Any tips/settings to make this game playable?

[VioletGrey\\TTV]

i spend 2 hours trying to get into this game and it feels like the game itself is fighting me the whole time.
Controls are inconvenient at best and horrendous at worst (important buttons being bound by default to keys that only exist on a US layout keyboard is pretty atrocious) , the UI and menus are confusing, the tutorial is gruelling to slog through.
how do people play this game? i really like the idea behind it but my god is it difficult to get into.

if anyone has some tips and/or settings that make this game less annoying i would appreciate it.
the only settings i changed so far is turning the tutorial narrator off (by far the worst part of the tutorial) and turning off direction based building movement.

[fleatoad]

You eventually get used to the terrible controls so just keep at it. It is like learning to ride a bike once you know it becomes easy. Don't bother with tutorials go watch some youtube vids. Also keep your builds small as you are going to discover more and more things as you go along and realise everything you previously made is junk.

[VioletGrey\\TTV]

Originally posted by fleatoad:

You eventually get used to the terrible controls so just keep at it. It is like learning to ride a bike once you know it becomes easy. Don't bother with tutorials go watch some youtube vids. Also keep your builds small as you are going to discover more and more things as you go along and realise everything you previously made is junk.

any recommendations for a particular youtube channel? honestly the horrible controls and UI and menus is what keeps me off this game the most for now. iam not sure if i can push past that tbh

[Carolus Magnus]

Much as fleatoad said, you really have to wrestle with this game until 'something clicks' and you get the hang of it. It's not a great process and the up-front presentation the game offers is apalling at best.

Still, if you do like the look of what the game nominally has to offer, I similarly encourage you to stick with it and fight these gripes out. The reward for learning to work with the games quirks is certainly worth it. But it's a pretty laborious process.

After playing literal thousands of hours the building controls are second nature to me and I find them far more intuitive and convenient than those in many other building games at this point.

Personally controlling vehicles is very much a secundary option to letting the AI take care of things, but it is possible with some excercise. I occasionally take personal charge of the odd dogfight or fleet flagship.

As Fleatoad also said: start out small. Build a few small dingies with some missiles until you have the relation between engine power, propulsion, ai and weapons figured out. Try beating some simple enemies like the Deepwater Guard Hoplite and Vanguard. There are quite a few beginner friendly youtubers who feature this game regularly. Always check the dates on the videos you watch though. Some tips are universal, but the game has had a very long early access history and is still evolving with the occasional big update so much info is outdated.

Lastly, never be afraid to ask around when something has you stumped. I can't speak for the official discord since I'm not on there, but many veteran players in the forum here will be eager to help with tips and know-how.

[fleatoad]

Originally posted by VioletGrey\\TTV:

Originally posted by fleatoad:

You eventually get used to the terrible controls so just keep at it. It is like learning to ride a bike once you know it becomes easy. Don't bother with tutorials go watch some youtube vids. Also keep your builds small as you are going to discover more and more things as you go along and realise everything you previously made is junk.

any recommendations for a particular youtube channel? honestly the horrible controls and UI and menus is what keeps me off this game the most for now. iam not sure if i can push past that tbh

It took me ages to get used to the stupid keyboard control but now it is as simple as breathing. You will get to this point too have faith. The building side of this game is definitely worth the pain.

For Youtube GMODISM will teach you some basic stuff and has a very soothing voice. Lathland and Borderwise I find a bit cringe but many other people like them.
Liv's Lab has a really good steam engine tutorial.
Also go visit FTD discord lots of help there.

