Star Made missing that je ne sais quoi

[Neon_42]

Greetings all. I've had an itch that I have not been able to scratch for some time. In terms of this game it has been missing something. Something beyond giant space ships, FTL and awesome weapons. I figured it out months ago and I choose to share it now as I feel the game has reached a state where it can support it. As an alpha tester it would be gross negligence on my part to not bring this to the attention of @schema .

This game is missing competition. I posted the below in a thread titled What do people think is most important for the game now.

Spoiler: From Previous Post

Personally I think that the game needs a better PvP experience. There really isn't any reason for people to engage with each other. We build these awesome ships and bases that go unused most of the time. There is no sense of competition in this game. That is what it needs the most. The rest is just mechanics and play style adjustments. It's not enough to build a massive ship. I want to use it, and I want a reason to use it. I want somebody to try and take it from me. I want to solve problems and face situations that I can't in other games. I want to negotiate with other factions, form and break alliances. I want to play the hero, the villain, and the unknown soldier. I want all of this to be an integral part of the game. Until competition is introduced it is just a glorified sandbox.

In essence. The game lacks any real reason to play beyond aesthetics. It is fun to build ships and fleets, but it is more fun to use them.

In the aforementioned thread I mentioned one possible way to introduce competition into this game. However that is not what I want this thread to become, yet. This thread should be about priorities. The next update, after the one being currently worked on, needs to solely focus on introducing competition into this game. Everything else is just changes in mechanics. I think it goes without saying that bug fixing should never be ignored. Beyond bugs, balancing, and mechanics like FTL, AI, weapons, and crafting this game does not offer any real experience. As alpha testers there really isn't any incentive to test these mechanics either as they currently don't change the way we play. This is why I say the next update needs to be about introducing competition. Such that we have a reason to play with each other, a reason to keep on testing the new features and of course to make the game more fun.

 

[FunnyBunny14]

Well sir, then you are in luck! Because the schine team also realised that there was no real ultimate goal in starmade. So may I present to you:
A new faction system!
(Loud clapping here please!)
This would essentially make factions have to gain faction points to expand and evolve, and it also would make faction home bases not invincible.

The only downside is:
That there is no downside! Well, there is of course the problem of this still being in development. But don't fear! They are working hard to get this implemented as soon as possible! But after FTL of course. Possibly after the universe improvement. And maybe only after the creatures.

But they are working on it!

In the meantime you could try playing starmade without shops. It makes the game a whole lot more fun.
Set the sector size 2000 and try out these configs!
(Note: the glass should be more expensive, because it has the same hp and armor as hull. I'll change it in the next update. If you know how, you could change it yourself. They would have to be set to 60 crystals and 1 metal mesh each.)
http://starmadedock.net/threads/my-second-imo-balanced-config-this-time-for-crafting.2795/
http://starmadedock.net/threads/an-imo-balanced-config-for-beam-effects.2794/

The one for the beams is my personal favourite. It makes all the slave effects way less powerful and it gives the pulse and beam a use.

 

[ToyotaSupra]

One of the most popular requests is restructures multiplayer. It might get fixed with the new universe update.

Speaking of which, there has been nearly no news, every thing is dead. Where is the news? What's happening?

 

[FunnyBunny14]

Do you check the bug report site to check how many days are left until the next update? It is under the upcoming release section. Most of the work seems to have gone into the bugs, so no new features besides the three forms of FTL.

 

[Asmael]

Competition? A reason behind building ships? Something to achieve?

Ladders? Contests? A campaign? The pride of defeating an incredibly powerful NPC ship? Sectors to conquer? Anything to unlock in-game, following some actions? PvP content? New features? Something else?

Well, for Minecraft, it seemed like nothing but a completely unrelated quest, with no objective markers. And yet, if you really managed to get to this point, that's the player's "Oh yeah I suffered, I went through lots and lots of things and challenges, AND I FREAKIN' DID IT, F**K YEAH!!".

...Tho that wasn't really the case for me in Minecraft, just picking examples... Meh.

Mmh, I imagine that's for sure something interesting to think about... I imagine that once we get more NPCs and a way to make quests, it could be a nice opportunity.

 

[der_scheme]

One of the most popular requests is restructures multiplayer. It might get fixed with the new universe update.

Speaking of which, there has been nearly no news, every thing is dead. Where is the news? What's happening?

• Jump drives and Warp gates are implemented and functional. There are some issues that have to be worked out, and if they had real textures (and icons), they essentially could be released in their current state (imho). However, to my knowledge, the Hyperdrive for large ships isn't available yet.
• Schema also implemented some graphics optimizations (which actually should make it easier for very low-end computers to render my contest station—yay :D). I could not yet spot a difference in FPS, but to be fair, I haven't really tried to.
  
• Lots of bug fixes—approximately 20 resolved ones today (or in the last few days, at least).
• Small changes to the factory system (regarding logic and stashes).
• Edit: Build mode templates.

I believe that's it.

 

[Comr4de]

I've always supported the idea of fuel being needed to complete FTL jumps, with said fuel being refined from resources gathered from a theoretical gas giant. Pretty sure if these gas giants were spread thin enough eventually people would start fighting over them

 

[NeonSturm]

I've always supported the idea of fuel being needed to complete FTL jumps, with said fuel being refined from resources gathered from a theoretical gas giant. Pretty sure if these gas giants were spread thin enough eventually people would start fighting over them

Which should be an option (if implemented) and not just be implemented for one single type of block (would be such a waste of effort...)

I like everything that replenishes (near suns, in common nebulae, over time, in a stationary factory at your base...)

 

[Comr4de]

Which should be an option (if implemented) and not just be implemented for one single type of block (would be such a waste of effort...)

I like everything that replenishes (near suns, in common nebulae, over time, in a stationary factory at your base...)

I mean I really want the full monty of fuel to power ships period but I get the feeling that'll never take off.

 

[ResonKinetic]

Territory should be worth keeping. For example, planets should have something about them that makes you want to keep a base on them, away from other groups

 

[0ldSkull]