- Joined
- Jan 16, 2015
- Messages
- 298
- Reaction score
- 81
What the title says.
Some actual game play other than mine build and fight horrendously broken AI and other players.
Seems this game has not changed in a long time game play wise and all that gets added is new systems,textures and items like ores renamed. Feels like Starmade is stagnating. Decided to make this post in repsonse to a server owner asking how he can get his player numbers back up, and other reasons aside,the main one is and what I get told by people when they stop playing is.......
"The game is boring as @#$%"
It's time we got some actual game play added finally. Sooner than later.
Let us look at StarMade in terms of actual gameplay.
Mine
Build
Fight dodgy broken AI.
Fight other players (if they ever undock)
Explore 'dead' systems that are the same as the other million you explored.
Play make believe. (if roleplay is your thing)
Wash Rinse Repeat.
And that is about it and has been for quite some time.
Many early access games thrive, because along with updates and fixes, game play is also regularly added and updated. People can accept the most buggiest game going if Steam is anything to go by,as long as they have something to do and are having fun.
For a very very long time StarMade has essentially been, mine, build, fight buggy AI and other players (when and if they ever undock) and little else.
Some of my suggestions will be gameplay ones, but some will be related to mechanics to enhance what is already in the game and in turn hopefully enhance what we do have and keep players interested.
Make AI a bit 'smarter' and more of a challenge.
Like not firing all weapons at once.
Stop them from firing all those weapons until their power is completely drained and unable to recharge as they just keep on firing even if they do not have power.
Maybe: Power is at 20% stop firing until power is back to X%.
AI has to wait as long to lock on as human players. They seem to currently get an instant lock.
Have AI know how to apply the handbrake. Enemies dead. STOP moving. This is even worse with Newtonian physics. Fights over and ship decides to drift off forever usually into the path of new pirate stations and fleets.
Stop the ridiculous withdraw distances, or the "Quitting" because you're now 2.5km from them. It'slike,meh I can still see him, he's within range, but pursuing is too much work I quit.Meaning I have to go to them to get them to wake up.
Make them want to fight and pursue enemies. I recently got two similar AI ships to fight, and they withdrew to such a distance they stopped fighting altogether because if you sat next to one the other was out of draw range or across the sector. Make them say "oh my shields and or power are down, I'll try and avoid combat and withdraw a little, but keep my foe in range so when they come back up I am ready to go.
Make waves work. What is the point of waves when they'll just spawn the same wave over and over regardless. Sometimes you can delete the waves and make a new one and the same wave will still spawn in even after a server restart and it's wave is no longer even listed.
When an update breaks the AI, fix it. Don't make us wait months or even weeks to hoping it may or may not get fixed.
When the AI is essentially only of of two actual game play mechanics in this game it needs to be working.
(the other being PvP)
Have a greater variety of pirate stations, from Easy Peasy, too OMFG RUN AWAY.
If you've been playing this game for a while, even Alpha stations will make you yawn.
Fix stuff that needs fixing when it needs it and when a new feature is added, make sure it's complete, fix existing game play elements that are clearly broken.
When rails came out the default stations should of been updated at the same time. Still we're waiting. Don't rely on the community to do your job for you. No doubt when it comes every server is gonna need a reset. Most I am sure would rather this sooner than later.
It doesn't seem that hard a task to do. Remove old docks, replace with rails and applicable turrets. Should this really even still be a thing we're waiting for?
Especially when there are community made turrets you could probably use that match current station turrets meaning you only need to spend 5 minutes replacing docks.
Hey pay me and I'll get it done in a week if not sooner, like a single day or 2.
Teleporters are a great idea, but they should of been functional to begin with. Not just added for the sake of adding content which seems like many systems are and keeping people happy.
Not just "here's teleporters, actual uses TBA at some unknown future date."
It honestly makes me dread the cargo update, aside form the stack limits and added weight to ships, I'm worried it will be "here you go, make space on your ship for cargo, oh but the actual crates that fill that space won't be added until an unknown TBA date in the future."
imho something like teleporters are a gimmick until we can actually use them as intended.
It's just like faction points. Seriously is there any point to them?
