Hi guys, happy new year, hope you're all fine I'll split this message in two section: the first the brief one, the second where I'm elaborating on useful EGS related topic. So about the brief part: if you love EGS, you shall definitely install Reforged Eden and play to it. If you don't love EGS, you shall definitely install RE and play to it. If you are witnessing the true horror of Malenia and want a travel in space before the next duel, then you shall definitely install RE and play to it. BTW - I'm one of the guys who doesn't like mod: I like vanilla games Now, on to the EGS centered part of my message: first things first I guess I should qualify myself so you can opt for listening (reading) or not. I've >500hrs of playing and I'm on the EGS boat since the dawn of time. The whole time was invested in survival type games, ships and hovers were ever built manually - even though I like a lot the blueprints feature and for sure I'll use it in the future. So on to the list of things RE is doing better, in my opinion, and that, whenever implemented in the main branch, could really represent a step forward for the entire game (that's the reason for which this message is in the suggestion section). Please note that a lot of the next features were discussed in this very forum in various threads. - Solar panels for CV: I can only add that even thinking to have anything in space not capable of using the free energy of the stars is just pure madness. So EGS definitely need this. - Base attack: I've never found a scenario - tested all the vanilla - were I needed more than one tower to defend my base. In RE the Zirax will attack you since the beginning with their strongest ships and the attack force grows proportionally with base size (I guess, but maybe it's also depending on player). In the last attack I had: six heli-drones, three transport, two light bombers - those are painful especially if one of them becomes temporary invulnerable (please, have a look at the last point on this). In EGS I've just seen maybe four basic drones? Maybe. Definitely EGS should implement a progressive base attack: having a base attack with two basic drone after 50hrs of playthrough is literally useless. - Tools are tools: it's the first time I've found the chainsaw useful. In the vanilla game chainsaw hasn't visibly advantages over the survival tools: same time farming, same quantity of wood. In RE farming wood with everything else than the chainsaw is long and tedious. That's the right way, in my opinion, to let player feel when something is useful or not. - CPU now gives evolution impression: it's definitely easy in the vanilla game to build an OP ship with billions of CPU even after a few hours of playing. In RE the CPU logic was rebalanced in a successful way so before putting all your blocks one after another you should plan before what's the main target of a ship because in RE build a perfect ship for everything is really hard: better focus on specific task i.e.: mining or battling or exploring. - Exception to rules: another good idea of RE, to definitely bring in EGS, is the exception to the rule. For example the CPU: by doing some missions or in particularly difficult POI you may find some let's say special blocks which can enhance your CPU beyond the blocks you've researched. That would be a perfect addition for EGS because the vanilla game, honestly, after reaching research's end, has few to nothing to offer on that topic... and you'll reach it very quickly. Of course for this feature to be useful you should not have OP maxed out ships after just some hours of playing. - Game logics works as intended: when you play to RE you've the impression that different game logics work as originally intended by the EGS devs but then that the EGS vanilla fails to do. For example, let's talk about radiations. I never needed a shower in my EGS base, honestly, 500hrs, different starting, radiations were never an issue. In one playthrough I even built a factory for CVs directly in space: I was cold a lot of time but radiations? Never. Then I played RE: radiations works as radiations are supposed to and they are a pain in the... ehm, back. If you're fool enough to leave your ship, for example, to loot the interceptors in space then after some seconds you'll suffer from radiations. And after that it begins: you need to wash otherwise radiation will appear again such as in real life as long as you use irradiated clothes. Ok I know the vanilla game has this logic too but for some reason is really hard to be triggered (I've built an entire CV salvaging the Ilmarinen in the meanwhile without ever being irradiated. Medium armor no upgrades) and you can definitely rely on the showers you'll find everywhere since it happens once in 100hrs. Instead in my opinion radiations conditions are to be triggered exactly like the cold conditions, as it is done in RE. Furthermore I don't remember if it was there but in RE you have a green flashing frame which is basically telling you warning because you were exposed. So if EGS do have those logic, fine, but please at least align those to the cold frequency otherwise radiations are just something you can ignore in the vanilla game. - Endgame: well this word talks by itself. In this forum we're asking for it maybe from... ok, since ever RE is basically a huge endgame mod and it is done by giving to the players a meaning to her/his actions, by giving a progressive evolution idea and furthermore trying to give a sense also to the universe exploration (which in vanilla game it is not so useful because you already reached level cap, because there were no dedicated missions whatsoever or with added value because you already have everything to the maximum. - Research extension: the research tree in EGS is too small compared to the speed at which you reach the end. As far as I've read on this forum it's more or less what everyone thinks. RE have extended the research tree and to gain research point you need to do the endgame missions which are fully inserted into the mod universe logic. I won't spoiler anything but when you'll reach an unlock on the endgame you really feel it as deserved because it required a lot of work but also show you an advancement