Ultimately I have to agree with this. I love this game, have logged over 3K hours in it so far but the mid-late game for SP needs more difficulty. Early game is fine IMO, I die to gribblies, die to troopers with guns, struggle to find enough resources for X and Y. Day 3 or 4 I have a massive capital ship and no longer bothering to full loot POIs or capital ships as I can't fit any more loot in my CVs containers. On a related note, can it be added to the galaxy map what difficulty a system is. Warping to each system so you can check local solar map for difficulty is tiresome when you are simply looking for something challenging. Planetary warnings are also not correct, but that might be due to some factions being incomplete. Logically the nearer the centre of each factions area of influence, the higher the level of difficulty should be with only the starter system and immediately adjacent being easy to cater for newer players learning the ropes. ATM a Tier 2 starter CV kills everything in the game with relative ease due to the incredible resilience of shields. The only thing that actually needed some thought was the Zirax cruiser, everything else I could just fly up close and wander off to make a cup of tea and come back to find it dead (or drifted out of range). Giving AI weapons a large boost against shields would prevent this. I should need at least some armour on a CV whereas atm carbon substrate blocks are just as good as combat steel as nothing will get through the shield anyway. The warping in of reinforcements to space bases could be amazing, but all you get is a few space drones in waves. This is after I have hammered the Zirax constantly across systems and destroyed numerous capital vessels, planetary HQs, many other POIS and butchered hundreds of their people on planet- yet they decide to send some mosquitoes to attack me after their base is already down? What spawns in should ideally be tied in to difficulty level chosen, system difficulty (i.e. how close to the centre of their area of galactic control) and reputation. If you are at minus 6000, hard enemy difficulty then a squadron of capital vessels should be warping in to put me down anywhere in their territory. If I am at the centre there should be 10 cruisers coming at me-together, at the same time, warping in around me from all directions. Ideally, toward the centre, any attack on a faction CV should also result in reinforcements being called in the same way as a base. Or it could be a random chance of appearing, with a random timer, centred on my position for surprise value. I also should not receive a helpful warning that they are on their way from the ghost in the machine. They certainly have no warning when I am coming. The AI in Empyrion is not difficult and AI CVs are partoicularly crippled, which is both fine and understandable with how big a game this is. However, these galactic empires should have enormous resources to narrow the gap. For POIs this could be accomplished by having hidden spawn points linked to motion sensors like some sentry turrets are. Drones are laughable when you are in your SV as you watch them slowly ascend into range of your guns, but they are a serious worry when you are running about inside a POI and you parked your SV outside. A planetary patrol vessel even more so. Clearing room by room is grand, but surely occasionally reinforcements would come in behind you? For the pirate faction, such ambushes might even be quite a standard thing?
I was ready to write something along the lines "WTF you are talking about, those POIs are tough!". Then read "CV with shields". I never used shields, most of my playtime is before they where added. As this is just a exp save, let's give it a try. I added shields to my absolutely non-combat CV, just dropped it in a middle of a hangar. Added 3 cannon turrets (believe it or not, there is no space for more, it's tiny, ugly, ship), additional generator, and ammo box. Well within CPU limits of T2 extender. Tested it with quite a hard POI, floating Zirax one. Every corner has a turret, that was test of skills with unshielded SV and rockets. Now? As You described: just sit there, watch as it melts. Maybe shields have a reason in PVP, I don't know. I play SP, and in this shields take away more form the game that they add.
This is probably not right thread for it but it is related....just wondering what will be the point of having a galaxy? Will it be like a lot of space games lately where end game is near the center? Will enemies get harder or rarer minerals become more available as we go in deeper? Will the system at some point be able to create even more random planets and environemnts to keep explorers curious or will it be copy/paste material? Will a main quest have you flying everywhere meeting all the various factions spread throughout? Or will it just end up being miles wide and only an inch deep like how a lot of big galaxy games end up? I apologize for the pessimistic tone I know this is just the first step and I do think it's awesome but bigger isn't always better. Given the current features I think one system was fine to get the most out of the game and I think an entire galaxy is cool but largely unnecessary. Widening the sandbox is great but will eventually more toys in it as well!
