Experience Points, Player Level Progression and Tech Trees

Discussion in 'FAQ & Feedback' started by EleonGameStudios, Oct 31, 2015.

  1. WuffyPuppy

    WuffyPuppy Ensign

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    Warm try.
    But has been eluded to by many replies it converts what is an essentially open game that you do your way and if it's wrong you die ( but you learn; hopefully) into what amounts to an experience on rails - no thank-you that sucks!
    The only point I could see for the current system is to help the noobs over the hump - but that's what the tutorials on the web site are designed for - I suspect they would be misleading (or redundant) with the current tree.
    The logic for the tree is also baffling as your high tech machine (constructor) can produce lots of goodies and was obviously universally designed to help you survive on any planet but you have to fuss around on this particular planet's surface to enable it's functionality ?
    Perhaps you could introduce degrees of difficulty with EASY having a tech tree to help you plan progression and HARDER being thrown in at the deep end as was the original pre alpha (which I am obviously a real fan of & why it appealed originally).
     
    #141
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  2. Otterbear

    Otterbear Commander

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    NAILED IT! (Said in a high voice.) :)

    My thoughts exactly.
    I'm hopeful that they will allow experienced users the option of Opting out of this "Experience on rails", Disney ride. lol
     
    #142
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  3. Kaeser

    Kaeser Rear Admiral

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    I understand your struggle mate, this a great game but most of the restrictions and difficulties seem just artificial and not imposed by gameplay.

    Like the rule of no CV’s on planets or no SV starting block on small constructor even if most of the block are exactly the same as the HV’s.

    The tech tree is just another example, it’s not a bad idea it’s just not rightly implemented. It doesn’t add challenge or difficulty to the game it’s only time consuming by limiting your options and forcing you to play the way devs think you should be playing.

    Now you can’t just crash and go your merry way, you need to grind before you can even fend yourself properly armed, and the fact that every update you need to start a new game and grind your way all over again only adds to the frustration….

    I already hate to have to mine using but a hand drill, having to do that every 2 weeks all over again only gets me hoping to Nov 10 to get here faster….

    I mean seriously, who will set himself to build an interstellar ship (CV), if he has to mine every bit of metal he needs by hand?
     
    #143
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  4. WeedHaze

    WeedHaze Ensign

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    To me it was a much welcomed surprised when I was suddenly greeted with a tech tree, only two days into the game.
    I think tech trees are essential:
    - As a guidance that is both a mini wiki for new players like me and a general progression feel, so I know which goes where and what needs doing and where to aim
    - It integrates both gameplay and tutorial into 1
    I would suggest also inputting resources needed for all crafting progressions whether learnt or not
    - It prevents the shortcut to space. A person like me, wants to play the game the way it was made, by locking me down after a crash like the Martian and slowly garnering knowledge before i finally come out to space to that feeling of ecstacy

    I think the tech trees are hazardous:
    - Should the deco blocks consume unlock points ( Never happened to me so far)
    - Should I run out of points early on segway within other progression tree lines from the main components that will keep me alive
    - Should I have no clue as to what the heck treeline Im progressing is used for (Which is currently as such) Why do i need an advanced constructor if i already have a large constructor? How much space does a fridge tier 2 or a large fuel tank differ from their smaller counterparts? Whether my CV techtree is worth it early on? will my CV techs go to waste as I use them to build me a CV on a planet?
    - Should I later find out as the TechTree expands to a zillion counter parts...there is no sort or zoom out which can be frustrating scrolling up and down the tech branches
    - Should the devs never include better helmets, suit armor, PS/Personal Shield, better mining tools with this new tech tree progression soon as it would be a good waste of opportunity
    - An orbit RCS to allow geopositioning lockdown of ships and stations just above plant atmospheres but within gravitational pull so that any objects can maintain the same location in the sky such as above ground base sky

    Okay, done my part for the betterment of this game, now back to some galactic surviving!
     
