Newly-spawned players should spawn with more items

[Planr]

Players NEED to spawn with more items now. The nature of the game has fundamentally changed.

Things are much more spread out now. Sublight travel is not a valid option for new players. The difficulty curve in gameplay for...

Newbies
VS
Players who have managed somehow to climb the ladder of success

...is completely unfair. It should not be this difficult for new players to be able to just enjoy the game. They need more items to be able to survive better. The tiny ships that players are able to make from what they start out with is almost never enough to survive the constant pirate attacks they face anywhere and everywhere. It becomes almost impossible for new players to make any sort of progress without a jump drive to get them away from the mayhem of spawn to some unoccupied space - which is next to impossible to find around the vicinity of spawn, especially at sublight speed.

This ties into another issue: New players cannot acquire jump drives by the "intended" personal growth means of mining and crafting because:

1. In order to craft items you have to have the resources for it
2. Spawn shops on most servers are usually always out of items + jump drive is very expensive so most newbies cant afford to just buy it from the ship + most servers now use dynamic economy systems that cause items like jump to be far more expensive than normal
3. So to get those resources you have to mine from an unclaimed entity, which finding an unclaimed entity around spawn on a MP server is next to impossible
4. Most MP servers tend to use large sector sizes that require hours of travel to reach said unclaimed entity in order to mine
5. Pirates spawn everywhere now (according to FunnyBunny14 this is intended) and pirate ships with missile-beam weapons are deathtraps for small ships, so the newbies usually will die before they reach their destination anyway
6. Newbie is repeatedly killed by pirates/lost in deep space/stranded at spawn
7. Newbie gives up and ragequits server, moves on to another one, cycle repeats

These problems could all be solved if new players spawned with like 10 times the amount of items they spawn with now. 25 blocks of hull and a few measly salvage modules is not enough for anyone. It worked ok two years ago when the game was just beginning to take shape and sectors were much closely spaced and everything was simpler, but now the game has evolved to the point where a decent ship is crucial if you want to survive. This shouldn't be so, but it's just how it is.
So, instead of moping and hoping for tons of other things to be changed so that the old spawn items work ok for starting out with, we should take the simpler and more logical approach and re-evaluate what players spawn with.

My recommendation is this:

Absolute Necessities

• 250,000 credits (needs to be high because every server's economy is different and on some items cost much more than on others)
• (all the default personal astronaut items)
• 5 Ship Cores

Defense

• 500 Grey Hull
• 100 Grey Standard Armor
• 50 Glass
• 750 Shield Capacitators (players need good shield protection)
• 250 Shield Rechargers

Interactivity

• 20 Plexdoors
• 2 Docking Modules
• 4 Turret Docking Modules
• 2 Camera Blocks
• 5 Storage (so they can store stuff; very helpful if mining)

Power

• 300 Power Reactors
• 100 Power Capacitators (so new players can use missiles)

Support

• 200 Salvage Modules (so players can make a decent starting-out mining ship)
• 2 Salvage Computers

Weapons

• 2 Missile Computers
• 100 Missile Tubes
• 2 Damage Beam Computers
• 100 Damage Beams
• 5 Cannon Computers
• 250 Cannon Barrels

Travel

• 200 Thruster Modules
• 1 Jump Drive Computer
• 20 Jump Drive Modules

If players were given this fair and balanced loadout, they will be able to fare a fair chance in the modern universe of StarMade.

Who's with me? Schema, please change this!

 

[starhaiden]

I think new players should only get half the amount of stuff you suggested. They should get only a 1/10th the amount of shield you suggested. What you suggested is too much stuff, it would make starting too easy.
Maybe new players could start off with a broken ship that they can use.

 

[ToyotaSupra]

No way, I can survive just fine with the stuff we get now! Jeez man, that's a treasure trove of crap right there...

Anyway, I think it'd be better to spawn with a few more salvage lasers and a Basic Factory and that's it, I can survive just fine by diggin into a planet and putting my factory there.

 

[Deleted member 392097]

Having all of these items for new players, would be the same as giving them loads of stations that were not decayed that they could mine, and then starting them off with a massive mining ship to get rich quick.

I think that a major problem actually in this game, is that it is rather easy to get right quick in some ways. So making it even easier would be a bad idea.

I mean, you do actually want the new players to actually build up their factions, and their money, and slowly upgrade their ships so that they can become at the top of the society in that universe. So just giving them everything at the beginning would just put at the top immediately, and it would just be too easy, and well, a little bit boring.

 

[jorgekorke]

All of those suggested are able to be customized on each server to fit on it's way, if I'm not mistaken - so I doubt they will change the "default"

 

[kupu]

I agree with all of your points but none of your figures.

