Please also read: Alpha 7 - FAQ and Feedback: WEAPON REBALANCING --------------------------------------------------- I. Terminology updates We reviewed the names of some of the components and found that they do not sound appropriate to a sci-fi game - thus we added new names. Pipes are now “Nanotubes” Cables are now “Optical Fiber” Control Panel is now “Energy Matrix” Metal Components are now “Mechanical Components” Rock Dust is now “Rocks” AdvancedCPU is now “Oscillator” ReactorCore is now “Cobalt Alloy” SteelPlateArmored is now “Sathium Alloy” New: “Zascosium Alloy” New: “Erestrum Gel” II. Updates to crafting We felt that the game is currently very front loaded with things you can build right from the start, giving you little motivation to explore the galaxy and visit other planets. In the past, once you build your CV on your starter planet you have very little game mechanic motivation to explore the rest of your star system. Our main focus is to make the existing gameplay content for new players more interesting for a longer time. In the same time we now prepare the stage for more future content aimed at our loyal longterm fans. This is the preparation for the things to come in future patches which allow you to see what’s beyond your starter star system. We thus revamped most of our crafting templates to move a lot of our current content to mid and late game content. Bear in mind this is the first time we are doing a major change to the whole template and resource system. But it won’t be the last. Our goals: All basic things you need to survive should be available to you on your first planet. Building your first HV should be very easy and cheap so you can get around quickly. Or simply rely on your trusty bike. Once you build your first SV you can explore the orbit, asteroids around the starter planet and the moon. The additional resources you find there will give you your first upgrades as well as some convenience items which should make adventuring a bit easier after you brought them back and upgraded your ship and base. Once you build your first short distance warp drive for your SV (yes, you read this correctly) you will be able to explore nearby planets within 15 AU distance to see what you can find there giving you the ability to build more items and upgrades with the Constructor T2 being among them. Meanwhile you could have been either lucky with some special ore drops in POIs or have mined them yourself to build yourself a CV. Getting a barebones CV is easy at this point - putting more interesting gadgets on it will demand more effort. And of course you want a real Warp Drive with unlimited range at some point. With your new Warp Drive ready to go it is time to explore the rest of the star system. Find the rarest ore and material to build the best of the best equipment or gadgets which should make your life easier to be ready for the future adventures. Taking down a POI and finding and replacing the alien core can be fun. But previously most object blocks had a better use in the Blue Print Factory instead of taking them with you as rewards to enhance your base. We thus moved a couple of objects, you were used to access earlier, to late game content crafting. This way finding these objects in POIs is more rewarding since you will not be able to build them yourself soon. Also handy things like the repair station are usually available in public trade stations before you can build them yourself. III. TEMPLATE CHANGES Generic The TechTree now shows which template can be crafted in which constructor Ingredients limit: All crafting recipes have a maximum of 5 ingredients now Biofuel change There is no need anymore to dive for seaweed to create Biofuel. You can now create Biofuel from Rotten Food. You can also now use Biofuel as an energy source for your base or ship. And as always you can power your drill and chainsaw with it. You can manually fill up your tanks with biofuel but the “AUtofill option” ignore it so you don’t accidently waste it Biofuel doesn’t replace Promethium as an energy source though. You will start with more biofuel on every playfield and on every difficulty setting We added Rotten Food to the templates (made from SeaWeed) in order to make Bio Fuel more accessible Magnesium is a late game ore now: To reduce the amount of different ores a new player has to take care of at the start of the game we removed Magnesium deposits. This should also ease up restocking your ammunition as we removed for the requirement for Magnesium Ingots in all early and midgame templates. Energy Pills, Antidote Pills, Stomach Pills, Radiation Pills and Antidote Injection also no longer require Magnesium Powder Magnesium can show up as loot though and is required for some late game ammo. Silicon Please keep in mind that Silicon is now used for Optical fibers (formerly “Cables” made out of copper). Don’t wonder of your blueprints demand a lot more silicon now even though you have hardly any windows: optical fibres are required for a lot of objects. Metal plates can be used for a lot more things now: Have you ever wondered why you had to mine for iron ore while your inventory was full with metal plates you could have also used? We also wondered about it and changed it. Now metal plates are the basic material for everything metal related. You are able to simply use Metal Plates for all your ammunition needs now. Metal