Yup they're easy to add to any playfield but do suffer some inconsistencies. For example I'm not exactly sure how to control how many resources are dropped in a meteor. The minimum is 5000 but in my tests they only have about 1000 ore in them when you set it to 5000. Setting it to less than 5000 causes dozens of meteors to drop. It's pretty funny to watch.
I've been avoiding the config files because I want to see the game as the devs built it but some extra meteors would be sweet. I mainly just want the cool factor of it with the resources just being an added bonus.
At this point, I don't know that it's really that fair of an evaluation to call the game "as the devs built it", since it hasn't gone into beta testing yet. We're seeing things literally "as" they're being developed - that is, what we see is what has just been created. What final form that will take as release draws closer is another story entirely. I've seen more than a few things change considerably since I first started playing - I remember when things like phoenix fronds were used to create certain medicines, and "plastic" was a material made from wheat (now we have carbon instead) - can't say I miss "plastic". So while Random Meteors may not be currently implemented, but certainly can, it's likely as we progress through development thee may well become a standard feature for certain world types. I know I'd not object.
The game would benefit from better animations for NPC behavior. Beasts need turning animations (especially big ones) instead of a weird rotation from their pivot points, vendors could benefit from a set of idle animations instead of staying there in their A pose, and mobile NPCs would benefit from predefined patrolling routes (or at least some code preventing them from going on top of the furniture and staying there). Spawning enemies would feel a lot better if there was some kind of teleporting/spawning visual & audio FX, instead of suddenly appearing from nowhere without even a fade in. POIs and structures would also look much better if they faded to view instead of also appearing from nowhere when they get into render distance. The distant terrain would also look better if it integrated into the fog/atmosphere (especially when the issue with fog not affecting water bodies gets fixed). Many POIs would benefit from some kind of directed, procedural generation, even if it is very simple and limited. Something like builders making a set of same-sized rooms, sections or parts and a config file, and then the game being able to generate variations for the same POI by changing marked sections by one of those. At least that way not everything would be at the same place every time. In general, the game would benefit from more progression tiers from weapons, armor and especially mods. It would also be great if you could mod your weapons and not only your armor, perhaps in some kind of workbench placeable similar to the armor one we have. Those additions could be made for variety and not only as progression tiers (like having a special light armor with a lot of mod slots which may be preferable under some circumstances to heavy armor, or have specialized armor for things like heat protection or high gravity). And there is obviously the big changes everybody thinks about: caves, proper water/undersea exploration, better planet-orbit transitions, etc.
I've thought on this more and more, and the one thing that really seems "missing" that would bring things more to life: Ambiance. The world(s) are largely still and quiet. Mostly quiet. There are a few sounds - I'll not forget the sound of a nearby Creapy any time soon. But distant sounds - the songs of birds (there are little flocks of them on some planets), the call of dinosaurs, the mating grunts of lizard mules, the evening chirp of whatever those annoying little green pistachio bugs are... the sound of the surf against the shore, stuff like that... these are the things that bring the world to life. Also, some nice industrial noise sounds in places like Polaris settlements, especially their refineries, the incoherent babble of voices in trading posts, where merchants and buyers haggle and argue over the price of goods, or the quality of merchandise - whatever. These places are walls of silence, where they should have a cacophony of sounds. The whirs and hums of machinery even in our own ships and bases - there are some sounds, but they're soft, distant, or only heard when right in front of a thing (gravity generator is probably one of the loudest). Consoles and Cores and Extenders should be making some sounds as well.
I have a suggestion: Revert back to the prior models for those devices that got changed to the 'blow-up plastic' look. Seriously, those new models are absolutely disgusting. Biggest offenders: Constructors, Medic Bay, O2 Station...
They won't revert. The old models were UAS placeholders. But they sure need to turn down the spec values on those plastic-wrapped abominations and get somebody on the team who knows what the hell they're doing with texture work.
Thats a shame. The older models actually visually fit better with the voxel-like world of egs. The new ones, everytime I see them...... look so out of place. Hardly the vivid and lively look I would expect
I like most of the new models, except the O2 station. I keep forgetting what it is and wind up walking around looking for it. Looks too much like a medical unit of some sort, but it's not.
For both planetary and space playfields, I'd like to see a lot more block vessels used in general, both as ambient traffic and hostile patrols. Provided it's practically feasible; I guess there's a reason the most advanced AI block vessel around is still just a CV that barely does anything.
My request would be to make the spawn pad work for players giving us player faction drones and our own NPCs tied to a players faction reputation that have a range = to the wifi of ship or base and the targeting like tourettes
Targeted *@&$#^ing Tourette's? Are you @#^$&*ing kidding me? That would be ^$&*%ing awesome! I think you meant Turrets though. &*$#%ing shame, though.
The ambience seems like a common library European (or maybe NA) woodland ambience. Just about all of the twittering is something In would recognise from a nearby forest. It really needs something a bit more aliens - especial as I havnt noticed any sparrows etc flying around
Frequent faction SVs, HV and CV on patrol would make a lot of sense. Obviously more in their own territories, but outside as well. Also this is supposed to be future tech - where are active sensors etc, hud indicating detected nearby enemies etc? Or even just some random traffic flying around - it could just be independent (rather than faction) too. I echo someone else's comment - the NPCs should be using game buildable craft rather than specially modelled - ideally stuff we could board and capture in the case of CVs (though SE style ram raiding wont work in this as thing seem to just bounce off each other). Also if they have specially modelled drones, so should we. We should have a drone controller block or whatever.
I would 100% expect a more "alien" ambiance for Alien worlds. For the more "Earthy" temperate planets, I'm not put off by an "Earthy" ambiance though, and just because we don't see sparrows doesn't mean: 1. They're not there. 2. That it's sparrows making those sounds - it could be the sound of a bark-burrowing worm for all we know. But there is something else I was thinking about, and I've mentioned at least one of these before I know, but this expands a bit on it. ----- Resources: You want them, I want them, Polaris wants them, the Zirax want them, even the Talon may have need of them.... But we're the only ones who actually do something about them. Sure, Zirax drones may spawn over them, but let's face it, Zirax drones are something of a joke. But imagine if, say 36-72 hours after you discover a deposit, if you've not staked a claim on it, other factions might. Polaris may send in some of those security cyborgs to watch from the ground, and spawn an Auto-miner to start sucking up resources. Zirax may move in ground troops and do the same. Talons may send their own patrol and a shaman variant to pray the ore out of the ground (Talon "auto-miner"). This would make resource sites more valuable, give us more things to fight with the locals about, and give us cause to be vigilant about our finds. It would also help bring a sense of life to the worlds.
This would open up robbing the NPCs for ore! Also, make defending the site a bit more challenging. I think it is a great idea and would a nice touch to mining currently.
It would make defending a site potentially necessary. If you're Less Than Neutral with a particular faction, they might just opt to take out your unattended autominer(s) to stake their own claim - which would be potentially quite cool. It would also put NPC's in the field, actually doing something other than just wandering or waiting for you to happen by to shoot at.