 

[starhaiden]

I have a suggestion new players could start with a small salvage ship that is broken. It could have about 50 salvage modules and cannons could be slaved to it.

what new players could start with:

• 50 salvage modules
• 1 salvage computer
• 30 cannon modules
• 2 cannon modules
• 150 basic grey hull
• 20 basic grey hull wedges
• 40 basic hull of random colour
• 25 glass
• 10 glass wedges
• 9 plex doors
• 1 camera
• 4 ship cores
• 1 turret docking
• 2 turret docking enhancers
• 1 al bobby module
• 50 thrusters
• 50 power modules
• 10 power storage
• 2 plex storage
• 5 of both shields
• 30000 credits

 

[szczurpb]

I agree that new players needs more items on start.
But what u suggest is really to much.
1st of all, Weapon Computers need to be 2, not 1, so new players can make combined salaveging and waepon as second slot, without need of connecting/disconnecting weapon computer to salvage computer.

2nd. Rockets are to powerfull on start. Other weapons too.

Others:
Starting ships should be not "one use only" - u build, salvage some minerals and then its useless. It needs to be able to reconstruct it to more powerfull ship, without buing new items on beggining, so:
• 1 storage
• 4-8 or 6-12 or 9-18 (for me doors 2x2 are enough, but mby not for other players) plexdoor
• 1 camera
• a bit more power generators and thrusters
• some shields and shield capacitors (8 max)
• also some glass, but only blox, and more hull. For ex. 15 plexglass, 50 gray hull and 10 black hull.
• Gravity module. Sometimes on servers there are starting friends in one time, so there can be possibility to make nice transporter.
• salvage and cannon modules... 2x more of them?

more things could be bought for credits (if there are items in shop and they are not to expensive)

And about credits - max should be 30 000. if someone know how, he/she will change it in server.cfg
And most of servers have his own value for credits.

 

[jayman38]

If something like this is altered, it would be a great time to build a server-configurable starting item list file. That way, it's super-simple for a server admin to dictate exactly what their new players start with. It would also be neat to have alternative starting item files and a way to connect certain players to those alternative starting items. (Think: pay-to-win servers that reward donors. Not popular in our community, but could be possible.)

 

[ltmauve]

Or have a system that gives new players different items and lets them spawn in different places depending on a list (So an RP server can let people choose between different factions when they join)

 

[Top 4ce]

Honestly the only thing I would add to the starting items is a Jump-drive Computer, about 5 jump modules, and a faction block. That's all you'll need. Maybe an plex-undeathanator. This gives you the protection and movement needed to get away from spawn and claim a system if you're not joining a faction. Everything else is can be acquired normally from there.

As for newbies getting into trouble, that's a great opportunity to help them out and get them into the game. A good server that has a good community helps out the newbs, and doesn't spawn camp them. Unlike like a video that was posted recently...

 

[Mr.Steam]

IMO the most important starting blocks (other than the basic stuff):

1) Radar Jammer
2) Jump Drive and module
3) Faction module

No space explorer/miner should leave home without these.

How about protecting the entire 0,0,0 system and make it unclaimable.

 

[ToyotaSupra]

IMO the most important starting blocks (other than the basic stuff):

1) Radar Jammer
2) Jump Drive and module
3) Faction module

No space explorer/miner should leave home without these.

How about protecting the entire 0,0,0 system and make it unclaimable.

I like the idea of the starting area being unclaimable. Would ease off a few headaches.

But the rest? With starting credits I can buy a few more salvage beams, factories, build blocks and faction block and jet off and mine a planet somewhere. I honestly have no idea why everyone else thinks they need 30000 blocks just to start out with. You're not going to be able to defend yourself in the start, that's the point. You have to mine and build! Dodge the other ships! Learn how to hide yourself! The fun of the game for me is how you gradually start out from powerless to godmode. If we give everyone a good start, the complaints will flood in that the game is too easy (which has happened before.)

 

[jayman38]

There seems to be a need for a beginning AI faction (Edit: Separate from the trade faction) that the player can join to be a part of a bigger whole, so they can be a more active player right from the start.

For most players, running and hiding is not a fun way to start a game. The average player wants to jump in and be a fighter pilot (normally with ambitions to eventually become a capital ship captain) to blow stuff up.

If the player starts weak, but can immediately join a "friendly" faction, regardless of how many human players are available, then they can start having fun with coordinated strikes immediately, whether they want to be part of an attack fleet, or go run and hide as a weak player on their way to greatness. Then, simply assign that spawn area to this friendly AI faction.

 

[Lecic]

It's a good idea, but that's way too much stuff. New players definitely need more stuff at the beginning, but this is like a lot of stuff.

 

[Viridis00]

I agree with all of your points but none of your figures.

I feel that way too. Maybe 1/3rd of those materials.

Maybe another solution for this could also be a beginner mission when we get quests. A simple non-repeatable mission that can be completed by a player with the starting materials, like a simple courier mission to a nearby trade guild ship that spawns a few sectors away. The reward could be an all purpose ship equipped with a jump drive and other amenities spawned for the player. (of course we'd need a default ship to be made by the devs or submitted by players for that).

