A6.0 Feedback: NEW GAME START

Please for the love of all that is holy, good and righteous put the survival constructor and drill back in the escape pod. Challenging is fun. A 4 kilometer/ 2 hour death March across planet night raptor before I can even start playing is not fun.

It's not challenging nor rewarding, it's just being brutalized for no reason.

 

Why did you take away the bike? Running around for like 3 hours trying to get mats to do anything isn't fun at all. I think you really missed the mark on your last update. This went from being really fun to being really monotonous.

 

It seems like the aggro radius and speed of most creatures and drones was increased. It's almost guaranteed most people will quickly run out of ammo with no way to get more and no idea where to find the survival constructor. You can't avoid them, you can't kill them and you can't escape them.


These factors all combine in a way that really makes the early game a lot harder.

 

Im enjoying the more challenging and desperate start conditions. It makes it a better panic for survival. Before, it was like, ok I landed... build a huge base right here, no worries, easy peasy lemon squeezy!

ALTHOUGH .... sticking the survival constructor in the pod would make better sense, as a life pod should have something like that as a basic emergency equipment. No materials, just the constructor. Maybe a flashlight for old times sake lol.

 

Fight anything just because, shouldn't really be what people think when needing to initially survive. Hopefully people will learn, you need to run and hide for the first bits, till you get your feet under you. Be smart, dont just make a straight line to something you see in the distance. This shouldnt be a walk in the park

 

yeah it was way more fun when you didn't have to play like a pussy. Also drones just seems to find and rape you from 900m's out. so, so much for your straight line theory.

 

And you went with a survival builder game, why? This wasnt supposed to be a 'spawn with all your gear with instant gratification pew pew' like call of duty or something. There may be some scenario game starts setup like that in the near future, browse the workshop for something more kindergarten like which gives you everything, that may suit your desire.

 

because, as I stated before, it was way more fun before this dog **** update. don't ask questions you already have the answers too. I mean at least give us a mode of transportation. Running around for 3 hours with no stamina gets old real fast.

 

I see both your points. It was a little too easy before and I like a good survival challenge.

However, on my groups server:

A) The Akua trade station was literally on the opposite side of the world from the crashed cockpit and everyone seemed to be landing nearish the TS.

B) Night raptors seem to be spaced right at the edge of the last night raptors aggro range. Which in and of it's self is fine. They aren't that bad as long as Ammo lasts and when it's done you can escape into lakes or onto rocks while you regain stamina. If they manage to kill you, you can respawn and lure them away from your backpack.

C) Drone aggro seemed to be beyond 400 meters. The cannon drones hardly missed no matter how much I jump, jinked or gyrated. They fly faster than I could run in light armor. I put 75+ .50 pistol rounds into one and did not kill it. Breaking LOS is extremely difficult because they fly. They were not as common as the raptors, but moving any significant distance means you will pass close enough to gain aggression from one. You can't just be sneaky or avoid the drones even using you own drone to scout. If youu see it, it's already seen you. Once it's seen you, it will kill you and sit on your backpack. If you had any ammo or food it's now gone. If you choose to spawn again near your backpack you will die in about 30 seconds - there is no luring it away. Respawning at TS Akua, your only option really, puts you back on the other side of the planet with the drones and raptors still between you and your survival constructor and you have zero items.


D) There is no circuitous route to the cockpit. It's surrounded.

E) Some player put a core in the crashed cockpit and the drones destroyed it. Admin had to wipe the planet to fix it.

F) In the hour and a half I got to play, two new players on our server ragequit and we're not a large server. I think one of them is done with empyrion for good. That's a pretty small window of time on a small server and that speaks poorly for the trend over all. There were also several people complaining about how it took an hour or more just to get the cockpit but weren't ready to ragequit. Nobody seemed to refer to it other than anything but the "God damn Cockpit!"

Elite players might love the new difficulty but the general pop seems upset and they keep the lights on.

Eventually you can make it through to the cockpit yes. However it's not a interesting task that just takes a little cleverness to overcome. It's just a tedious task that takes up prescious play time that could have been spent having fun.

