Dice break mechanic seems a bit too RNG based.

[kia256]

Granted I've only seen it in the first 2 contracts, but it seems to be a bit too random and unfair.

The main thing I don't like about it is the lack of player agency.
If the dice hate you - you can easily have one or more dice break on you very fast without being able to do anything to prevent it (cept keeping stress very low).

Plus it just seems illogical to just randomly blow a fuse in the morning without even doing anything.

A "probably" better system in my opinion would be marking a number of dices as unstable or critically unstable as the stress accumulates. Any die can become unstable regardless of the die number.
An unstable die is usable, but failing a check takes away it's health. Critically unstable die is damaged upon use even on success. The very high levels of stress can still have random failures, as at this point you're already a glitching mess throwing random sparks and smelling like burnt rubber.

That way adds a bit more player agency and risk and reward incentive. You can use the unstable dice when you really need them while taking risks or if the situation allows - you can play it save and leave unstable dice unused.

[Neomare]

Originally posted by kia256:

Granted I've only seen it in the first 2 contracts, but it seems to be a bit too random and unfair.

The main thing I don't like about it is the lack of player agency.
If the dice hate you - you can easily have one or more dice break on you very fast without being able to do anything to prevent it (cept keeping stress very low).

Plus it just seems illogical to just randomly blow a fuse in the morning without even doing anything.

A "probably" better system in my opinion would be marking a number of dices as unstable or critically unstable as the stress accumulates. Any die can become unstable regardless of the die number.
An unstable die is usable, but failing a check takes away it's health. Critically unstable die is damaged upon use even on success. The very high levels of stress can still have random failures, as at this point you're already a glitching mess throwing random sparks and smelling like burnt rubber.

That way adds a bit more player agency and risk and reward incentive. You can use the unstable dice when you really need them while taking risks or if the situation allows - you can play it save and leave unstable dice unused.

Player agency is keeping the stress low. if you push your luck... well you get exposed to bad rng.

An option not to use a dice is there but it happens before you get stressed not after. Not wona get stressed? Do not use the low dice and go to sleep with unused dice.

So basically the feature you are suggesting " the unstable dice" is already there. any low numbered dice is unstabled dice... you use it at the peril of getting stress from it. But the decision if you use it or not is done before you know the outcome not after.

That would be way to much player agency.


I feel like stress is modeled very well. once you are stressed bad things happen and you lose control. That is what stress does. Makes you do mistake. in this game this means dices getting damage first, then broken etc...


Also it is probably not that bad.


IN the first game at the start you were pretty much guarantied to drop down to 4 or even 3 dice because you were saving the repair mechanic to get the most out of it since it was limited early on, so i assume the balance here will be similar and the game will be totally playable if a dice or 2 break.


Further more in this one you have helpers so losing a dice or two will not make contracts that much worse since you are losing less of a proportion of your resources.


Finally. it depends how hard is it to repair these dice? i did not get that far yet since i was trying to play as many different demos this fest as possible.



In any case. do not get me wrong i respect your opinion but i disagree.


I like it exactly as it is.


Cheers! :)

[kia256]

Originally posted by Neomare:

Player agency is keeping the stress low. if you push your luck... well you get exposed to bad rng.

An option not to use a dice is there but it happens before you get stressed not after. Not wona get stressed? Do not use the low dice and go to sleep with unused dice.

So basically the feature you are suggesting " the unstable dice" is already there. any low numbered dice is unstabled dice... you use it at the peril of getting stress from it. But the decision if you use it or not is done before you know the outcome not after.

That would be way to much player agency.

I feel like stress is modeled very well. once you are stressed bad things happen and you lose control. That is what stress does. Makes you do mistake. in this game this means dices getting damage first, then broken etc...

Thing is - your only way to control stress is in on the lower part or it. Once you pass the certain point on the stress meter (and quite a low one) - there's a real risk of it snowballing uncontrollably. Or not. Depends on the gods of RNG.

That's too much RNG. And it's too easy to get into an unwinnable situation you can't get out of.

What I'm proposing - is giving the player tools to imperfectly manage it on most of the spectrum.
And obvioulsy these mechanics need to be balanced to be interesting from the challenge and risk\reward perspective.
Instead of having the risk skyrocket past the few beginning stress points - it should ramp up slowly and only get uncontrollable on higher values.


But overall - i think that the more interaction a player can have with the game the better.
Having just a few bad decisions and unlucky rolls at the beginning ruin your chances to complete the contract and cause difficulty down the line is just a bummer.

[Neomare]

Originally posted by kia256:

Originally posted by Neomare:

Player agency is keeping the stress low. if you push your luck... well you get exposed to bad rng.

An option not to use a dice is there but it happens before you get stressed not after. Not wona get stressed? Do not use the low dice and go to sleep with unused dice.

So basically the feature you are suggesting " the unstable dice" is already there. any low numbered dice is unstabled dice... you use it at the peril of getting stress from it. But the decision if you use it or not is done before you know the outcome not after.

That would be way to much player agency.

I feel like stress is modeled very well. once you are stressed bad things happen and you lose control. That is what stress does. Makes you do mistake. in this game this means dices getting damage first, then broken etc...

Thing is - your only way to control stress is in on the lower part or it. Once you pass the certain point on the stress meter (and quite a low one) - there's a real risk of it snowballing uncontrollably. Or not. Depends on the gods of RNG.

That's too much RNG. And it's too easy to get into an unwinnable situation you can't get out of.

What I'm proposing - is giving the player tools to imperfectly manage it on most of the spectrum.
And obvioulsy these mechanics need to be balanced to be interesting from the challenge and risk\reward perspective.
Instead of having the risk skyrocket past the few beginning stress points - it should ramp up slowly and only get uncontrollable on higher values.


But overall - i think that the more interaction a player can have with the game the better.
Having just a few bad decisions and unlucky rolls at the beginning ruin your chances to complete the contract and cause difficulty down the line is just a bummer.

I agree more tools are better for sure. As long as they are balanced. Sadly i did not have time play it some more i had a LOT of demos to check.

Can't you lower the stress in the ship once you get back from the contract? You should never allow it to get out of hand no?

also is there a way to repair the dice i did not unlock that option yet?


This would be dealbreakers for me

a) how easy it is to get rid of stress
b) how hard is it to repair the dice.

[kia256]

If you still have the game on your PC - you can copy it from the steam game folder somewhere else and run it from the EXE file.
I've just checked and it works.

[InfernoDroid]

The real issue is in the contracts mechanic as you are not allowed to voluntarily fail them if your stress gets too high. There are some contracts that if you either dont bring the right people, or have mildly bad RNG your stress will skyrocket very fast, which leads to dice breaking, which leads to more failed checks which leads to more stress until all of your dice break, but instead of just voluntarily leaving the contract, you "die" and get a permanent glitch. if you end up in a particularly bad situation you could end up in this loop multiple times.