New player - story mode/objective scenarios

[AtLastBossCarryMe]

Hi
I'm interested in buying this on sale, but have a question.
I thought this game was primarily a sandbox style game.
I don't really enjoy sandbox games at all.
However, with some tweaking, workshop mods, if there's a way to make some objective based game play where I could work towards "completing" the game/mission/scenario - that would be enough to interest me in purchasing.

1) Does this game now offer some objective based scenarios/game play in co-op specifically?
2) Are there mods that do the same (if so , what is recommended as best for co-op?)

Thanks

[Capt Fuzzy]

First off, this IS a sandbox game, but it does have scenarios that you can play out in the style that you appear to be seeking.
There are also player-made scenarios on the workshop that you can download and play as well.
Secondly, because this IS a sandbox game, YOU set your own objectives and complete them in any manner that YOU see fit. That's literally the whole point of sandbox survival games.
You succeed or fail due to no one's fault but your own...

Yes, you can play ANY game mode, scenarios included, with friends, or solo.

[xor511]

Just the Earthlike scenario alone has so many challenges you can come up with. For example, pick a place to start and a goal. Like... starting in the ice moon europa, then building a base in the alien planet, or building a ship that is specially designed for the economy missions and doing those missions until you reach a certain number of credits.

[Trik]

Originally posted by xor511:

Just the Earthlike scenario alone has so many challenges you can come up with. For example, pick a place to start and a goal. Like... starting in the ice moon europa, then building a base in the alien planet, or building a ship that is specially designed for the economy missions and doing those missions until you reach a certain number of credits.

you have to understand this is persons which not able to play sandbox game for of lack of imagination. no mater how many sugetiu you will give him, he will not be able to crate his own objective in game. he need hard wired task. set in stone objective.

[xor511]

Originally posted by Trik:

Originally posted by xor511:

Just the Earthlike scenario alone has so many challenges you can come up with. For example, pick a place to start and a goal. Like... starting in the ice moon europa, then building a base in the alien planet, or building a ship that is specially designed for the economy missions and doing those missions until you reach a certain number of credits.

you have to understand this is persons which not able to play sandbox game for of lack of imagination. no mater how many sugetiu you will give him, he will not be able to crate his own objective in game. he need hard wired task. set in stone objective.

If he needs the game to tell him whether he won or not, then I get it, this game doesn't give you a "you win game over" screen.

[AtLastBossCarryMe]

In Conan Exiles you could kill all the world bosses and obtain a "key" which allowed you to 'leave' the island. In Planet Crafter you could finish terraforming the planet. In Ark you could kill all the world bosses and 'complete' the current map/island. Terraria you could kill all world bosses. All those games are pretty open ended with some considered sandbox too.
That type of challenge in a sandbox is interesting to me as there's a "real' end (eg, no more world bosses, completed main goal, etc) without me actually just making one up.
Sounds like there could be some scenarios in the workshop as I already expected.

[Alrethe]

100% a sandbox game at heart. The base game has a scenario but it's weak. There are some mods that add some stuff but based on what you've listed I don't think it will hold your attention. It's very much about how do I use the building blocks to create a ship that can get to orbit. Oh and before that I need to use the blocks I've unlocked to build a miner and base that can support building that ship.

[jafiwam]

I make up my own stuff to do. If that's not how you like to play a game, this game won't be enjoyable for you.

My suggestion is dig around in the workshop and look at what some of the mods can do and maybe you'll find you want to play.

I spent a LONG time doing a planet to planet to pole to pole to planet tour of all of them. Big ship... drop ship, make a rover then drive to the other pole. Then another ship to fly back out to my big ship, then travel to the next planet or moon.

If you want missions more like GTA and story progression this game isn't a good fit for you.

[Dan2D3D]

Hi, first I must tell you I am not a SE Dev but Forum Moderator community helper with admin rights and I help the SE community since 2013 because it's my Favorite Sandbox game on Steam.
____________

That said, I will answer the best I can tho more than a lot can be done and I will not be able to fit all in a post :

1 = Yes, there are premade scenarios to play Solo and/or MP.
+
We can setup the world to our liking by enabling or disabling world option like :
-> we can add 2 Enemy Factions, one on planet and one in space ...
-> we can add Trade stations with stores and Contracts to do for them.
-> and more ...

2 = Yes there are player made Mods that add pretty much all we need and more ...
+
May also play in player made scenario shared on the Workshop.

