Instakilled the second I leave my Home World

[philthy mcnasty]

you can still try to make a cloaker to at least progress right now. it's not impossible - but hard. this one here can take two pirates out in just a few seconds, recloak wait for reload time and kill two more and so on. http://starmadedock.net/content/stealthcruiser-mk1.1941/

The reality of the whole instakilled part, is its growing pains. We have a buttload of new people(myself included) thanks to steam. The old wiki said you only need 80 shield capacitors. So what happens is some poor newbie, builds a ship, one that would survive the old stations, but is made out of paper to the new ones, and is shocked when they insta die so quickly.

 

[SKC]

you can still try to make a cloaker to at least progress right now. it's not impossible - but hard. this one here can take two pirates out in just a few seconds, recloak wait for reload time and kill two more and so on. http://starmadedock.net/content/stealthcruiser-mk1.1941/

Yeah I'm in the progress of figuring all that out myself. I do appreciate the link and information. I get frustrated with games that literally require you to go onto forums or a wiki to learn important game facts, when they could've easily been incorporated into the game.

I now know Pirate Base Turrets regen, so the fact I destroyed half of them didn't seem to matter haha. Woulda' been nice to know.

And apparently you can link weapons to make different ones, which is really useful information that wasn't in the game...

 

[philthy mcnasty]

1st change that needs to be made.

GAME STARTS ON A PLANET. Not in space with almost no understanding of how to make factories, salvage beams, radar jammers, pirates, etc.

2nd. Lock on sounds for missiles.

I agree with what you've said. The danger in this game should move outward from the starting position. To counter this, place a limit on the amount of resources in the starting Star System, such that you'd HAVE to leave the Star System to get resources to make Advanced Factory things.

This game just lacks a proper progression that wouldn't be that tough to make.

i think multiple starts would be better. Like have an alternative one where we start on a planet, in an escape pod, and work from there.

The problem though, is that once mobs are introduced, planets may not be safe....

 

[SKC]

The reality of the whole instakilled part, is its growing pains. We have a buttload of new people(myself included) thanks to steam. The old wiki said you only need 80 shield capacitors. So what happens is some poor newbie, builds a ship, one that would survive the old stations, but is made out of paper to the new ones, and is shocked when they insta die so quickly.

It wouldn't take more than a day to update the Store Descriptions with detailed instructions on how to use each item, or maybe more than a day to simply add a "Wiki" button when you press "ESC" so you can read about them there. There's not much programming involved besides a button, and a text database, maybe with pictures, that explains the details of the game and it's items.

Having this kind of information readily available in game is FAR more important to the game and it's population of players than adding new content or bug fixes, especially if you factor in how little time it would take to implement the information compared to huge balance, content, and bug changes.

If people get into this game and it is nothing but confusing and frustrating, they aren't going to continue to play it.

 

[philthy mcnasty]

One thing that i recommend to all new players, is to download the professional built ships, admin load them, and look at how they are made.

fly them out, and destroy a pirate station or two. This will not only teach you how ships work, but give you a better understanding for who the big ones handle, and the disadvantages they have.

 

[SKC]

i think multiple starts would be better. Like have an alternative one where we start on a planet, in an escape pod, and work from there.

The problem though, is that once mobs are introduced, planets may not be safe....

People didn't complain about Minecraft because the basics of the game were there, and it was abundantly obvious what to do. "Oh, a bad guy, oh look, I can stack blocks to hide." One look on the internet about how to make a axe, shovel, and pick, which were easy to figure out, and you've basically mastered the game in a way that lets you progress.

You didn't have Pirate Bases launching invisible missiles at you randomly as you walked across the grass in Minecraft.

And as for Mobs on the Planets in Starmade, I can only really see that making sense if planets were larger. If I can see across the entire side of a planet, having mobs is going to be kind of boring because I'll know exactly where they are.

 

[philthy mcnasty]

It wouldn't take more than a day to update the Store Descriptions with detailed instructions on how to use each item, or maybe more than a day to simply add a "Wiki" button when you press "ESC" so you can read about them there. There's not much programming involved besides a button, and a text database, maybe with pictures, that explains the details of the game and it's items.

Having this kind of information readily available in game is FAR more important to the game and it's population of players than adding new content or bug fixes, especially if you factor in how little time it would take to implement the information compared to huge balance, content, and bug changes.

If people get into this game and it is nothing but confusing and frustrating, they aren't going to continue to play it.

I do feel that the wiki needs some updating, however, steam does have the whole in game guide section, so all it takes is for people to write those.

I like the morbidly high difficulty of this game, and the deeep learning curve. This is a game that really makes you feel that you have accomplished stuff.

