Keep doin normal experience gaining stuff & eventually ya gain some kinda weird "Phantom Levels" in the Background & get more Points to finish Unlocking stuff with.
I'd like for there to be levels beyond 20, even if you don't get anything from actually progressing them. As I see it, this would be more a way of "keeping score", with what you've achieved and give you an extra goal, rather than simply leveling in order to get some new technology. Reality is that once you've gotten past level 20, there isn't really much to do but start again. Being able to aim for level 100, even if it didn't give you any points, would at least give the player some sense of progression and a way to compare progress between different games. I'd also like to see additional "tech trees" that could allow leveling to add to the actual survivability and stats of the player character, especially as by the time you get to level 20 and have all of the technology, your unarmoured self is still able to be killed within a second, or so of poking your head into any of the advanced bases, which are fairly much inhabited by aimbots, who never miss and always know where you are. As things stand, I play the game on hard difficulty for monsters, right up until I enter a base, at which point I switch over to easy, because I'm tired of dying literally dozens of times each time I try to take these things down. Introducing the ability to purchase additional hit points, innate armour protection, parasite, poison and wound resistance and even the ability to do more damage with a particular type of weapons, and consume less oxygen and food would greatly expand the scope of player options, while balancing the late game, and allowing players who start on harder worlds to finesse their characters towards the immediate challenges they face, rather than technologies that they have no intention or need for at that point. By way of example, on a Masperon start, there is no real way of getting hold of Sathium, apart from assaulting and taking down and recycling alien POIs. Sathium is fairly much needed in order to create a CV and get off planet. But Masperon has some really difficult enemies that can easily kill a squishy player. So players on a Masperon start might want to initially prioritise personal skills that allow them to survive the brutal enemies, rather than buy points in the initially useless CV tech tree. While these features might be planned for when we finally get to fill our armour slots, I can't help but think that a good temporary (and even permanent) solution would be to simply add them to the character itself. Also, I'd like to see actual tech's being required for the building of blueprints, instead of them simply being given at a particular level. In many of my games, I don't even bother to buy most of the technology, because I'm a blueprint player (can't create a good design to save myself) and so with the exception of tech required to manufacture ammunition, I never have any need to buy most of the HV, SV, CV, or Base technologies.
I woulda swore this was a Bug that was supposed to have been fixed ages ago... or is my Memory screwing with me again?
It's not a bug if it's going by level; however, just because you have the capability to unlock something in the tech tree doesn't mean you have it. One option would be to not unlock individual items, but to unlock numerous levels within a tree which goes by how many points you spend in that tree. A blueprint will be based off the highest unlocked item used. I don't think you should be able to unlock something in a higher tier just because you are a specific level. Really there's no need to have a player level. Just have XP gained and XP spent to put in to numerous tech trees where the they actually go from 1-20 or so and require previous points spent to unlock the next level.
If you are having XP issues then you may want to change servers. The amount of XP gained from varying tasks is set by the server admin. Personally, I found that there needed to be a more advanced tech tree because after about 30 hours of gameplay I had the whole tech tree unlocked. Taking longer to unlock a tech tree gives accomplishment to those who have unlocked higher tiered items to build their bases and ships. Are you playing single player or muliplayer? I have my own server as well that I used to play on when I first started and I didn't find that it took that long to do anything with default settings.
Experimental Alpha 6.02 - leveling way TOO fast on "Slower" setting. Maybe just the Seaweed bonus is to blame - every seaweed gives 76 XP, so I gather 20-30 seaweeds and almost get myself a new level on weed alone! Needs to be far less. However, maybe it is also the monsters. I have not even began building my base, just running around, killing monsters and collecting herbs and minerals (including seaweed) but I'm already level 7! I'm on my second night. Which also produces a question: any way we can tweak XP gains ourselves, or make every level require more XP? An option in YAML would be super nice. Also, I'd like to burn my levels away somehow, one level per day is enough, thank you.
I think the levels adds a dynamic... On strong multi-player servers, it seems that maybe limiting points gained to 50% of what you get now would slow it down to the point that you have to get FAR more levels to unlock everything, and would promote players trying to get different tech trees to co-op the build exp. Can't go wrong with more options, more options, fits more players, to play how they want. It seems to favor combat heavily, because flying around in a ship, just sniping random things I can get 3 or 4 levels super fast. However, running around, picking daisies or mining in a pit for an hour, is tedious, and very little XP. Current system favors damage over all others, so it makes everything else feel SO SLOW. So, boost the others, or cut combat XP... OR just add sliders for all of them! 0% - 500% XP. So you can just nerd nob them all... without any care in the world. Also a slider for how many points gained per level, so again 0% to 500% set server side. So some servers can favor peaceful activities, other favor combat, some balance it out (default) and yet how many skill points you get can also be tweaked to force you to co-op with other players to get certain things.... Pretty good start, not bad at all... But more nerd nobs makes it so a server admin/players can play how ever they want... VERY sand box, without having to get into the API etc.
