What is the Core gameplay loop ?

[Amanras]

So, what is this game about ?
What is the Core gameplay loop ?

The Store page states :

Originally posted by storepage:

"Join a world where you design, create and pilot your own air sea rescue service. Release your inner hero as you battle fierce storms out at sea to rescue those in need."

But looking at the Updates for a while this does not seem to fit to the description...
There is Trains and Mining and processing... So do we need to sell stuff and mine ?
What benefits do you have by using these systems ? And what does this have to do with Air rescue service ?

So what is it I am going to do as a player here ? What keeps me engaged ?

Thank you in advanced and best regards,
Amanras

[Alistair]

I think the game is taking a bit of a turn away from search and rescue, what with the weapons DLC coming out last year and now a mining and resources DLC.
Around 2 years ago from now the game went out of early access - before this there was a lot more focus on search and rescue and there was a really cool career mode that let you do loads of missions, however then they kinda changed most of career and got rid of the exciting missions, so now most of the search and rescue is just about towing a boat or picking some people off a boat and driving them to a hospital (which is really quite boring).
So I think the game has kind of steered away from that and is more just turning into a vehicle building game, which, by all means, lets you do some really cool stuff with what you make, but there isn't much search and rescue anymore, so if you were looking to buy the game just for that, then maybe don't, sorry.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Nothing in game hints at the player running a search and rescue service.
All you have is a wallet and the ability to buy islands/spawn vehicles.

No way to name your company, no logos, no running costs besides fuel and the occasional inventory restocking (that still has to be done by hand or by respawning the vehicle). No crew to hire, no competition.

Putting that aside the rest of the SAR gameplay revolves around putting out fires or tow/repair vehicles, characters in need of rescue can bleed, be injured or be incapacitated, that's about the mechanics related to the medical part of the game.

Maybe someday the devs will focus on improving the SAR aspect, but seeing how development went since 1.0 release more than 2 years ago I heavily doubt it.

The store page borders on false advertisement.

For now most of the time in game will be spent building vehicles, once you got vehicles for most roles there's no real purpose besides the same 4-5 randomized missions that get old really fast.

Back before 1.0 you had some sort of mini campaign mission chains that got removed with 1.0 due to the lua mission/addOn editor. The possibilities using the lua editor seem endless, for some reason (too complicated?) the devs don't seem to want to reap its benefits. Initially it was marketed as being able to procedurally generate missions, which is a far stretch and doesn't match the definition of "procedural". All it does is spawning random missions using random mission vehicles on random map locations. It's just a basic randomizer.

The way missions are spawned also seems to be lacking at best, you'll get the same missions all the time, the volcanic islands introduced new missions for submersibles/divers, only had 2 or 3 spawn ever since they came out.

Oil/fuel trading can be done as a means to generate income, same for containers or random passenger transport missions. There are no passenger lines to be served, be it for rail, airports or between harbors.

The vehicle building is a solid 10/10, physics 7/10 and gameplay is a stormwonks/10.

[Aven]

(The upcoming DLC may or may not impact the following assessment)

My personal opinion, take it along with your own research, is that you should not buy this game specifically for the search and rescue or career mode. Stormworks excels at the design->build->test->learn cycle. You will likely spend 90% or more of your time with the game here. The career mode, on the other hand, is shallow, and has been in dire need of an overhaul for years.

The career mode is marketed as:

Originally posted by Stormworks Store Listing:
Career mode focuses on progression and an overarching plot of starting your own search and rescue service from humble beginnings and building it up to cover the entire Stormworks world map. You will have to manage your finances, build space, and your own safety as you complete various missions to finance larger, more complex vehicles and new land bases.

What career mode actually entails:

1. "progression" - The research progression system was removed completely in 1.0 but shoehorned back in after community protest. Nothing has been done with the research system or career mode itself since they were introduced to the game 4+ years ago in a barebones state.

2. "overarching plot" - There is no overarching plot or storyline.

3. "manage your finances" - Managing your finances in Stormworks requires about as much depth as managing the money in a piggy bank. Your finances consist of a single number: the amount in your piggy bank. Collecting supply crates, finishing missions, or selling oil/fuel puts money in. Spawning a craft or buying oil/fuel takes money out. That's the breadth of the financial management aspect of Stormworks.

4. "<manage your> build space" - Vehicle size is limited to the space available in the workbench. Some bases have larger or different types of workbenches. To manage your build space, you simply build within the limits of the workbench or buy a base with a larger workbench.

5. "<manage your> own safety" - A verified feature as the game provides various environmental hazards and the equipment to contend with it, unless the hazard is not being able to swim backwards. That one cannot be protected against and is almost always fatal.

6. "complete various missions" - There are a variety of missions, and some are more interesting than others, but none really give you the feeling that you are participating in or having an effect on the world around you. NPCs are basically a bot than can stand still on command, follow you on command, or not die on command. That's the limit of their abilities.