Halfway through progression and why I won't play it to the end

[CatHatHat.yt]

First of all, GREAT game. Thoroughly enjoyed playing it for about 4 hours and I think that's more than I expected to get out of it.

Here's a couple of things that I wanted to give feedback on and happy to discuss any of them:

• Resource stacking and inventory management overall.
  
  The only reason I'm not progressing any further in the game is because I have to spend the next 2-3 hour probably just running loot back and forward and I just don't want to do that. The only reasonable way to loot wrecks is to set up a small outpost and get all the loot out and into some storage. Take some loot that you need and then leave the rest behind. I ended up with 4 outposts that are stacked with resources which I can't carry back to a main base efficiently.
  
  Ores should stack, maybe up to 5, I'm not sure what's best. Maybe ore stacking or "packing" can be a microchip to be researched and is a mid-game item. This would also solve to some degree the storage problem.
  
  
• Food system
  
  Food is just not a threat. I'm 4 hours in and I have entire boxes of Space Food that I discovered so I'm probably all set on food for the next 6 or so. Growing food is a great addition to the survival vibe and it should probably be the first unlock (not the stairs). Food should also run out faster so that I actually have a reason to build food growers. As it stands I have one and I built it just to see what it is.
  
  
• Ores and resources
  
  I think ores should be "grouped" and not just sprawled around randomly. Like ore-veins. Small piles of iron, titanium, aluminium etc. When I go looking for a certain resource I shouldn't run around aimlessly looking at things on the ground. If they are more concentrated in smaller groups, I can also remember where I last saw a certain resources and go there when I need it.
  
  
• Mining upgrade
  
  The mining speed upgrade is a nice idea but it's completely useless. The 0.25 seconds I save is just not an improvement. However if ores sometimes spawned in bigger rocks that needed a mining tool upgrade to mine, that would make a lot more sense.
  
  
• Suit Upgrades
  
  The O2 and movement speed upgrade are obviously great but they feel more so like a fix rather than a necessity, Especially the movement one. I don't need more movement speed if there's more content to explore that's closer. It also drastically reduces the need for O2 canisters which is a great element of "free inventory" vs "loot inventory" management. The speed upgrade should be removed in favor of vehicles later on (that also have their own storage box). The O2 one is nice but it feels overpowered (2.8x at level 3 with minimum cost. It should be way more expensive).
  
  
• Vehicles
  
  This was already touched on and discussed.

This is already a good game and has the potential to be a great one! Keep at it! I'm loving it so far!

[Avery]

Resource Stacking - I have mixed feelings about this. it may make the game too easy...

There is a reason to build food growers, you just havent progressed far enough yet.

This doesnt bother me. Some of the more rare nodes are grouped together.

Mining upgrade is nice, There is a lot of farming

I don't understand the complaint here. I feel like you have only explored 25% of the map and dont see the new for the speed. Vehicles would be cool but only when the map gets way bigger. The jet packs already make the map feel smallish.

[morph113]

Agree with all of it. Especially the running back and forth to carry resources to your main base is really annoying over long distances and due to limited inventory. I really hope there will be a vehicle that has some storage space. Should ideally be available maybe mid to late game.

[Falesz]

The lack of fast vehicles will largely be fixed by the mid game by T3 Jetpacks, which essentialy make you into a high-speed vehicle.
I do agree however that the back and forth trips you constantly have to make do get quite annoying, especially once you set up T2 Ore Extractors in the Uranium, Osmium and Super Alloy caves, which are pretty far away from the default landing site and plateu on the middle of the map.

[Zechnophobe]

I feel like the 'running back and forth' part of the game is fine game design. It gets steadily easier over time as your speed and backpack space increases. Also, you don't need to fully loot every wreck, just take the good stuff.

Food is fine. You just haven't seen enough of the game to realize that yet.

Mining Upgrades - When you get to 30% reduction, it makes forays to grab raw goods noticeably faster. Sure it isn't super amazeballs, but it's an optional upgrade, it doesn't have to be.

Suit Upgrades - I don't get your logic. Why talk about 'late game' when you haven't gotten there yet? I don't really get what you mean when you say 'a fix not a necessity'. O2 and speed mitigate the backpack issue somewhat. You don't want them? How is O2 overpowered? You really want to have to keep building little oxygen huts to refill air, or grab a ton of o2 cannisters to go anywhere? I don't get the logic.

Ore groupings - I could dig this for some of the early stuff. Later game this is actually how it works. Aluminum, Iridium, Osmium, Sulfer, etc, appear in only a few areas. And when asteroids drop stuff it makes groupings. Maybe if the standard asteroids were each one resource type each it'd make things easier. It does feel odd that the stuff is just evenly scattered over most of the map.

[jshepler]

Unless you could carry unlimited amounts of everything, even stacking doesn't fix the problem of running out of space. You'll still run out of space, just with more stuff.

Most games have inventory management as a mechanic, right? So to keep it balanced, if the dev implemented stacking, he would have to increase the mats needed to craft stuff. i.e. you'd still run out of space, that's the whole point of inventory management.

I've played a couple games with infinite inventory and I glory in it. I've been gaming over 30 years and I'm sooo sick of inventory management mechanics. But then, I'm a loot hound. I pick up everything that's not nailed down. Even then, I try to find a way to pry it loose.

So yeah, I agree with wanting to not having to run back and forth to outposts to move resources, but the fix isn't stacking, it's to have infinite inventory. He's not going to do that.

