Bosses

[zigyzigy]

I think starmade should have bosses. Several preferably, perhaps with a new set of bosses that mark out a series of significant stages in progression in the game. e.g players can't make their own faction until they defeat the first boss. can't make their own station until they defeat the second boss. have a limit on the size of the station they can build based on number of bosses defeated. etc. (obviously these are just random examples but the incentive for defeating bosses could be in a config file for online servers and have a balanced default for single player.)

Without defeating them then players can only progress to a certain point.

The bosses should not only be about military prowess but also puzzle solving or speed. You could have a player contest to make 'boss stations/ arenas' that have to be destroyed in order to take over sectors. each sector that a faction has the harder the difficulty of the boss station and or fleet protecting it.

after a certain number of sectors are controlled there should be random events where the pirate faction attempts to raid your sector and take it back with a large fleet.

Some boss-like challenges could also be player made stations that require you to complete a racecourse in under a certain amount of time or to solve a puzzle and unlock a vault, or even buy your way through a boss stage for a very large sum of resources.

multiplier specific bosses would only be defeat-able by 2 or more players increasing the need for cooperation and also creating the perfect scenario for an opposing faction to launch a flanking attack while your faction try and defeat the hardest boss on the server.

Certain bosses could be based in specific locations and launch an event every hour, once a day or once a week for a certain time-limited reward such as a resource gathering bonus for your faction or a time limited super weapon or shield buff. This increases the incentive for factions to explore and hold certain territories.

 

[CyberTao]

Creative idea, but I am against about 90% of this. This is a sandbox game, it makes no sense to lock things arbitrary tasks and goals and it sounds incredibly game-y for the sake of being a game.

 

[NeonSturm]

It's a nice idea for some server, but it should not be required for all.

If players could enter this server with their custom blueprint uploaded in the community content or one of the provided defaults,
it would be a nice ...addon... to the usual game experience.

I think quite some sm40k players (Warhammer40k in StarMade) would love bosses which require team-fights to some point and drop faction modules for the participants when the server population gets larger.

 

[Edymnion]

Bosses in the way that Minecraft had "bosses", sure. But actual Final Fantasy style bosses that you have to get past before you can get your next attack? No thank you. People play games differently. Like Minecraft, Starmade is a sandbox game. The entire point of it is that there is no storyline, no set bosses, no hard set objectives. Its just a wide open universe that you can do anything you want in.

Now, that being said, there can be bosses in the game right now. Have the admin make a powerful ship and fly it around. Have them offer a reward to whoever can beat them, be it blocks, or money, or access to a cool blueprint that no one else has.

Thats the beauty of sandbox games. Pretty much anything you want in them content wise is already there, you just have to make it yourself.

 

[Krougal]

No. Just no. Bosses are a cover-up for a lack of creativity and AI programming ability. Can't make your game interesting and challenging? Add a stupidly powerful boss-mob. No thank you.

 

[Edymnion]

No. Just no. Bosses are a cover-up for a lack of creativity and AI programming ability. Can't make your game interesting and challenging? Add a stupidly powerful boss-mob. No thank you.

No, thats just the lazy game's way of making a boss, by simply upping it's numbers.

I've played many a game with boss fights that required skill and ability to beat that didn't rely on simply giving them a gajillion hitpoints and firing off OHKO's.

But boss fights are for games with progression and objectives. Thats pretty much the opposite of what a sandbox game is about.

 

[Master1398]

Bosses in terms of station sized ships - yes.
Bosses are needed to unlock features - no.

 

[Lecic]

I don't really like the idea of bosses in a game like this. Sure, there might be challenges to overcome that would be like a bossfight, but I wouldn't want anything directly coded in. For example, taking down a pirate station. Is that a boss fight? For some players, sure. Let's say randomly generated AI factions that control territory are added. Would taking on a faction's titan be like a boss fight? Yes, but it's not a coded in event, it's just something that happens through the course of the game.

 

[Voldrath]

Star made already has a boss that limit's early players access to territory, it's called Pirate Station Alpha.

 

[NeonSturm]

Funny but true.

Just give a chance for customized loot per ship/faction and different faction using different ships.

Then every admin can make a boss-faction, give them access to powerful ships and adjust the loot they drop.

