Getting out Dodge (the moons of Crown)

[willderyes]

I'm coming to the conclusion that the Tales of Tash quest is just a way of helping newbes to get into the real system. I mean what is preventing you from just flying around the various moons, gathering the different metals and building either warp CV or SV and heading straight to Omnicron?

Some of the starter quests on Akua are broken/not working and the other moons appear to just be POI's for a loot fest. I could be wrong, but that's just what I'm seeing so far. Some how I just can see the connect of my character's survival and the Tales of Tash. I could be wrong again but it's getting very boring trying to find this trail of text messages. I guess I was looking for a quest with a little more depth. I admit that I have only found about half of Tash's messages but I am just loosing interest.

I just hope that by not following Tash's (not Toah) Tales that I won't loose my commission in the UCH.

DISCLAIMER: The preceding was only my opinion. I love the game as my 1,000+ hours should attest. Haters and bashers need not apply, comments are highly encouraged.

Survive and Prosper my friends!

[DocRabbit]

I did just what you said. Took trips to the swamp and desert starters to get my T2 capable of warp to Omicron which is really just the old starter planet. I have eradicated Zirax from the surface of Omicron now so I can rest in leisure. I plan on going back to the new starter area and check out the asteroid field a bit more.

[willderyes]

Hint: You only needed to go the asteroid field.

[XLjedi]

Keep in mind, the previous starter strategy for veterans involved building a level 5 SV within the first 15-30 minutes of play, locate Sanctuary, sell sniper rifle... proceed to endgame.

[willderyes]

I am not 100% sure that I follow you. In the 1000 hours I've played I never had to do that. Maybe the start was a bit of overload in trying to get up to speed. But most games that have any depth and immersion have that. In this case I feel I was kind dupped. I finally made it to Omnicrom only to realize that the whole Four Moon bit was in the most part an extension of the tutorial. As soon at you get to Omnicrom (sp), you realize that you are at the same point at you would have been in 1.7 had you opted out of the tutorial. I thought and was lead to believe that this was a new adventure. No, it's not, it's just a fancy extension of the tutorial but just not called a tutorial.

[myk]

Originally posted by willderyes:

I mean what is preventing you from just flying around the various moons, gathering the different metals and building either warp CV or SV and heading straight to Omnicron?

That's exactly what I did. Bonus was I already had a warp SV so one or two loads of sniper rifles sold and I was ready to go sell light armor.
Then I noticed light armor is carbon and silicon. I could've went straight to the ore refinery and skipped Omicron (although I want the honored price break).

[Eightball]

It is a new adventure, for new players. And yes, the starter areas are a bit friendlier now. It is a good way to introduce newer players to game mechanics.

And I have to disagree with your premise that 'most games with any depth' overload new players with information/mechanics until the get 'up to speed'. Many if not most will try to introduce players to mechanics through either a stepped tutorial as part of the main game play or as tutorials that can be accessed via a game -pedia or as separately select-able stand alone scenarios.

I understand your hope for a new story line even a veteran could appreciate and who knows what the future might bring, but for now I am happy with the sandbox we have.

[dragonbornzyra]

I am grossly disapointed with this new Crown Moon starter set up. It's a tutorial, and as you feel it's not something I wanted to opt into thinking its a new adventure too. But it's just a threat and almost hazard free handicap access to the game. As an option to opt into it's fine but it should not be the base vanilla game mode.

I can't set the planet sizes and the new home system is a fixed playfield. I do not understand why they've made these changes or what they hope to accomplish with them, but I do not like them.

[myk]

Originally posted by XLjedi:

Keep in mind, the previous starter strategy for veterans involved building a level 5 SV within the first 15-30 minutes of play, locate Sanctuary, sell sniper rifle... proceed to endgame.

That's recent.
It was more like build an SV, do a quick hit and dip space walk ore collection for promethium and cobalt, go to the moon, avoid/fight bases that can one tap your little SV, have another queued up in the factory. Loot for stuff to deconstruct into enough neo and Z&E. Come back, get warp on your SV. Warp to the snow planet to get Z&E (maybe that was neo and sathium). Salvage for thrusters. Build a CV.

Trade was hoping there was something they sold you could deconstruct. Sniper rifle sales were to buy things you needed but weren't finding (or if you got a lucky seed, stuff to deconstruct), and was more about selling the guns you looted to buy consumables. There was no ore sales. No space station repairs and fill ups. Having a ton of money wasn't that important.

Ore sales happened sometime after that as they were making it harder to get out of the starting system by pushing the needed advanced ores in any form off the starting planet. In fact when that happened I put my old alpha warp SV back into service.

I spent a lot more time trading/looting/deconstructing the starter planets and moon to get into long term space with shields than the You Only Live Forever players.

