Started a new game on Omicron, once again hit by PV before I'm halfway through level 2- before even a first drone attack. There's hard, and then there is impossible. A large chunk of the Robinson Protocol is gated behind interaction with wreckage; and yet that interaction is what seems to draw the PV... Perhaps rather than spawning immediately and linedriving for the player's base- wreckage or not- the PV could take a page from the troop transport... you destroy a couple drone waves, the troops are called in. Take out a couple transports, the heavy gets called in. That would keep the challenge and pressure on the player without making things completely impossible. I'd suggest adding some turrets to the PV pad to prevent it from being taken out early.
I tried a new start, medium on Omicron. Ended up trying to melee a bunch of scorpion looking things in an "abandoned" building with a chainsaw because the alternative was suffocating. Medium difficulty on a Medium planet is definitely Hard. Truth be told, I find Pac-Man challenging so there is that. Something I did notice is that if you manage to find some wreckage with a core, you can use it as a base without replacing the core, and drones and such don't attack. Replacing the core will certainly summon death from above, at least, that has been my experience so far.
I don't really know where this goes so if I'm in the wrong thread, please forgive me, and you are welcome to move it. It's the closest one I can find. I'm testing the single player scenario, trying to play as a new player, with the Robinson Starter. These are all my notes as I went through it yesterday morning, just after the update. Play time was about 2 hours before work. I will not go into what I did on the upgrade tree because it's irrelevant. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I started a new game and I set all of the configuration options to easy as a newbie possibly would, and set the drone base attacks to off. (Never set drone base attacks to off before, but I thought the experience would be interesting). Update: it was cool. I opted for Akua, and piloted my landing craft down. Upgrade points for steering the craft. Nice. I started the Robinson tutorial and did all it asked me to. I found the wood cabin with the open floor and left it, so I'd possibly make the same mistake as a new person starting the game. Went swimming in the lake and got some seaweed to use as biofuel. Came out of the lake and picked everything in site. Upgrade points for picking. Nice. I took a mission called Delicious Eating Akua. Found everything except the corn dogs (that used to be all over the planet). And there was day & night on the first day. Found the Alien Honey, but no corn dogs. While it's dark, it's time to upgrade my wood shack. I'll stay here for a while I guess. I went out and cut more trees while the survival constructor chugs away on the rocks I got today. Some of the food went bad which is excellent because it's now bio fuel. Even though I added another solar panel like the tutorial said, the electric went out and combined with the hole in the floor, ALL THE STINKING PLANTS DIED. I'm not upset at all. As a long time player I expected this but a new player may not. This morning I'll added another Capacitor. NOT. You can't add more then one any more. Tell me what happened to being able to have more then 1 Capacitor to up the power on these already nerfed solar Panels?? OK, I got this! I'll add more panels. Made a concrete pad with the blocks I fashioned from the stone I got from the rocks I drilled and placed a constructor, and a Clone Chamber (a must have). No sun yet so no power yet. (This would frustrate me if I was new). When the sun finally came out, I had 4 panels and the current time never went beyond 2 minutes. These are not a viable source of power, not even for 1 plant light. (BTW, these were the slanted model, placed on the N/S axis facing East and West). And why can't my suit light turn itself back on after I get off my bike?? Time to check up on my points, now I can build a T2 drill. CRAP, What? I need something this planet doesn't have? Cobalt. OK, no problem. I can maybe find or trade for it. Again, I know this from experience. (Thank you Devs for the traders - my favorite part). I added a back deck to the cabin and fixed the missing block in the floor with my multi tool. And there was day & night on the second day. The alien insects are here. One snuck up behind me at my base and scared the crap out of me. I took the Huntsmen Akua mission and did not get credit for killing the Alien Insect dude. Seems it's the wrong mission. He's a Humanoid Alien Insect. I removed my plants with the multi tool because I knew the power would go out and it did. I'm off to find a trader. I passed over a green line and there was a drone base right there that I could not see about 500m away that can already can shoot me. WTH??? Sick Devs. I did find the corn dogs, although I know better then to eat these because the Devs have a wicked sens of humor. It's like spinning the barrel of a pistol with one bullet and pointing it to your groin. Edit: Found Cobalt at one of the settlements so I got my drill working. Nice Devs. (TY) Time for work. I hope this helps.
