A9 - Revised Game Start Tutorial

I'm not sure if I should slap myself for not realizing this, or slap the Americans for still using it....... Um, somebody bring me an American

 

Slap yourself. If you slap the American, they will slap you back... so you might as well cut out the middle man...

 

I know we have pretty similar approaches to survive on the Arid Planet as we both like to start there since they made it available.
I stick with Medium diff while you like to play it on hard diff. But all other stuff is pretty much the same. The Seeds are sometimes quite BS... like my current one...where a part of the Titan lays in a Zirax Zone.

The Tutorial, as you have posted several times now, must be adapted for Starting on the Arid Planet. There leads no way or argument around it.
There are several steps that make no sense, i.e., using precious wood log s for "learning" how to build a base and so on.

I do hope the RP/Tutorial Writers changed that soon.

 

HEY! That's me than or what?

 

I only ever stayed in the crash zone when they introduced the wreckages. Then I got utterly sick of all this handholding and spoon-feeding, so before running for water, I run the hell away from the starter biome and never approach it again. You can get all the things you need, even in hard mode, if you are ready to work your feet for a day or two at most.
As for setting up a base, I bike around the planet once, then I can decide on a beautiful spot. Although the new volume mechanics is forcing me to start an initial base sooner than I like.

 

I don't mean sprint, I mean not having to sit here holding W all the damn time. This is really something that should have been in 9 after the change to make planets much larger.

 

I got the meaning in your first post. Cruise Mode on Foot

 

I posted a more bare-bones version of this in experimental; here's a bit more detailed/clarified of how I believe the AS tutorial should go. Please add thoughts/revisions/anything I forgot (I'm sure I did forget things).

Note: TS = Temperate Starter. AS = Arid Starter
"Trigger" are specific quest bullets. Informational parts can be simplified for the displayed text, and the detailed information put in the PDA log for that step; I'm just putting info down to include.
The blue text changes in the second version of this posted, which presumes a suit-crafted biofuel item is added.

1. You drop in, and you need O2.
2. (can add the first steps on eating and healing, using tab for inventory from TS here)
3. You can make an O2 generator, but you need to get iron and copper, and make fuel from fiber plants.
4. First, get the ore you need. To do this, you will need to mine rocks.
5. (put the quest to mine a rock here from TS tutorial).
6. You will need 1 iron ore and 3 copper to make an O2 generator (quest bullets/triggers: gather 1 iron ore, 3 copper ore)
7. Queue the O2 generator in the constructor (it's own quest bullet/trigger--just to queue it, not to complete it)
8. While that is building: you will need to make fuel from plant fibers. Gather at least 10. (gather 10 plant fibers)
9. Oh, darn, you can't make fuel without a portable constructor. Find it in the tech tree and unlock it. You will need one of each ore to make it (gather 1 each iron, copper, sillicon; get level 3 (make this a quest trigger!); make PC).
   • NOTE: Silicon is usually an issue, as it doesn't spawn in the starter area. You can find it nearby, usually, but I'm usually cooking from the heat before I get it. This could also be avoided with a suit-created small fuel pack... See the awkwardness here? You can completely remove this step of having to get to level 3 and make the PC until a later time, if you can make biofuel of some sort in the suit generator
10. Place PC and O2 generator
11. Craft 1 biofuel
    
