I explored the new planet terrains today. Love all of them, ESPECIALLY NewSnow and NewDesert (my two favorites). NewSnow is like a winter wonderland and NewDesert is so smooth!
What I did in Empyrion today was to get frustrated. The sum total of the changes have made the opening SP game downright uninteresting. Usually I play ironman because there was always a non-cheaty way around obstacles, not so much at present. Disrupting my favorite strategies is a good thing as long as there are new strategies to be discovered. ATM, it seems to me that some the things that have been changed or removed haven't been adequately compensated for. For example; fewer plants is okay if you can farm them. Requiring cobalt for planter boxes is okay as long as there are adequate amounts of growing things in the wild. Combined, they're an unnecessary PITA. For me, the excitement about the good things in the new releases is diminished by the tedium I have to pass through to get the benefit of them.
my Faction HQ, spent all night on it and finished this morning. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1174228472
Went all Leatherface on a rocket drone straight out of the escape pod... It was super-effective p.s. More drones coming send epic chainsaw *wink wink*
Today I started a new survival save for A7. Mined a quantity of materials, hunted and gathered, and situated myself in the Survivor's Camp for shelter.
Today in Empyrion I learned that meteor showers hurt. Alot. In all my hours played I’ve actually never been caught in a shower. Imagine that.
This small ship is directly intended for the asteroid excavation. It is relatively simple on technology ... For its purpose it is a pleasant vessel Updating: O2 + Engines ON / OFF
After upgrading my RAM today to 24Gigs - which decreased Stutters alot btw! - I started my personal Scenario based on the standard MP scenario. Man... that's heavy at the beginning.... and I'm only at Akua... I've increased Drone numbers overall, at each POI / deposit and base attacks, increased difficulty in yaml too, and with game Difficulty setting Hard Drones and Max Spawn you get right from the start 5 Drones!!! MP start means NO SHELTER. that means NO SV, NO HV spawning ... that means NO mobile Constructor (btw. why can you only craft the HV one in the Survival Constructor?!) that means as soon as you set down a Base-Starter, you will get Drone-Alarm! and you couldn't build Turrets earlier in the Survival Constructor... that means... the wirst wave you have to fight man against man... eh drone.... umpf. Then I tweaked my starting equipment, gave me enough for a Micro-SV (14 blocks) to get me a head start. I want MANY enemies, but that was a bit umpf.... Now I'm a bit better suited... even if I have to take these 5 Drones every 5 minutes as 2 Cannon turrets can't get them all...
A micro SV - doubleplus good. I like the scenario. Be sure to max the NPC spawn rate so that you can have five drones overhead while half a dozen mobs chase you around.
Basically using that scenario with hard settings turns you from Survivor into Prey. You don't have a shack to support you, and you're on the run if you try to make one. It's fun, but a bit harrowing, and definitely not something I'd recommend to a new player. Requires subterranean building if you want to avoid trying to use POIs (which in Pantera's new setup are all red/hostile anyway).
In the pre-shelter game digging was my strategy of choice. When the PV was introduced digging became attractive again. It's still my go-to strategy on extra-hard starts.
@binhthuy71 and @Jᴧgᴧ yes, it's hard beginning, but you get a micro-SV in parts and some ammo for the first defense... With Micro-SVs you really are way ahead from standard starting point already (very fast levelling, killing meat, looting berries, mining rocks)... fly to target, stand up, loot or mine, sit down again, to next target... shooting meat is trivial too... and even 5 drones aren't a problem when you try to keep a safe distance to ALL and alway targeting the nearest one... only thing is when you don't pay attention. Only one Cannon turret in the flight path of 5 drones... turret gone. (picture from an upgrade from last game):
without a shelter it's the one and only way for your first base... (I'm taking an deposit tunnel for that ;-)
okay, now I'm set... mostly. Drone waves increasing... 7... but no problem anymore... I have mined all three different ores with 500+ ingots each, setting up 3 more cannon turrets - btw I LOVE the CONNECT-TO-BASE feature - best ever thingy!! -- build your base depp under, connect to base and put above your cannons ;-) nice. next thing is POIs checking - there are 4-7 drones at each POI patroling ... ;-)
I normally dig a vertical tunnel up to the top and line it with concrete, then drop in an elevator shaft so I can get to the turrets easy. Drones don't shoot down, and it makes a nice lookout platform if it's high enough. Survival bunkers can be just as fun as larger bases when you're constructing them on-the-run.