    #144
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  5. Ronin

    Ronin Ensign

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    You have to rememberr as solar system has loads of planets, playing the test environment should give you an inkling as to how hard it would be if i said erestrum was to be found on one of the 5 planets without telling you it's most likely found on ice planets :)
     
    #145
  6. FarmerMark

    FarmerMark Ensign

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    Hi devs and all survivors,

    I have had only a few hours playing so far and the new Tech Tree and XP has certainly improved the gameplay for me in the early game, particularly as surviving has become more of a challenge - I had to use jet pack and several reloads of my pistol to kill plant monsters! However, I would like to see some changes:
    1. Unlocking new items is not solely based on XP, so maybe you are searching an alien mining complex and somewhere well hidden you find the blueprint for a new awesome weapon or technology you didn't even know existed before, which then appears in your tech tree - but you need to be at a certain level to be able to know how to use/build it.
    2. XP also improves abilities, so perhaps improves on your running ability, holding breath underwater without a helmet, aiming, piloting, building etc. And perhaps the improvement is due to you doing more of a type of task so you get better at piloting by piloting more craft, but this has no effect on your running speed?
    3. Xp is also graduated so as you do more of something the XP it returns is less. Pick Akua Fruit at the start of the game and get 20XP but when you are level 10 it only gives you 1 or 2 say and after level 20 none?
    4. Mining ore gives you XP but just digging a hole gives you none or very small amount - I usually bury my core, generator and back-up fuel tank below ground level in a heavily reinforced bunker but digging this hole shouldn't give me any where as much as mining out a complete size 10 iron ore deposit.
    5. Just one other thing - solar and wind generators please!
    As I get further into it I'll add some more ideas.
     
    #146
  7. Banedon2

    Banedon2 Lieutenant

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    I can read many idea close full RP Gaming in many post.
    "You learn to fight within a fight, you learn to plant with farming, you learn architectural vessel with building it, etc." (almost like in Morrowind [Best video RPG rules I think ... RIP])
    And I don't really think about it in my previous post because I didn't expect this game go in this way, and I don't know what dev want or think about it.
    But I totally agree those ideas !!!
    I love RPgaming so if we can have (optionally for player who wants to deactivate the rp) more rp construction like player characteristics and player skills I think it will a enormous update !!
    Especially with servers.

    I also read many critic about "difficulty" added by this tech-tree.
    And I don't really understand (and it's not a problem of English reading :p ).
    Because in the first minutes I take 3 level doing almost nothing (take any materials in the box and start to craft priority : Fuel pack, ammo for the pistol and ammo for the drill) and kill a trike.
    After getting 20 ammo for the drill I'll go mining a deposit (Size 6) near my crash (maybe I'm lucky for that I don't know) and by mining it I level up until level 6. When I approach it I find another one (Size 9) which level up me until level 10.
    Then I go back to the constructor where fuel pack and ammo were totally finish (probably more level up but only mining) and start to watch what I can build with level 10 ... almost every piority for base and VS.
    I can't build yet some piece like advanced CPU but without VS and travel until space I can't build it anyway so it's not a great lost for me.
    Now I can build a very small VS so I can explore the planet easily and find other deposit and POIs.
    I'm not there yet but I'm sure I'll be ready in my tech-tree to learn what I need before I'll be ready to go into space fully prepared (VS armed for example).

    It's a bit irrelevant but
    I also agree WeedHaze :
    Really great idea, and maybe also a "small RCS geopositioning" for sort of beacon we could let just above our base to find where to park our CV when we came back.

    and with Kaeser :
    Like dev I'm an old minecraft player, but I hope they don't follow the vanilla too close.
    You build an entire city and still mining by hands. And need mods to get "miner" (industrial craft or buildcraft for example)
    It's a space game and I hope the "miner" is not yet in the game just because it's in pre-alpha ... I really hope something like miner or drill STRONG improvement will be in the game in the future.
     
    #147
  8. LiftPizzas

    LiftPizzas Rear Admiral

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    It'll take an extra 15 minutes to an hour maybe. It might be more interesting if you have to do a lot more exploring or you have to find someone else who located the ore and trade with them.
     
    #148
  9. Leatherneck

    Leatherneck Captain

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    We may also find later on that what we can find on the current planets is not the norm across the game. It might be that when there are lots of planets, we might not ever know what can be found where which I hope is something that happens. Otherwise, you'll find players will always gravitate towards the planets with the "best" stuff in MP.

    I'd find it interesting to get into a new system seeking a needed ore, and not having the slightest clue which planet it might actually be on!
     
    #149
  10. angelight85

    angelight85 Lieutenant

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    With that maybe could introduce a new part on the CV's called a planetary scanner, that scans the planet you are in orbit around and gives you the locations of the ores and what they are.

    Would also like to see player controlled drones that can be programmed to either be hunter/seekers (seeks and destroys hostiles), builder (load pre-saved blueprints and it builds them when provided the materials), and, miner (self explanatory it goes and finds ores to dig out). The miner is one I would like to see sooner than later as there is always one thing I go straight for as fast as I can in modded MC and that's the quarries as mining gets boring and tedious for me very fast.
     