I've been wondering the same thing and I think/hope that this huge galaxy is the stepping stone for scenario creators to fill the sandbox with amazing quests for SP. For MP, this possibility of a galaxy can be used by server owners to create their own ideas as well. Take a look at HWS and the upcoming Big Bang idea for season 12.
The galaxy is awesome for scenarios or servers that choose to use it. It can be almost completely customized. The only limitation is the time needed to make the content.
Well, you are the best example that it can be done. You should make some beginner tutorials for scenarios, how to use the newest possibilities
Soooo, do i see that right that sv warp is only within a system possible? Not even if there are 2 playfields of different systems are close enough? That would mean a custom scenario must have multiple planets per solar system or the sv drive is a useless device? Please! Give us at least the ability to unlock that limitation via config and i'm totally happy. Beyond that great, nice looking work. Wish we could enter the gas giants. Actually they are just partially usefull to me and i still need to use red water planet if i want access for player.
You already can in the BlocksConfig.ecf file. You can set the cost in pentaxid along with setting the range in both AU and LY. There are only a handful of things you CAN'T do in the new configs. Pretty much anything is possible already (with some limitations). Code: CostPerAU: CostPerLY: RangeAU: RangeLY:
After spending over 3500+ play hours and about 1000+ hours making customized star systems and scenarios on 3 servers, I find that the new galaxy model expanding the travel routes and systems are a pain to work with. With an average of 30-60 players on the servers, it was more than enough work to get those to interact with eachothers within the old galaxies. With the last update i was able to make 3 galaxy maps where PvE was contained to one system, and PvP to another, and a mixed mode treasure galaxy inbetween them. This was great and we had players able to select playmode based on starter planets, and changing playmode by warping to a new Galaxy. It was fairly simple to keep the galaxies to around 20-30 planets they could explore, and some common areas where they could trade. It was also fairly simple to edit the templates and customize the different planet types within a system to make a good scenario. However i got a feeling the new maps are more about shining new objects and just warping about. Its hard enough to keep players from getting bored with the current amount of planets, but with the new one I can hardly see any of them incentivised to interact with eachothers. I see for me that they all just warp wildly about looking at more and more default planets and just getting more and more bored. I have been testing out the Exp12 now together with 6 devoted testers, and just after 2 weeks these are gitting less and less involved. I have been working my a.. off with new POIs, but the players are just at the starter planet a few weeks, fly out and have an hour of "wow" moments, and then gets confused and then drops off. My suggestion is to keep down the number of stars in the default multiplayer, and have a small increase in the habitable areas around these, and include a few more planet templates as default, to be edited for your needs. To be short, with 30-60 active players (pr week) i dont need a shitload of planets to bore them, I need simple ways to keep them close and energized. And tbh, after 3 weeks testing Exp12 i catch myself rather watch TV , than play these days. You started so good, with the portals, and new database, as well as opening up the configs, and not to forget the dialogue system, but the galaxy design/map is whats breaking it for me. I am sorry for complaining, but i thought I would throw out my 5 cents before I silently got bored, closed down servers and just left. I am just hoping this is temporary, but I am afraid its more about visuals these days, and less about making it FUN to play.
The galaxy system is almost completely customizable. You can also still use the old system with fixed sectors. Or any combination thereof.
tbh, after also seeing several youtubers as well complaining about empty sandbox games, I must agree. There is enough challenges making the game "alive" for players as it is in v11.5, so adding galaxy complexity instead of just adding functionality may be the wrong way to go. Offcourse i can edit and adjust away from the default settings, but my comment is more towards the fact the game itself is a struggle to keep interesting for my guests as it is. Personally I love empyrion, but lately I think there has been to much of a sidelook to other similar games, instead of deveoping what can make empyrion unique. However for now I will adjust and try to make the galaxy more suitable for my guests, and adding interactive fun and stories for them, but please have these thoughts in mind when decisions are made on the steps forward.
