Guess I'm just one of those type of people that likes to see if I can live on those harder planet's. Where you have to bring all your resources you need. To me the challenge isn't staying on the starter planet. The challenge for me is to see whats out there. Now with random solar systems you just don't know whats out there. It's the adventure I look for. In real life I'm already stuck on earth. Empyion might be just a game but it's also like a good book that you can't put down because you want to know what's on the next page. At least for me. That's the reason I want to see new planets added to the game, more solar systems. I want those npc to become smarter. I would love to be able to startup trade routes. Have npc ships that work for me selling and buying. More races then the four we have. Things that help to make you go out and find out what else is there. For me staying on the starter planet get's so boring after awhile. But then that's just me.
Increase visuals and audios Increase the spawn range of creatures as much as you can, it's great to see a lot of animals and a short range make finding creatures and xp difficult on mp. Add flying predators, except drones there are no dangers from the sky, add animals with dive attacks, giant mosquitoes, hornets... Add fast long range pounce attack to some land predators, it could also be used to flee for preys. Add predatory plants, they attack the player on contact, tentacule grab, poison cloud, thorns... Add underground surprise predators and add a proximity detector, looking for imaginary targets also make the game more vivid. Add parasite death animation for preys wich triggers when the player is near, the parasite then flee. Make the drone a friend, it coul be set on companion mode, floating around giving clues, saying jokes with several personalities and voices to chose (and allow schizophrenic drone event) Add following NPC with personalities like the companion drone with inventory and equipment management and background stories and affinities with other npc and etc... to have more blabla. Add text and audio broadcasts for various events, meteo forecast, drone attack, black friday, mp clan message. Create a simple language for each faction to have more audio clues from npcs. Enhance meteo to allow moving storms, the player should see the dark cloud and lightings slowy coming at him. Add earthquakes. Add strong winds pushing players and vessels. Add halucinogen pollen clouds. Add solar flares. Add fire, flames, burning trees, creatures, devices and players. Add interactive and customizable screens.
I haven't been playing long, so i cannot comment on multiple playthroughs yet... Surely i had a few different starts in A9, but none of those had a CV built. On A10 i went deeper into the game, yet saw just a couple planets and not a lot of content. As much as i understand your point of view, such an experience could be enhanced with appropriate notions for doing things: 1. After you build your HV or simple base with the basic constructor, you can craft an SV to reach the stars or explore the planet some more. I'd call it acquiring first tier of resources, all available on starter planet and being the core of further gameplay (also available anywhere else). T1 allows for crafting basic SV, basic weapons and the first turret you can use for defense of your base. 2. As you have your SV, you start delving in space, you can get second tier resources. These require finding asteroids or going to the moon. Alternatively, you can get small amounts of tier 2 as rewards for doing quests for locals on starter. T2 allows you to make better weapons (new types, as perhaps T1 allows only 1-2 types of weapons), as well as a small warp drive for your SV, as well as create your CV (no warp drive for it yet). You can add a story about small WD not able to push bigger ships through the wormhole. Also, more defense for your base. 3. When you can travel to other planets via short warps, there you will find tier 3 resources, with bigger threats and more complex biomes. Now you can make CV warp drives, upgrade your weapons to Mark II and make even better turrets for your base. 4. We can go further, but i hope you get the point. Having a purpose for exploration is way better than simply stating "okay, i'll go see what's there". If you are comfortable where you are, you don't need to explore. BUT! As you have quests or perhaps even an end goal for finding other humans (or whatever), you have a purpose for going into space, find new resources to get stronger, bigger and badder. And yeah, if you're a person who wants to get out there, just rush to make the first SV, start gathering resouces and fly. Another person could focus on helping the locals and that could be an alternate route to take.