12. Power the O2 generator
13. When the first bottle comes off, RMB to use it to add the air (75 units) to your suit. If you don't have room for 75 units, anything extra will be WASTED, so don't fill until you can use the whole canister!
14. The generator alternates between O2 and small water bottles. You can see which is up next in generator display (inventory).
15. Learn how to convert small water in suit constructor for additional O2 bottles, that have less air (35 units). Create one in suit constructor (trigger).
16. Use the time while the generator makes more O2 to gather food and more fiber for more fuel. You will need to keep that generator running so you don't run out! You can make more O2 generators if you have enough materials--and fuel.
17. (Put in here the steps to pick a plant and craft a granola bar from TS tutorial)
18. You can get more fuel by getting fiber from logs from trees. You can use your survival tool to do this, but a chainsaw would be faster, and it runs on the same fuel as the O2 generator!
19. (add steps to make a saw and cut down a tree from the TS tutorial here)
20. Make more fuel from the logs in the PC
21. Temperature will also be a problem here: it's hot! Learn ways to cool off:
    • Eating fruit (but may cause indigestion - water or herbal leaves to fix) (eat one fruit as a trigger for this)
    • Climbing into mountains (just info)
    • Submerging in water (you might find food in the seas, too! this is just info)
    • Make a portable heat/cooling unit (needs 1 iron and 4 copper, which can be found in crash site, so quest triggers: learn portable heat/cool unit, craft portable heat/cool unit).
    • It gets cold here at night; there are similar protections against cold (the portable unit protects from both)
22. Get beacon directing to wreckage
23. Remove excess fuel from the O2 generator, and let it run down the power it has (learn how to tell how much time it has left). Collect air and pick up your PC and O2 generator to travel. If you don't have spare air, run another fuel canister through it before picking up! Picking it up before the fuel has run out will waste that fuel! (quest triggers: pick up the O2 generator)
24. Travel to wreckage
25. This shelter will not protect against heat or cold, but can serve as a base of operations until you are ready to build something better. Setup your PC and O2 generator near here and get them running again. (quest trigger: place PC/O2 gen)
26. It also will not protect against radiation storms, which may occur here. The radiation levels of these storms will exceed your suit capacity, so you need something to protect against them!
27. Make 20 concrete blocks. You can use any kind of block for this, but rock is most common here; save your wood for fuel for your generators, as wood is not so common. You may need to get more crushed stone from non-ore-bearing rocks (trigger: make 20 concrete blocks)
28. Make an enclosure that placing one block will seal you in, by adding blocks off the wreckage: put 5 blocks in a + formation. Put one block on each of two opposite arms of the +. Then put 3 blocks on top of those two to form a roof. Put one more block on one of the remaining arms. This will make a small space that one more block will completely enclose. (quest trigger for each step, or just for placing a 5 blocks, 2 blocks, 3 blocks, 1 block off wreckage--alternatively, this can be "craft a core and make it enclosed", using the core as the center of the + at the bottom)
29. Get in your enclosure and place the last block so you are surrounded by concrete. This will protect you from radiation, but NOT from temperatures! When the storm is over, use the disassemble function on your survival tool to remove the last block. (triggers: place one block and remove one block)
30. Now as long as you have one block to seal yourself in, you can shelter here from radiation. Be sure to have plenty of food and oxygen when you lock yourself in!
31. Explain how radiation works (your levels go up as you are exposed, and drop again when you get out of it; being in it too long can make you ill, etc.)
32. You will need a faster way to gather ores (do the quest from TS to make a drill and gather 10 each ore type)
33. While the emergency O2 generator will do for now, you need to explore to find water. You can make a more efficient extractor that pulls O2 from water, that you can use to fill a base or vehicle with air (but only the small bottles will work for your suit). You use air from bases or vehicles if you are in them, instead of from your suit, if they are equipped with it. You will need a water generator, and a faster way to travel
34. (quest from TS to make motorbike)
35. Craft a water generator.
36. Do quest to explore to artifact. Look for a body of water near your camp to place the water generator. Add in new triggers: place water generator, and power it

... and from there, you can make it more like the first, with building an HV, and the base building tutorial--at least one (or both!) of these should include bullets to craft an O2 tank and fill the O2 on the structure.

Anyway, hope you get the gist...



For comparison, here is what it would be... if we had a suit crafted biofuel...

1. You drop in, and you need O2.
2. (can add the first steps on eating and healing, using tab for inventory from TS here)
   