I was highly excited about exploring the new features today but did not get a chance to.

There is nothing new or rewarding for getting to the cockpit. No carrot, just less stick. The punishment just lessens. The experience doesn't get better if you are cleverer or more tactical than the other guy. You get through it by grinding and enduring tedium repeatedly dying.

The drones and raptors would be fine in their current state if we had our constructor and weren't forced to circumnavigate the planet with no weapons or tools to get it.

 

have you actually read any of the things we have been talking about?

 

Well I have but I haven't quite grasped whats your actual issue? No bike?

Or if you mean @James Grayson comments too - I think Hummel responded to that. Default MP doesn't have wreckage POI's. You should have drill & constructor in your pod. If not, it was your admins decision to change that. Or old YAML file (?).

 

Since its been a few months since I've played, I thought I'd run through the tutorial. I hope this is helpful.

6.0 (1082) Tutorial

From the release notes, "If you are entirely new to Empyrion, run the new Tutorial (Start a new survival game on Akua and use EASY settings!)"

I launched the game, deleted all of my saved games, and went to make a new game. I was faced with the decision of which scenario to play. I picked the "Default" scenario, survival mode, easy difficulty, and Akua. The seed was 736089.

Observation: Perhaps "Tutorial" should be its own scenario and be the default choice?

The large mission brief was unexpected and left me with questions...

Observation: I don't know who IDA is. I eventually come to understand it is messages that will come to me via the in-game chat.

Observation: I have multiple monitors. I really, really, really wish the game would remain visible on my primary monitor while I typed on the secondary monitor.

Observation: I don't understand the notes about drag & drop and Shift+LMB. The trouble is they are presented to me when I'm not working with my inventory. The information is delivered too soon.

Observation: There is a list of tasks. Should I write these down or will they show up in the UI later? I hope they show up later, or I'll have to restart the scenario so I can write them down.

Pressing on with the Tutorial...

Observation: Something should point out the mission steps over to the right of the screen. They're white, and depending on the time of day and terrain, they can blend in.

Observation: I'm looking for a toolbelt in my inventory to equip, but I don't see one. Ah, of course, the toolbelt is referring to the hotkeys. The toolbelt didn't have a checkbox so it was a heading. Maybe it would be even clearer if headings were underlined.

Observation: Ah, now that I'm working with my inventory, the drag & drop or Shift+LMB information makes more sense. Shouldn't the message about inventory be presented during first inventory access?

Observation: Tutorial instructions implemented via the in-game chat system has numerous frustrating quirks. The messages auto-hide too quickly, but for a tutorial I think they should have to be specifically acknowledged before they disappear.

Observation: I find it awkward to try and read I.D.A.'s instructions about how to use the survival constructor and then use the UI to enter that interface. Since you cannot read game chat while looking at the survival constructor, you have to exit the constructors interface and then revive chat. Read a sentence, re-enter the survival constructor, look for what they're talking about, and then exit, read, enter, look, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Observation: IDA 009 and 010 seem to be out of sync. Once I put the bike on my toolbelt it started talking about making a waypoint. I haven't completed IDA 009 yet.

Observation: Steps for IDA 010 require bringing up the Map, which once again hides IDA's messages. So, Map, Exit, Read, Map, Exit, Read... and now IDA is at 011 and I still haven't made a waypoint. And, because we're using the chat system, sometimes commands like "M" to bring up the map end up typed in the chat channel, rather than acting as commands, which is confusing at first.

Observation: While I'm working on mining, I keep seeing game hints. Make food in my food processor? What food processor? Maybe the hints should be disabled during a tutorial, or maybe they should be relevant to the tutorial?

Observation: IDA 019 might also remind the player how to load their weapons.

Observation: While shooting at Lizard Mules, one of my stray bullets must have hit a Dinosaur. This would be a way that somebody could die during the tutorial. I'm not sure this is a problem.

Observation: IDA 023 talks about the perish timer, but doesn't establish what will perish. I know you're talking about the food spoiling, but a new person might think you're talking about the PC's health bar since that's being discussed in the previous sentence. A person can figure it out since you're talking about a refrigerator, but I think you can add a sentence saying food will spoil over time unless refrigerated.