But yeah, a good quick fix is for them to make the starting sector safer.

Then again, i think part of the problem is how we spawn. WE do not even get shield generators. I think we should spawn in a ship, a weak one, and go from there.

But yeah, alpha game is in alpha, so i feel this will get resolved in the future.

 

[SKC]

I do feel that the wiki needs some updating, however, steam does have the whole in game guide section, so all it takes is for people to write those.

I like the morbidly high difficulty of this game, and the deeep learning curve. This is a game that really makes you feel that you have accomplished stuff.

But yeah, a good quick fix is for them to make the starting sector safer.

Then again, i think part of the problem is how we spawn. WE do not even get shield generators. I think we should spawn in a ship, a weak one, and go from there.

But yeah, alpha game is in alpha, so i feel this will get resolved in the future.

Having a safer starting sector, and/or starting on a planet definitely makes more sense.

I think most people are too lazy to read steam guides, go on forums, or wikis, etc. I think most people want to turn on a game and have it work, that simple.

But I agree with the difficulty mostly, I don't think it should be easier, I think the game should make more sense.

And even if people started with Shield Generators, would they know how to use them? How to connect them? How to drag the weapons or utilities onto the hotkey bar? etc.

 

[Panpiper]

And even if people started with Shield Generators, would they know how to use them? How to connect them?.

Wait, you have to know "how to use" shield generators? Everything I've seen on the Wiki or YouTube, etc., states that you simply need to put them somewhere on your ship, anywhere, no blocks or patterns needed. Is this not true? What about shield regenerators, do they too have to be built a special way or attached to something?

 

[Megacrafter127]

Wait, you have to know "how to use" shield generators? Everything I've seen on the Wiki or YouTube, etc., states that you simply need to put them somewhere on your ship, anywhere, no blocks or patterns needed. Is this not true? What about shield regenerators, do they too have to be built a special way or attached to something?

Nope, shields don't need a pattern, only the block-count matters.

 

[Panpiper]

Nope, shields don't need a pattern, only the block-count matters.

Thanks Megacrafter, whew! Now I just need to find out how many shields I actually need to survive instadeath from a pirate station.

 

[Snk]

It is hardly whining when currently certain enemy weapons can reach out and kill a player without warning long before they have any hope of successfully countering them or are even aware they are in danger in the first place. To a new player being killed out of the blue, and thus being penalized for a failure they could not see coming, is not something most find challenging but instead massively frustrating and depressing. The former encourages one to continue playing and generates interest while the latter simply causes one to eventually give up and abandon any further attempts. Driving a sizable portion of initially interested players away to cater to the preferences of a small sub-group is not a successful strategy for long term survival. Also there is a vast difference between making a "hard" game that is also fair in its difficulty such as Dark Souls which creates a feeling of properly controlled challenge that invigorates and yields a sense of eventual accomplishment, and one that is just brutal for the sake of being 'hard'. This is a critical distinction that you may wish to examine further.

That's a good point. I resign my argument.

Here are a couple things that haven't been mentioned:

Missiles need to have nav signatures, and their turning speed needs to be proportional to their damage. This is so they are easier to detect and dodge.

 

[SKC]

That's a good point. I resign my argument.

Here are a couple things that haven't been mentioned:

Missiles need to have nav signatures, and their turning speed needs to be proportional to their damage. This is so they are easier to detect and dodge.

That's a very good idea. I'm not sure if you can increase the size of the radar in the top right to see more, but being able to see incoming missiles that way would be very interesting.

Same with turning speed.

Is it possible to outrun missiles?

 

[Megacrafter127]

That's a very good idea. I'm not sure if you can increase the size of the radar in the top right to see more, but being able to see incoming missiles that way would be very interesting.

Same with turning speed.

Is it possible to outrun missiles?

It definetly is possible to outrun "nukes" (missile-pulse), as for normal missiles, I don't know for sure.

 

[Snk]

It definetly is possible to outrun "nukes" (missile-pulse), as for normal missiles, I don't know for sure.

No, you can't. They're fast as hell. Near impossible to dodge. You can hide behind an asteroid, though.

 

[philthy mcnasty]

It definetly is possible to outrun "nukes" (missile-pulse), as for normal missiles, I don't know for sure.

the problem with outrunning them, is you have to know you have been targeted first. this is where the problems are coming from. a nav marker + missile lock alarm would help things a lot.

 

[Snk]

the problem with outrunning them, is you have to know you have been targeted first. this is where the problems are coming from. a nav marker + missile lock alarm would help things a lot.

Nukes don't lock on to anything. They're dumb-fire.

 

[Megacrafter127]

Nukes don't lock on to anything. They're dumb-fire.

missile-pulse does lock.