Hi all, Not played for a couple of weeks, but am continuing a vanilla game I started a short while back... Encountered the Advanced Spaceport POI. Either this POI has changed or, more likely, there are multiple variations of it. Anyway, this POI seems to be on the small side - I've not cored it yet - but, after the first few encounters with enemies -it does seems to apply the cheese spawn out of nowhere right behind you mechanic. Which is unfortunate. Initially, I was pleased to see it had visible spawners that could be destroyed. During my initial assault, where I took out the external turrets with my CV, I blew a hole to the right of the main entrance, due to how turrets keep shooting for several seconds after a target is destroyed. Those extra shots, actually took out some structural blocks, giving me a way in. I saw such a visible spawner - producing regular Zirax (EPS faction) troops - and readily destroyed it. Rather than continuing through this hole, I thought I'd go through the front door - as the POI designer intended, I assume - to see how that went. Here's where the cheese started... Approaching the front door, it's still closed at this point, several Robots insta-spawned my side (outside) of the door, just as I approached it. Pure cheese, spawning right on top of me like that. My CV's Sentry Turrets made short work of them, with my help, but it was still a cheap shot. Had they spawned inside, the door opened, and they rushed me, now that would have been cool. I push further into the POI and am countering regular spawners. I spot one and, almost instantly, they spit out a few troops or robots, which I have to shoot first, then take out the spawner. All good. Had one spawner, in what appeared to be a barracks (several bunk beds) that didn't spawn anything before I destroyed it. It was the only one though. Proceeding further, I'm having to pull a lever, which opens a trap-door revealing another lever that opens a blast door. I proceed into this area with most enemies already spawned in. I take care of those and start shooting the spawner when another enemy spawns in, a bit late. I shoot them too. All good. Next I explore further, going through one of the regular doors there, spawner, troops, taken care of quickly. However, at the same moment, several enemies - robots and troops - spawn in right behind me from nowhere in a room I'd already cleared. More cheese. I still don't get this spawning from nowhere thing, in a room that's previously been cleared out. Like in other POI's that do this, it takes away from the experience. However cautious the player might be, however carefully they proceed, scouting ahead with the drone, peeping around corners, it'll NEVER counter things spawning right on top of / just behind you. It means that heavy armour is THE way of tackling such POI's, not agility, which I generally prefer. It's a shame that some POI's implement their spawning this way, as it is pure cheese and - certainly in this example - cannot be countered. Now, when a player knows a POI, they can anticipate these scripted cheese spawns. However, that first experience with the POI is forever ruined in my view. It's great that there are so many POI's in the game, many from community members. I just wish Eleon vetted them, so they didn't allow those with such spawning mechanics. Now, I've no problem with spawns where the POI designer is attempting to simulate a "crack in the wall" or some sort of vent / grid that letting spiders in. That's pretty cool. I also like hidden spawner that simulate a room that was always (in design) full of enemies, who then either emerge through a door or are waiting for the player when they go through it. That's good. The whole going through a door and having an enemy pop in from nowhere right behind you though, is pure cheese. I confess, I have less patience for things these days. If a POI keeps cheesing things right on top of me like this, meaning I have no choice but to take damage, then I'm pretty much done with doing that encounter without cheesing myself. Next time I see such a POI, I'm using a CV / SV to drill directly to the Core and not endure that cheese again. Long post, I know, but I do feel quite strongly on this subject. I posted about another POI last year, and was kindly invited by who I assume was the POI author to discuss it with them on discord. However, real life things kept me away from the game for a bit shortly afterwards, and I cannot even remember what POI it was now. Note: I acknowledge that sometimes "surprise" spawns that should appear in front of the player get delayed and appear on top or behind the player. I understand that this is not the intent, and is perhaps down to the game's internal scripts not firing off quite as they should. We see this with the turret targetting delay all the time of course, so there's something going on. Such things are for Eleon to address. Perhaps this POI suffered from this very issue to a degree, I cannot really tell. All I know is that enemies spawned on top of or behind me several times. Previously cleared rooms - that gave no indication of anything appearing out of thin air, were suddenly full of enemies moments after clearing the room. What do other people think about this? I've commented on it several times myself, but sometimes wonder if others notice it at all. Just a quick note to say that my PC is good, and runs the game very well indeed. So I don't think the poor performance of the delayed spawners - if that's indeed what's happening here - is in any way linked to my system. I've played Empyrion on various PC's, and this behaviour persists. It's why I initially assumed it was always by design of the POI's creator, until I spoke to a couple of them who affirmed that it was not how they'd set it up during creation...
Aside from a visual update a few years back (which was probably over 5 years ago now), the Epsilon POIs including the advanced spaceport are extremely old and full of issues common in A7- builds. Doors are locked that shouldn't be, spawners have old troops, poor detection or pads that aren't set to respawn their contingent, etc... The delay on spawners is fairly common in older builds that have spawn pads that aren't set to a correct detection range. Only detecting if the player has entered the room they're in, when it's standard now for them to activate if a player is in or approaches from an adjacent room. To ensure that all spawns are in place before the player is within visual distance of the spawn pad. There's an entirely new set of Epsilon POIs awaiting approval that have all those problems solved. This is the replacement. The Commercial Starport (T2).
Oh, so I encountered an older POI? I'd not actually seen it before, that I remember at least. However, I am currently playing vanilla, rather than RE like I'd usually do. For me, the line had blurred between what was added in RE and what had been added to the base game. So, I thought I'd have a vanilla play for a change. Will likely do another RE start when 2.0 is out.