Only way to drive a factions points down is kill that factions players. Since being introduced they have really served no practical purpose, and if they did you just have to do 2 things, suicide......sorry forgot now the PC 'respawn', if you're going to lose a fight and pow, no penalty. Suicide costs nothing, but getting killed does making the respawn button the equivalent of ALT+F4
System cost points? Hey a single player can keep a large faction and it's systems going and inactive players even help for a couple of days.
Make your station your home base and don't claim any systems. It's worked for a player who attacked my faction, kept getting his butt kicked and rage quit. Months later his base is still there untouchable. Because he's not losing any points at all and no way to make him lose points because apart from his base and his docked ships. He owns no way to lose points.
Heck even if he owned systems I doubt we'd be able to raid his base ever. After all your first system is free and the one most usually make home.
FACTION POINTS HAVE BEEN IN THE GAME FOR AGES, MAKE THEM HAVE AN ACTUAL USE.
heck it would give people incentive to play if they knew there was an actual risk to logging out for extended periods. Make being inactive cost you.
Get rid of insta decay on Pirate stations.
Sure it makes sense on a derelict station that it's resources are going to be a bit worn out. But it seem insane when a perfectly fine and active station suddenly turns to trash the minute you just killed it and it's fleets.
Why did I fight again? So my prize could be buying it for X million of my credits to get rewarded..... lolwut?
Keep derelicts derelict to prevent easy farming, but not pirate stations you have to fight and risk your ship on. Seems logical if you ask me.
Gives people more incentive to go play with the pirates.
Maybe replace the overheat with 'self destruct' on Pirate Stations so it becomes a case of grabbing everything you can before the station blows?
Implement Moderator tools.
This is also essential. Seen servers with one admin because they cannot trust adding moderators because mods get all the same tools, and it only takes one bad mod/admin to trash the entire server with one press of the enter button. Even if you do add trusted people as admins, people can turn.
So you join servers and see one Admin who has a job and a life and likes to play other games. This turns players off as it can be hard to call on an admin when needed especially if griefers and trolls invade a server so they stop playing. It frustrates admins because they cannot get people to help them out without giving them the keys to the entire castle or they need to manage things themselves 24/7.
I've seen 3rd party addons that apparently allow players to have certain admin controls, like teleport commands with cool down timers on them, while not being able to access every admin command. So would it be too much work to add moderator options for server owners?
Make it so some players can be given simple mute/kick/ban/teleport options while blocking things such as commands that can despawn entire sectors.
Moderator privileges is a feature I feel that should of been one of the first added to the game.
Start adding simple missions or some other actual game play elements.
Even if it's go to spawn and get a job like "Go to advance shop at x, x ,x pick up 500 jump drive modules and deliver to advanced shop at y, y ,y and earn X amount of credits."
Got race gates now, add some race tracks as part of the default game. Even if just simple time trials.
You can spawn spiders on some stations, spawn other weird creatures of varying difficulty. Add a reward for clearing out the station or make these creatures drop credits or loot.
How about some big ass Boss pirate station populated with AI NPC's, even if they're mindless as long as they can attack a player like AI crew does now? This station could randomly spawn in systems and be a rarity you have to really go looking for, and be impossible for a single player to take down. And have several ways to destroy it aside from just camping it until it's dead. Main focus being boarding it and fighting your way to a core/computer terminal. It could tie into a mechanic that once the cores hacked or whatever, it respawns NPC's and you have to fight your way out before it blows. A bit of co-op action.
Give the station a tonne of anti missile turrets also.
I dunno just give us something fun to do than mindlessly mine, build and make our own very limited adventures that we've been doing for years.
The game play doesn't have to be genius level or over complicated, it just has to be there.
And I'll leave it at that for now. I can think of about a million other things that would enhance the game but this posts already long enough. Just want to make the point that I feel game play needs more focus. Players are quitting this game. You need to bait the hook and keep them playing.
Sure keep adding to the base mechanics and optimising. But for every cargo update, add or tweak a game play one.
Games need more than just new mechanic after mechanic. We play games for fun. When the funs not there we stop. Games need game play,otherwise they're just software. And right now StarMade has just become a flying lego game.
I love this game and it's potential, but I am getting worried as servers I play on become less and less populated, and MP games are no fun when there is nobody to play with.
