Disclaimer: Before reading, understand that I do not expect this game to be Minecraft with space. This is a whole new, different beast, and I respect that greatly. I’ll admit, there are elements that I suggest that might give the game a similar feel to Minecraft in some aspects, but I understand these are two very different games. Critics, also keep that in mind as you pick apart my ideas and add upon them (Which I hope you do!). See other disclaimer*
I do not think I’m alone when I say that the planetary experience is a bit lacking. I mean, you get in, you pick out the rocks, or cacti, that you need, and you get out. But any money you can get from mining, you can get from selling the glass you get from space stations. (Haha, I learned that on day one.) Currently there are no real reasons to head onto a planet at all.
There are a few ways to change this. There are also many ways to make this worse, so there is a fine line. The challenge is to make gameplay on a planet challenging and rewarding enough so that players can really immerse themselves in it. But not so challenging that nothing can get done, and not so rewarding that a player never has to come back to another planet again.
After giving the situation some thought, I’ve come to the conclusion that to make visiting a planet a rewarding experience, the player must be rewarded. Redundant I know. But it’s not so common sense. The player must find things on planets that they simply can not find elsewhere. As it is, unique minerals, such as Insanium and Awesomite, are that reward. But what can that really get the player other than snazzy names? Now I haven’t gotten much into factory work, but my best observation is that it’s not needed to create a super bruiser-cruiser. So then what? You mine simply to sell your findings? No fun!
No, the solution that I’ve come to is much more tantalizing:
Ship parts
Mmmm...
Offer unique ship parts in return for the hard work of mining. It’s a simple solution. You mine, build factory modules, and craft a thruster twice as powerful as the starter thrusters. That’s just an example. The reality of it is that you can get off the planet and deal with what generic items the government-issued shops will distribute, or craft your own specialized, unique parts!
Now, I was never one to play peaceful mode. There needs to be something that forces your adrenaline to pump through your veins, you space-faring, frontier-exploring, medallion-bearing astronaut, you! There needs to be something that makes you scared to leave your shelter at night. Something that causes the worst kind of goosebumps at the mention of it’s name.... Now I don’t know what that is. But I’m sure any agile, lethal, and hostile mob can do the trick! Without the threat of death, there’s almost no fun in going spelunking, or mining the surface! I want challenge! I want fear-inducing, acid-spitting aliens!
I would honestly be fine if there were 1 - 3 of the EXACT same kind of mob that spawned on every single planet every night to kill a nearby player. Preferably at night. Something to get us danger-junkies by!
What’s the word when you’re faced against two hungry aliens with nothing but your bare fists? No not heroic... No, not ideal... Oh what is it? … Ah yes, slaughter. And it’s not the aliens that are on the menu, friend.
Every galactic hero needs a weapon! Luke has a lightsaber, Dr. Who has his sonic screwdriver... (name another because I am at a loss here!) You should be no exception! A simple blaster, or a blow torch, or even a slingshot! Anything that can damage another player or mob, really. Something!
This really has nothing to do with the above, but GOD this is annoying.
I’ve seen other posts about this, and as far as I can tell, apart from the coding trouble it may bring, the only other problems here involve combat. Envision the following scenario:
You’re in the middle of a battle, and you located your enemy’s ship core. You get up close and you unload on it with every weapon in your arsenal! But then, what’s this? The enemy is not incapacitated. The core is not overheating. It’s been moved!-
This is an obvious issue. I believe there may be some simple solutions:
There’s so many appealing things to this game, but one of the things that turn me off the most to it is probably the thing that made it so successful in the beginning: The sheer ease with which one can go from having nothing, to having millions upon millions of credits. I would NOT want to spend months working to get a scouting vessel, but trust me when I say that it really is too easy to creating a mega-monolith to the Pastafarian spaghetti god.
“NO!
Who wants to spend their time on an arid, boring planet when all the fun is happening in the stars??”
Well, that’s just the thing. Make it fun! I explained this earlier, but this concept applies to your initial spawn, so it’s different! Listen up!
I envision the following:
You begin on a desert planet. Your inventory is empty. Nothing in sight for miles except-- Except a conveniently placed supplies trader very near to where you spawned. You walk up to the building and press ‘b’ only to see he sells Ship Cores, Salvage Computers and Cannons, Build Blocks, SD Hyperflux Coil Teslinverter xm3.4 power units, PlexDoors, PlexGlass, and various hull types. No credits, though. But alas, the Explorer Aid Interface in your helmet points out that you can mine special minerals to sell. Though, you may want to invest in a shelter to survive the night, it suggests.
As you can tell, this adds an appealing element to escaping this hostile environment. It adds a kind of luster to the game that is frankly attractive.
