Read by Council Survival Needs

[lord_farquad]

One thing I continually miss (and often something that keeps me from playing for longer stretches) is not having to worry about my general survival. Mostly only enemies are of threat to me, which I feel detracts from the experience.

In general I think builders like this thrive a lot on the feeling of progression and achievement, which is often achieved best by dominating not just enemies but your environment and moving past having to initially worry about simple survival but now how to (in this case) build the next better/bigger ship/station.

I believe this could be achieved with a survival mode of sorts adding some basic survival features like:

• Need for food - initially based on flora, then farms, automated farming, having to worry about food storage (doesn't that sound like painful fun?)
• Need for oxygen - at the moment I feel a bit to free in space. I'd like to have to worry about putting a helmet on, using an airlock, how much oxygen I have in my tank, generating it inside my ship, etc
• General environmental death (don't fall to far), space kills yo, etc

I realize these things can sound painful but as in most survival/builder games, they're a critical element to long-term play and add a lot of satisfaction in overcoming them.

Thoughts? Pitchforks? Tar & feathers?

 

[Ratchet Hundreda]

Life support modules. Plants and the upcoming critters could be processed in a block like the factories and could be stored in life support modules on your ship. Ice could be processed into oxygen which you would store in oxygen tank modules. Both of these resources would be consumed at a rate which would depend on the amount of crew members on a ship. The player would need to replenish their charatcers needs from these modules from time to time.

 

[Ithirahad]

No idea why the devs are against requiring things like food. It works well in Minecraft and it can work here. Fall damage, however, I don't know if I support, seeing as our suits seem to have in-built jet boots or antigrav modules of reasonable power.

 

[nightrune]

I'm gonna shamelessly plug my own thread

Spoiler: Own thread

.Brainstorm This - Faction Points as an Abstract Consumable, i.e. Food, Oxygen, and Fuel

My view on it is yes. We need a survival mechanic, but the scale of starmade does lend itself to food. The progress I see is small one man ships, then crew, then stations, then a bigger faction.

You transition from one person into an empire one block at a time. I don't think there's room for a Minecraft style food system in that sort of progression. Which is why I created my suggestion.

Overall I agree with op, but to fit with what starmade will become we need something largely different.

 

[ToasterBorst]

SkylordLuke -> Megathread?

In relation to the thread content, this is something that is brought up often and that's why I tagged sky about the megathread. I've wanted fall damage in gravity forever, but personally love that SM does not require me to obsess over consumables; regardless, the topic has certainly been discussed and it is one of those things we're all just along for the ride on and anxiously awaiting to see what happens in the future and why the team does things the way they do.

 

[EricBlank]

Well, dev's choice if they didn't want to make a real survival game and force players to worry about their food guage. This is in the frequent suggestions megathread, as well.

We may be getting "atmosphere" simulation for ship interiors and NPC crew and critters we catch may want food, according to that thread.

Some more environmental effects seem reasonable, in areas like extremes of temperature, radiation hazards, caustic chemicals etc. If planets could have extreme weather wind and lightning could pose a threat.

 

[jayman38]

I think various flavors of survival mode would be good as mods, but I don't think it should be in the core "vanilla" game.

 

[Madman198237]

Well, you covered ideas, pitchforks, tar, and feathers, but you forgot the torches.


I agree with the idea of adding some "survival" mechanics to the game. Especially oxygen, though I would REALLY like to see a food mechanic of some kind relating to planets (So they become more than the dodecahedron of lag-based doom). That said, this may be a "After we get a good start on the most essential space-related things" before food, and a potential issue with death-by-lag when discussing atmosphere. Especially when you've got 5 capital ships trying to kill each other, 30 airtight fighters attacking each other, and some drones for good measure. As these ships (Especially the fighters) enter combat, they're gonna get depressurized....and man will the lag get real. Because the game must A. Detect a breach. B. Detect the next layer (If there is one) of sealed space, then depressurize (Read: Instantly kill) anyone and anything in the breached area; before C. Possibly even simulating the damage caused by a mass rush of air into space (Characters and blocks getting sucked out into the void)

 

[jayman38]

Depressurization should allow astronauts 15-30 seconds to do something regarding self-preservation. E.g. put on a helmet or get to the next room before the bulkhead door shuts. People do have a few seconds in depressurization conditions where they can do something before they expire.

This scene from the movie 2001: A Space Oddysey, is considered a somewhat realistic portrayal of a depressurization death.
Poor Frank, flailing away. If only he had the presence of mind to tie the severed hose into a knot....

 

[Madman198237]

You're right, but it depends on the means and method of depressurization. If you're suddenly in a completely airless environment (I.e., burst airlock) the air is going to leave nearly instantly, and you will (If not wearing a proper spacesuit AND helmet, even with no O2 supply) die due to the effects of internal pressure vs. a lack of external pressure. At least, that's what I remember learning a while back. If you end up in, say, a spacesuit with a fast air leak, you're going to die of asphyxiation. Luckily, you'll probably black out fast enough to not feel the rest of the effects.