Some actual game play other than mine build and fight horrendously broken AI and other players.
Seems this game has not changed in a long time game play wise and all that gets added is new systems,textures and items like ores renamed. Feels like Starmade is stagnating. Decided to make this post in repsonse to a server owner asking how he can get his player numbers back up, and other reasons aside,the main one is and what I get told by people when they stop playing is.......
"The game is boring as @#$%"
It's time we got some actual game play added finally. Sooner than later.
Let us look at StarMade in terms of actual gameplay.
Mine
Build
Fight dodgy broken AI.
Fight other players (if they ever undock)
Explore 'dead' systems that are the same as the other million you explored.
Play make believe. (if roleplay is your thing)
Wash Rinse Repeat.
And that is about it and has been for quite some time.
Many early access games thrive, because along with updates and fixes, game play is also regularly added and updated. People can accept the most buggiest game going if Steam is anything to go by,as long as they have something to do and are having fun.
For a very very long time StarMade has essentially been, mine, build, fight buggy AI and other players (when and if they ever undock) and little else.
Some of my suggestions will be gameplay ones, but some will be related to mechanics to enhance what is already in the game and in turn hopefully enhance what we do have and keep players interested.
Make AI a bit 'smarter' and more of a challenge.
Like not firing all weapons at once.
Stop them from firing all those weapons until their power is completely drained and unable to recharge as they just keep on firing even if they do not have power.
Maybe: Power is at 20% stop firing until power is back to X%.
AI has to wait as long to lock on as human players. They seem to currently get an instant lock.
Have AI know how to apply the handbrake. Enemies dead. STOP moving. This is even worse with Newtonian physics. Fights over and ship decides to drift off forever usually into the path of new pirate stations and fleets.
Stop the ridiculous withdraw distances, or the "Quitting" because you're now 2.5km from them. It'slike,meh I can still see him, he's within range, but pursuing is too much work I quit.Meaning I have to go to them to get them to wake up.
Make them want to fight and pursue enemies. I recently got two similar AI ships to fight, and they withdrew to such a distance they stopped fighting altogether because if you sat next to one the other was out of draw range or across the sector. Make them say "oh my shields and or power are down, I'll try and avoid combat and withdraw a little, but keep my foe in range so when they come back up I am ready to go.
Make waves work. What is the point of waves when they'll just spawn the same wave over and over regardless. Sometimes you can delete the waves and make a new one and the same wave will still spawn in even after a server restart and it's wave is no longer even listed.
When an update breaks the AI, fix it. Don't make us wait months or even weeks to hoping it may or may not get fixed.
When the AI is essentially only of of two actual game play mechanics in this game it needs to be working.
(the other being PvP)
Have a greater variety of pirate stations, from Easy Peasy, too OMFG RUN AWAY.
If you've been playing this game for a while, even Alpha stations will make you yawn.
Fix stuff that needs fixing when it needs it and when a new feature is added, make sure it's complete, fix existing game play elements that are clearly broken.
When rails came out the default stations should of been updated at the same time. Still we're waiting. Don't rely on the community to do your job for you. No doubt when it comes every server is gonna need a reset. Most I am sure would rather this sooner than later.
It doesn't seem that hard a task to do. Remove old docks, replace with rails and applicable turrets. Should this really even still be a thing we're waiting for?
Especially when there are community made turrets you could probably use that match current station turrets meaning you only need to spend 5 minutes replacing docks.
Hey pay me and I'll get it done in a week if not sooner, like a single day or 2.
Teleporters are a great idea, but they should of been functional to begin with. Not just added for the sake of adding content which seems like many systems are and keeping people happy.
Not just "here's teleporters, actual uses TBA at some unknown future date."
It honestly makes me dread the cargo update, aside form the stack limits and added weight to ships, I'm worried it will be "here you go, make space on your ship for cargo, oh but the actual crates that fill that space won't be added until an unknown TBA date in the future."
imho something like teleporters are a gimmick until we can actually use them as intended.
It's just like faction points. Seriously is there any point to them?