    #150
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  11. Leatherneck

    Leatherneck Captain

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    That'd be pretty cool, even if it is only a rough idea of where the ore deposits are, so that you might find false positives from ore in a POI loot.
     
    #151
  12. Frankyln

    Frankyln Rear Admiral

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    Like that, but it would be more interesting if alien poi gave false reading for potential ambushes.

    As for the drones i'm opposed of things that make survival to easy.
     
    #152
  13. Leatherneck

    Leatherneck Captain

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    I think the devs have said we'll be getting some drones for mining I think, but I do not have the source handy (kiddo sitting my lap, hard to multi-task at the moment lol).
     
    #153
  14. angelight85

    angelight85 Lieutenant

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    Yep totally love the idea of false positives make for interesting gameplay.

    As for the Drones idea I envisage, the mining and building drones could be mid game, with the hunter/seekers being endgame and have a limited range or instead of hunter/seekers have defensive drones that hover around your base and CV (like the ones that hover around POI's) but also you need to, say salavage X amount from POI's to unlock them and the advanced constructor is the only thing that produces them, or any alien tech for that matter.
     
    #154
  15. tscottbean

    tscottbean Ensign

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    I dont like the leveling system at all. it is totally unneeded. all it does is add Grind to the game and for people that do not have unlimited time to play it detracts from the game and the immersion. also this character is an astronaut already he should have the knowledge already or the ability to look up the info and understand how to use the information needed to make something. personally to the devs you have a lot to fix with out trying to add unneeded bull **** into the game, example dino`s tossing player`s escape pods 40 meters into 30 meter deep water or ships that get flipped upside down with no way for the player to right them. With the exception of this leveling system you guys are doing great, i love the fact that you guys are really working gun-ho on the game and it shows with all the updates. I have heard some You Tuber`s asking for this leveling stuff but please remember they are not your whole community .Keep up the other wise great job
     
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  16. Eviscerator

    Eviscerator Commander

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    Conversely, please remember you're not the whole community either, and the reception of the leveling system and tech tree seems to be more positive than negative. If anything, people are asking for it to be more expansive and affect the player's statistics, or to separate it into different categories of skills that you advance by using them, similar to Elder Scrolls games.

    The gist of the feedback is on how to improve or tweak it. Not to remove it.

    If you're strapped for time, try Creative mode.
     
    #156
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  17. Navonil Mukherjee

    Navonil Mukherjee Captain

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    I think devs should implement a hostile creative mode so people can have all the items as well as they can kill things(and have alien structures), because killing things is the only missing aspect of the gameplay in creative if everything is available from the start in survival other than grinding for ores/parts . And as everyone who wants to remove the concept of tech-tree(progression) completely says they hate grinding....removing grinding for ore would be a positive thing for them...
     
    #157
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  18. Otterbear

    Otterbear Commander

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    Close.
    I don't mind working towards a goal. I just don't like being FORCED to pick a certain goal. For instance, I rarely go for building my own base, and BEGGING for drone attack. I usually try to work up enough ammo and a decent weapon to take over an enemy base and go from there. To be FORCED to do Step (1, then Step (2, then Step (3...takes all the freedom from the game, and forget being imaginative. :(
     
    #158
  19. Navonil Mukherjee

    Navonil Mukherjee Captain

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    I don' like that either (why else I would play Open world?) but if the player is overpowered from the beginning then the game pose no satisfaction of achieve anything (unless you are really into building massive things, but you have creative for that).. that's why I like progression which let you choose how you want to progress(not a easy thing to implement/balance in open world environment, I think) but discounting the whole concept of progression in the game becoz you don't like the current system is not a way to help the devs to build a early access game into a awesome finished product...
     
    #159
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  20. Otterbear

    Otterbear Commander

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    True, but I'm not overpowered at the beginning. I'm stranded on an unknown planet, and gathering the resources and supplies, food, shelter, tools, dodging hostile aliens and drones, and trying to survive... it was enough of a challenge and/or goal for me. I mean its not like you can/should stop working on all these things at some point. (Of course you could seriously slow down in some areas, if your WORKED hard enough to stockpile the necessities.) Adding choke-points in the players way, just seems to add more BS and seriously removes any immersion factor. I mean the idea is that your are trying to survive on an unknown planet...Not get to level X. Early game is Boned for me atm. There is no more using my imagination to try and out-wit the AI, or try a new approach, or even IMAGINE using a less than perfect seed, its just follow the yellow brick road. Boring. Like riding those kiddy buggies at the amusement park on RAILS.
     
    #160
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2015
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