Pieces … are no longer essential ingredients. You may encounter it as trash though. Tiered items now require the lower tier item as an ingredient To make lower tier objects and items more useful as loot they will be required as an ingredient for the next higher tiered version. As an exception you don’t need lower tier version when building T2 and T3 Autominers. Crystal Warp To ease up Pentaxid collecting, each crystal now yields 2 refined Pentaxid. Weapon Kits You no longer require weapon kits to craft T2 weapon now. However these kits are the ingredient to craft Enhanced weapons now Ammunition We understand that players enjoy the survival aspect that every bullet counts in the early game. The complete removal of Magnesium in early game ammo was heavily discussed and questioned. We still believe that the reduction of different ore types on the starter planets is a good move to streamline the beginner’s game experience. There will be much more to explore beyond the first planet at one point. We could easily add plenty more ores types on a single planet. But we aim to bring you a survival experience which covers the whole galaxy with this game. While veteran players are used to settle down on a single planet - most likely the starter planet - we want to make expanding your territory to a wider range of playfields more attractive. It’s up to you if you want to stick to single planet only. But we will make sure leaving the planet and exploring will be rewarding, too. However the abundance of iron also made defending yourself a bit too easy - especially in the early game. Thus all early and mid game ammunition templates require Promethium now (additionally to the iron ingredients). Since we associate Promethium with energy in EGS this should make it more plausible as either ammunition propulsion, explosive component, or sci-fi alloy. You have to make a decision now how to split up your Promethium supply: which amount will you use to power your ship or base and how much will you save for ammunition? We increased the stack size of all ammunition. IV. DEVICE CHANGES Survival Constructor You can only smelt basic ore in the Survival Constructor now. For everything else you need a better constructor in a base or CV. You can build a HV right away in your Survival Constructor (as long as you have the resources of course). You still need to be at least level 3 though to unlock all necessary parts. You are able to build passengers seats early on so you can go adventuring together in coop-play sooner. You can also build an Oxygen Generator and work light in the SC now. The armor locker is also available with the SC so you can get rid of broken armor in the early game. The shotgun is available to craft in your Survival Constructor to offer more survival options in your early game. Small constructor Since the SV Warp Drive will allow you to travel around a bit more, we made sure you can replace most SV parts with the onboard small constructor. You may not be able to craft all basic parts in it though. The purpose of the mobile constructor is to do emergency repairs with existing parts only- not to set up a whole production line. That’s what a base or a CV should be used for. Pentaxid can be refined in a small constructor (HV and SV) now to lower the chance that you get stranded when jumping to a nearby system with your SV. Warpdrive for SV (new) We added a new warp drive engine for SVs. However you will only be able to make Warp jumps up to 15 AU distance. If a planet is more than 15 AU away from your position, you cannot use a SV to travel there. For total freedom you still need to build a CV with a regular Warp Drive. Admins who run their own servers will be able to easily change the maximum distance a SV warpdrive can jump to (soon). The warpdrive has a new 3D model (the “donut” will be used for an upcoming ship object) Warpdrive Tank for SV (new) It goes without saying that you also need a tank for your refined Pentaxid to operate your Warpdrive for SVs. Growing Plots Growing Plots must be built in a Constructor now. But feel free to snatch the ones you find in POIs you raid or buy from vendors. We removed Fibre as a required ingredient for all Growing Plot templates. Furnace We moved the furnace to level 15 on the tech tree so it becomes a worthwhile option to use earlier. You can now refine your Pentaxid in a Furnace, too. We also added an Auto Mode. It will now auto-process ores into ingots. New armored concrete block (new) We are introducing a new armored concrete block. These are a bit tougher than combat steel and much cheaper to build to better protect your bases. Alien blocks We added Alien "Xeno Steel" that can be found on POIs as trophies to put inside your own base. V. ITEMS / TOOLS UPDATES 1. Small O2 Bottles Now stack up to 20 If you have found too many you can now refill your base or ship o2 tanks again with them (with a small loss compared to using it for your own suit tanks). Be aware that the control panel function to fill up your base/ship tanks will now also pick up the small bottles you may have saved for your adventures if they are in your inventory. 2. Multitool: As an experienced Survivalist you may know that you can take down a base block by block using a Multitool. To prevent the resource flood Multitools only give back a certain percentage when deconstructing Objects and Blocks now. The Multitool T2 yields more resources than the T1 of course. 