[The man, the myth, the leg]

the keyboard build mode is the best way to build ive found in any game and its not even close. it is diffrent to ther games, but once you get used to it other games just feel wrong. mechanically there is also basically nothing even coming close

there are definitely some wierd aspects(like basically all of the deco system), a ton of useful keybinds and shortcuts with no convenieant way to search for them, a ton of basic and very important mechanics arent event mentioned
the game is infamous in the community to have a learning cliff, i dont have anything that specific other than see what works and from that learn what doesnt. i would reccomend being familiar with the designer before going into the other modes

adventure is especially unforgiving, while the campaign is mostly sitting around waiting for tiles to get captured

for tutorials borderwise and gmodism are popular
But if you dont mind reading the official discord has plenty of guides. most of the veterans and devs hang out there so that is the best place for help

[Yoda Nobunaga]

That's because the game is fighting you. Martincitopants described this game as not having a learning curve, but rather having a learning cliff with bears that's on fire.

This game is the opposite of polish. Every mechanic, barring maybe plasma cannons, is about 400 times more complicated than it needs to be and it's not like programming or Minecraft's redstone where understanding the complications liberates you, no it's just there to punish you for not doing ♥♥♥♥ correctly. Doing it correctly doesn't give you any increased freedom or anything.

I have no idea how they can claim it's finished, but if you ask me I say you should quit before the cool factor makes you wanna keep trying and keep getting frustrated. This is one of those addicting games that you'll regret getting addicted to.

[VioletGrey\\TTV]

i watched a few tutorials by Gmodism and i think i try to stick with it. dont think this game will become something i play a lot but as long as i can get a few hours of fun out of it i wont regret spending the money on it, and i do want to give it a proper collage try. iam not someone that gets hopelessly addicted to games so i think ill be good on that front lol

[Lorenzo[FR]]

this game is special ... very hard to start but once you are able to create your first working build -> it's over, you are hook .

if you use a AZERTY keyboard you will need to do some big change in the key mapping options
A = action
W = caracter sheet
Z = forward
D = right
Q = left
ROLL left/right = A/E
....

i can send you my key profile if you know where it's store

[VioletGrey\\TTV]

Originally posted by LorenzoFR:

this game is special ... very hard to start but once you are able to create your first working build -> it's over, you are hook .

if you use a AZERTY keyboard you will need to do some big change in the key mapping options
A = action
W = caracter sheet
Z = forward
D = right
Q = left
ROLL left/right = A/E
....

i can send you my key profile if you know where it's store

Iam using QWERTZ layout with the typical european keys so not sure if that would work

[The man, the myth, the leg]

what keys in particular are you having isssues with?
I have a croatian QWERTZ and i have not noticed any issues with the default keybinds being non functional

[VioletGrey\\TTV]

mostly from when i tried the tutorial where it calls for bracket keys and others that are different or dont exist on a qwertz layout. ive been playing for a bit now in sandbox mode and didnt really need to use any of these keys for now but yah

[The man, the myth, the leg]

which brackets
() are shift + 89
[] are alt gr (right alt) + fg
{} are alt gr + bn

most keyboards dont have the alt gr combos marked

[VioletGrey\\TTV]

on the US keyboard brackets like [ ] are separate keys and not coined into other keys. like = on my keyboard is Shift+0 but on a US layout its a separate key and that key on my keyboard would be the + key in return. which is obviously very confusing. many games have that issue but most get around by putting most functions on keys that are universal, like the Letter keys, number keys an F1-F12 keys.

[thunderpanzer]

Originally posted by Yoda Nobunaga:

it's not like programming or Minecraft's redstone where understanding the complications liberates you, no it's just there to punish you for not doing ♥♥♥♥ correctly.

I agree with your points about the game clearly not feeling "finished" (the devs did say in the discord there's a massive controls update coming?? I just hope they don't mess up the WASD system), but using Minecraft's redstone is not a good example lol. Deep level redstone uses as much jank as any FtD deep level mechanic does. Most features redstoners use aren't intended mechanics, and some are also just insanely stupid (like directionality). FtD in that sense is quite a lot more predictable considering it's a physics sandbox with a lot more stuff that can go wrong. Annoyingly though, unlike redstone, a lot of FtD's jank can't really be used productively...