This post ended up being much longer than I originally intended. You’ve been warned. (TLDR-ish version at the bottom.) I’ve been playing for exactly one month now. I still consider myself a beginner in some areas, like ship design, but that will improve with time. As for aspects such as exploration, gathering, surviving, and handling the wildlife, at least on starter planets, it’s become rather easy. I say it that way because starter planets are practically all I’ve known so far. Several times, I have reached the point of building my first SV, going into space, and doing a bit of mining. However, every server I’ve tried playing on has had one very motivation-crippling “problem”: all progress is lost whenever the game is updated. Also, some servers are slow to update, therefore refuse connection when there is a version mismatch. After doing some research, it seems this is all too common. However, I know it is also able to be worked around, more or less. There is a server I had been playing on during my first couple of weeks. It was wiped only once when they updated from 1.5 to 1.6, and I was given warning so that I could save (blueprint) anything I had built. But this is also the server my friend plays on. The friend who convinced me to play in the first place. Even though the game is currently version 1.7.1.1, they are running 1.6 and I am still able to play there. “So why don’t you?” you might be asking. You see, this is where I learned the game. But I didn’t start out like most people. My friend insisted on helping me get off to a quick start. They offered materials (including advanced ores like zascosium), money, and transportation off the starting planet. I refused for a while. I said that I prefer to learn and earn some things on my own. The satisfaction of knowing I got there myself is far more rewarding than the instant gratification of having everything handed to me. They continued offering their help every now and then until I finally caved in. So, needless to say, I have had a much easier start than most, and while they have sped up my understanding of the game, I still crave that satisfaction of achieving things myself. Of course, I could slap together a cheap CV to take me back to Alpha, tear it down, throw away everything and start over... but it just won’t be the same. I lost touch with them about two weeks ago. I have used this time to try out other servers, but as you’ve read, I haven’t been able to make much progress. Every server has either done the “update wipe” or even unexpectedly wiped for no apparent reason. It is killing my desire to continue playing but I want to give this game the chance it deserves. TLDR(-ish): Basically, here’s what I’m hoping to find: PvE if possible, but I may try PvP depending on how it works. (I’ll have questions.) The usual content. (i.e. escape pod crash, nothing that severely hampers/trivialises survival) (Some servers start you off with free food, ingots, armor, weapons, even ships. This usually trivialises things.) (I also played on a server where many things were altered - item names, XP amounts, etc. - it only made things more confusing and progression took far longer.) Planned updates/wipes - this is the big one! If I’m going to lose everything, it’s only fair to know about it in advance. If the server offers a way to recover your possessions, even better! Leveling back up to 25 isn’t too bad, and I’d rather instantly rebuild bases and ships than spend exhausting hours grinding it all back when I shouldn’t have to. Unnecessary but helpful: The server my friend started me on has CPU, mass, and volume disabled. Every other server I’ve played on has done this as well. While I will not say no to one that has any or all of these enabled, I may favour one that does not, simply because I am still learning. So, that’s my story and experiences during the past month. My hope is to find a stable server where I can log in each day not needing to worry if I’ll be greeted with yet another starting planet selection screen, if that is even possible. Hopefully someone here knows of such a server. I fear that if I am unable to find one, I will have no choice but to set this game aside indefinitely. I don’t want to do that. I really enjoy this game. Thank you for taking the time to read this and help point me in the right direction if you can.
Several of the streamers have community servers, you may look into those, usually you just need to join their discord server to get the access password, some of them requires that you pay on patreon. A few points / really just my take on it: 1. Very often the server admins add the Reforged Eden or similar Scenario. Why this is important: Well you've played the first bit of grind a few times over, now you can skip over that and go explore the galaxy and the end game content provided by the Eden story lines is amazing. 2. Most of these servers have friendly residents who will give you stuff. You may want to scoff at that but think about it this way: Take only enough to get your first ship and small base, and that will give you a spring-board to start eploring the galaxy. 3. Once you're settled, you start producing more than you need for your own crafting, you then put the extra resources into the community containers for starter players to help them out. 4. You will not be forced to take the help offered. On one server I struggled for weeks, and died over and over and over, on a very hard start planet with constant drone attacks. Then I got fed up, asked for a lift out of there, and took the offered help and never looked back. Hundreds of hours in I still have not done half the stuff there is to discover. 5. The server I'm playing on has not had a reset in ages but will have on once the new version of R.E is released with the v1.7 update. 6. CPU and Mass and Volume - Disabled is just too easy. Two streamers whose servers I may personally recommend: spanj (requires a parteon sub) and Nerdlette Gaming (Just requires you to join on discord) Good luck finding your community.
