About the game: FAQ

[Halfgeek]

I'm the solo developer of this title, and I'm in Melbourne, Australia. So my timezone differs greatly to most of you, just know that there may be times where I am not active on here to answer your queries but I'll try my best to respond.


Q. What's the release price?

$12.99 with a 10% launch discount. I know some players think "Why is it so cheap?" when it comes to low priced Steam games, they assume its lacking in content or gameplay depth.

However, Nomads of the Fallen Star has content and depth to last many hours, and it's got replay-ability designed into it too. It's priced low because it lacks high production value (I'm just a guy), and the lack of expensive art assets and other polish that more pricey games have.


Q. How about Trading Cards?

Steam is still learning about the game so some of the optional features are restricted. For trading cards, that will come post-launch if there's enough gamers who buy the game.


Q. Is it story-driven or a sandbox?

It is both. My previous game, Star Nomad 2 was a sandbox without a main story, the goals were to claim victory in the war of conquest. In Nomads of the Fallen Star, there is a main story that starts right away, however, it will not force you to partake. It'll just remind you of the objectives via the log and character chatter.

Each of the characters you recruit to your squad also have a backstory and they will provide side-quests as you know more about them.


Q. It looks like X, Z, Y..

There's a saying that creativity is iterative. Something creative tends to be built on prior ideas or that which have inspired us.

I've been playing games since I was a kid, and a handful of titles have left a lasting impression. In making this game, Mount & Blade was the base inspiration, but also my desire to expand the lore of Star Nomad 2's universe and to try my hands at a turn-based RPG as it's a genre I've enjoyed over the years.

I wrote a lengthy blog about the development process for this game, as it required several major restart along the way.

https://halfgeek.blog/2017/12/31/surviving-mid-development-hell/

It was originally planned to be a very different game. But ultimately I went with turn-based chess grid-combat, and the logical choice is characters as chess-pieces.


Q. How deep is the economic simulation?

Deeper. Beneath in the simulation, each colonist is a consumer and producer. They will gather nearby resources from their outposts, and have needs that must be met. This causes fluctuations on the supply and demand of tradegoods.

In turn, it provides an opportunity for merchant caravans to ply the wasteland hauling goods to and from different locations. Ofc, not all caravans will arrive safely, they could be plundered by raiders who steal the goods.

However, if those raiders are defeated by NPC militia patrols or scavengers, they then take the goods back to town to hand in (militia) or sell (scavengers). Towns and outposts lacking in goods will broadcast and offer trading missions, giving mercantile players an opportunity for bonus money, xp and renown.

Back to the colonist, if their needs are not met and they grow angry, some may be desperate enough to leave the outposts to join the raiders to plunder to survive. Yes, the "bad guys" are just once decent people who by their misfortune have become desperate. As the situation gets worse, more raiders appear.

Population matters, as we're dealing with small outposts and towns. As factions recruit and train locals to be warriors, they have less workers. Warriors that fall in battle do not magically re-appear. A new one must be trained, and equipped with armor, weapons, supplied munitions and food & water, and their wages paid. If any are lacking, recruits will refuse and suddenly that faction is defenseless.

As it's all inter-related, you could think of it as an economic simulation disguised as a game.


Q. Can you play as the bad guy that everyone hates?

Yes, but it's not going to be easy. You can certainly raid caravans, you can even raid outposts and steal their supplies while murdering their colonists, being a major pain for any faction.

But don't expect to be able to waltz into major towns to sell your stolen goods or equipment, as the guards will know your infamous gang. Smaller outposts however...


Q. Is there Permadeath?

Yes. It's optional, you can select Hardcore mode for a new game if you want more challenge and thrills. Otherwise Normal mode, if you squad falls in battle, you can continue at a previous save. The game will auto-save when you enter and exit outposts and towns.


Q. Can the player influence the faction wars?

Most definitely. That is the core of the gameplay. Every little positive or negative actions your squad takes affect the various factions.

The military power of a faction depends on their ability to:

* Recruit warriors from local colonist population
* Pay the warrior's wages
* Equip the warriors
* Supply the warriors with food, water and munitions

The major faction town is a production hub, it uses resources gathered from outposts and merchants to produce armor, weapons, munitions, etc. The warriors that fight for a faction will consume supplies, if it fought in a battle, munitions will be depleted. They have to return to town to resupply (if the town has any).

Blockades and raids on the supply chain would easily lead to a situation where the large warbands are basically useless in combat because they ran out of munitions, or they weren't paid their wages, or they are suffering from lack of food or water.

If conditions don't improve, they even revolt, with some joining the raiders to prey on others to survive. Things can escalate from bad to worse as the growing raiders overwhelm the weakened militia, and they begin to raid outposts directly to murder colonists and plunder supplies.