in... the whole situation of the endgame let's say that. So EGS could definitely do something like that: quick research and then another type of research which gives a sense to a universe otherwise why we've a universe if nothing is to be done with it? Please do not tell me that you can conquer the same poi again and again and again already OP but in a distant star... please not - Exploring as a job: in various section of the RE guide you may find statements related to different mission hidden in various planets. I haven't fond one yet - of course I'm not considering the grab and bring World of Warcraft like quests - but anyway it is a nice idea to populate the universe: the empty universe is one of the flaws of EGS, in my opinion, so adding something to prevent the sense of void it gives it would be better. Still I can't understand why people have so many difficulties in implementing archeology in space games a well done archeology is the key to regenerate curiosity and exploration needs and maybe something useful even to sustain a plot. Can't believe no one is doing something on that - AI, last but not least: since we're talking about EGS, I really think that something has to be done to the AI. Guys, really, thank you for polishing models in v1.9... but the AI in this game is maybe the... less working AI I've ever seen in games No offense intended of course, I apologize if you read like that: to me is just a matter of priority. For example: Zirax in row in front of your base without doing anything until you appear. In case of under water base? OMG poor Zirax: they can't even imagine how to reach you and you may still found someone in water after months: oh bye what're you doing there? Or what to say about a Zirax behind a glass door whom after seeing you stays still just waiting to be killed. Or Zirax that during a battle suddenly looks at wall and stay like that. And drones? Drones trying to reach your base that remains stuck one against each other in the middle of the air, never freeing themselves. Troop transports which land, oh no wait better landing there, oh maybe not hmmm there there is better let's try, oh whatever I'll return to base. Random invulnerabilities of drones for some time during attacks: it can be easily identified because missiles just pass through the drones instead of exploding and your turret can spend also 20 missiles to kill a one shot drone (and no they don't have shields). Luckily this thing has a begin and an end during the same base attack. With a situation like that on the AI for sure my priority wouldn't be investing 4 months in doing model polishing. But that's another point, sorry: just to put it all togheter. Definitely anyway EGS has a flaw: the AI, and this flaw is of course inherited even by RE. Well thank you for having read everything Have a nice day
I don't see how RE-style CPU would make much of a difference. In RE, it's paired with thruster nerfs and a different resource paradigm to push players to raid POIs for loot and salvage. The ships you can make without such raiding are extremely weak. In normal Empyrion, your earning potential from mining and trade dwarfs what you can earn from such raids. A lone player with the right mining and cargo vessels can strip mine most planets within an hour. A trader can earn millions of credits in the same time, enough to purchase optronics and supplies for any ship. Any changes to CPU would be subsumed by the torrent of resources player can generate. The only real impact would be necessitating that everyone update their blueprints again. I would hold that block limits are the greatest cause of ship generification. It's impossible to make sensible capital ship batteries with this option in place. A full set of block limited weapons amounts to less than 5% of a tier four CV's total allotment.It's impossible to make sensible capital ship batteries with this option in place. This leads to the second greatest cause; the lack of CPU sinks apart from thrusters. There is only so much CPU you can spend on weapons, storage, constructors, and other functions. You wind up with do-everything ships because you don't have the blocks to make anything more focused. You can stack as much armor as your thrusters allow, and that's about it. From what I've seen, most players don't even stack armor anymore. RE in general is own, different thing. Let it stay that way.
Thank you mr Brzezinski, for both reading my biblical message - sorry for that - and for your answer. You've raised one very important point I completely omitted: of course I already confessed not being a fan of blueprints but that doesn't mean I don't respect those so you're definitely right when you're saying that changing something at CPU level, for example, will have impact on the already created blueprints. On the other hand stopping evolution because we fear the consequences is not my vision: to me it's better to manage consequences of course by planning the relevant activities and I guess an automatism to fix blueprints is possible even in case of CPU change. The important thing, to me, is to not forget those, as I've done and thanks to you now I'm on board with the possible problem About the CPU logic: if you change just that whatever way of course it wouldn't make a difference. I'd like to make one questions, though, if I may: can you imagine why this time I've tried RE and I'm not a mod lover? Because I needed to feel a sense of progression which EGS doesn't have to me: too quickly to become OP and then nothingness. In EGS after 18 hours I raided the first POI with the maximum shield. In RE after 30hrs I cannot even mount a shield and even if I do the difference between one CPU level and the next one is not as in EGS from thousands to millions but instead some thousands. That and the logic of discovery new blocks outside research branch may give to players a better sense of progression, my opinion of course. That's my meaning: of course there are people who after 5 minutes want to be OP and destroy everything. It's fine to have both game mode of course but having just one is wrong to me. So the CPU point, in my opinion, is: better balancing adds value to the sense of progression of the entire game.