___________________________

Info +

The new PVE options goes like this :

- Global Encounter Cap = Factorum stations in space only.
- Encounter amount = Space and can be setup on creating a new world only.
- Random encounters = Space only
- Enable Drones = Space only.
- Enable planetary encounters = All planets and moons.
+
- The animals count slider and Wolves/Spiders ON/OFF = Wolves on Earth, Spiders on Pertam, Alien and Titan.

_________________

Example

There are a minimum of 3 Warship solutions to find :

Vanilla objective :

1 - Warship able to win the battle against the enemy SPRT stations having Drone spawners from premade worlds in Original Content Category, like the world named "Earth Planet".

2 - Warship solution able to complete "Escort Contract" at Trade stations.

3 - Warship able to conquer and recover Prototech Blocks (Endgame high Tech blocks) from Factorum Faction stations in space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTbfFVk6eY0


______________________________________________

Keep in mind the following :

Rich ore spots = Where all ores can be found close to each other, some areas have all ores within 1 Km.

Easy Biome = Where the Ore Detector block is not needed because we can see the ore spots with the naked eye on the soil (sand soil) and no "Bad weather" if you play with Weather and Lightning damage enabled.

Medium Biome = Green grass Biomes because it is harder to see the ore spots on the soil and those have lightning that can damage your creations where you will have to build lightning Rods and Safe Zone (station shield).

Hard Biome = Where there are more lightnings with bad weather and where the ore Detector block is needed.

Moon/Europa/Titan starts = Moons have all ores -1 that is Uranium but can be found faster by exploring asteroids at +/-30Km around any Moons, so the best places to have all ores very early in suvival are the Moons.

+
Creative players prefer to start on one of the Moons because those have all ores and can easily find +20 Uranium asteroids around all Moons.

Titan start is very cool because all ores with ice where the ore Detector block is not needed, we also can enable/disable Weather, Spiders, Encounters and setup to our liking anytime we want.

[Dan2D3D]

Here are a few Videos that will show you a bit of what can be done in this game :

Player made scenario :
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1916149409

Player made Race track :
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1598949117
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1418616239

[CJM]

Originally posted by xor511:

this game doesn't give you a "you win game over" screen.

There is an "Explorer" Achievement, which triggers after you've walked on all planets in the Solar System Survival Scenario. Close enough for me.

You do have to trigger the end credits manually afterwards, however.

[Pembroke]

Even if a game is "open-ended" without any definite end goal, it still can have story-missions or a full campaign with a plot-line. The game just doesn't end after that, so you can continue playing the "ever after" part. Or proceed to another mission. Just wanted to clear that "sandbox" does NOT prevent you from having missions and campaigns with a plot in the game.

Does Space Engineers have these? Well, not really. You mostly have to invent your own story.

There are a few scenarios in the game as start-up options that you can play. These have a plot and provide you with goals, and even an ending. There's "First Jump", "Lost Colony", "Frostbite", and "Escape from Mars". The Steam Workshop offers more scenarios made by other players.

The standard game has "mini-missions" implemented as contracts you can pick up in trade stations. However, these really are extremely simple and small side-quest type things along the line of "go find this lost probe" or "go escort this trade ship and protect it from a pirate attack". Very basic.

You can setup your own start-up situation, and so create an open-ended scenario with an initial challenge. The Steam workshop has also these setup available, and some are actually really well-made.

The bottom line is, however, that it mostly comes down to you. You need to be the one that interprets the game as a story with a plot. You do have some tools to help you in this, though:

- There's the survival challenge of building up from humble beginnings to a large setup of ships and bases, and this is also where Space Engineers shines. The building system is very good. You can make really cool builds in it. If you like building things, you like this game.

- There are encounters of various levels ranging from finding crashlanded ships you can salvage or repair to active NPC bases you can try to take over to late-game complex encounters with large NPC bases and NPC ships working in tandem. (However, note that there are no NPC *characters*; autopiloted ships, automated base defenses, drones etc. do provide plenty of action, though)

- There are *very good* mods to provide you with even more NPC factions and action. The Modular Encounter System is the most popular and offers the most variety.

--> This means that you can role-play the above into a coherent story interpretation of "what is going on" in your imagination. Where are you? Who are you? Who are these other NPC factions? What are they doing? Who are the good guys and who are the evil ones? All these combine into the "Lore" that forms the story you play.

But you need to do that part. The game itself does not have a story-plot. The "pro" is that you making it allows it to be flexible and you can tailor it to what you like and replayability depends only on you. The "con" is that you indeed need to be the one to do it. No pre-made plot-line.