Fuel may be a thing. It’s not yet, but the devs hinted at it in the future. And the more I read on this forum, the more I see that this is a hefty concept. If a general fuel was added to the game, and power sources were no longer infinite as the ever-so-clever SD HCT xm3.4 power units make it, then not only would larger ships need to rest more often, but smaller ships can go farther with less. Balancing the large and the small. Diminishing some of the arms race between players on servers. But this can apply more to just balancing. Finding fuel is a priority now. A faction of twenty-five players just extinguished the fuel in a local star system, and now need to migrate until it regenerates. Otherwise risk being obliterated by their opposing factions.
Definitely this game needs to be nerfed in this way. Within twenty minutes of starting, someone can have millions of credits. This is an outrage! It’s like that time I learned the Motherlode cheat in Sims and used the money to make my family classy before they died of malnourishment.
That’s all I have to say. We. Want. Cheaper. Glass. Make us work for things, Devs!
This concept is a little more like the concept of, if you believe you deserve it, the universe will serve it. You just gotta be a doer! Similar to the idea that a player can manufacture their own special, more powerful ship parts. If the player can survive the planet, earn the credits, and build a ship with enough fuel to get them out of the sector, they will be rewarded with rarer, and more unique components for their space-craft.
BEFORE YOU RIP MY HEART OUT!! Let me explain that, yes, I understand that everyone and their mother is asking for this addition. And Devs, don’t hesitate to add it. But I think it’s simpler than some people are making it seem. I would be satisfied to see the speed limit lifted with a special block. Think of it this way.
Introducing:
THE
Nikola-Hyperflux Omega-Coil
Okay this is just a fancy way to display this idea in an eye-catching way. Sorry.
Upon activation, the Nikola-Hyperflux Omega-Coil will increase ships speed limit anywhere between 100-250 km/h. For approx. a minute. Output extremely reliant on energy input.
With an extremely long wait time, this special block will transport you from deca-sector to deca-sector with ease.
That’s all I got. Tell me what you think.
*Now believe me, I do understand that all this requires complex coding. To be honest, if I were the programmers, I would pawn this off as some weekly mod-making challenge of some sort. Just take the GREAT stuff and incorporate it into vanilla! The game has much more to be fleshed out and refined, but no matter what there will be those, like me, who feel as though these additions are necessary.
Planetary Gameplay
I do not think I’m alone when I say that the planetary experience is a bit lacking. I mean, you get in, you pick out the rocks, or cacti, that you need, and you get out. But any money you can get from mining, you can get from selling the glass you get from space stations. (Haha, I learned that on day one.) Currently there are no real reasons to head onto a planet at all.
There are a few ways to change this. There are also many ways to make this worse, so there is a fine line. The challenge is to make gameplay on a planet challenging and rewarding enough so that players can really immerse themselves in it. But not so challenging that nothing can get done, and not so rewarding that a player never has to come back to another planet again.
After giving the situation some thought, I’ve come to the conclusion that to make visiting a planet a rewarding experience, the player must be rewarded. Redundant I know. But it’s not so common sense. The player must find things on planets that they simply can not find elsewhere. As it is, unique minerals, such as Insanium and Awesomite, are that reward. But what can that really get the player other than snazzy names? Now I haven’t gotten much into factory work, but my best observation is that it’s not needed to create a super bruiser-cruiser. So then what? You mine simply to sell your findings? No fun!
No, the solution that I’ve come to is much more tantalizing:
Ship parts
Mmmm...
Rewards for Mining
Offer unique ship parts in return for the hard work of mining. It’s a simple solution. You mine, build factory modules, and craft a thruster twice as powerful as the starter thrusters. That’s just an example. The reality of it is that you can get off the planet and deal with what generic items the government-issued shops will distribute, or craft your own specialized, unique parts!
Hostile Mobs
Now, I was never one to play peaceful mode. There needs to be something that forces your adrenaline to pump through your veins, you space-faring, frontier-exploring, medallion-bearing astronaut, you! There needs to be something that makes you scared to leave your shelter at night. Something that causes the worst kind of goosebumps at the mention of it’s name.... Now I don’t know what that is. But I’m sure any agile, lethal, and hostile mob can do the trick! Without the threat of death, there’s almost no fun in going spelunking, or mining the surface! I want challenge! I want fear-inducing, acid-spitting aliens!
I would honestly be fine if there were 1 - 3 of the EXACT same kind of mob that spawned on every single planet every night to kill a nearby player. Preferably at night. Something to get us danger-junkies by!
Handheld Defense
What’s the word when you’re faced against two hungry aliens with nothing but your bare fists? No not heroic... No, not ideal... Oh what is it? … Ah yes, slaughter. And it’s not the aliens that are on the menu, friend.
Every galactic hero needs a weapon! Luke has a lightsaber, Dr. Who has his sonic screwdriver... (name another because I am at a loss here!) You should be no exception! A simple blaster, or a blow torch, or even a slingshot! Anything that can damage another player or mob, really. Something!