Sub-light travel a few sectors away makes it so that no one can spam it with alts or whatever easily, but is realistic to expect a new player to travel to.

 

[Aridhol]

In my opinion, it would be better to allow servers a way to config giving players a completed (filled) blueprint they could choose to spawn right away instead of giving them more raw blocks.

This would be much for friendly to new players as it does solve the issue of having an awful ship, and old vets can spawn it and eat it if they choose for the blocks..

Plus, with this option a server can setup which ship they want people to start with, so it can be measly or large depending on the servers settings, and it can be custom built to fit in with the galaxy you are portraying in an RP server

 

[aceface]

Players NEED to spawn with more items now. The nature of the game has fundamentally changed.

Things are much more spread out now. Sublight travel is not a valid option for new players. The difficulty curve in gameplay for...

Newbies
VS
Players who have managed somehow to climb the ladder of success

...is completely unfair. It should not be this difficult for new players to be able to just enjoy the game. They need more items to be able to survive better. The tiny ships that players are able to make from what they start out with is almost never enough to survive the constant pirate attacks they face anywhere and everywhere. It becomes almost impossible for new players to make any sort of progress without a jump drive to get them away from the mayhem of spawn to some unoccupied space - which is next to impossible to find around the vicinity of spawn, especially at sublight speed.

This ties into another issue: New players cannot acquire jump drives by the "intended" personal growth means of mining and crafting because:

1. In order to craft items you have to have the resources for it
2. Spawn shops on most servers are usually always out of items + jump drive is very expensive so most newbies cant afford to just buy it from the ship + most servers now use dynamic economy systems that cause items like jump to be far more expensive than normal
3. So to get those resources you have to mine from an unclaimed entity, which finding an unclaimed entity around spawn on a MP server is next to impossible
4. Most MP servers tend to use large sector sizes that require hours of travel to reach said unclaimed entity in order to mine
5. Pirates spawn everywhere now (according to FunnyBunny14 this is intended) and pirate ships with missile-beam weapons are deathtraps for small ships, so the newbies usually will die before they reach their destination anyway
6. Newbie is repeatedly killed by pirates/lost in deep space/stranded at spawn
7. Newbie gives up and ragequits server, moves on to another one, cycle repeats

These problems could all be solved if new players spawned with like 10 times the amount of items they spawn with now. 25 blocks of hull and a few measly salvage modules is not enough for anyone. It worked ok two years ago when the game was just beginning to take shape and sectors were much closely spaced and everything was simpler, but now the game has evolved to the point where a decent ship is crucial if you want to survive. This shouldn't be so, but it's just how it is.
So, instead of moping and hoping for tons of other things to be changed so that the old spawn items work ok for starting out with, we should take the simpler and more logical approach and re-evaluate what players spawn with.

My recommendation is this:

Absolute Necessities

• 250,000 credits (needs to be high because every server's economy is different and on some items cost much more than on others)
• (all the default personal astronaut items)
• 5 Ship Cores

Defense

• 500 Grey Hull
• 100 Grey Standard Armor
• 50 Glass
• 750 Shield Capacitators (players need good shield protection)
• 250 Shield Rechargers

Interactivity

• 20 Plexdoors
• 2 Docking Modules
• 4 Turret Docking Modules
• 2 Camera Blocks
• 5 Storage (so they can store stuff; very helpful if mining)

Power

• 300 Power Reactors
• 100 Power Capacitators (so new players can use missiles)

Support

• 200 Salvage Modules (so players can make a decent starting-out mining ship)
• 2 Salvage Computers

Weapons

• 2 Missile Computers
• 100 Missile Tubes
• 2 Damage Beam Computers
• 100 Damage Beams
• 5 Cannon Computers
• 250 Cannon Barrels

Travel

• 200 Thruster Modules
• 1 Jump Drive Computer
• 20 Jump Drive Modules

If players were given this fair and balanced loadout, they will be able to fare a fair chance in the modern universe of StarMade.

Who's with me? Schema, please change this!

AGREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Servers can already set up how many credits a player starts with and making a spawn shop have a full inventory isn't that big of a problem so what your talking about seems more of a server problem and not a game problem. It should be up to the servers if they want to be noob friendly or not (not letting established players camp spawn and kill new players as they leave protected zone).

Servers should really also have the option to choose what a player starts with though and it should be fairly easy to have a command that saves the current inventory of the admin issuing the command as a template for new players. This could even include already filled out blue prints ready to be spawned. An other expansion to this would be to allow for multiple templates and let players choose but that would need a more in depth frame work.

 

[The_Onion]

Personally, i think new players should be given an actual starter ship. Or maybe able to choose between a set of starter ships with different capabilities