Agree on many things you have said there. I'm an old Rp'er I always make a back story, limit myself some way. Each new version I play the starter planets to see how it's changed and then go from there. I don't use the built in quests. I went through quest burnout from LOTRO. Simply put I got very tired of collecting things for the npc's. There were three things that made me walk away from a lifetime account there. The constant grind that increased. Picking up poop and then when end game became a grind for flowers that was it! So my account sits there with my wife's right where we left them with over 20 chars each and 6 years worth of stuff in chests in a house we bought. When there is a better back story to this game and more quests. Then I will look at the quests again. Yes I know I can use the quests to collect things gain rep etc etc. So for now I make my own quest with goals and milestones. The best thing about this game is it lets you play the way you want. When I first started playing and learned I could make my own solar systems. I did make a starter planet with every ore in the game and did stay on the starter planet. Only ever did that once and won't do it again. But then again that's me. That's why I'm wanting trade routes. I want to be able to send out ships with escorts and trade. I want a pirate faction that I could join. I prefer to play solo or with my wife only. So I want a lot of npc interaction. I want to see empyrion come alive with other npc factions fighting each other. I want to warp into an unknown system and find myself right smack dab in the middle of two factions fighting each other and decide if I will join the fight on one side or the other or run like hell because the cheep ship I just bought at a space port isn't strong enough. Thank you I have enjoyed this small topic with you khulkhuum
a: on planets: some planets can be very barren.. maybe some ruins.. no active POIs.. maybe some animal lairs.. I think it would make sense for starter planets to be not that active.. if you strand on an active planet, you would go to the nearest settlement and ask for a radio maybe only a few Zirax to avoid and get loot from. The choice to stay friendly in later game with Talon and Polaris becomes more a moral question than a necessity than.. probably resulting in loads of evil players taking over the whole universe.. have not thought this through totally to contrast with more active planets: more city ish settlements. paths/roads. maybe some quests to be picked up at certain NPCs. Or some jobs you can apply for? This would keep later game interesting and gives us something to do after we got the tech tree unlocked.. In general; I think it would make sense to only have on faction per planet. Maybe some planets where there is a war going on for resources? You could help one of the sides? Civilian HV show rooms where you could buy prefabs. Space ports with Prefab SVs on display. Maybe some civilian stuff flying around? Military fortresses. in space: abandoned space stations that got taken over by aliens that need extermination.. satalites? more logistical features.. truck stops for CVs and SVs so to say.. maybe a CV factory somewhere close to a planet? zirax pirate planets with huge defenses and big loot, and pirate ships in their orbit? I think more natural things to discover and explore, than actual space bases.. a black hole you get sucked in to and warped somewhere randomly? a flying comet (storm) also would do damage if it hit you? comets you can mine, but have to be flying next to at same speed? dead suns? or do they implode? that could be an event.. certain spots where something something would damage your computers / EMP and force you to land and make repairs? could be natural or enemies. flying space cities/hubs near harsh planets you cant live on, but they got good resources? I like planets better than space.. to me space is just the way to the next planet or the boring asteroid mining grounds..
For planetary playfields I would like to see a full set of terraforming tools. The drill is nice and all, but I want the ability to fully manipulate the terrain, and create anything I desire within it. For space playfields I would like to see more variety of enemy ships that pursue players. The biggest item, though, is a radar that functions properly so I can detect general locations and range of varying places I might want to investigate. Things like enemy bases, ore to mine, and so forth.
I strongly agree that there should be no factions on the initial planets or at least there should be no market. It should be part of the startup configuration. Let's say that a difficult start would not be based on the characteristics of the enemies (harder) but on the environment you find, on the planet itself. A difficult start would be a planet where there are no factions (perhaps only Zirax handling some resources). Abandoned bases, ships for scrapping but not a place to buy resources or food. Let's say it's illogical to fall from the sky and try to survive with a Walmart in front.
I am firmly against this because Empyrion took a massive leap when it introduce these faction town/cities... Not just the multibuilding towns but the ones I see in 10.3, ... many buildings! Anyway, I'm sure the starter planet would feel to lonely without factions... I mean...I played without factions for 2 years and I was like.YUP. Done this game really hard.
It wouldn't be bad if the starter planet had less faction buildings. Maybe instead of eliminating completely Talon and Polaris, leave only a small outpust for Polaris, which will guide players to another planet, populated with Polaris and Talon fully. Explain it with story, add planets where Talon, Polaris and Zirax truly fight against each other, add other factions, etc.
Sorry if the idea is not understood or misunderstood. But I do not want the factions to disappear or that there are no places of commerce! I was only thinking of the possibility of an initial planet of "difficult" level (as was Omicron at the time). It was difficult for several reasons and one of them was that being large and few resources it was difficult to travel through it and find a place of commerce (not to mention its mountains impossible to climb!). But once you found it it became easier since you could take whatever you wanted from there without retaliation. I know that in the current mode you can not resort to trade as well as we cannot trade immediately with anyone. But it doesn't give you that feeling of loneliness. how to know that there is nothing but you, the planet and enemies looking for you! Another thing that made me run in the middle of the night at my initial base in Omicron was the proximity of that patrol CV that you saw from far away! As you did not have everything you need to make defenses, you took your few belongings, your motorcycle and left at night as far away as possible! Leaving that initial base behind and starting again somewhere else.