[stretch]

Originally posted by morph113:

Agree with all of it. Especially the running back and forth to carry resources to your main base is really annoying over long distances and due to limited inventory. I really hope there will be a vehicle that has some storage space. Should ideally be available maybe mid to late game.

When you set up things like mines for your Iridium then also place a little base with plenty of storage and a T2 crafting station. Then just craft what you need there. I drag some spare aluminium over each visit (store some there ) and make super alloys on site. Saves plenty of hauling. Make your Iridium rods there too since that saves you 8 slots.
Place a heap of mines in your aluminium area and also process it all to super alloy there. I have six in my spot and just come back with 10 super alloys each trip instead of two trips full of raw materials.

It takes some time to set up but saves a lot of time in the long run.

[Sininside]

I like the stacking idea. Maybe something like x5 per slot? It could be like the final inventory upgrade or something? That should be enough inventory space to clear out all those pesky ships and chests! But really... the game is pretty easy and it really isn't necessary to have EVERYTHING. Only rare ores and items are worth collecting.

[Derp Diggler]

Some of your gripes makes no sense... Like ore grouping? The ore is spawned by meteors that fall out of the sky that's why it's randomly all over the ground. The ore that is in designated areas is grouped because it is in caves where there is a lot of it.

Vehicles is not an issue but this is the very first EA build so who knows? Maybe they'll add that later.

You're gripes are based on things that I would expect in a FULL game... This is not a fully finished game yet. There is no "End" yet... If you played the game on a higher difficulty you would have some issues with food etc. Lower difficulties are purposefully made easier for people who don't want that much of an issue surviving.

I'm sure that the TWO devs who are creating this game (who are a married couple from what I've been told) still have a LOT in store for this game and it would not be fair to say that everything in the game is finite already when it definitely is not.

[nextgengranny]

Thanks for the post, Sorin. Lots of useful information in there.

[Voss]

im so longing for better inventory and a transport vehicle..

[Deadly Peanut]

stacking and vehicles with storage would both be helpful, but would effect game balance so crafting would probably require more materials... balance might also be achieved by having equipment degrade and need materials to be repaired. meteor hits might also damage equipment and it would need to be repaired.

[goldbergeri79]

i think the food and o2 are pretty good atm. Only thing what frustrates me is the walking back and forth getting ores from the autominers in caves. Wish we would have like some conveyor belt type of building that transports the ores to your main base. I rather lay out some belt system or pneumatic pipes that takes ages to build rather than run back and forth :D

Stacking imho could be good but only in more late game as a upgrade maybe. But the backpack actually starts to be quite decent size at T5.

Pretty good game for early access, a lot of developement still to do but i think this shows a lot of promise.

[Maviba]

Who says you should build only one big main base? and outposts for the rest? ;-)
I wouldn't recomment it anyway because of performance issues you may encounter at one point?

I build several bases. Each base has got it's own purpose, depending on the bioms :
One is just for pleasure and living out my creativity, one is for mainly heating up the planet,
Another one is for producing energy, oxygene and so on...

That way I don't need to carry everything to my main base, saving some performance when in base.
but some sort of vehicle would be nice. maybe a lorry or a moon buggy.

[Voss]

Originally posted by Deadly Peanut:

balance might also be achieved by having equipment degrade and need materials to be repaired.

this i didnt like, it would be so tedious going around all the time repairing and gathering for just that. could be an option instead, id dont want to spend hrs for just repairing stuff.

[flannan]

Originally posted by Sorin:

• Food system
  
  Food is just not a threat. I'm 4 hours in and I have entire boxes of Space Food that I discovered so I'm probably all set on food for the next 6 or so. Growing food is a great addition to the survival vibe and it should probably be the first unlock (not the stairs). Food should also run out faster so that I actually have a reason to build food growers. As it stands I have one and I built it just to see what it is.

Food consumption is said to depend on game difficulty.
I'm playing on Relaxed, so of course I do not have food problems. Even though I do not do much exploring, and can barely fill 2 boxes with space food (I prefer eating fresh food - habit from Empyrion, where space food doesn't spoil)
.
But the need for food growers depends on which food you're growing. Beans have the best food value (60), but no industrial applications. One can probably survive on just one grower. But if you were unlucky and found only eggplants, which have food value of 25, you'll need 3 growers to feed yourself.
In the lategame, I put 10 growers to growing eggplants, so that I can make fertilizer easier. And also put a grower in most of my oxygen shacks so that I always have food when I need it.

Due to this game lacking automation, workplace design is important. I have redesigned my main workshop 2 times, dedicated a base to feeding a biotech laboratory and so on.

Originally posted by Sorin:

Ores and resources

I think ores should be "grouped" and not just sprawled around randomly. Like ore-veins. Small piles of iron, titanium, aluminium etc. When I go looking for a certain resource I shouldn't run around aimlessly looking at things on the ground. If they are more concentrated in smaller groups, I can also remember where I last saw a certain resources and go there when I need it.

In this game, early-game resources are everywhere. But advanced resources are only found in special places.
Also, eventually you'll graduate from gathering resources to mining resourced and trying to dispose of all the resources you do not need.
Like another answer has said, improving your mines with processing and garbage disposal facilities makes logistics easier.

Logistics is the narrow point in this game. Which is what movement speed upgrades are for.

And it's very possible you'll have to move your whole base to a place that is better suited for it. That's why you need movement speed upgrades, backpack upgrades and oxygen upgrades.

Personally, I ended up with 2 bases in different locations, and so movement upgrades allow me to keep up with that. But maybe I should just build one big base.