Moveable ship cores
This really has nothing to do with the above, but GOD this is annoying.
I’ve seen other posts about this, and as far as I can tell, apart from the coding trouble it may bring, the only other problems here involve combat. Envision the following scenario:
You’re in the middle of a battle, and you located your enemy’s ship core. You get up close and you unload on it with every weapon in your arsenal! But then, what’s this? The enemy is not incapacitated. The core is not overheating. It’s been moved!-
This is an obvious issue. I believe there may be some simple solutions:
Make it so that the core can only be moved to, but not through adjacent blocks. This may take a while on larger ships.
Perhaps moving a ship core will cost credits. And with each move, it costs more and more.
Don’t make the ship core able to be uprooted and put back in the inventory. This would cause huge problems. As it is, it is not possible. But if the core was made moveable, then removing it should have dire effects. You save your core, but at what cost? Your entire ship is dispersed as loot. I imagine if you feel the need to use this desperate technique, then you’re being confronted by an overpowering enemy. No matter what this will be a bad choice as the player.
Nerfing progress
There’s so many appealing things to this game, but one of the things that turn me off the most to it is probably the thing that made it so successful in the beginning: The sheer ease with which one can go from having nothing, to having millions upon millions of credits. I would NOT want to spend months working to get a scouting vessel, but trust me when I say that it really is too easy to creating a mega-monolith to the Pastafarian spaghetti god.
Harder to get off spawn planet
“NO!
Who wants to spend their time on an arid, boring planet when all the fun is happening in the stars??”
Well, that’s just the thing. Make it fun! I explained this earlier, but this concept applies to your initial spawn, so it’s different! Listen up!
I envision the following:
You begin on a desert planet. Your inventory is empty. Nothing in sight for miles except-- Except a conveniently placed supplies trader very near to where you spawned. You walk up to the building and press ‘b’ only to see he sells Ship Cores, Salvage Computers and Cannons, Build Blocks, SD Hyperflux Coil Teslinverter xm3.4 power units, PlexDoors, PlexGlass, and various hull types. No credits, though. But alas, the Explorer Aid Interface in your helmet points out that you can mine special minerals to sell. Though, you may want to invest in a shelter to survive the night, it suggests.
As you can tell, this adds an appealing element to escaping this hostile environment. It adds a kind of luster to the game that is frankly attractive.
Fuel
Fuel may be a thing. It’s not yet, but the devs hinted at it in the future. And the more I read on this forum, the more I see that this is a hefty concept. If a general fuel was added to the game, and power sources were no longer infinite as the ever-so-clever SD HCT xm3.4 power units make it, then not only would larger ships need to rest more often, but smaller ships can go farther with less. Balancing the large and the small. Diminishing some of the arms race between players on servers. But this can apply more to just balancing. Finding fuel is a priority now. A faction of twenty-five players just extinguished the fuel in a local star system, and now need to migrate until it regenerates. Otherwise risk being obliterated by their opposing factions.
Nerf money making, Devs!
Definitely this game needs to be nerfed in this way. Within twenty minutes of starting, someone can have millions of credits. This is an outrage! It’s like that time I learned the Motherlode cheat in Sims and used the money to make my family classy before they died of malnourishment.
That’s all I have to say. We. Want. Cheaper. Glass. Make us work for things, Devs!
More advanced ship parts available in shops. Value equal to distance
This concept is a little more like the concept of, if you believe you deserve it, the universe will serve it. You just gotta be a doer! Similar to the idea that a player can manufacture their own special, more powerful ship parts. If the player can survive the planet, earn the credits, and build a ship with enough fuel to get them out of the sector, they will be rewarded with rarer, and more unique components for their space-craft.
-FTL Drive
BEFORE YOU RIP MY HEART OUT!! Let me explain that, yes, I understand that everyone and their mother is asking for this addition. And Devs, don’t hesitate to add it. But I think it’s simpler than some people are making it seem. I would be satisfied to see the speed limit lifted with a special block. Think of it this way.
Introducing:
THE
Nikola-Hyperflux Omega-Coil
Okay this is just a fancy way to display this idea in an eye-catching way. Sorry.
Upon activation, the Nikola-Hyperflux Omega-Coil will increase ships speed limit anywhere between 100-250 km/h. For approx. a minute. Output extremely reliant on energy input.
With an extremely long wait time, this special block will transport you from deca-sector to deca-sector with ease.
That’s all I got. Tell me what you think.
*Now believe me, I do understand that all this requires complex coding. To be honest, if I were the programmers, I would pawn this off as some weekly mod-making challenge of some sort. Just take the GREAT stuff and incorporate it into vanilla! The game has much more to be fleshed out and refined, but no matter what there will be those, like me, who feel as though these additions are necessary.
