Aetheria: asteroid suggestions

[Spazmania]

Howdy,

Beware: Aetheria spoilers. Stop reading now if you don't want to know about the asteroid.


Loving the game. With the change to extend the timeline, I was able to build the rocket to take down the asteroid with 8 minutes to spare! So yay. That said, I have some suggestions:

1. Leave it like it is for hard core mode. It's just right for someone playing hard core.

In relaxed mode, it's player death on a timer that starts when you begin the game. Not cool. Play the game at your own speed? Forget about it. You have to race to unlock the 80% of the tech tree in time or it's the end! And then, of course, you hit spacebar to revive with zero consequence. So really it's the worst of both worlds: player death AND no consequence.

I suggest one or both of two changes for relaxed mode:

A. Consequence less severe than player death. Maybe you lose the island but as long as you've made it to the other islands you can keep playing. You can reach the other islands with less than 25% of the tech tree and only basic resources; it's not so tall a hurdle.

B. Don't start the countdown for the killer asteroid until the player unlocks the elements of the tech tree needed to defeat it. It's frustrating to die to the asteroid when you haven't even unlocked the tech tree, much less gathered the resources for the rocket. There should at least be -some- chance of winning on the first play through when you don't yet know where everything is.

[Ghost Rider]

Better yet, add a toggle in the game options/menu to completely disable the killer asteroid and all of the cataclysmic events.

Players that like that type of thing can leave that setting turned on, and a casual gamer like myself can toggle it off.

Just because a developer has a 'vision' for a game, doesn't mean it's the right vision. When I think of other Indie titles that have had skyrocketing success, it's because they know the secret that everyone enjoys games their own way.

A cataclysm event toggle just makes a lot of sense in that light.

[Tallowate]

I do like the idea of being able to toggle the killer asteroid off. But if the game devs don't like that idea, perhaps some type of warning in advance? Maybe each of the planets could have a difficulty rating? Like Echo Prime is definitely an "easy" planet, where I would consider the water planet as "moderate" difficulty. Also maybe some addition to the planet's description that gives vague clues as to the challenges. The water planet could mentioned something like "Reports indicate conditions that can impede the power grid and slow progress", where Aetheria could have something like "Reports indicate speed is of the essence for the survival / success of this project".

Just my thoughts.

[Spazmania]

In the planet analyzer you get a countdown with hours on the clock, a threat rating and crosshairs showing where the asteroid will land. Not sure how much more advance warning they can give?

[GeneralLibi]

Originally posted by Tallowate:

I do like the idea of being able to toggle the killer asteroid off. But if the game devs don't like that idea, perhaps some type of warning in advance? Maybe each of the planets could have a difficulty rating? Like Echo Prime is definitely an "easy" planet, where I would consider the water planet as "moderate" difficulty. Also maybe some addition to the planet's description that gives vague clues as to the challenges. The water planet could mentioned something like "Reports indicate conditions that can impede the power grid and slow progress", where Aetheria could have something like "Reports indicate speed is of the essence for the survival / success of this project".

Just my thoughts.

Exactly, if they had just expanded the descriptor for the planet, then I wouldn't have bothered sinking hours into Aetheria. Because yes, I'm someone who likes to take their time. I just assumed the asteroids caused the surrounding islands to periodically change, which is a cool idea by itself. So you can imagine how I felt when the doom clock started >.<

[xander.huter]

Hi everyone,

I have given up on Aetheria. It's the 4th time I've died and I don't like it anymore. 80% of the research is impossible, at least not for me.

Before I let the game disappear into oblivion, I'd rather play planets that I can create.

If I were to continue playing Aetheria, I would simply delete the game. I play to have fun, not to annoy myself. If you just want to play on Deamon -> please.
I prefer “to young to die” it's a pity that iddqd or idkfa doesn't work. Old gamers will know what that means.

You should at least have the option to customize the planet/planet rest to your game level. Without the chance to play only hardcore, I think that's stupid!

The mix between Sandbox and Ulta makes it!
Only sandbox is boring

Echo Prime is just the right mix and is fun to play.

Regards

Xander

[Dark Phantom]

Originally posted by xander.huter:

Hi everyone,

I have given up on Aetheria. It's the 4th time I've died and I don't like it anymore. 80% of the research is impossible, at least not for me.

Before I let the game disappear into oblivion, I'd rather play planets that I can create.

If I were to continue playing Aetheria, I would simply delete the game. I play to have fun, not to annoy myself. If you just want to play on Deamon -> please.
I prefer “to young to die” it's a pity that iddqd or idkfa doesn't work. Old gamers will know what that means.

You should at least have the option to customize the planet/planet rest to your game level. Without the chance to play only hardcore, I think that's stupid!

The mix between Sandbox and Ulta makes it!
Only sandbox is boring

Echo Prime is just the right mix and is fun to play.

Regards

Xander

+1