Frustrating first experience

[Kui the Kui]

I'm a sucker for space trucking in space games. Elite Dangerous had me trucking. In Star Citizen I'm a hauler, even back in Freelancer days I would fill my freighter and chug along.
So I thought this would be an enjoyable similar experience, but it's been quite mixed.

Tutorials are lacking, which isn't inherently a bad thing, if only it were clear enough in general on what we have to do to solve the many hurdles that gameplay throws at us.
The pop up menus going "Uh oh, you're running low on energy" fails to inform players on where to find more canisters, nor HOW to actually replace them. I had to actually look up how to do it myself, as the game had no way to tell me that I had a crate in my truck containing more energy cells, nor that I had to actually open segments or lift the stairs (Cool design, but there is no instruction for the player to do this unless they luck upon it!) and replace the thing!

I found a manual in the glove department that I would have loved to read to be able to understand more about the controls and layout of my truck, but I couldn't interact with the darn thing!

Worldwise, it's really nice having the radio, the truckers talking to each other in truck lingo is definetely a nice touch, though I've never really had any of that seeing as I've stuck to trucking in space games and not trucking games, either way, I enjoyed it. The security drones are also a nice touch, as well as station design. Though I do wish I could do more than just accept jobs whilst docked. Being able to recharge cells for a start, would be a godsend.

Going back to Visual Clarity, figuring out where my destination is was difficult at times, it was hard to tell where I was supposed to fly at first, and even once I'd figured it out, I'd have to constantly try to find a safe spot to stop my rig so I could try and figure out where the next stop would be. One time I even ended up being completely rear-ended, losing out on any money I would have made from that delivery.

And I'm not sure if all the kinks are ironed out, but I had to deliver to a drop off location where a Cargo Container was already in place, and I was unable to fit my container inside without damaging it. It wasn't the best time.

Seeing as we are in space, I'm baffled at the lack of the ability to "strafe". I can understand it not being viable whilst hooked up to cargo, but not having it whilst unhitched is a severe lack of maneouverability! It's definetely a "Choice". I would love to hear why it's not in the game if any of the devs are willing to explain.

I was really looking forward to trying this one out, and it's a shame that I didn't enjoy my time in a space rig. I hope that it improves down the line so I can come back and give it another shot and hopefully stick around longer than I did this time.

Best of luck to the devs

[Firepaw]

I couldn't have summed it up better than you did. Thank you.
As an ETS2 veteran and Star Citizen backer, Star Trucker feels underwhelming. Strange design choises a lackluster tutorial, and what really killed it for me was the restart after player death.
I was very eager to play the game, but sad to say, it's a pass for me.

[Tsulan]

Want to add:
- fuel consumption/price is way to high. So i get a delivery job for 300$ and the fuel alone costs that? Sure, there are also jobs for 1000$, but i got a hefty fine for reckless driving and damaged goods, even when the display said that the cargo is at 100%.

- Temperature makes no sense. In one second i was cooking at 100+ degrees, while the aircon was set to full. Temperature still kept rising. 2 sectors later (purity) i froze to death while approaching the station, with the heater on max.

- unlocking a skill doesn´t seem to change the offered cargo types. Refreshed 3 times, by undocking/docking (btw. why do i have to do this, instead of just refreshing after the current jobs timed out?) and still no fragile cargo jobs.

[Cowboy10uk]

Originally posted by Tsulan:

Want to add:
- fuel consumption/price is way to high. So i get a delivery job for 300$ and the fuel alone costs that? Sure, there are also jobs for 1000$, but i got a hefty fine for reckless driving and damaged goods, even when the display said that the cargo is at 100%.

- Temperature makes no sense. In one second i was cooking at 100+ degrees, while the aircon was set to full. Temperature still kept rising. 2 sectors later (purity) i froze to death while approaching the station, with the heater on max.