Keep in mind you need the galaxy system before you can add the other challenges. A single randomized solar system setup reached its limit in size and complexity so there really wasn't room to add more sectors (planets, stations, asteroid fields, etc). The galaxy gives enough room and complexity to add the challenges now.
Im really liking the new expansive galaxy we have to explore -- Keep up the good work. but the UI needs some help. Just last nite I had warped into a new system, I was looking at a pink(?) planet and I wanted to see what resources it had w/o having to land first. This proved to be a PITA. Some suggestions to make this easier -- At the sector / playfield level it shows the resources (if any) for asteroids in the sector. Please make it so if I click on a planet or moon in the playfield, it shows the resources for that planet or moon. -- At the "system map" level, you have several icons on the right side. The "Solar system" icon (furthest right) does not seem to do anything. Please provide some feedback or auto-select. Otherwise it appears broken, because when I initially click on it.. nothing happens. -- The left-most icon that displays the list of planets and such. Please make it so when I click or double click on anything in that list - it auto-selects the corresponding 'thing' in the solar system. otherwise it appears mostly useless.
Please dont misunderstand me, I am all for the galaxy expansions with more stars and systems around them, it is the default size I am thinking is way to large for the mainstream server. It should default be smaller, and have the ones that needs it , be able to expand as they see fit. And currently the problem in engaging players, was not the size of the galaxies, and believe me I have tested with everything from maps with 340 planets, to small ones with "just" 30 planets, and the smaller ones always got the best player interaction and playhours. And offcourse I could downscale the galaxy, but I am not making a point for me alone here.
The default survival galaxy is set up for single player, coop, and small private servers. It's not intended for public servers, and isn't even the default game mode for dedicated servers. The default multiplayer is for public play and could probably use a smaller galaxy like you mentioned. Or someone could create a good fixed sectors scenario for use in multiplayer and put it up on the workshop. Or use something like Invader Vs Defender.
Hello! Previously, the term molehill was present when jumping - allowing to save fuel and time to a certain planet (earlier). Will they exist in version 12? Or already exist? I found only in the center a black hole with which there is no interaction.
I take that as a "challenge" @ravien_ff and will do some work on that and publish. But I am curious to what the big idea for the game is, and the vision, because I see more and more players dropping off, and it usually is the same answer, that it is just boring flying around looking for stuff. If you ask a player directly while playing, I am quite sure the answer will be that they want more planets, but what they are really saying is that they want "more" without defining what it is. And in the end its seeing other players and their constructions, and interactions on a more personal level.
It's not more planets per se I'd say, more like, more content. That can be of course players, but also POIs, missions etc - preferably tailored for multiple people to incentivise banding together. And yes, probably a smaller galaxy for start. But that's the bauty of this game, if you think you need smaller galaxy with more stuff in it, you can make your own scenario to fit your needs.
Not sure if mentioned yet but is there not a possibility of getting stuck at a star. when you warp to a star there is nothing that you can mine. Therefore if you just used up the last bit of crystals you are stuck no? The game will need to handle this somehow
... or plan ahead better. It's not like you can't see how much warp fuel you have on the screen while piloting the ship. Most systems have moons, which have penta. Why would you warp to another star when you have almost no fuel, instead of to a moon where you can get more...? Using your last bit of fuel to warp to a star is to me kind of like saying "I'm going to go hit this big POI with only 10 rounds of ammo left and 0 durability on my armor".... and then wondering how you are going to recover your backpack, and saying "the game should have a way for me to do this!" It's not like you can warp to the sun spot accidentally at the start. You have to warp out of the system and come back.... and why would you use your very last fuel to warp out of the system for the first time? Once you warp out once, you discover the "land at sun" mechanic...