3. ELEON Anniversary Cake (new) Everybody loves cake! To celebrate the 2nd anniversary of Empyrion Galactic Survival we added an anniversary cake recipe to your food processors. Eating it heals as much as a large medkit but heals the full amount instantly. This recipe is only available as long as we celebrate Alpha 7 and will be removed from the game again soon (most likely when we update the food and buff system). This cake is no lie! Enjoy! 4. Ore scanner (new) Carrying an ore scanner allows you to see ore boulders through the dirt when standing inside or on top of a ore deposit. This way you know where to drill. You can still dig up and find the ore without this scanner, too VI. Changes to the Difficulty Setting Setting the ore amount to “hard” now yields 50% (previously 6%) of ore in every deposit compared to the normal setting Setting the ore amount to “easy” now yields 200% (previously 800%) of ore in every deposit compared to the normal setting Setting the ore deposit numbers to “hard” now spawns 50% (previously 40%) of ore deposits compared to the normal setting -Setting the ore deposit numbers to “easy” now spawns 150% (previously 200%) of ore deposits compared to the normal setting
VII. FAQ 1. TEMPLATE CHANGES Q: Why has object XYZ a mid or late game resource requirement now / why is it “gated” so late in the Tech Tree now? It used to be available much earlier? AWhile the option to build certain ship or base objects seems gated now please be aware that they are still available to you early on by many other means. Our intention is to make finding these objects as loot or when conquering a POI or freighter more valuable to you. You can also often find these objects on NPC traders for sale. Some objects, like the the repair station, is publically available to you anytime in trade stations, making a trip there worthwhile. Don't forget that your can also trade these objects between players in a multiplayer environment. Your can also use all high level devices set up in your faction headquarters without having them built yourself. Objects like the oxygen station are convenience items which makes your life easier as you no longer have to use small oxygen bottles to fill up your personal tank. It requires cobalt to craft which is easily available if you make a short trip into the orbit of your starter planet with your first Small Vessel. And if you are lucky you might have found it earlier already. If we granting access to convenience objects early on it removes the incentive to explore more locations in the game. Once you can build these objects yourself they usually become less interesting when finding them as rewards. We want you to be excited about finding these objects before you are able to make them yourself. Q: Why can’t the mobile constructor craft certain basic parts? The purpose of the mobile constructor is to do emergency repairs with existing parts only- not to set up a whole production line. That’s what a base or a CV should be used for. 2. RESOURCES Q: Why can’t I find Cobalt ore deposits on the starter planet? Am I forced to rely on random cobalt drops from boulders on the surface now? You can find cobalt in the orbit as well as on the moon on the starter planet. There is more cobalt on other planets, too. Just build a Small Vessel, head into orbit to mine it there. Additionally you might also get cobalt as random drops in POIs, random drops from boulders or you you can buy it from NPC traders. Q: Where did Sathium and Neodymium go? Once you built a short distance warp drive for your SV you can head to a neighbouring planet system to mine it there. With a short distance warp drive you can travel to all systems within 15 AU. Q: What happened to Magnesium? Magnesium is a late game ore now. To reduce the amount of different ores a new player has to take care of at the start of the game we removed Magnesium deposits. This should also ease up restocking your ammunition as we removed for the requirement for Magnesium Ingots in all early and midgame templates. Most Early game ammunition requires Promethium now. Energy Pills, Antidote Pills, Stomach Pills, Radiation Pills and Antidote Injection also no longer require Magnesium Powder. Magnesium can show up as loot though and is required for some late game ammo. Q: Why do my blueprints cost so much Erestrum and Zascosium now? These ores are the current late game ores. We increased the requirements for them in the late game templates - especially the weapons. We never introduced the concept of “rare ore” at this point. Some ore simply seems special when you find it as loot on planets which don’t have deposits of this kind of ore. Q: Why does my Multitool return less ingredients now when deconstructing? We changed the return rate of the Multitool when deconstructing a block (T1: 30%, T2: 60%) to avoid a resource flood early on when taking POIs apart. VIII. KNOWN ISSUES Outdated default prefab Blueprints: Some Tier1 blueprints still require Cobalt since they contain blocks which can only be built once you explored the orbit and moon of your starter planet (like O2 station, HangarDoors, ArmoredAutomaticDoorBlocks, GrowingPot (Steel) ) Some default blueprint use Hardened Steel Plate Blocks which require Sathium Alloy may not available without at least jumping with your SV to a nearby planet first or by deconstructing a POI.
