Prebuilt ships included in game

[Mr.Steam]

With the game about to be introduced on Steam I really think some prebuilt ships for beginners should be included. When I started playing I had no idea how to build a decent ship (my ships are still ugly compared to a lot of ones I have seen). I know we can buy an Isanth, but you really don't know what they look like before you buy one. I would like to see some different styles available, and different types like a mining vessel, freighter, or fighter. I think they should spawn in next to the starting spawn point, (perhaps docked in a hanger) and be available to "kick the tires" before purchase. Once beginners see how a well built ship works they can modify their own ship or start from scratch.

 

[MineCatFTW]

Not a bad idea. It takes a while to understand how to build a decent ship.

 

[Comr4de]

Isanths are also pretty outdated at this point as well.

If players got a starter ship, instead of just spawning in space with materials, I feel like it'd be a lot more effective.

 

[MossyStone48]

We'd really love to see players come to the site here to find a good starter ship if they can't build one for themselves. Sub 250000 credit ships that can survive and work in a fresh vanilla universe would be the real sweet spot.

 

[Commodore Decker]

I like this idea, however what's to stop griefers from stealing the starter ships and taking the resources.

 

[Mr.Steam]

I like this idea, however what's to stop griefers from stealing the starter ships and taking the resources.

I would think MOST new players would start the game in single player and start a brand new universe, rather than just jumping into multiplayer. When you start a brand new game first impressions are really important. If they start the game and can't figure out what to do, or the universe is boring and empty, they might not come back. I know the tutorials are being improved to help the new players, but a lot of people don't want to mess with tutorials, and just jump into the game.

IDEA: Maybe the game could start with a basic mission and you could be "loaned" a ship from the trading guild that can't be sold. You could use this ship for a couple milk run missions then get enough credits to buy or build your own ship.

 

[Malacodor]

IDEA: Maybe the game could start with a basic mission and you could be "loaned" a ship from the trading guild that can't be sold. You could use this ship for a couple milk run missions then get enough credits to buy or build your own ship.

How would you force unwilling players to give the ship back?

 

[Criss]

Well they might now understand how to make a good ship, but the tutorial system does help a lot in terms of explaining all of the mechanics.

 

[MossyStone48]

Especially the new tutorial. It not only loans you a board like ship but also gives you the needed training to install and combine weapons.

 

[Mr.Steam]

How would you force unwilling players to give the ship back?

I would have it be a requirement of the mission. If you return the ship in good shape you will receive your payment. Any damage will come out of your pay. If you want to keep the ship, that is fine, it will be deducted from your pay, it is then unlocked and you can salvage or upgrade it.

The primary purpose of this concept is to give new players something to do immediately. My 14 year old son likes Starmade, but he isn't a good ship builder and primarily likes to buy and sell stuff. He prefers to play a merchant. He hasn't played in a while because there isn't enough going on to hold his attention. If you want to appeal to a broader audience (which any highly successful product does) you need to appeal to more than just hard core builders.

 

[Commodore]

I really like this idea. I think it would be great if there was 1-4 isanth sized ships docked at the beginning trade station on docking modules with faction permission modules adjacent. Maybe even on all trade stations. (or just one of the 5 types). It wouldn't be gamebreaking to get a free ship that size, and might make it easier for people to get into Starmade.

 

[rariisan]

I agree.

Another reason I think this is a good idea is because constructing a bunch of "cables" and pasting some hull on each side isn't really a good first impression. Would be nice to show the players the potential of the blocks Starmade offers you.

 

[MossyStone48]

As it is anyone can retake the tutorials at any time. The free ship deal should be a one-time thing. And that won't keep people from logging in retaking the tutorial and then passing the salvaged parts to their main. I prefer the DSTS daemon way of handling it. Just request a free core. You can ask once every ten minutes. And if we set the core's price to 0 no one could exploit it. They'd end up with a stack of cores. I suppose requesting a decayed ship would work too. Now matter how hard you try the only thing you get from the requested ship is basic parts. Any exploit would take to long to make profitable vs going put pirate busting in it. Make the ship in the sub-250k price range so it's ultra small and the most you'll get out of it is maybe 5k in parts. You'd get more harvesting an asteroid.

Make the game lecture you about losing ships so easily and have it be several pages of dialog that somehow gets worse with every ship you request. Wahahaha.

 

[Malacodor]

I suppose requesting a decayed ship would work too.

That's a good idea!

 

[Sha3es]

Perhaps it would be a good idea to give a half finished pre built ship to new players on their first spawn into the game in single player. From there a tutorial could be made to show them how to complete the ship. This will serve two purposes of instruction for new players. One, it will show them how systems work and interact with each other. Two, it will show them the general concept of ship building.

 

[SapioiT]

OR, when you spawn/respawn, you spawn in "empty space", are asked if you want to spawn, build your ship than spawn in it or build your ship following the tutorial (with an option to not follow the tutorial anymore, on that server/world) than spawn in it. After you built your ship, you just get out of your ship, you talk with an AI and you are spawned at the designated spawn point, within the ship you built.

 

[MossyStone48]

Guys. The new tutorial INGAME made by the lovely and talented Dalmont walks you through the building basics in a fairly comprehensive way. It includes giving the player temporary access to a prebuilt surfboard type ship, a shipcore you have to add weapons to and even goes into weapons combinations and resource basics. Run that tutorial yourself. Just once. It all happens so far from spawn as well there's hardly any way for the user to be interrupted by another user. Even on accident.

 

[aceface]

With the game about to be introduced on Steam I really think some prebuilt ships for beginners should be included. When I started playing I had no idea how to build a decent ship (my ships are still ugly compared to a lot of ones I have seen). I know we can buy an Isanth, but you really don't know what they look like before you buy one. I would like to see some different styles available, and different types like a mining vessel, freighter, or fighter. I think they should spawn in next to the starting spawn point, (perhaps docked in a hanger) and be available to "kick the tires" before purchase. Once beginners see how a well built ship works they can modify their own ship or start from scratch.

also sounds and 3rd person view need to be there before steam release

 

[Viridis00]

pre built ships would be excellent for not only new players, but for even advanced players who like to specialize in certain ships with their builds and don't want to be assed to make other types and just want a quick throwaway ship to get the job done.

 

[Mr. V]

I like the idea - it takes most people awhile to get used to the intricacies of building in this game, this would be an easier way to let people see some of the other fun aspects of the game prior to wrapping their brains around how to build their own ships.

Maybe it would make sense to make the new tutorial space station the default spawn position for the beginning of the game, and expand it so that after completing the tutorial (or opting to skip the tutorial) a new player could enter a hangar and choose one of a few cheap default ships or opt to build their own relatively equivalent ship with purchased blocks.

If anyone hasn't checked out the new tutorial yet, it's worth taking a look. Dalmont did a wonderful job of showing off what a creative builder can turn out in this game with the spacestation he put together.