Q. Is it related to Star Nomad 2?


It's set in the same universe, where in the distant future, humanity has split into 3 major factions. The xeno-hybrid Starborn Federation, the cybernetic Omni Collective and the "purebreeds" of the Human Empire.

The story takes place on a remote uncharted world where a Human Empire colony expedition encountered a catastrophe. Survivors cling on with the hope of rescue from the Imperial fleet, however, many decades have passed without contact.

You do not need to have played SN2 or know about it's lore to enjoy Nomads of the Fallen Star. A lot of the lore will be mentioned in-game throughout your squad's journey.


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I will add more Q&A over time..

[Blessed]

From the FAQ it says raiders can overwhelm faction towns given time and the right circumstances. Can the reverse happen? Can bandits be eradicated after a long time of helping towns and killing bandit groups? Taking this further, will the Player be able to eventually help the faction of his choice take over the whole planet?

[Halfgeek]

Originally posted by Blessed:

From the FAQ it says raiders can overwhelm faction towns given time and the right circumstances. Can the reverse happen? Can bandits be eradicated after a long time of helping towns and killing bandit groups? Taking this further, will the Player be able to eventually help the faction of his choice take over the whole planet?

The reverse can happen, to a local area, where Raiders will rarely spawn. Though with the warfare happening, its going to cause a lot of desperate locals joining the raiders. When you clear out bandit camps for example, it delays the formation of a new raider gang.

Can the player help a faction conquer the others through the actions? Definitely yes, it's the core of the economic simulation, anything that affects a faction's ability to gather resources and produce equip and recruit warriors has a cascading effect.

[Visaga]

for starters why don't you make a normal save system, it's very "funny" to get you save wiped out by the game for no reason

[Halfgeek]

Originally posted by sithlord1:

for starters why don't you make a normal save system, it's very "funny" to get you save wiped out by the game for no reason

What do you mean by save wiped out? As in deleted, you can't resume? If that's the case its a bug!

I did the save when you visit outposts or towns because I wanted the wasteland to feel hostile and that when you enter civilization again to give a feeling of relief. Choices you make in your travels in random encounters are permanent etc.

[Visaga]

here is an example - i've wanted to change the sound volume and when i've done that at the main menu, "Continue" button for no reason become grey (inactive).

[Halfgeek]

Originally posted by sithlord1:

here is an example - i've wanted to change the sound volume and when i've done that at the main menu, "Continue" button for no reason become grey (inactive).

You start a new game, and haven't visited outpost/town yet, then return to the menu to change the volume and can't continue?

The game has not saved yet in that case. Just run to a nearby town first and it will continue.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Visaga]

the point is - i've saved in the town (my party was level 4 and i know how the the saves work here) then exited to the main menu to change volume in options menu and then continue button turned grey. There are bunch of games with autosave, but that was the first time when i've seen such crap.

[Halfgeek]

Originally posted by sithlord1:

the point is - i've saved in the town (my party was level 4 and i know how the the saves work here) then exited to the main menu to change volume in options menu and then continue button turned grey. There are bunch of games with autosave, but that was the first time when i've seen such crap.

That is super messed up, I am so sorry for it. I will look into why this bug happens asap.

Edit: Oh ♥♥♥♥, I think I know what happened. You enter town and hit ESC immediately, then you went back to the title screen. If you do it within 0.5 seconds or so of entering town, it doesn't finish saving and the save is corrupted. After 1 second of entering town the save is completed.

I will change how it works to make sure this won't happen again. My sincere apologies.

If you would like a refund and its beyond the Steam refund window, let me know I can manual refund to your paypal account myself. For your troubles.

[Halfgeek]

Originally posted by sithlord1:

the point is - i've saved in the town

I've just put a small hotfix live that fixes this bug.

The ESC function is blocked until the save-game is completed when players enter town, so they can't ESC pause and exit to menu causing save-write in-completion.

My offer to refund you manually still stands, I feel terrible about wasting your time with a silly mistake in my coding not factoring in the ESC menu interaction.

[Visaga]

no problem dude, i'll start the game again with that save-game tip in mind

[Visaga]

That guy Takaya - armorsmith, he needs proper skill review in the craft menu, Iona for example has skill values like so "Chemistry Skill: 25" and Takaya "Armor Crafting" with no value, while recipes says "optimal level 6" and so on. Or is it because i've made only 2 jackets and value will show up later?

[Halfgeek]

Originally posted by Visaga:

That guy Takaya - armorsmith, he needs proper skill review in the craft menu, Iona for example has skill values like so "Chemistry Skill: 25" and Takaya "Armor Crafting" with no value, while recipes says "optimal level 6" and so on. Or is it because i've made only 2 jackets and value will show up later?

Takaya armor crafting is based on his character level. I could make it clearer in the menu itself, sorry for the confusion.

You can still attempt higher level recipe, within a few levels there's a good chance of success.

[Visaga]

lol my bad :))). Yeah some clarity in craft menu would be good