- unlocking a skill doesn´t seem to change the offered cargo types. Refreshed 3 times, by undocking/docking (btw. why do i have to do this, instead of just refreshing after the current jobs timed out?) and still no fragile cargo jobs.

You say temperature makes no sense. So you noticed the temperature wasn’t working as expected, the temp kept rising or falling regardless of temp setting correct.

So did you get out of your seat and go and check on the temp components?

If you did, were they all green, or had the fuse tripped or a component burnt out showing a red light.

I’ll place money on the feature was working as intended, BUT the temp component had failed in your rig.

Plenty on your rig that could go wrong, granted the game doesn’t tell you this, and it’s a step learning curve for all of us, but it’s surprisingly in depth. And the rig is rather temperamental at the moment as I’m guessing you start with a shed and work your way up.

[San Sany4]

Originally posted by Tsulan:

- Temperature makes no sense. In one second i was cooking at 100+ degrees, while the aircon was set to full. Temperature still kept rising. 2 sectors later (purity) i froze to death while approaching the station, with the heater on max.

Your climate regulator is broken. That's why you were cooking in hot system and froze in cold system. Your aircon was offline.

Originally posted by Tsulan:

- unlocking a skill doesn´t seem to change the offered cargo types. Refreshed 3 times, by undocking/docking (btw. why do i have to do this, instead of just refreshing after the current jobs timed out?) and still no fragile cargo jobs.

You don't have to undock, if you left the job menu, go to airlock door, close it if it's open, and you will be able to view the job list again.

[OneManStanding]

They said in the FAQ that the fuel consumption and fuel cell drain are exaggerated for the purposes of the demo -- as are other random events like environmental failure (jump in your space suit if you need to) or full power loss. You will be able to buy cells from the shops -- not available in the demo -- but can be found in debris if you use your horn scanner (handle top left) to find them (something I learned here on the forum).

[cordinia]

I too enjoy the game BUT I can relate to the frustration. There is a fine line between challenging fun and frustrating hell. For me a game should not feel like work. I know some people enjoy this type of game and good for them that there are options. I would suggest that there be different difficulty levels in the game to allow for us dreaded "casuals" to have fewer systems to manage, or to make those systems more forgiving. I hope that this isn't the introduction for the full game because I think a lot of people will be refunding. Balancing a game for all comers is very hard, but maybe offloading some of the difficulty while rewarding those who try it at harder levels would alleviate some of the issues.

[Kui the Kui]

Originally posted by cordinia:

I too enjoy the game BUT I can relate to the frustration. There is a fine line between challenging fun and frustrating hell. For me a game should not feel like work. I know some people enjoy this type of game and good for them that there are options. I would suggest that there be different difficulty levels in the game to allow for us dreaded "casuals" to have fewer systems to manage, or to make those systems more forgiving. I hope that this isn't the introduction for the full game because I think a lot of people will be refunding. Balancing a game for all comers is very hard, but maybe offloading some of the difficulty while rewarding those who try it at harder levels would alleviate some of the issues.

Oh by all means I don't mind if it's simulating a job, that's a large portion of the appeal for Truckers and other simulators I'd wager!

My frustrations mainly lie with the lack of ingame explanation for mechanics, I feel there should be more ways for us players to learn in-game rather than having to seek assistance elsewhere. I understand we live in the era of modern technology and can always google things, but I'd prefer the game itself teach me rather than having to leave and check discussions, wikis and video tutorials to understand the many mechanics in the game.

[Tsulan]

Originally posted by San Sany4:

Originally posted by Tsulan:

- Temperature makes no sense. In one second i was cooking at 100+ degrees, while the aircon was set to full. Temperature still kept rising. 2 sectors later (purity) i froze to death while approaching the station, with the heater on max.

Your climate regulator is broken. That's why you were cooking in hot system and froze in cold system. Your aircon was offline.

Originally posted by Tsulan:

- unlocking a skill doesn´t seem to change the offered cargo types. Refreshed 3 times, by undocking/docking (btw. why do i have to do this, instead of just refreshing after the current jobs timed out?) and still no fragile cargo jobs.