Spanj's server and also Xcalibur's server are two I'd recommend. The former requires a patreon/youtube/twitch sub (which I think is like $1 a month) and the latter you can get access to by interacting with the community on their Discord for a bit before they give you access. Like Tahaan said many servers are running Reforged Eden and will probably wipe after the next update to the scenario which I expect to be out sometime in March. Or you can play on the official servers which I believe don't plan to wipe for quite awhile. Good servers typically wipe every 3-6 months, and it will be hard to find a good one that maintains the same save game for longer than that. This isn't an Empyrion thing, this is true around pretty much any game of this genre. As multiple players come and go and interact and build in the world, the save game files become larger and larger. Additionally, not all game or mod updates will apply to an existing game and players may want to start fresh with the new content. So it's in a server community's best interests to wipe periodically. In my experience they usually give several months of notice but you will have to follow their Discord. If you wish to play on a server that never wipes, it's best if you and your friends run your own in a small group so you can control when (or if) you wipe. Running a server for 2-4 players is very different than running a server for 50-100 players and the save game state just won't last as long before issues start cropping up or the community gets bored and wants a new save.
I see your points. I hope I didn't come across as stuck-up or entitled or anything like that. This is the first game I've played where these things happen. I suppose it takes some getting used to. As much as I love to be creative, building things, I can understand how some would get bored, sailing around in the same ships for months. Starting from scratch levels the playing field and provides a chance to do things a little differently. Thank you for your advice and suggestions. I'll look into one or two of these communities.
No I didn't feel you were any of those. I think part of the beauty of a game like this is that it allows for many different kinds of play style and basically "you do what you enjoy". The game caters to so many different things. Ultimately there is no Wrong way. The only Wrong Way would be if you didn't enjoy playing the game!
You were totally not being snide at all! It can take time to find a server community that fits your play style and that's okay.
Nothing stuck up or snide about it. You were honest and upfront. The restart/wipe thing about Empyrion (and the genre) is a real thing and a frustrating one. While we say its a genre thing, there is a lot of Empyrion decisions in that as well. New features and things are touted and people want them. They will say "you don't need to update/wipe, but if you want the new features you will need a new save game. Realize this is because so little in this game (and survival games overall) that is "static" this updating is just what we have to adjust to. At SDG (no man's land) we run RE and PE. We have been one of those that had a surprise wipe or two (database corruption) and typically WILL wipe when eleon puts out a new significant change with the phrase of "if you want the new features you need a new save game". Because we run the PE and RE scenarios we would also wipe if the Ravien/Vermillion let us (proverbial us) know a new savegame is needed. HOWEVER - we are also working on launching our own scenario with the intent for it to go 3-6 months without interruption (we want 6 months but are not confident we can accomplish that (read the diatribe I wrote above). Please feel to free to check us out. We have a helpful and active community (we host other games as well) which WILL help you get off starter and give free rides before weekly starter wipe/refresh. Our RE server has between 30-60 folks on average and our PE has between 15-30.
Brehon, I just might take you up on that. Although, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit, I don't know (or remember) what PE is or how it differs from RE.
Sorry, Project Eden = PE, RE = Reforged Eden. Project Eden is a general full re-write of the game (by Ravien). Its a different more complex alternative to the vanilla story. Quite rich, deep and enjoyable. Reforged Eden is Project Eden with a bit more and a completely revamped AI/Aggression feel. Very enjoyable and the version I opt to play in (when I play). About the same time PE and RE finish their update (march) we will also be releasing for our community the custom scenario I am working on. Like Reforged Eden (its own story and such) with some other tweaks to settings and factions.
