General thoughts on Proceedural Wrecks

[Spook]

After spending about 8 hours exploring portals and wrecks, I have some general thoughts;

- I'm Dizzy.
Navigation in the wrecks is difficult, not just because they are the same tile set all the time, but because you can get nonsense generation. I dont just mean the multiple hallways that all lead into the same point, but mega large rooms that chain into one another in a diagonal pattern. No hallways, just multiple 3x3 rooms misaligned and linked together. It doesnt make sense on a general 'build ship with front and back' style of navigation and this probably drives me more insane than anything.

I am aware procedural generation takes a lot of work and I still appreciate the effort, but I get lost in a wet paper bag, and the compass doesnt help when there is no rhyme or reason to why stairs exist where they do, or multiple up and down levels to dead end rooms.

- Too Much Clutter!
I have come to really despise the fallen canisters and chairs, especially when I have a T3 deconstruct chip. For some reason, when chairs are in the larger rooms, they make it nearly impossible to path through the center of the room. Dozens of debris in every hallway feels like I am running into speed bumps, and its worse when I'm lost in a difficulty 5 and running low on water. I hate them.

- Cant build T1 chests
Less of a critical issue but it bothers me that I can loot and deconstruct the T1 chests in the ship but I cant build a new one to put junk items into. I also discovered I dont leave a Death chest when dying in a generated wreck, unsure if this is working as intended or not.

I have enjoyed the game overall and the updates have been pretty cool. 80 hours in and I had fun with my partner turning the world green.

[Humo]

I came back to the game after a year. I love all the new stuff, but I've only made two procedural wrecks, and I don't feel like doing any more. I actually think that if I do a bunch to get those commercial rocket fuses, I'll get tired of the game and will just go straight to finish it

[TazmanianD]

My biggest complaint with the procedural wrecks actually is that they totally unbalance the trading economy. You can earn some many terra tokens from the procedural wrecks that it pretty much defeats the point of setting up manufacturing chains to build stuff to sell.

[stretch]

Originally posted by TazmanianD:

My biggest complaint with the procedural wrecks actually is that they totally unbalance the trading economy. You can earn some many terra tokens from the procedural wrecks that it pretty much defeats the point of setting up manufacturing chains to build stuff to sell.

Yeah that or it's a way for people who are not into the production chain thing to get tokens as well.
Nobody is twisting anybodies arm and forcing them to do one or the other.
Both work.
Do one, do the other, or do a bit of both.
Maybe some values could be reassessed for balance but the general idea is sound.

[Admiral Ikhlas Jr]

I like them, sort of.
The only real reason to go to them is in your original game. Credits and dna. If you are replaying, with no perks, then you need them. Any other perked start should be fully perked. For strict terraforming. Then you can do without everything, mostly. They are good for tons of credits in a hurry. More fuses sooner as well. But you can play slow. The slow development is, imo, the best. I need more dna sooner, so MAYBE in a perked game. Especially for dna.

[Thorstorm]

Where are these procedural wrecks? are they spread randomly across the map?
All the wrecks I have are the same with always the same crap inside.

[Humo]

Originally posted by Bearded Lonewolf:

Where are these procedural wrecks? are they spread randomly across the map?
All the wrecks I have are the same with always the same crap inside.

You have to craft a portal thingi. Portal, not teleporter

[Spook]

I built a Portal around the same time we hit the Amphibian level. I'm hunting through them for genetic traits at the moment. I figured we were probably close to 'endgame' based on the fact that we are running out of content.

I didnt even realize there was a 100k terrra token achievement until I went through a wreck that had 15k worth of chips in random chests. The sheer volume of Iridium rods and the fact they were worth almost nothing in trade was a little bit of a brow raise. My exploration of wrecks has us rolling in more tokens than we know what to do with.

Still missing critical items to finish the game, still building a base and playing with my frogs.

Getting lost in a Difficulty 5 wreck is such an intense stress factor compared to the otherwise chill nature of the game, haha.

The Respawning Explosive rocks happening while I am actively exploring a ship is also stressful. I've had this happen in both the normal wreck areas and the generated ones. I now keep two explosives on me out of paranoia.

[Ornalee]

Originally posted by Spook:

After spending about 8 hours exploring portals and wrecks, I have some general thoughts;

I am aware procedural generation takes a lot of work and I still appreciate the effort, but I get lost in a wet paper bag, and the compass doesnt help when there is no rhyme or reason to why stairs exist where they do, or multiple up and down levels to dead end rooms.

Ah! A member of my tribe... allow me to lead you down the primrose path:

If I need to farm for stuff, my procedure is this: Drop a flare when you enter the wreck. Pop out on top of the wreck using F4 (need to tap repeatedly to move up). Run along roof until you see something of interest. Jetpack under that spot and F4 back up into the wreck. Easy to find the safes. F4 back up onto the roof and look for the bright spot that is your flare at the entry ladder. Use ladder to leave wreck.

If the wreck is more than one level, you can fly underneath them to find stuff. Some portals have more than one wreck and this makes it easy to see where they are. Let yourself drop far enough and it becomes daylight and easy to see. Just keep your jetpack on

[Jekko]

The whole game is so soulful with all the activities you do to bring life to the planet... then these dead labyrinths are the opposite and suck the life out of you. The idea to explore different procedural areas of the planet is neat though

[Spook]

Originally posted by Ornalee:

Originally posted by Spook:

After spending about 8 hours exploring portals and wrecks, I have some general thoughts;

I am aware procedural generation takes a lot of work and I still appreciate the effort, but I get lost in a wet paper bag, and the compass doesnt help when there is no rhyme or reason to why stairs exist where they do, or multiple up and down levels to dead end rooms.

Ah! A member of my tribe... allow me to lead you down the primrose path:

If I need to farm for stuff, my procedure is this: Drop a flare when you enter the wreck. Pop out on top of the wreck using F4 (need to tap repeatedly to move up). Run along roof until you see something of interest. Jetpack under that spot and F4 back up into the wreck. Easy to find the safes. F4 back up onto the roof and look for the bright spot that is your flare at the entry ladder. Use ladder to leave wreck.

If the wreck is more than one level, you can fly underneath them to find stuff. Some portals have more than one wreck and this makes it easy to see where they are. Let yourself drop far enough and it becomes daylight and easy to see. Just keep your jetpack on

So your method is to CHEAT?

Sorry, I just want the game to have better generation, I dont like having to cheat or use exploits to have a good time.

You do you, though.

[Ornalee]

Originally posted by Spook:

So your method is to CHEAT?

Sorry, I just want the game to have better generation, I dont like having to cheat or use exploits to have a good time.

You do you, though.

Oh, goodness! Don't clutch your pearls too hard. I got extremely bored doing it the long way. Did plenty of them. Whole original save is virgin of exploits. Now, I just want the tree seeds, etc. for new games. You sounded upset, so I offered a workaround. So, yeah... you do you, too. ;)

[Toren_S [Also Friendly]]

We've been using a combination of different colored flares and building signs with words on them to help us navigate the big wrecks. Also, although it doesn't ALWAYS work the always follow the right wall (or left wall) option generally can get you through a lot too.

I agree they could use some improvement but they're at least an interesting first start and an actually viable way of getting terra tokens in a reasonable amount of time.