I like the indicators on the Tech Tree which tell you which constructors are needed to make something. I think the following colors might make more sense... Green - Survival Constructor Blue - Mobile Constructor Yellow - Large Constructor Red - Advanced Constructor ... as that I think shows them in an order of increasing seriousness, which I guess I would associate with capability.
Just to clear this up: Is it -intended- that Wood & Concrete Growing Plots -require- Cobalt? Since both Wood & Concrete are Base Only blocks, and Cobalt is even rarer now, and they no longer require fiber (which actually was a slow-down & sort of made sense as a req), is the Cobalt-Gate to all grow plots still needed?
I don't understand the need to change the names of items or see how it benefited the player, but it is what it is and it is your game. The changes aren't confusing nor difficult to understand, at least not for me. I just don't understand the reason for them and I really don't care for them. Why make something more complicated than it has to be? Junking up my screen with a lot of colors and extra text does nothing to help me play the game. If you play, you eventually figure out what you can make in what and you don't need a bunch of colors to tell you. Rather silly, really. The changes to ore and the availability of it don't make the game more enjoyable, either.
We still believe that the reduction of different ore types on the starter planets is a good move to streamline the beginner’s game experience. There will be much more to explore beyond the first planet at one point. We could easily add plenty more ores types on a single planet. But we aim to bring you a survival experience which covers the whole galaxy with this game. While veteran players are used to settle down on a single planet - most likely the starter planet - we want to make expanding your territory to a wider range of playfields more attractive. It’s up to you if you want to stick to single planet only. But we will make sure leaving the planet and exploring will be rewarding, too. I am asking myself : why should I want to survive on another planet if it is already difficult on the first planet ? Why should I want to take the risk of going anywhere in a ship that took lots of efforts to make (1 ship) to go somewhere I know nothing about ? If the game makes me believe that every planet will be "as challenging" in terms of building capacity, why should I risk my skin anywhere else than where I finally managed to build a solid shelter, and achieve alimentary security? Ultimately, I believe that the depletion of power sources will force the decision to move, at some point in time. With the advent of solar panels, this moment can be postponed even further. As such, "energy source depletion" could be the only major factor forcing players off the starter planet. Can there be other incentives to explore than simple resource scarcity ? And surely the whole "galactic" exploration can't be tied to a handful of components : only a dozen planets are needed for this. What could make all the other planetary bodies worth visiting for more than the time needed to get the ore ? For players not wanting to leave the 1st planet, I understand the strain it can put on servers after a while. Maybe the game could be more generous in terms of materials, but could also start to put pressure on players via the NPCs by increasing frequency and scale of attacks ? Players could try to stay much longer than needed, at the cost of having to rebuild everything more frequently. Just some thoughts here.