3. You can make a generator, but you need to get iron and copper, and make fuel from fiber plants.
4. First, get the ore you need. To do this, you will need to mine rocks.
5. (put the quest to mine a rock here from TS tutorial).
6. You will need 1 iron ore and 3 copper to make an O2 generator (quest bullets/triggers: gather 1 iron ore, 3 copper ore)
7. Queue the O2 generator in the constructor (it's own quest bullet/trigger--just to queue it, not to complete it)
8. While that is building: you will need to make fuel from plant fibers. Gather at least X. (gather X plant fibers, where X is the amount to make 1 biofuel in the suit constructor: recommended to be 4 (pick a plant, craft the fuel...) )
9. Craft 1 biofuel in suit constructor
10. Place O2 generator
11. Power the O2 generator
12. When the first bottle comes off, RMB to use it to add the air (75 units) to your suit. If you don't have room for 75 units, anything extra will be WASTED, so don't fill until you can use the whole canister!
13. The generator alternates between O2 and small water bottles. You can see which is up next in generator display (inventory).
14. Learn how to convert small water in suit constructor for additional O2 bottles, that have less air (35 units). Create one in suit constructor (trigger).
15. Use the time while the generator makes more O2 to gather food and more fiber for more fuel. You will need to keep that generator running so you don't run out! You can make more O2 generators if you have enough materials--and fuel.
16. (Put in here the steps to pick a plant and craft a granola bar from TS tutorial)
17. You can get more fuel by getting fiber from logs from trees. You can use your survival tool to do this, but a chainsaw would be faster, and it runs on the same fuel as the O2 generator! To do this, you must first make a better constructor than the one in your suit to craft the saw. It can also convert fibers to fuel more efficiently, and make many more complex items.
18. (add steps to gather materials and make constructor here, along with requirement of getting level 3 and unlocking it, from TS tutorial)
19. (add steps to make a saw and cut down a tree from the TS tutorial here)
20. Make more fuel from the logs in the PC (trigger: convert 1 log to fibers)
21. Temperature will also be a problem here: it's hot! Learn ways to cool off:
    • Eating fruit (but may cause indigestion - water or herbal leaves to fix) (eat one fruit as a trigger for this)
    • Climbing into mountains (just info)
    • Submerging in water (you might find food in the seas, too! this is just info)
    • Make a portable heat/cooling unit (needs 1 iron and 4 copper, which can be found in crash site, so quest triggers: learn portable heat/cool unit, craft portable heat/cool unit).
    • It gets cold here at night; there are similar protections against cold (the portable unit protects from both)
22. Get beacon directing to wreckage
23. Remove excess fuel from the O2 generator, and let it run down the power it has (learn how to tell how much time it has left). Collect air and pick up your PC and O2 generator to travel. If you don't have spare air, run another fuel canister through it before picking up! Picking it up before the fuel has run out will waste that fuel! (quest triggers: pick up the O2 generator)
24. Travel to wreckage
25. This shelter will not protect against heat or cold, but can serve as a base of operations until you are ready to build something better. Setup your PC and O2 generator near here and get them running again. (quest trigger: place PC/O2 gen)
26. It also will not protect against radiation storms, which may occur here. The radiation levels of these storms will exceed your suit capacity, so you need something to protect against them!
27. Make 20 concrete blocks. You can use any kind of block for this, but rock is most common here; save your wood for fuel for your generators, as wood is not so common. You may need to get more crushed stone from non-ore-bearing rocks (trigger: make 20 concrete blocks)
28. Make an enclosure that placing one block will seal you in, by adding blocks off the wreckage: put 5 blocks in a + formation. Put one block on each of two opposite arms of the +. Then put 3 blocks on top of those two to form a roof. Put one more block on one of the remaining arms. This will make a small space that one more block will completely enclose. (quest trigger for each step, or just for placing a 5 blocks, 2 blocks, 3 blocks, 1 block off wreckage--alternatively, this can be "craft a core and make it enclosed", using the core as the center of the + at the bottom)
29. Get in your enclosure and place the last block so you are surrounded by concrete. This will protect you from radiation, but NOT from temperatures! When the storm is over, use the disassemble function on your survival tool to remove the last block. (triggers: place one block and remove one block)
30. Now as long as you have one block to seal yourself in, you can shelter here from radiation. Be sure to have plenty of food and oxygen when you lock yourself in!
31. Explain how radiation works (your levels go up as you are exposed, and drop again when you get out of it; being in it too long can make you ill, etc.)
32. You will need a faster way to gather ores (do the quest from TS to make a drill and gather 10 each ore type)
33. While the emergency O2 generator will do for now, you need to explore to find water. You can make a more efficient extractor that pulls O2 from water, that you can use to fill a base or vehicle with air (but only the small bottles will work for your suit). You use air from bases or vehicles if you are in them, instead of from your suit, if they are equipped with it. You will need a water generator, and a faster way to travel
34. (quest from TS to make motorbike)
35. Craft a water generator.
36. Do quest to explore to artifact. Look for a body of water near your camp to place the water generator. Add in new triggers: place water generator, and power it

 

The PDA (F1) and mission and info should be 1.
Inventory and escape pod content 2 and 3.
The map and beacon to wreck should be step 4 and 5.
I almost always take a look at the map to see surroundings early on, to plan where to go.
To not waste time going in wrong directions, then the next would be nice to know right away the direction to the first POI.