Oh ok. No factions disappearing then. Yeah Im def tired. Yeah these factions are getting a hell of a lot more fire power all the time so its hard to steal their resources. Love Patrol vessel. Yes I see maybe there could be some configuration change.... so you want to just not expose the user to the factions or it's systems? Sounds good. Yes I like that idea. Now, I just started a new game and there were quite a bit of resources available outside of terrtiory. At this time, I noticed that interactions are not required with factions and territories dont have to be violated in order to get a large amount of basic metals (since theres starter reposits? idk) , promethium (from Zirax territory BUT only one trooper came looking for me ... NOTE THAT), Pentaxid and Cobalt were up on the moon and totally do-able for me with the Starter SV 1 and one little heater (AND MEDIUM ARMOUR THAT I FOUND)! Conclusion: I don't think territories are an issue that prevents players from accessing plenty of resources. I do however think that ... that "QUIET" at the start of the game IS a valuable pause on the game until we are ready to get our hands dirty. I think thats logically done. So Im done. LOL
MY SUGGESTIONS for IMPROVED VIVIDITY and LIVELINESSSHIP (concise) 1. Chitchat (extensive NPC scripts) e.g. It's lightweight and atmosphere enhancing. 2. More animations for the aliens of course (or you're the alien, I forget). Try to have them look like they're talking about more than one kind of thing. Right now they look like they're ... fighting about something quite serious but also could be relationship issues (body lang!). 3. Smoother reply/acknowledge/state responses between talking aliens. It's stilted body language that doesnt really connect. It doesnt have to! Just need more illusion because right now, they're quite immobile and therefore you end up noticing anything that they do. 4. Let me get ammo out of my weapons before I destroy them. YIKES! 5. Why would relations heal with factions? Zirax +25 often........but I killed a lot of their dudes... why on earth would they forgive over time......that aint how the world works... in fact It should be SUBTRACTING when you're in the red with a faction. 57. Please let me put this against the wall. This is an internet Cafe and I dont want those sterile secretary duders with their off-the-wall-desks.
Hey also... you have to leave the weaponms on your base ON and extended for them to work? I want it to wake up when enemies are nearby...
I envision standby mode for bases and CVs as everything being turned down, yet you have detectors and activators for specific actions: - Your base does not house anyone at the moment => After a couple minutes it turns off ventilation, lights , guns and generator uses far less fuel. Fridges do need power. - Leaving your constructors with things to do would slow the process to 50% (or perhaps 75%), as it goes into low power mode - Your radar detects hostile activity => Base goes into defense mode (activating guns only) or perhaps it gets back fully online, with notification to you that it's under attack - Entering your base as its in standby would shift it into active mode, turning on lights (i would LOVE lights being turned on by first flickering a couple times before shining full light), ventilation (add a sound for how it starts and stops), the constructors would work faster (maybe a slower sound for how they work in standby), etc. - If you have a special button placed anywhere, you can activate standby manually, but if it will stay like that for a minute or two before the first check for player inside.
A. For planetary playfields I would like to see... more interactive wildlife. Most wildlife is passive, a lot of it just runs away as soon as you get close. I want to see predators and hazards that make you think about where you go instead of strolling through the world like it's just a zoo. B. For space playfields I would like to see... more hostile ship activity. Space feels pretty empty. I want to see wings of enemy fighters escorting a cargo ship, drone-haunted derelicts, nebulas, and dense astroid/debris fields.
B. Perhaps not drone-haunted derelicts, but a group of drones, where one or two dismantle the wreck, while others patrol around. A. In similar fashion, planetary POIs could change and only a number of salvage drones with their support would fly around, taking back to their bases all the resources (so it doesn't simply vanish). Alternatively, you could destroy a full salvage drone and get all the resources before it drops it off.
- Ramp up base attacks option. [Dedicated server Alpha 10.3 Survival] I feel the base attacks are pretty linear. I just get similar attacks with the same level drones and troup transports with some minor variations. Its too easy to defend this. Just put up 4 turrets and some sentry guns and I dont need to worry again and the game and my base gets uninterresting to develop. Some days there is no attack at all? We have left the Zirax bases unharmed and just shoot there turrets and ground troops to anoy them and get bad reputation. I strongly suggest that the attacks gets ramped up depending on the games over all play time. (Difficulty setting) Preferably a time factor in the dedicated.yaml where the server manager can set and increase the time it ramps up to suite the players and play style on that server. Also there is no attacks at all on our space bases but I guess thats in development? As for now the only option is to abandon base, travel and look for the danger and not build any defenses to get some action.