It's that inability to do things with cheaper, lower tech ships that was my breaking point with RE. Building is the strongest part of this game. The best solutions to problems usually involves building something. Certainly POI raiding would be impossible otherwise. Even structures that are immune to direct attack are much easier to assail with a CV parked overhead for logistical and medical support. Consider the T1 CV. Just a core. No frills. Within this limit you can build a very respectable freighter with plenty of cargo space, a hangar for small craft, a large constructor, and several sentry guns for defense. Add a mining HV, it can harvest resources from most planets and moons. Add an armed SV, and you can grind tech points, missions, and reputation. Discover some trading POIs, and the CV can earn you millions in trade profits. You have all the resources you could need. You have the entire galaxy from which to chose a home and build a base of power. This is what a simple, level 10, T1 CV does for you. You can build anything from this start, regardless of CPU. Poking around the galaxy looking for opportunities like this is exactly the behavior the game should be encouraging. There should always be risk, however, and risk requires management. That's what the smaller and more expendable sloop/corvette/frigate style CVs are for. Losing a scout CV to an OPV sucks, but when it's small and cheap, you can survive the loss. If every CV more capable than a T1 freighter requires an expensive optronics reliquary slathered in sacred oils and unguents to function, then every CV might as well be as massive a battleship as you can build. The tech tree that exists is an insubstantial cardboard prop. It's a matter of simple grind. Go kill as many things as you can find. Usually this means grabbing a cheap interceptors SV and going to town on a whatever predators or drones are around. Getting all the tech unlocks before you even leave Crown is simple. That's its only bright spot. You can minimize the chore with clever building. Tech is a poor source of power progression, however. It feels like paperwork and basically is on its own, especially when you're acquiring technology you should already know about. At best, it mimics the learning process players actually go through as they play. This learning is the true progression of the game. Material progress is the far more meaningful compliment to it. Try starting a new game with all the tech unlocked sometime. You'll see how different the game is when you focus solely on getting stuff instead of grinding for tech points. There's been plenty of ideas float on how to replace the tech tree. I'm a fan of ripping off Startopia's or Satisfactory's laboratories, where new tech is learned by sacrificing objects to a research device. Perhaps using such a system to also make RNG-based device mods would provide meaningful utility after you've learned everything. Methods of buying or capturing tech would also be great. Brainstorming is ongoing.
RE is for hardcore players, EGS has to cather to a much larger and varied audience. Lots of new players are easily turned off by the game's complexity, which is something veterans tend to forget because they had plenty of time and new game starts to learn everything as it was slowly introduced into the main game.
Well by putting togheter mr Brzezinski message with Kassonnade's one I guess one of the point is that to adopt let's call them advanced logic to the base game may lead to an uttermost difficult game for beginners: for sure I can confirm in RE the time for reading info is not exactly easy to find but well to me it's fine to not replicate the exact RE logic but just to use it as one of the source of 'maybe we could do something like that'. About the other topics I can pretty understand with Brzezinski and his whole message but, just to borrow a word from Kassonnade: we could add to EGS an 'hardcore' mode or even a 'realistic' mode with something even for advanced players such as radiations working in a deadly way as in RE. So I like the the fact that EGS defends the right to explore the galaxy regardless of complex mechanics but on the other hand an option to manage those mechanics could be added after all. It will not have any impact on the AS IS. I'm really interested also on the brainstorming about the research tree: a lot was written in the forum in the years and Ravien and Vermillion in RE have made their choice that I like a lot by linking the advanced research to the endgame. So I hope at least about this thing we can at least consider their solution and I do not know bring something into the main game... is there some sort of newsletter or minute meeting on those brainstorming? I'm curious to read about the various solutions sorry for asking and well thank you anyway.
More high CPU blocks would help. Bigger weapons would be a good place to start. Nothing exotic. Just double, triple, and quad versions of existing turrets. Simple linear scaling. A quad laser turrets has the cost, mass, CPU, ammo consumption, health, and damage of four individual laser turrets. Might help cut down on shot calculation and turret bricks as well. And it would just look so awesome.