 

[kiraen]

Oxygen is planned. FSM, #20
Food will not be required for players, but it still may be required for NPCs as part of the morale mechanics. Also, buff type foods are still likely. In short, farming is still a big possibility. FSM, #27
Environmental effects are possible, for example stars generate damaging heat now.

 

[kiddan]

No idea why the devs are against requiring things like food. It works well in Minecraft and it can work here. Fall damage, however, I don't know if I support, seeing as our suits seem to have in-built jet boots or antigrav modules of reasonable power.

I thought I heard something at some point about both rations for crew and players being a possibility somewhere. But only if it was a system that wasn't annoying or too hard to manage.

 

[SkyHawk024]

depressurization would become a great threat but, i forgot where i have heard this but the human body can survive about 30 seconds in open space according to what scientists have said i believe. They did however confirm it will not be the funnest experience ever because your body will lose all of it internal pressure instantly and all of your innards will become well ya know, but if your can remain conscious you will live about 30 seconds till the end. DONT HOLD ME TO THIS!

 

[kiraen]

Space exposure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[RabidBat]

Not a fan of this idea, oxygen maybe, but if I want to eat to stay alive I'll go play Ark, Rust or The Sims.

If the devs end up adding something like this it really needs to be optional. Be it for players or the AI.

Building ships and gathering resources already consumes large amounts of time and there are only so many hours in a day and some of us, if not many of us have jobs, family and other commitments and play video games to escape reality, not to do the same mundane things we do in real life.
Adding eating to the game just seems like a massive waste of time as much as adding the need to defecate.
(Honestly once it goes down this path where does it stop? Farming? Breeding space ponies? Being able to have intercourse with other players to keep a spare astronaut on hand as the current one ages and dies?)

Again, video game. Video games need to be fun. This game has enough trouble as it is retaining players due to how tedious it can be and how repetitively boring it can get without adding even more tediously boring tasks to proceedings.

 

[kiddan]

Rations could be done in a pretty seamless form, instead of actually needing to 'eat' food you could have it stored in your suit. It would slowly run out of food but could be refilled at a shop or factory with ease. Oxygen would be fun as long as it wasn't a pain in the rear-end to keep it inside your ship/refill tanks/generate without landing on planets. Aside from that it would be quite the technical feat, I have a feeling Schine is totally capable of conquering it however.

 

[Lecic]

Need for food - initially based on flora, then farms, automated farming, having to worry about food storage (doesn't that sound like painful fun?)

Fuck no.

they're a critical element to long-term play and add a lot of satisfaction in overcoming them.

They're a critical element to shoehorning boring and unnecessary time wasting elements into a game that doesn't need them.

It works well in Minecraft

Is this a joke? It has to be. Minecraft's food system is so incredibly shitty that there's no way anyone actually thinks this.

Anyway. Food? For players, even as an "optional buff"? No. Food for survival is boring, wastes time, and is never a challenge beyond very early game, after which it quickly tints and ruins all of the later game. Yes, that still applies if you can automagically eat it from your suit, because it's still taking up space, and I still need to waste time putting it in my inventory. And optional buffs, which anyone who's ever done any amount of PvP in Minecraft knows, are not "optional," and since everyone is using the damn things anyway, THEY MIGHT AS WELL NOT BE THERE.

Now, I do actually like the idea of food. however, I'd want it as something your CREW and various civilian populations on planets and stations that you recruit from need. I'd want it as a moral tool, or as a persuasion tool (dropping crates of food on a neglected, starving enemy world to turn the populous into friendlies or sabeteurs), and as a time limiter on just how long a fleet can operate, and NOT as a crappy, forced, unneeded "stuff these steaks down your throat every 5 minutes" sad excuse for a feature.

 

[Ithirahad]

I fail to see how Minecraft food is crappy, forced, or even unneeded, though I do find that the implementation could've used a bit of refinement (i.e. buffs; you definitely should not have to shove a massive beefsteak down your throat so often). Without the hunger system, though, there would be nothing to keep you from just digging out a room underground, filling it with torches, and not having to expend any effort on actually surviving ever again. Which happens to be the same issue StarMade is facing right now.

I would much prefer a food/hunger system to "optional buffs" which should be the role of some kind of suit upgrade system, not cartoony magic food.

 

[sayerulz]

I don't see why you hate on minecrafts food system so much lecic. You say that no one likes it, but I and everyone I know actually DOES like it. I enjoy preparing and eating food, and usually play with mods that do nothing but add a huge variety of it.

Its a building game, why should we build nothing but warships? Right now thats the only thing that we really need. I for one would like to be able to build a hydroponics station, and enjoy the food it produces.

 

[Madman198237]

Yes, food adds in REASONS to have a planet base, and then with a civilian populations update it'll become a major feature. Yes, you need food to survive, you're not a droid. However, it could be based on the food content of your last entered whatever. Say you're staying on a planet, you take food (Without player interaction, I'd say) from the planet's stores, instantly consuming it. If you're on a ship, same logic applies.

Also, food stocks on ships should be replenished (Based on the settings for the storage area provided by the station's/planet's/larger ship's owner) automatically on docking or landing on planets or stations, or even just larger ships.