Besides trade becoming what it is to let people get ships they grinded up many times the 1.8 moons and the Barren Metal Z&E planet are a slightly different twist on what vets have done before.
Even the search for rare rocks on these moons, welcome to an alpha swamp and ocean planet start. Golem drops, that's the snow planet start.
It's a huge universe out there. You have a limited time before the next major update where you'll want to restart to see the new content. If you spent that time grinding up ships each time you would quickly say the game is boring and play something else.

If you enjoy the level 1-3 bases more power to you. I want to go where I have high level dreadnaughts and battlecruisers + more around the same planet. I want to make the 14 jumps to Legacy space. I want to kill 2-3 of each of the Kriel ships to load the blocks into the factory for my trophy room.
There is no end game. Even after buying ships quickly became a thing I have never completed a goal so thoroughly that I had to come up with something else to do.

[The Big Brzezinski]

It makes sense if you're hard set on integrating a thorough tutorial into a standard survival game. If you can leave the sector, you've at least proven you can make an SV, fly to space, and figure out a simple POI puzzle.

However, now that we have that tutorial pretty much complete and working, there's room to have stats that don't include it. There are plenty of possibilities.

I could imagine the game starting right on Omicron, giving you pulse rifle, ammo, light armor, a *twitch* motorbike, and some supplies, and dumping you right at the teleporter as though you had just beamed in from the Crown sector. This would be the standard tutorial skip option seen in many games. It would fairly easy to implement.

Another option would be the Adventurer Bar at the Beginning of the Universe. You start with a pile of credits in a single room space station with a merchant who sells a bunch of ingots, gear, and supplies. Your F2 factory is set to build the next blueprint instantly. This serves as a budgeted start, where you decide your own starting equipment and ship. Once you leave, you cannot return. If you have to start over here, everything you built before is deleted. This is would be a great way for multiplayer servers to kickstart players while avoiding starter world overcrowding.

How about a space start? Instead of an escape pod, you have a damaged shuttle SV. You start in an orbit playfield with one barren planet, one forest moon, and many asteroids. The shuttle has no warp drive, is missing several important thrusters, and has limited supplies and fuel. As is, it can fly in the reduced moon gravity, but not on the planet. You have to rebuild the shuttle well enough to escape using supplies from the moon and minerals from the planet.

I wouldn't recommend any of these three starts to new players, and would probably prefer to see them gated as unlocks for completing story quests steps. But they might be a good way for experienced players to change things up.

[willderyes]

I just want to say that I truly appreciate everyone's input. We may not agree on everything, but we do agree on somethings. I think some very good points have been mad. So let's all game on, adapt and overcome!

[myk]

Originally posted by The Big Brzezinski:

How about a space start? Instead of an escape pod, you have a damaged shuttle SV. You start in an orbit playfield with one barren planet, one forest moon, and many asteroids. The shuttle has no warp drive, is missing several important thrusters, and has limited supplies and fuel. As is, it can fly in the reduced moon gravity, but not on the planet. You have to rebuild the shuttle well enough to escape using supplies from the moon and minerals from the planet.

That would be cool. Maybe have to shut off unneeded things to be able to construct stuff without blowing a generator to fix the ship to fly it to the planet/moon of your choice.

They could have difficulty dictated starts. Beginner (the moons), Experienced (Omicron), Advanced (space).

[dragonbornzyra]

Originally posted by The Big Brzezinski:

It makes sense if you're hard set on integrating a thorough tutorial into a standard survival game. If you can leave the sector, you've at least proven you can make an SV, fly to space, and figure out a simple POI puzzle.

However, now that we have that tutorial pretty much complete and working, there's room to have stats that don't include it. There are plenty of possibilities.

I could imagine the game starting right on Omicron, giving you pulse rifle, ammo, light armor, a *twitch* motorbike, and some supplies, and dumping you right at the teleporter as though you had just beamed in from the Crown sector. This would be the standard tutorial skip option seen in many games. It would fairly easy to implement.

Another option would be the Adventurer Bar at the Beginning of the Universe. You start with a pile of credits in a single room space station with a merchant who sells a bunch of ingots, gear, and supplies. Your F2 factory is set to build the next blueprint instantly. This serves as a budgeted start, where you decide your own starting equipment and ship. Once you leave, you cannot return. If you have to start over here, everything you built before is deleted. This is would be a great way for multiplayer servers to kickstart players while avoiding starter world overcrowding.

How about a space start? Instead of an escape pod, you have a damaged shuttle SV. You start in an orbit playfield with one barren planet, one forest moon, and many asteroids. The shuttle has no warp drive, is missing several important thrusters, and has limited supplies and fuel. As is, it can fly in the reduced moon gravity, but not on the planet. You have to rebuild the shuttle well enough to escape using supplies from the moon and minerals from the planet.

I wouldn't recommend any of these three starts to new players, and would probably prefer to see them gated as unlocks for completing story quests steps. But they might be a good way for experienced players to change things up.

"Earning/Unlocking" alternate starts and scenarios! Love it.