Not that this is new with this version but survival constructors are wildly overpowered. Energy free production of items, energy free refrigeration, you can just keep getting yourself killed and re-spawning in the escape pod to get more with no downside. Basically you would be dumb not to have 10 of them next to your base for the entire game to handle all your food storage, promethium and basic ore processing. I think giving survival constructors a built in fuel bay would solve these problems. Starts with enough energy to build say 100 items / be online refrigerating for an hour and re-spawning in an escape pod still gives you one but with no fuel in it, or very limited fuel. Keeps it useful for getting your first base up and running but keeping it from being the best solution for crafting many things and storing food for the entire game
Currently, it is the depletion of ammunition more than power that forces a player to move along. A modest sized farm produces sufficient biofuel to keep a base and several vehicles operating all the time (assuming reasonable energy requirements per build -- otherwise you'll need a slightly bigger farm). The game does not yet (will it ever?) have a larger goal than survival and building neat things. I am unsure if it needs one to be successful and it seems the Eleon has been introducing features that distance the game from large scale exploration (introducing hand drawn planets, adding alien traders, etc.). It may be the game will have one to a few solar systems with different resource arrangements and that's it. I was curious how the devs were going to tackle a procedurally generated universe for small multiplayer servers.
Then we have to ask for a T2 chainsaw with increased range attack. Edit : if it's ammo depletion that forces players off the starter planet then exploration is even less inviting. Who wants to get in unknown territory without ammo ? In fact we are talking about the same thing, since ammo requires promethium. Energy depletion = ammo depletion. But energy also serves to keep bases fueled, with the toilet & plants etc.
Not forgeting: Unbalanced resource system is now "broken resource system" Yeah new players are too dumb to handle another resource right? So the same dumb players need to do "decision making". They can think that one over when digging for Promethium without the scanner that does not come into play till level 3.
Resources needed to craft some ammunition need to be adjusted, currently we need magnesium to craft the first space weapon level 10 (or is it 15? not in game currently to check) rocket ammunition for a CV required to even get to the systems you can harvest magnesium in which seems a bit out of balance to me. Plasma ammunition, OK I can see that, but not the earliest rocket turrets. Perhaps cobalt would be more appropriate as that is available in the starter systems on the moons or asteroids, yet SV travel is still required to obtain it. EDIT: Ok, level 12 for the rocket turret apparently, and the ammunition it fires is the 150mm H-MSL which requires 25 steel plate, 1 electronics and 5 magnesium powder to craft.
Pipes are now “Nanotubes” This is... Pretty silly, a pipe is a pipe is a pipe. And a pipe is not a nanotube, they're different concepts. Like, for starters, pipe flow is formulaic and depends on the actual pipe size; no matter how futuristic you are, you're not going to make a pipe with "nano" in the scale actually good at piping things. And if it's *not* nanoscale, then the name is meaningless technobabble. (Not to mention, 'nanotubes' is usually shorthand for 'carbon nanotubes,' i.e. not made out of iron ore.) If you really want a sci-fi'y "simple metal" object for the resource-sink, then, I dunno. Boltings? Fasteners? 'Nanotubes' is... Well, just lazy. Cables are now “Optical Fiber” Sure, makes sense. Control Panel is now “Energy Matrix” Seems... Completely unrelated. I guess since ingredients like this are just "resource sink you need to build first" instead of actually contributing functionality, then sure. Metal Components are now “Mechanical Components” Sure, makes sense. Rock Dust is now “Rocks” Sure, makes sense. AdvancedCPU is now “Oscillator” I'd have sooner gone for "Multicore CPU," "Combined CPU," or even something 'sci-fi' like, I dunno, "Veraplex CPU" (which is meaningless but does evoke an idea of "This Is Important,") than something as meaningless (and what meaning there is, then something as simple) as "Oscillator." Honestly, given what 'oscillate' actually means, it's like you went "It's better cuz it SPINS NOW!" (and yes I know electronic oscillators exist, but without that modifier of "electronic," it just sounds like what a cooling fan does in your living room, i.e. silly. And electronic oscillators aren't Super Important like an Advanced CPU sounds like it is.) ReactorCore is now “Cobalt Alloy” Similar to "Control Panel," since it's just a resource-sink and not actually functional. SteelPlateArmored is now “Sathium Alloy” Sure, why not. New: “Zascosium Alloy” N/A New: “Erestrum Gel” N/A
Just to be clear; the Post which you refer to is talking about STEEL growing plots - you can still farm with Concrete/Wood at your base; the Cobalt is only needed to get a CV Farm Up and Running (besides they've been moved to the AC)
I just double checked. In a default SP Akua game started in Alpha 7.0.1 build 1302, now running in 7.0.2 build 1304. 1 Cobalt Alloy is a required ingredient to craft any of the three Growing Plots types. What I was seeking clarification on was if the two 'placeable on Base only' types, Concrete & Wood, should have Cobalt Alloy as an ingredient. Based on a number of other recent changes I could see how Growing Plots for CVs might require cobalt. Just couldn't quite wrap my head around adding cobalt to the base only plots. On further reflection it may indeed be intentional, as it applies pressure to 'use' the various POIs. Which I'm personally not a fan of. It could also be that the intention is to slow down/limit "fuel farms". That one doesn't make as much sense though since one of the crashed CV segments has 30+ Grow Plots in it. Anyway, the Balance Road is a long one, with many twists & turns yet to come .