 

Pro tip Eleon for the whole, find the wreckage thing at the start of the tutorial.
Consider calling the wreckage that the player has to find something unique, otherwise you're going to have players running for that one that's 6.5km in the wrong direction instead.

This new start is still pretty god awful but some of QoL changes would make it seem less so. Right now it's a refund trap.

 

It worked reasonably well for me in Arid. Of course having some experience I already knew what I was doing so....

 

Started a new game to check, and it clearly changed and at least first part is much better.
Issues:
- Crafting oxygen generator and heater/cooler is before 'rock mining'
- Crafting oxygen generator and heater/cooler is before experience explanation
- 'Crafting constructor' requests to craft biofuel, but gathering is after crafting
- For me personal lockbox was at second floor, not easy/obvious how to reach yet jetpack was not explained

 

I have not played for a year and in two out of three starts I had issues with Zirax and Tallon near the starter areas attacking me with no mention of them in the Robinson Protocol Tutorial.

See the original message

 

I've also had the started wreckage and initial ore deposits in Zirax territory once, which is a real PITA even when your not new to the game.

 

Agreed. To make matters worst. New players have no idea what "Zirax territory" means in the game.

I am not sure that it is hard to find . The tutorial order is wrong right now. Even for play on the normal starting planet. Which makes for a really bad starting feel. If the player does not build a drill straight away. He will not have enough silicon left later to build one when the tutorial tells him too. Making for a grindy start to the game hunting for a silicon rock. What makes it worst is there is always a deposit underground nearby they can't touch yet.

Starting balance is a very subjective thing to get right. Takes a lot of testing because of the sandbox nature of the game. Starting events depend on the random generation of the map. Sometimes I get lucky and find silicon and the tutorial proceeds as planned. Other times it grinds to halt. Telling noobs to make the drill stright away. From silicon in the persoanl locker seem like a good idea. Either that or we add in more silicon ore to the personal locker kit.

Creature generation also kind of breaks the tutorial now. Bugs spitting acid through base walls before you get the hand gun is stupid. Rare event but it does happen becuase the spawn generation and creature level system is broken right now.

Apart from all that. The fact I can run though the tutorial and find it intresting after 1000 odd hours. Just shows there is plenty replay value in the game. I think we moving towards something that really works for new comers.

 

My Thoughts and Findings:

1. Robinson Protocol

This version is great. However having to manually activate it, and each subsequent stage of it is tedious and unintuitive. Mission stages should progress automatically.

The addition of XP is a big help in getting started, and can mean the difference between progressing and having to figure out how to come up with a few more XP to build that Portable Constructor or whatever item might be needed to progress.

2. Polaris Missions

Totally Overpowered has never worked for me. My first attempt got to to where I needed to visit a station that did not exist. Restart and new seed later I had a station to visit. But the NPC I was supposed to talk to never spawned. Just a pair of TOP Traders 5 and 6). Restart and reseed, this time the first NPC spawned and I was sent to a lava planet to find yet another NPC that did not spawn. I could locate where he was supposed to be using ENTS in the console, but no NPC to be found.

Skip stage and press on - found the ship crashed in the lava. Found the roots, now to return them to - the NPC that does not spawn. Skip stage.
Defend against a Zirax attack... an hour later attack still hasn’t started. Relog and wait. No attack. Skip. Another wave of no attack. Skip. Another wave, skip. Go talk to... skip.

Finally managed to at least skip to the end.

3. Talon and Zirax
With the Polaris mission this broken, I have not attempted any of these just yet, because I expect more of the same.

4. Solo and Team Missions

See #3

I did attempt one of the solo missions and wound up teleported to some infested space station, brutalized and out of supplies that forced me back to base to restock and could never find my way back. For whatever reason my map marker disappeared.

What I could do I enjoyed, but the brokenness makes these very difficult.