Hi all, The Abandoned base. Great POI, with obviously a lot of care and effort going into its design. However, it's equally the perfect example of some less than ideal choices when it comes to critter spawning and inconsistencies in design. Firstly, critter spawning: This POI is RIFE with spawns that are incredibly poorly placed and timed, leaving the player minimal ways to avoid damage. For example, time and time again the player can enter a totally empty room, only to have a critter spawn right on top of them. Time and time again, consistently. This does not appear to be a "spawn delay" issue, if it is, it's consistent. It's not like I'm rushing around - I play really cautiously, and creep into rooms - and spawns are lagging behind my super-fast movement speed. Additionally, this POI LOVES to spawn things behind the player, in already cleared areas, out of thin air. I've cleared an area, gone past a certain point, triggered something, and stuff has spawned in behind me, in the area I just cleared. I hear that something has spawned, so look around (no accurate 3d audio cue of course) and see that stuff is right behind me. This is happening constantly throughout the POI. Secondly, inconsistencies. This POI shows as having an ADMIN Core, thus the destructibility of things is inconsistent. Will that Deco provide cover, or will it just blow up when I "hit" it while aiming perfectly around it? Will that obvious vent be one I can destroy to uncover a secret / hidden area, or will it be fully immune to any damage dealt? Try it and see, that's the only way. Bad. I get the use of an Admin Core to force the player to play the way the designer intended. However, that's not very "sandbox" is it? I mean, the player cannot just blow a hole in the POI - potentially destroying valuable loot - and take it on that way. Perhaps this POI has story elements I've missed, hence why it's Admin, so I hope this isn't a "play OUR way" thing becoming the norm. Anyway, as is often the case, these "surprise" or "jump scare" cheese spawns highlight other prominent issues. Namely melee critters STILL able to damage the player when they're far out of range and attack the player THROUGH blocks. I like to be nimble rather than heavily armoured and slow, so, getting a jump scare and successfully escaping and avoiding attack is satisfying. Having avoided an attack, yet still taking damage - either through the block you're taking cover behind, or just from well out of melee range - really kills that satisfaction. I'd suggest that anyone doing a run with regular, middle of the road gear through this POI will be far more "challenged" by these issues than the POI its self. The POI design, how the player progresses through it etc. are all great. The spawning of critters right on top of the player, constantly, almost entirely ruin the experience for me. The inconsistent, this can be destroyed, that cannot is also counter-fun. The first few "vents" I found were immune to weapons fire, so when I found others I initially ignored them. However, going back they really looked like they were supposed to lead someone, so I took a shot... some blew up, allowing access to hidden areas - which encouraged me to try any I saw after that point - others, where I could clearly see space on the others side, remain immune to fire. Terribly inconsistent. This POI seems to be a great early-game, slightly more challenging POI with more things to discover and enemies to fight, yet the spawning and immune to damage / not immune to damage inconsistencies make it frustrating. I will complete it, but it's more out of stubbornness now rather than any real joy at doing the POI. These practises need to STOP. NO more spawns right on top of the player, that's ridiculous. NO more spawns BEHIND the player after they've cleared an area. The player going past a certain point and a DOOR opening, to allow critters to rush out and attack the player, GREAT. Love that. Popping in out of nowhere as they do. No. I've commented on this before, talking about tactics used - to no avail - when tackling a POI. That was in a modified (Reforged Eden) game, where many things are different. I'm currently playing a totally vanilla Survival game in the current Beta. It's been working pretty well, until I started this POI. Performance is great, no issues there - other than the "lag" when aiming down the scope of a Sniper Rifle for the first time in a while... that got me damaged as I was "frozen" while being shot at. I do wonder why this POI is designed in this way. Why have enemies spawn in right on top of the player? Why have enemies spawn out of nowhere in previously cleared areas as the player triggers some sensor or something? Enemies dropping from a hole in the ceiling? GREAT. Enemies emerging from a door you just triggered to open? FANTASTIC! Enemies magically appearing from nowhere, with no "clue" in the form of the "grate" texture used by some POI designers? Nope. While using the "grate" texture can give the player a clue that something might spawn in that location, which is better, the timing of when things spawn from such places is also critical. See such a spot and nothing spawns? Ok, it was just a texture... next time that might not be true. I think the "trap door opens over the player's head, releasing SPIDERS!" is a good trap. The "spiders just appeared in mid-air from no obvious source" is not. A wary player might spot a trap door and be expecting it, i.e. the player has a viable counter: their awareness. The player accidentally (but planned by the POI designer) opening a door to release the critters inside (which had already spawned) is great. Said critters just popping in behind the player is not. I don't know if I'm in the minority thinking this way, but I do find the lack of counters to enemy spawns in POI's less than ideal. Of course, the visible spawners we could just shoot before anything spawned were a bit easy mode. However, if we have invisible, invincible spawners, at least place them in a way that makes sense, or allows a cautious character, who scouts ahead some advantage to their tactics. I guess play-style when tackling a POI is a key factor here. I could "armour-up" and tank damage, while popping meds like candy (Popping meds like Sweets (British English) doesn't have the same ring, does it?) to counter space herpes. However, I've always preferred not getting hit in the first place. To be fair, I often DON'T get hit legitimately. Rather I get "hit" through blocks, or from melee attacks well outside range. I'm still sure that where the player is when the attack animation starts if often used to decide whether the player takes damage or not, rather than where the player is when the animation completes. Anyway, another ramble from me, but I guess you know what to expect from me by now lol. Edit: The Core on this structure, well, as mentioned I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to destroy it or not. At first, it appeared not, however, it was the light (hologram) from a "Holographic Screen 04" that blocked my fire. I'd crazily assumed my bullets would go through the projection, even if the block its self is immune to fire. That was not the case. Only by aiming around the projection, could I directly hit the core. You must see how confusing this can be? I'm an experienced player, albeit more hours in Reforged Eden these days, but throughout this POI I've never been sure of what can and cannot be destroyed. I continued to have many critters spawn right on top of me. Even after I'd killed all critter in the Core room and was "testing" the destructibility of the core I just mentioned, a scorpion spawned on top of me. Perhaps that one was a very late spawn... not sure.
The POI Called "Abandoned Base", perhaps there's more than one POI with the same name? I could perhaps find some ID for it, if it's not uniquely-named.
Ok, so just taken a quick look and there are three with that description, one for Akua, one for Masperon and one for Skillon. Each of them are different poi's so do you remember which one it is?