Cobalt can be acquired from rocks and the drones seem to drop the alloy pretty regularly. So POIs aren’t required to source cobalt. I agree that it is a weird decision as it prevents you from creating base grow plots until after you are reasonably well established.
For this first 'real' game in Alpha 7 (as compared to all the short lived Exp ones) I've turned drones down to low; to further rp the uninhabited bit, since like you said, they drop decent amounts of advanced loot. So I know I've only myself to blame for making things harder than they have to be. And I'm sure there other things, with likely significant impact, that I'm not seeing balance wise so that 'limiting' grow plots is needed. I guess I just got my hopes up a bit when I read the notes I orginally quoted, that, just maybe, Cobalt wasn't intended to be required for the Base only plots. Of course they're still working on things and they're a really solid, committed and smart bunch of folks. So who knows what they're cooking up for us all next. Maybe we'll be able till and plant right in the ground in a few months . By the by, I just went up into Akua orbit and farmed a Cobalt Asteroid. With T2 Drill, in one Light Suits 375 worth of O2 I mined over two stacks of Ore. Likely far more than I'll ever need, heh. Along the way took out three Plasma Drones and looted a number of Capacitors/Oscillators/Power-Coils. Next off to the moon for Pentaxid (I've only found 2 crytals in lakes, but didn't look too hard) so I can go get that elusive Neodymium .
I love the mining changes, but I ran into a slight issue. Now that ammo requires prom. It means you can,t make any more early game, So if you spend your ammo on a drone over a prom mine and don't kill the drone... Ever try to chainsaw a rocket drone? Once you're established it's not an issue but in the beginning... I know this isn't a 7.0 thing but med packs are worthless. And 16 bandages to fill up your health to full, wowy. You could almost double what they give. Finally I don't want to step on anyone's toes but the pv on omacron has wayyyy to much stuff in it. I know people like their CV,s but I walked away from that salvage with enough to make over three CV,s my self. Like 60 engine s and 3 t1 generators. If your trying to push sv,s before CV,s progressiony stuff, then you need to cut the bloat on some of the pv,s.
@Ravis , I'm not sure about Omnicron, but I think the lakes there have Promethium Stones like on Akua. Each will give a wee bit of promethium once mined. These Stones are similar in shape & color to the Pentaxid Crystals & seem to be in the same areas that Seaweed/Alien Thorns spawn. In case the lakes on Omnicron are like the two east & west of the starter valley on Akua; if one lake doesn't have any, another lake may have a lot.
It doesn't make sense that all block shapes cost the same, but some have lower HP. It also doesn't make sense to give a wall block the same HP as a full block. Until we have different cost for different shapes, it would be more fair to have the same HP on all shapes.
How can I create my own planets and Galaxies for a server in 7.0? Yes I need a tool or something to make it easy plus I know 7.0 can create new planets and galaxies in single player but not sure how to do it in MP .