Only way to drive a factions points down is kill that factions players. Since being introduced they have really served no practical purpose, and if they did you just have to do 2 things, suicide......sorry forgot now the PC 'respawn', if you're going to lose a fight and pow, no penalty. Suicide costs nothing, but getting killed does making the respawn button the equivalent of ALT+F4
System cost points? Hey a single player can keep a large faction and it's systems going and inactive players even help for a couple of days.
Make your station your home base and don't claim any systems. It's worked for a player who attacked my faction, kept getting his butt kicked and rage quit. Months later his base is still there untouchable. Because he's not losing any points at all and no way to make him lose points because apart from his base and his docked ships. He owns no way to lose points.
Heck even if he owned systems I doubt we'd be able to raid his base ever. After all your first system is free and the one most usually make home.
FACTION POINTS HAVE BEEN IN THE GAME FOR AGES, MAKE THEM HAVE AN ACTUAL USE.
heck it would give people incentive to play if they knew there was an actual risk to logging out for extended periods. Make being inactive cost you.
Get rid of insta decay on Pirate stations.
Sure it makes sense on a derelict station that it's resources are going to be a bit worn out. But it seem insane when a perfectly fine and active station suddenly turns to trash the minute you just killed it and it's fleets.
Why did I fight again? So my prize could be buying it for X million of my credits to get rewarded..... lolwut?
Keep derelicts derelict to prevent easy farming, but not pirate stations you have to fight and risk your ship on. Seems logical if you ask me.
Gives people more incentive to go play with the pirates.
Maybe replace the overheat with 'self destruct' on Pirate Stations so it becomes a case of grabbing everything you can before the station blows?
Implement Moderator tools.
This is also essential. Seen servers with one admin because they cannot trust adding moderators because mods get all the same tools, and it only takes one bad mod/admin to trash the entire server with one press of the enter button. Even if you do add trusted people as admins, people can turn.
So you join servers and see one Admin who has a job and a life and likes to play other games. This turns players off as it can be hard to call on an admin when needed especially if griefers and trolls invade a server so they stop playing. It frustrates admins because they cannot get people to help them out without giving them the keys to the entire castle or they need to manage things themselves 24/7.
I've seen 3rd party addons that apparently allow players to have certain admin controls, like teleport commands with cool down timers on them, while not being able to access every admin command. So would it be too much work to add moderator options for server owners?
Make it so some players can be given simple mute/kick/ban/teleport options while blocking things such as commands that can despawn entire sectors.
Moderator privileges is a feature I feel that should of been one of the first added to the game.
Start adding simple missions or some other actual game play elements.
Even if it's go to spawn and get a job like "Go to advance shop at x, x ,x pick up 500 jump drive modules and deliver to advanced shop at y, y ,y and earn X amount of credits."
Got race gates now, add some race tracks as part of the default game. Even if just simple time trials.
You can spawn spiders on some stations, spawn other weird creatures of varying difficulty. Add a reward for clearing out the station or make these creatures drop credits or loot.
How about some big ass Boss pirate station populated with AI NPC's, even if they're mindless as long as they can attack a player like AI crew does now? This station could randomly spawn in systems and be a rarity you have to really go looking for, and be impossible for a single player to take down. And have several ways to destroy it aside from just camping it until it's dead. Main focus being boarding it and fighting your way to a core/computer terminal. It could tie into a mechanic that once the cores hacked or whatever, it respawns NPC's and you have to fight your way out before it blows. A bit of co-op action.
Give the station a tonne of anti missile turrets also.
I dunno just give us something fun to do than mindlessly mine, build and make our own very limited adventures that we've been doing for years.
The game play doesn't have to be genius level or over complicated, it just has to be there.
And I'll leave it at that for now. I can think of about a million other things that would enhance the game but this posts already long enough. Just want to make the point that I feel game play needs more focus. Players are quitting this game. You need to bait the hook and keep them playing.
Sure keep adding to the base mechanics and optimising. But for every cargo update, add or tweak a game play one.
Games need more than just new mechanic after mechanic. We play games for fun. When the funs not there we stop. Games need game play,otherwise they're just software. And right now StarMade has just become a flying lego game.
I love this game and it's potential, but I am getting worried as servers I play on become less and less populated, and MP games are no fun when there is nobody to play with.
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