was about 3km off the shop). And it seemed to shoot some kind of missiles/projectiles, while I was trying to 'salvage' the asteroid nearest to the shop, took most of the asteroid with me actually. Initially I thought I hit a gas pocket that exploded.

There is challenge and there is futility. While this game is considered 'sand-box' there are easy ways to get into a position from which there is no recuperation (loosing your only ship with no finance to buy a new core for instance).
Maybe a starter-pack would do the trick? If a player dies with credits below a certain threshold he might get the same set of starting blocks and pull the credits up to the starting point, a.k.a. start-over.

I didn't go to search for pirates. I have learned the hard way, that even on easy they tend to shoot anything I build in a few shots. I have never been successful at shooting back, and the pirates seem to have 100% precision with very fast shooting weapons that I can not outmanoeuvre or avoid.
This game actually lacks a progression challenge. Starting in Star-Made feels like getting drafted into a modern war with your underpants and if you're lucky a stick.
In most games the challenge to the player is roughly proportional to the player's skill level. This game lacks (IMHO) that progression. Hence the new players say it's too hard, and seasoned players say it's too easy.

if you happen to have yet another pirate station spawn too close to the staring point you could use the /destroy_entity_dock command to get rid of it

 

[DrTarDIS]

That is unfortunately the downside of a randomly generated world and luck.

for starter packages edit you game.cfg and use different usernames. If it's that bad i guess "Sijaiko" on your local game was a great martyr to be remembered by his sucessor, "Sijaiko II"

 

[Lidren]

There is progression and difficulty scaling planned or already in the works, but it might be pretty far out. Until then I recommend playing on multiplayer servers with constructed progression. Where it is at least simulated at different levels. You also have the advantage of assistance in tight spots and fast answers to questions if the server is friendly.

 

[aceface]

I myself get passed off how the Ai occasionally snipes me without seeing anythin

 

[jayman38]

I saw two great ideas: random exploding gas pockets on asteroids and a start-over option when your resources get too low. I like these.

 

[Keptick]

Dat poll tho. I thought that it was to answer the title at first. Wtf is the point of a poll if all the answers mean the same thing???

 

[WCG]

[2015-04-23 00:25:03] [DEATH] Sijaiko has been killed by 'Resposible: Station_Piratestation

Where do you get this information? I'm a new player, too, and I've died four times in rapid succession - at my 'invulnerable' home base - without ever even seeing a pirate.

I assume that pirates are killing me, since the first time I respawned, I checked the navigation screen and it showed pirates, though not very close. Since then, pirates are always there, and I can't leave my home planet. Heck, the last time I was killed, I was completely blocked off from sight, far underground, just working on a new ship - and the nearest pirate (according to the nav screen when I respawned) was 11 km away and must be able to shoot around corners!

Every death has been the same. There's never any indication that I'm even under attack. I just get the respawn option and I assume it was pirates. But I'm just a newbie, and I didn't realize the game would tell me how I'd been killed. Thanks for the info! Maybe there's some other kind of instant death in StarMade?

Typically I build up some credits by journeying between shops trading stuff until I get a relatively decent ship

So you just start over if pirates show up before that, then?

I'm serious. I started by mining, setting up a home base on a planet near three convenient asteroid fields (far from the pirate station I saw on the nave screen at the other side of the solar system). I kept checking the nav screen, and I was fine as long as no pirates showed up.

Then I just died, without warning, as I was leaving my home planet. After respawning, I checked the nav screen and, yup,... pirates! But now what? I can't leave my home base without dying. Heck, I died inside my home base, while working on a new ship, without any of it being open to the sky.

So, if you don't have a chance to build a "relatively decent ship" before the pirates show up, do you just start over? I'm planning to start over, myself, but what if it happens again? Is there any solution, other than just keep starting over?

You are flying through empty space and BAM out of nowhere you are dead.
It would be really helpful to have a lock-on-indicator.

Absolutely! As I say, I've died four times in a row, the first two times in ships with radar jamming, and I have yet to see my first pirate. I'm just dead. When I respawn, I check the nav screen and see pirates. But it's a bit late by then.

Yes scanners are actually for this, but: A they must be triggered manually; B their range isn't too big; and C they aren't really available from the start.

I wondered what scanners were for. I mean, I assumed that it was something like this, but I didn't know how to use them. Apparently, they're not worth bothering with?

You said they must be triggered manually, but will they run automatically after that, like radar jammers are supposed to do? (From my own experience, I'm not actually sure radar jammers do anything.) Will you get an alarm or something when pirates appear on the nav screen after that? It would be nice to know I'm going to die before I actually get the respawn screen.

Pirate stations can be tough at first, try not to take on them early on.

My own problem isn't pirate stations. I avoided the only one I saw on the nav screen (on the other side of the solar system from where I set my home base). It's apparently just pirate ships, who can see me - and kill me - not just through radar jamming, but even hidden underground. And the last time I died, the nearest pirate was 11 km away!

I didn't go to search for pirates. I have learned the hard way, that even on easy they tend to shoot anything I build in a few shots.

A few shots? I'm impressed. I've never even known I was under attack (or that pirates were even in the sector). I just get the respawn option, so I know I've been killed.

Anyway, thanks for the post. I'm so new I didn't even realize that the game would tell me how I died. Maybe my planet is infested with malicious ghosts or something? Heh, heh. Certainly, I've died four times without ever having the slightest idea that I was in danger. Maybe my assumption that it was pirates is wrong? I'll have to check.