Observation: IDA 024 talks about changing to Private. It should be more explicit: "Change the Faction from Public to Private."

Observation: IDA 025 concludes with "Message Incoming!" Okay, what message? Where? I'm guessing the tutorial is still in development and there's more to add?

Overall, I like where the Tutorial is going. In the past it sort of ran parallel to my game play and it was always way behind what I was doing. By carving it out as a stand-alone and short scenario I think you'll be able to craft a really nice introduction to the game.

 

The "Robinson Protocol" as a starter Tutorial is a good beginning. The explanation text to the left need to be improved, but not important at this stage of the game, easy to do later on and will have suggestions from the forum. Would be a nice option to be able to select if that text should be displayed or not (If the option is there already, then place it much better). Later on this quest should be able to monitor all progress at once, so can do things in a different order. If to eat a corn dog, then tick that box off. This helps against actions like: In E6RC4 I looted the fridge in the starter compartment and then moved it (Multitool disassemble). Without the need to go into the quest action list and manually select "done", if possible.
Maybe have some small beginning quest chain on the other starters too.

 

Being a condescending dickhead does not do anything to support your opinion.
A lot of people don't like it so it's another thing that would be nice to select before starting a game so new players get a chance to learn the ropes before being thrown to the wolves and experienced players could play without any way to build anything or defend themselves if that's what they want.

 

I agree with this.
I think they might have just created a new answer to the question, "What is your least favorite task in the game?"

 

Here are my observations from starting over, at least 20 times... In the last 3 weeks playing the alpha 6.x...

1) It's better to die, than to try and stay alive because generally you get 1/2 food, 1/2 air, 1/2 life, and some more gas, bullets, guns, something.

This is a problem.... When my mindset in the game is... Death is a BONUS, not a penalty... I think it feels wrong.

2) Because darkness is so long, monsters are so fast, and there are so many negative status conditions... Death is actually common, very common, no matter how you work at it... Unless you stay put, and could gather some resources to get a foot hold.

Because of this, it makes sense to me, to get minor resources from just digging and sifting rock... Not much, and not fast, and not easy... But enough to get a bike, a small pile of bullets, something to take the edge off.

3) Unless you understand that death is pointless, no risk, and actually a good tactic. (Spawn drop survival crafter, fill crafter, explore a wee bit, rinse repeat, and spawn in pod every time, over and over....) I find myself taking off my helmet, just to die, because... Nothing is around, the run is too long, and once I leave enough gas stashes all over the planet, it makes it easier. Unless you get that... The "ULTRA" hard starts are really brutal. Once you don't care about death, and just train monsters away from you last dead body to get the next dead body... yeah....


So, the starts... Need a baby step, that ISN'T more gear when you re-spawn. It's a few more options, to get the basic supplies to get a baby step forward, before the spiders snipe you down @ 20m

Things like, an armor upgrade that adds 20m to the drone distance for body recovery.
Things like, rocks dropping small QT of resources consistently, even on some of the harder planets.
Things like, digging rocks out of the ground having a small chance of giving you 1 ore.
Things like, upgrades are armor that improve vision a bit more.
Things like, a T2 bike, that acts just like the motorcycle, but move like a hovercraft.
Things like, 10 seconds of mining with power out of your suit, or some way that YOU can do something without a tool.
Things like, a melee weapon, or weapon in your suit to at least give you a small fighting chance against an alien.
Things like, more varied armor boosters that have time limits similar to the jet pack, like super speed, cloaking, or a power shield.
Things like, being able to choose where to spawn on the ground when you re-spawn local, so it doesn't put you closer to the things you just ran from, or that big base that killed you.

Something, to make you feel like you've got a fighting chance.... Instead of... I'll just die, to get more resources!

 

What difficulty and starting planet are you using?

 

This last go at it, I'm on invader/defender ultra hard difficulty. So you don't get bullets, but you get more gas! Fresh heavy armor, and fresh 02. You don't lose XP, so want to repair??? Just die... a lot, and start fresh. But don't do that after you have suit mods, because you lose them.