 

[Winterhome]

All you have to do to kill that boss is make a bigger ship.

Easy.

So, no, not a big fan of the idea in a sandbox game about engineering and such.

 

[zigyzigy]

Thanks for the feedback guys, clearly what I have suggested is not what the community wants, particularly in relation to limiting progress which is a fair point.

I would add one though on the subject though I think that some people may read 'boss' and immediately assume a coded / organised event facing a very powerful enemy that simply requires you to build a super big ship that can blow it up.

when I use the term 'boss' I simply mean a game mechanic that poses a challenge ( not just shooting stuff) to the player that requires ingenuity and creativity to overcome. And give players some sense of progress Or achievement.

I dont think I am alone in wanting there to be more elements in starmade that give a sense of progress and no, progress is not the opposite of a sandbox game. There is a reason that there is a crafting system and a (very basic) economy. They provide a sense of progress in the game. The higest level manufacturing block produces the best components which are more rare and more expensive and the lowest factory block produces only basic equipment That is cheap. Currently in game the combat progress is defined by how far from the centre of the galaxy you are by placing more pirate stations the further out you are. I was thinking of a more entertaining way of increasing the difficulty for certain aspectcs of the game in the form of bosses.

 

[Edymnion]

Star made already has a boss that limit's early players access to territory, it's called Pirate Station Alpha.

*newbie logs in, 5 minutes later*
"What the hell? I just exploded for no reason?!?"

"*sigh* What are your coordinates? I'll come neuter the alpha station that just shot you from 3 sectors away."

 

[Ithirahad]

I dont think I am alone in wanting there to be more elements in starmade that give a sense of progress and no, progress is not the opposite of a sandbox game. There is a reason that there is a crafting system and a (very basic) economy. They provide a sense of progress in the game. The higest level manufacturing block produces the best components which are more rare and more expensive and the lowest factory block produces only basic equipment That is cheap. Currently in game the combat progress is defined by how far from the centre of the galaxy you are by placing more pirate stations the further out you are. I was thinking of a more entertaining way of increasing the difficulty for certain aspectcs of the game in the form of bosses.

You are not alone, Zigy. Personally, I would like to see things like (non-stupid) boss mobs and various challenges required to be able to (say) take territory from the enemy and build an outpost there for one's self... I don't really understand all the opposition, as long as there's a free-play mode available.

 

[Chaosinflesh]

I also agree. My flatmate and I are both in agreement that StarMade lacks playability. Sure, we understand that it's a sandbox, but apart from exercising your creativity, what exactly is the point to the game?

Creating beautiful ships and complex logic systems are great, but we feel that from a gameplay perspective it is currently lacking something fundamental, which the OP has hit on the head - progression or purpose. There are lots of RP elements here, but we both feel it needs to offer something more..

 

[zigyzigy]

I also agree. My flatmate and I are both in agreement that StarMade lacks playability. Sure, we understand that it's a sandbox, but apart from exercising your creativity, what exactly is the point to the game?

Creating beautiful ships and complex logic systems are great, but we feel that from a gameplay perspective it is currently lacking something fundamental, which the OP has hit on the head - progression or purpose. There are lots of RP elements here, but we both feel it needs to offer something more..

Thanks, I had actually originally started writing a different post entitled 'over reliance on RP' but then my issue is not againt RP, its a great aspect of the game for the chunk of the community that are clearly very in to that.
My issue is that IMHO I dont think that is enough to make a game great, and I would love to see starmade become great. In the end the concept of 'Bosses' for me is simply an easily understood form of adding in a problem for players to overcome with the incentive of reward. Not all of us find it entertaining make up our own problem and then solve it ourselves.

I would be very interested to hear from schine whether their intention is actually to deliberately make a game that has no objectives whatsoever and no progression and therfore no real single-player playability because they are aiming to leave the creativity exclusively in the hands of the players.

Or if they do want to add in more of a sense of progression (while maintaining the open ended nature of the game) and then if they are going to add in progression will they do that through crafting, combat, exploration and/or trade. (In my mind these 4 things when all working in balance make awesome space games and I see bosses as one of many ways of enhancing all 4 of these areas in the game)

schema ??