Yeah, except changing it to private is part of the protocol. It seems to be powering on a player base that triggers the attacks. And I don't think you can build on public, can you? Been too long since I tried.
The last survival play through I did on Akua, I found a starter base (public) and added all sorts of things to it without issue. Never got attacked until a pulled the core and put my own in. That's interesting.
Hmm.. so that means you can add stuff to the base, but it won't count for the mission if it comes after the part where you're supposed to make it private... I guess the activation makes like an IFF signal.. heh, or the dinner bell... Still, a phased response would make sense- drones>troops>PV I don't get hit immediately by PV in every game- but it definitely happens more often than not
I like these journals as it gives a very clear picture as to how someone is playing the game and the issues they encounter.
That explains why we had different experiences. I tend to skip the tutorial and don't ever do any of the missions, which I should really pay more attention to.
They don't reward as much as the Akua ones- harder start and all that- but you do get at least a fiber sprout and a T1 multitool fairly early
One of my last playthroughs on an Omicron start, I had to remove/add a grow light to make room for something else. Didn't touch the core, but the minute I put the grow light back in and powered it on with the nearby switch, the PV went nuts on me. There's some logic behind the PV that isn't totally clear.
Oh yeah, I forgot to bitch about the PV, which showed up to lay the smackdown on me before I could get situated (because solar power FTW), it was after I posted, but then I calmly ragequit (yeah, I know that's like an oxymoron...but I'm a pro at this...I guess it's less rage and more simmering hatred after a not quite unexpected disappointment) again after that. So anywho...I remember some discussion some of us had back in the good old days of Alpha 6. Akua the prefab doesn't trigger drone attacks no matter how long you stay there. Omi after a few days you'll get drones, troops and PV. I got pwned by the PV back then too, but then it was unexpected and I wasn't quite prepared/was just plain sloppy - so I was cool with it, this time it was just fucking annoying because it was expected and there was just no chance for me to be prepared. This could have been changed but doesn't seem to have been.
I'd love to get a real answer on this. Meaning whet the trigger really is, and what to avoid, but it may have to come from the programmer of the logic listener of the game.
I've gotten to the point where when starting on Omicron, I just godmode and kill the stupid PV as soon as I see it. I don't loot it at all, I just eliminate it - then murder the core on its base as soon as I find that, too. I love everything about the Omicron start, dealing with the heat, managing oxygen, except the PV. It seems to come entirely too early, and tbh I don't personally want to see one until I'm off a starter planet, anyway. Though I guess I could see it added to the very hardest planet once the starter planet roster is expanded again. I want a middle ground between the Akua start and Surprise! Planet Vessel. I love Omicron, this aside. I have absolutely no problem with it once out exploring other planets. But it can come very early on Omicron.
I think the PV should only ever be triggered after the player has already survived multiple Drone waves. As, on Omicron at least, we can delay Drone Waves indefinitely by either i) Just expanding on the Start Base, or ii) Not building any turrets on a scratch-built base, limiting the PV spawn would be easy. I think every single PV encounter on Omicron I've had, bar just one, has seen it come and attack me within a few minutes. One time it was approaching the Starter Base before I'd even collected the stuff from it. Another time I looted it, then built my own underground base, that could resist the PV. I've not tried an Omicron start recently (a few weeks) so I cannot comment on the current state. Scoob.
I've not once had a PV respawn, despite leaving its base alone for many many hours. If it is supposed to respawn, I'm unaware of what the time frame should be. Scoob.
