Indestructible Terrain on Omicron

[Griz]

Started a new game with mass and CPU on. Started in Akua. Quickly got into space (didn't do any of the quests on the planet) and found the derelict station in the asteroid field. Used the teleport to get to Omicron and encountered something new. This was the story added the need for registration before beaming down to the planet (Omicron) . The Zirax have enclosed the planet in some form of shield. Followed the prompts, obtained a code and beamed onto the planet (at Sanctuary). Found an abandoned SV nearby and used it to locate resources. All good so far, until I came to dig for them. Tried two different sources - iron and carbon - with the survival tool and both times encountered 'indestructible terrain'. Both sites were well away from any of the usual seams that forbid drilling. Kind of stuck now as I can't make anything.

Anyone else come across this?

For info, Just about to check out the official forums to see what they have on it.

[VulcanTourist]

That is intentional. From the playfield file:

IndestructibleTerrain: True     # If set to True terrain on this playfield will be indestructible

Was it advisable to do this? I don't know the specific motivation; I'm quite sure there was one, to risk the opposition this is certain to create.

[Griz]

Thanks or the quick reply 👍. Not sure why it would be set tbh as I'm not trying to drill in any faction territory. If it is intended to force the player to follow the story it takes away the freedom I've enjoyed with the game so far.
I didn't see anything on the official forums about it so it has me wondering. I may try and report it as a bug to see what they say. Just reading the bug reporting procedure

[prophesied]

Originally posted by Griz:

Thanks or the quick reply 👍. Not sure why it would be set tbh as I'm not trying to drill in any faction territory. If it is intended to force the player to follow the story it takes away the freedom I've enjoyed with the game so far.
I didn't see anything on the official forums about it so it has me wondering. I may try and report it as a bug to see what they say. Just reading the bug reporting procedure

It's set as indestructible in the playfield file, it isn't a bug.
You can simply turn that setting off in the playfield file.

[prophesied]

Line 45: IndestructibleTerrain: True # If set to True terrain on this playfield will be indestructible

Located in InstalledDrive:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Empyrion - Galactic Survival\Content\Playfields\Omicron\playfield_static.yaml

You can also disable or enable the other options, such as "AllowBlueprint/Factory", "AllowMaxCPUTier", "AllowHV/CV/SV/BA", etc.

You might be able to modify this in an existing save by locating the template in your save folder, generally in this location: InstalledDrive:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Empyrion - Galactic Survival\Saves\Games\savegamename\Templates
Delete the existing template and redo the edits in the Playfields folder for the Omicron playfield_static.yaml.
This will remake the template for Omicron with the changes implemented.
Probably don't want to be on omicron when you do this.

[Griz]

Thanks for the answers guys. I just don't think you should have to tamper with game files to do it, especially for a new (default) solo game start. Apart from anything else, it's likely to put new players off the game.

[prophesied]

Originally posted by Griz:

Thanks for the answers guys. I just don't think you should have to tamper with game files to do it, especially for a new (default) solo game start. Apart from anything else, it's likely to put new players off the game.

Yeah, I agree with you, I don't know why the developers are taking this approach.
It's taboo for a sandbox game. If they want a single player story campaign, make that mode and then it can be how they want! But for every other game mode, let players play how they want to play.

But at least it *is* possible to modify it to play how you want. Not many games live up to that these days.

[The Big Brzezinski]

The frustration is somewhat mitigated by the hilarious contrast with other shooters' attempts to have more and more destructible buildings and terrain.

[Hummel-o-War]

About 99.99% of the rest of the galaxy has destructable terrain - for Omicron (as it is a specific story planet) - it is an intended exception from that. ;)

[VulcanTourist]

Originally posted by Hummel-o-War:

About 99.99% of the rest of the galaxy has destructable terrain - for Omicron (as it is a specific story planet) - it is an intended exception from that. ;)

And yet there are other "story planets" that still do have destructible terrain, so why the exception for this one specifically? Care to share that motivation?

[The Big Brzezinski]

Remind me. What is so great about this system or Omicron specifically that anyone wants to base there to begin with?

[Hummel-o-War]

The exception for Omicon is because it is the actual Story-Starter and because that is ruined easily by accident and the story start needs a particular "direction", there are special rules ;)

I will look into this. Promised ;)

[VulcanTourist]

Originally posted by Hummel-o-War:

The exception for Omicon is because it is the actual Story-Starter and because that is ruined easily by accident and the story start needs a particular "direction", there are special rules ;)

I will look into this. Promised ;)

The obvious solution is to devise a means of limiting that indestructibility only to specific areas of story importance, by coordinates or some other reference, in the same way that Admin NPC Cores are used to protect crucial POIs. The end result would probably be some new defining properties in the playfield_static files that can be declared for POIs and some other spawnable reference object. I'm sure someone else has thought of that, so I don't know what game or Unity limitations would stand in the way of implementing it.

It also means that in the meantime those of us who know the game well enough can safely disable that restriction in personal scenarios and simply avoid doing dumb things in the areas that we know are... problematic.

[FuryoftheStars]

Originally posted by VulcanTourist:

Originally posted by Hummel-o-War:

The exception for Omicon is because it is the actual Story-Starter and because that is ruined easily by accident and the story start needs a particular "direction", there are special rules ;)

I will look into this. Promised ;)

The obvious solution is to devise a means of limiting that indestructibility only to specific areas of story importance, by coordinates or some other reference, in the same way that Admin NPC Cores are used to protect crucial POIs.

Could a Land Claim Device be used for this? I read somewhere that these can prevent digging, but as I don't play MP and the description on the device is rather vague, I don't know for sure. Even an admin version of a Land Claim Device if they need a larger radius or something without affecting the original.

[japp_02]

Originally posted by Hummel-o-War:

The exception for Omicon is because it is the actual Story-Starter and because that is ruined easily by accident and the story start needs a particular "direction", there are special rules ;)

I will look into this. Promised ;)

+1
I think it's fully acceptable to make mechanic exceptions on Omicron to keep the storyline stable, but the player should be somehow warned during the story that he should leave and explore other planets and systems in order to fully make usage of extensive building and crafting, also because he will get rewarded for these exploration actions (exploration tokens that you can register in the GIN console comming with a lot of progression rewards IIRC).

This should all not be a big problem, so the player will know that when he wants to follow the storyline (which also earns him a lot of items) he must stay in the zone of Omicron, the 4-moons system or wherever he is directed to, and leave to new undiscovered systems if he wants to build extensive bases or using the Workshop items and the Blueprint Factory.
And for those who don't read onscreen, well, that's their fault.

[VulcanTourist]

Originally posted by FuryoftheStars:

Originally posted by VulcanTourist:

The obvious solution is to devise a means of limiting that indestructibility only to specific areas of story importance, by coordinates or some other reference, in the same way that Admin NPC Cores are used to protect crucial POIs.

Could a Land Claim Device be used for this?

I didn't explicitly consider a variant of the Land Claim Device, because I have never played anything except solo also. I was thinking of something similar, though, when I wrote, "some other spawnable reference object", but it would not be a device usable by players. It might be invisible and not even have a 3D model, because it would merely be a placeholder. Also unlike a LCD, it would not have a fixed protection area but rather the area it "defends" would be described with some extra properties in playfield_static files. It would have its own descriptive block like a POI and be spawned at the same time in the same fashion.