Feedback Required Version 1.5: Robinson Protocol 1+2 (new)

Content: Crafting Preparations
Actions: Add Template

I normally make the shotgun since pistol is mostly useless. Couldn't figure out why Add Template was not being checked.
Figured it out and made pistol then it checked.
Keep it simple for new players. If what you want the step to be is Craft Pistol then don't use Add Template as the check, use Craft Pistol.

Craft Pistol comes up afterwards in Craft armament but Add Template did not check until after I made the pistol.

 

I agree, that step can be very confusing if you don't read the details before very attentive. You can end in "Huh? What frickin' template do I have to add??"

 

I find the pod landing scene ugly (artifact on the trail of fire and the image is jerky). It was much better before when we could lead the pod, it was more immersive. Now we do nothing and looking around does nothing more. Change to do less well, bad inspiration! Disappointing. I'm a little afraid for the rest of the additions/changes ...

 

I agree, this decision was likely made to reduce the game's overhead, but a critical feature to immersion like this had to be sacrificed in doing so. Also I'm not crazy about the new meta being "Crash Land and Pickup your flashlight and survival tool off the ground"; Temperate Planets are too easy as it is, and leveling is just a pain in MP because no matter what you do you are ALWAYS behind in Tech Points. (I would just assume remove the tech tree altogether at this point, and just use a resource-based crafting sink); Now add to that initial replay frustration that "Oh I have no gear on me, and my escape pod spawned some loot around me I can't find to pick up"

 

I disagree about the escape pod - I like the new crash. Feels like you have actually had an emergency escape, rather than having a nice day out as you pootle gently to the surface while admiring the view!

 

Started a new game today and i see that the Robinson Protocol could be helpful for new players by showing important things. But if you do something out of Order (e.g. you have already a Constructor) you end up manually skipping steps or get stucked if you don't know how this works and what the game actually wants. Also i was confused about the "Add template" step for the pistol, it should say "Build a Pistol" and not add template. After i finished the Robinson Protocol it started the Prelude (i think) and then nothing happens. I restarted the Prelude from the Story tab and repeated the last steps and then again nothing happens. I can't activate the Tales from the Past Quest because it says "Mission will be activated by the Game" so for now it looks i am unable to start the story.

 

Not a fan of the Hiedelburg<sp?> being an admin core now. Not lootable, Constructer unusable, etc.

 

Doesn't work - you use a drill to get under the core next to the prisoner, shoot it out with an assault rifle, then you still cannot place a core on the Heidelberg because it is a regenerateable POI. (Multiplayer server, pure vanilla, no mods except some Steam workshop ships built in the factory).

 

I think the tutorial is just fine other than, like Evolvei pointed out here, the wording can sometimes be a bit confusing. It, like most of the game's dialogue, probably just needs proofreading.
And even if the tutorial was perfectly written there are still sooo many people that just won't pick up on things. I have seen this happen multiple times on streams where an instruction will be provided and player just gets distracted, dismisses it without reading, or whatever and then wonder what to do despite just being told what to do.
I have suggested this before but I recommend putting the 'Start Tutorial' option at the TOP of the main menu screen with a description letting new player that the 'main' tutorial takes awhile , addresses many of the features though at a far faster pace than survival, and that he or she will have to start a new survival game to get the quests. Additionally let player know that there is a very basic and optional in-game tutorial called Robinson Protocol that will get player started.
At this point the tutorial has be redone so many times and other than proofreading I hope more time isn't spent on redesigning yet again. Revised tutorial/quests as a sort of 'selling point' for big updates is really underwhelming and really hope to see this nipped in the bud by next update or just move on.

 

Asking "some random player" to do game file editing so that the game "runs properly" is not good game development practice.
Imagine a 60+ year old grandparent playing through the game with a grandchild and they suddenly have to stop the game, go to college to learn coding, then fix the game files, then resume playing.

That might be why on an average night on Twitch, there are only 3 people streaming Empyrion and less than 2 dozen total viewers for it.

Sorry Hummel, but you guys have to get this fixed if you want to keep your non-fanboi audience. (Same as the Free Colonists having no territory where a player can kill predators to restore faction reputation - it breaks the game.)

 

Nobody said that here. The game "runs properly" with POIs regen in MP, and if some players don't like it they have to fix it themselves for now, until the moment comes where there is an option in some menu to tick this on/ off. This is more a matter of making the suggestion rather than trying to force Eleon to "fix the game" as it's not broken.

As for "game development practice" Eleon said they would not support modding, which can be interpreted as they will not start answering and debugging all possible flavors of modded content. But surely, for something trivial that can be applied in all context, they can provide basic information (like Hummel did here) on how to solve problems or modify basic game behavior.

 

The fact you can't place a core in that poi in mp is no big deal. Doesn't stop players from salvaging the blocks for resources.

 

However, it DOES stop the common early game practice of using the Heidelberg as a crafting base by making use of its large constructor to make things that cannot be made in a small or portable constructor. Also it has the first armour locker you find, which allows you to put on the light armour you make in the portable constructor if you haven't built one after the tutorial for base building at the destroyed comm station. There's probably another dozen more reasons why you want your own / your faction core in the Heidelberg, including access to the med equipments.

It's why I believe that mission should be a shared progress mission for your faction ... especially in co-op PvE (I don't care about or play PvP ... in any game).

 

Speaking of "game development practice" I don't think Eleon should set things in a definitive state just because some players "used to play that way". They said a zillion times they didn't want players to settle down too early in game, they pushed back the time where players can make their "ultimate CV" and put required resources far away behind some progression requirements, etc. There were numerous additions to the game to enforce that point, to keep players "on the move". Maybe even a bit too much now, since players dive into some early missions unprepared, compared to the mission's difficulty. But they're adjusting this also, one piece at a time.

 

Can still use the armour locker and still salvage the large constructor for parts needed to build your own.

Not trying to antagonise you in the slightest, I simply don't find it a big deal. The fact it regenerates is imho nice because others can have the same benefits you did when it has regenerated.

 

I never considered the Heidelberg an "early settlement base". I always considered it a borrowed workshop. For example - in v1.4 there was the nearby UCH Dart with bits missing, so I'd park the recovered hoverbike and tent at Heidelberg, set up the portable equipment (constructor, o2/H2O maker, and heater) and use the Heidelberg's large constructor (and loot) to make the missing bits for the Dart. That gave me an SV to go do the TOP Distillery mission. After that I'd look for somewhere to build a base to place my own constructors etc.

Now, in story mode they have you settling down even earlier at the destroyed comm station with the build a base tutorial.

And @Escarli - I agree it's nice it regenerates for people who follow you ... it's a shame that the story mission and its specific loot does not regenerate (e.g. hoverbike and parts, or the SV at the hidden teleport destination) because that still makes the Heidelberg and its story association a one-time-only event.