You don't have to undock, if you left the job menu, go to airlock door, close it if it's open, and you will be able to view the job list again.

Gave it another try. You´re right it looks like the climate regulator was broken. Found the place to replace it.

Now on this run, i couldn´t deliver the second cargo. Cargo space was green, released the cargo and nothing happend.
Still some bugs there.

[Bearsuit]

Originally posted by Hichem:

Originally posted by OneManStanding:

They said in the FAQ that the fuel consumption and fuel cell drain are exaggerated for the purposes of the demo -- as are other random events like environmental failure (jump in your space suit if you need to) or full power loss. You will be able to buy cells from the shops -- not available in the demo -- but can be found in debris if you use your horn scanner (handle top left) to find them (something I learned here on the forum).

"are exaggerated for the purposes of the demo"

So they make a demo to disgust people ? nice marketing move

People forget how demos used to be. Games used to have demos that would purposely end/kill the player after a certain point lol, this is really nothing new. They aren't meant to provide endless play.

[Snap]

This is a really promising game. I can't understand why some of the others are complaining. It's nothing that can't be fixed by launch. You can complain after the game launches with the same quirks, but not before. It's an exciting game, the sounds are great and we'll have to wait and see about the rest. I don't see any major flaws here.

[Kui the Kui]

Originally posted by Snap:

This is a really promising game. I can't understand why some of the others are complaining. It's nothing that can't be fixed by launch. You can complain after the game launches with the same quirks, but not before. It's an exciting game, the sounds are great and we'll have to wait and see about the rest. I don't see any major flaws here.

By all means, it is promising, and I enjoy a lot of the visual design elements and audio elements, but I still think there could be improvements going off of the Demo we've been given. especially on teaching the players how to play the game whilst ingame.

I just thought it important to pass on my thoughts, playtesters get paid to do so after all, and I tried the demo as I thought the premise was really cool, I'd like to see the game improve to the point that I'd want to buy it.

[Mona]

For me all of the charm of the game falls flat due to an unsatisfying flight experience, which is the core loop of any vehicle transportation game. Thrusters for adjusting horizontal and vertical alignment is just a necessary component of space flight, and the lack of any thruster control made this a no-go for me.

[HMS_Indefatigable]

Originally posted by Mona:

For me all of the charm of the game falls flat due to an unsatisfying flight experience, which is the core loop of any vehicle transportation game. Thrusters for adjusting horizontal and vertical alignment is just a necessary component of space flight, and the lack of any thruster control made this a no-go for me.

Moving directly vertical or horizontal wouldn't work here though - there's no thrusters on the containers, so your truck would just spin cab first. Your center of thrust and center of gravity are waaaay off each other in a container hauler set up like this. It's more like a real life rocket, where you have to rotate to re-align your engines, then burn to change course.

This also makes it handle more like a real life truck - a big part of the challenge of parking correctly is thinking ahead, because you can't just slide to get perfect alignment every time.

[Adr1an]

The difficulty in this is amazing, i died 3 times before undersending all the mechanics and phisics, 1 time i disabled the engines to save fuel, got outsite to fix the hols.... the track kept moving, dead in space

[BobGrey]

While I agree tutorials are a bit lacking, you shouldn't need your hand held. Many of the components you need are laying out in the open and easy to find. This acts to 1: show you they exist and attract you to pick them up, and 2: show you that you can interact with these things, encouraging you to interact with the many boxes and containers laying around instead of on the shelf.
You go to interact with the containers to put them onto the shelf, and you'd see "right click to open", showing you that you can open them, which would then show you they contain more of the things you need.

For the panels you need to open, have you seen the breaker box? It has nice little symbols on each breaker, along with the name of the system that breaker controls. The panels also have one of these symbols matching the system in that panel.

All it takes is looking around and paying attention, something you should be doing while flying a truck at 150mph through space.