There are arguably way better ways of promoting cooperative play than to hide half the content so that players are forced to work with someone that has the other half of the pie. As players we want the whole pie, so there are better ways of getting players to cooperate imo.
Well you're not hiding the pie, you're just slowing down how fast a single player can eat it all. However, I'm curious, what other options to get people to play co-op? Increase resource requirements to simply make it too slow for one individual to get the parts? People co-op, because it's more effective to hunt as a group, mine as a group, and build as a group. If one person gets air, and the other focuses food, co-op can help out. However as far as building, and leveling... If you want to steer more co-operation what mechanisms are you suggesting get used, if not to just make it 'harder' for an individual.
For cooperation is about team work. Right now I havent seen too much things that require team work and rightly so in a way because Most of us do play single player. The first time I thought about cooperation was when I had to leave my SV behind while I went down into a large POI. Drones came and killed my SV. I thought that I wished someone were there to help me out. I dont mind cooperation the way you said it though. So long as everyone gets the full pie then there's no problem. What I dont like is being given the option to pick whether I unlock a sniper or an AR. That type of tech tree is bad imo. It only works in certain types of games.
This game is not designed for co-op. Ships are encouraged to be one man armies Player are geared to be one man Armies Automated turrets eliminate the need for crews There no combat mechanics to encourage roles/class advantages. There no ship tech to encourage team play/advantages There no player gear to encourage team play/advantages Players can learn everything no sharing/trade needed All in all, i don't see co-op being very viable without a major shift in game design. As for research i'm fine with lockout tech choices but with some provisos Researched tech does not lock base required tech Researched Tech only adds arguments equipment Equipment you can't create can be stolen, salvaged or traded then retooled to be used but not reverse engineered Lastly Research should be separated from XP RP is for Tech Research XP is for Player Advancements (If implemented, Skills, Certs ...)
My only problem with XP and "player advancement" is that it doesnt balance well. One player can have 500 health while another has 100 health. Not only do I see that as game breaking, it also breaks all sense of immersion for a survival game. I have no problem with the idea of research points though. Implementing a character tree just for the sake of "progression" is a bad idea because you are trying to solve a problem that doesnt really exist to begin with. There is already a resource progression tree. It is not visible to the player but it does exist and does provide a sense of progress. What you want to do is to give it some depth. Create more resources, some rarer than others and harder to find. Create some loot only items that make sense like alien technology. Implement a research tech tree but give the player the basics. Make it interesting to find new technology and to get new research points. Gate items through rare resources. Implement much better AI that creates resistance to the player but not just grind, rather interesting and challenging gameplay.
anemic Hence why I never listed Attributes as an option under Player Advancements. this also means no direct range/damage/armor enhancements. being level 10 doesn't make my bullet do more damage. I may have spent enough time to know how to best kill an alien. Its heart is on the right side of its body below the 3 rib. Alien anatomy learned gain a slightly larger Critical Hit box. This type of skill could be unlocked view research (bring in dead bodies/armor, Your scientist researched it but did they tell the soldiers?) The following are one point selections no grinding, no level ups. In theory there should be more options than point available. This means each play thru can be different than the last. This also give a better diverse player base in MP. Skills Like Weapon Training(Pistol), Can use Pistols, I'm not a fan of this one as it locks out the pistol all together. Weapon Proficiency(Shotgun). this means you can reload slightly faster with shot guns. x% Weapon Maintenance(Pistol), this means you reduce the durability loss on a pistol, x% Anatomy(Alien,Grunt), gain a slightly larger Critical Hit box ... Professions Like Desert Survival, Gains Additional Food from Desert Bioms (not grow pot), X additional y percent of the time Botanist, Gain Additional Fruit from plants, X additional y percent of the time Miner, Gain Additional ore from mining node(does not effect auto miners), X additional y percent of the time Gunner, Reduce the recoil of heavy kinetic weapons by x percent Surveyor, Can See Mineral deposits, Slightly farther. x meters Ethologist, Understands the behavior of animals, Agro radius reduced by x percent ... Genetic manipulated Abilities High Metabolic Rate, Heals Faster but requires more food Low Metabolic Rate, Heals Slower, Requires less Food Athletic, Stamina loss slower Anemic, Easily poisoned/status, Drugs/Meds are more effecting Resistant, Can resist most poisons/status, drugs/meds less effective checkout my thread http://empyriononline.com/threads/s...er-background-and-individualized-player.4111/
Some interesting ideas but to be honest I dont see the value in such a system. For the amount of programming it takes to make this happen I just dont see the value. Sorry friend. But at least you understand the potential problem in a character advancement system. I really just don't see the reason for this game to have one.
maybe the best way to deal with that is to greatly increase the character customization and add a more thorough armor attachment system and customization of the colors and emblems. I agree that I dont like to look like a clone either.
Oh I have ambitions on those as wells I believe you seen them already Suggestion: Customization Infantry Weapons Suggestion: Space Suit Equipment
No levels! Im ok with some kind of tech tree and research so long as it is fun, which means not grindy, and with an actual purpose.