Another year, another update?

[Theats]

I'm still holding on to a dream of the perfect game. Expandable, procedural, and playable on older devices. Multiplayer, with openness to economics, warfare, and diplomacy.

As of today, I will have a new PC. I had the same Toshiba laptop from 2011-2017 when it met my cat, and consequently, the floor. I will have a Skylake i7 with 16 gb RAM and a dual Asus GTX 1070 (bought pre Crpyto Craze, for less than 300 bucks). I'm ready to revisit older games that I have forgotten about. Which brings me back to Starmade.

Every few months I will check in on the forums and see where the updates have brought us. I will confess: Most of my activity in this game was pre-Rails update, so I am outdated, I know. I followed as the community exploded with renewed excitement for the possibilities. I remember hearing calls for new planet designs. I recall the massive roadmap being released.

And for a few months things seemed to peter out. I noticed there was much a heated discussion in regard to the power system reboot.

I feel that if I were to download the game now, it would be foreign, or like a new game if I were to boot it up. Is this the case?

I recall reading that crew would be simulated, and not NPCs, that much of the empire and Opposition behavior would be simulated and off screen as well. What is the state of the game? Is it still very much a sandbox in the terms of a proof of concept, or is there more developed intricacies?

I wanted so badly for the vision to make it off the ground. And I still do.

 

[kiddan]

A few of these points I can answer for you;

And for a few months things seemed to peter out. I noticed there was much a heated discussion in regard to the power system reboot.

The new power system is pretty functional from recent patches, but a lot of band-aids have been added on-top of it instead of addressing the core issues that caused them. There's a lot of room for improvement as well as debate as-to whether the new system is actually better than the old one. Hopefully, with further polishing, power 2.0 is also necessary for upcoming features' implementation.

I feel that if I were to download the game now, it would be foreign, or like a new game if I were to boot it up. Is this the case?

The next few updates to the game are going to rework (and presumably introduce) multiple aspects of gameplay (new weapons, damage system, universe structure, etc), so aside from building shells there is going to be a lot changed in the coming year. Right now, building power and shield systems already feels entirely different.

I recall reading that crew would be simulated, and not NPCs, that much of the empire and Opposition behavior would be simulated and off screen as well. What is the state of the game? Is it still very much a sandbox in the terms of a proof of concept, or is there more developed intricacies?

From what Schine has said, crew and fleets are planned to remain as physical characters and entities, but they are also allowing the game to simulate them without having the actual entities loaded so long as players aren't nearby. This allows the AI economy to function normally without as much of an impact on the server (though NPC factions are pretty crippling atm).

 

[Theats]

That's not so bad.

What struck me from the get go was that this game promised to be like a Star Citizen lite in a minecraft voxel fashion.

Huge, or even large, bustling stations rather than just desolation and emptiness as it feels on large minecraft maps.

 

[AndyP]

If your last playing time was before the rails:
Yes it will be quite different.
Tons of changes.

Rails were introduced like 3 years ago.

So you are on news page 13. (May 10 - 2015)

StarMade News - Latest

- Andy

 

[Theats]

Thanks Andy. I played a bit since the rails, but things rapidly changed after that. I used them, downloaded several ships, and trolled around in general, but I n ever really dove in since before then.

By chance, is Skylord Luke still active?

 

[Skwidz]

Thanks Andy. I played a bit since the rails, but things rapidly changed after that. I used them, downloaded several ships, and trolled around in general, but I n ever really dove in since before then.

By chance, is Skylord Luke still active?

Messages from SkylordLuke were last made about three weeks ago.

 

[SkylordLuke]

Messages from SkylordLuke were last made about three weeks ago.

im still alive
no point in building stuff (massive stuff like death star) until the dust with the updates settles

 

[Edymnion]

im still alive
no point in building stuff (massive stuff like death star) until the dust with the updates settles

Yup, pretty much.