Is there more to it?

[Dr.Acula]

I've been playing for about 12 hours and explored the two early systems. I've basically completed all the missions related to pirate hunting, scavenged destroyed ships, mined some ressources and did some trading.

In the process I've also upgraded and re-designed my ship a few times. The question from me now would be is there more variation in terms of content found in the later systems?

Designing and re-designing your ship in terms of functionality is quite interesting when you try to consider armor and systems positioning and quite quickly you'll learn where not to put cockpit or power generator. Outside of that though I've been getting bored of the game very quickly as it seems to be extremely repetitive.

What I've seen is basically:
1. Enter a system
2. contact the stations and get the missions
3.1 Fly around and destroy the enemy ships
3.2 Mine some resources
3.3 Explore the maps to find question marks and see what they are
4. Trade materials at the stations or hand in completed missions

The process then seems to repeat constantly.

Am I missing something or is this really all there is at the moment?

[IEATDIRT]

Unfortunately, as far as i've seen, this is it

[Dr.Acula]

Just saw the roadmap gerading upcoming features. I'll likely take another look in a year when the campaign is more fleshed out.

[Dominic]

there is multiplayer that can spice things up

[gzd]

Yeah, for like the $19 I spent on this during the sale, it is fine entertainment, but I agree with OP - the single player experience feels very dry. I'll probably play this game for another week or two til I get bored, then occasionally come back to it if there are major updates.

[Dr.Acula]

Originally posted by Dominic:

there is multiplayer that can spice things up

I no longer get excited for PVP.

Also I think in a sand box game like this where you can basically build any ship you want without any rules in place there will not be any balanced fights. I'm pretty sure that most multiplayer interaction will be extremely one sided...

[Wind Ark]

Originally posted by Dr.Acula:

Originally posted by Dominic:

there is multiplayer that can spice things up

I no longer get excited for PVP.

Also I think in a sand box game like this where you can basically build any ship you want without any rules in place there will not be any balanced fights. I'm pretty sure that most multiplayer interaction will be extremely one sided...

That does seem to be the case generally. Movement speed is pretty limited with larger ships unless you are just covered in engines, and firepower is strong, while shields are directional and somewhat fragile compared to the firepower of larger ships, and hull is like paper unless you have a wall 4+ thick.

Once more modules for abilities like teleporting and more are implemented, along with more defensive options to regenerate quickly outside of active combat, skill will mean a lot more than build of the ship alone. Right now it is very matchup dependent. Once defense and movement options are more fleshed out from modules, more weapons will be cool for variety. I think we need both ASAP to keep the game interesting. As far as I know, a Chaingun is on the way for now. Probably Ballistic(ammo based), and I imagine it revolves 360 like some kind of autocannon while being deckmounted.

[Mr_Juic3]

We got to remember that this is a small indie game, but we can see the work walternate is doing rn, I would not be surprised if an update to career mode is in the workshops

[Chaotic Entropy]

Yeah, it feels like there is a lot of potential but there just isn't enough to actually do with it currently. Kill a ship, salvage/repair, kill a ship, salvage/repair, tweak a few parts or build another escort, kill a ship, salvage/repair.

[WillieSea]

The entire point of the game is building effective ships. Everything else is fluff.

[JarH3ad]

Do remember the game is in Early Acces, there's lots to come

[Dr.Acula]

Originally posted by WillieSea:

The entire point of the game is building effective ships. Everything else is fluff.

Usually you build an effective ship to do something. So the "fluff" is what you're building the ship for. So if the fluff is getting stale early on then ship builder is somewhat pointless. Why design awesome ships if there is not much to do? I hope you understand what my issue is.

Originally posted by JarH3ad:

Do remember the game is in Early Acces, there's lots to come

I realize that based on the road map I've seen and I will re-evaluate Cosmoneer at a later time. Right now the basics of the game are good. It just lacks replay value at the moment.

I think in terms of long term goals the game needs some randomized content and stories. FTL and Rimworld are good example for games that usually provide different experiences each time you play the game.

[BrightExistence]

Originally posted by Dr.Acula:

Originally posted by WillieSea:

The entire point of the game is building effective ships. Everything else is fluff.

Usually you build an effective ship to do something. So the "fluff" is what you're building the ship for. So if the fluff is getting stale early on then ship builder is somewhat pointless.

This. Could not have said it better. If it's just a ship building sandbox to do PvP, then the game has no value to me. Fortunately, the devs clearly want this game to be more, hence the upcoming career mode overhaul.

Originally posted by JarH3ad:

Do remember the game is in Early Acces, there's lots to come

Just speaking for myself, I understand completely. I am *very* much looking forward to the upcoming career mode update!

[Limdood]

This will be a difficult game to do....much more....with. It bears a LOT of similarity to Terratech....piece by piece vehicle building, emphasis on random fights with non-procedurally generated enemies (which means every enemy is built and somewhat programmed individually). A creative mode where you can fight friends or randos or just build what you want. A basic, functioning, but not overly deep or complex economy.

In fact the only real differences from terratech (besides being a 2d space version vs a 3d land/air version) are
- the factions (terratech is much more themed, and you gain access to their parts gradually as you do missions for them....or loot them from themed faction focused enemies, whereas in cosmoteer, the factions are mostly faceless, non-differentiated owners behind a largely unimportant reputation system.
- The multiplayer in terratech is the same as in cosmoteer, except terratech ALSO has co-op campaign mode.
- the complexity of design and logistics inside a ship just....isn't found in terratech. It isn't even close. This is the BIG edge that cosmoteer has over terratech.

As for the first two, clearly the factions are just a current placeholder for something to come. I really look forward to what they CAN be in this game. They could be the beating heart of a dynamic world that gives the players the interface to affect the game....helping some factions succeed while others fall, going totally rogue/solo, trying to balance the rival forces or allow one to tip the scales. And the factions could very well interact back....betraying the player once they're comfortably on top, splintering into other factions, interacting in unique ways with unique ship tactics and types. That's my idealistic vision for what this game MIGHT offer....and despite being less impressive on the faction front now than Terratech, this game is poised to do MORE....if it can focus on the factions being the driving force of the game world and not just different faces for the same enemy.

For the multiplayer, sadly I don't see this game catching up to terratech. Co-op campaign is a HUGE draw for me, but with the shipbuilding complexity being several factors more intense than terratech, and the use of speed up and slow down and pause in single player combat, I doubt a campaign co-op would be implemented, or work well if it is implemented. I'd LOVE to be proven wrong, but I don't see how they'd get the game from A to B in this case.



Now, unfortunately I'm long winded, and that wall of text above was actually a preamble to my main point....

That Terratech, like Cosmoteer, is ultimately really only ideally equipped to be just a building sandbox and fighting game. Terratech regularly gets content updates, but they're almost always just a few more parts, or a new area, or another way to generate the same items you can already get. It isn't really going anywhere notable from where it is now.....and where it is now is a game with great replayability, until suddenly you feel like you've done everything there is to do in the game.

Cosmoteer is likely to suffer the same fate. I really hope it can break out of the mold, but so many factors are working against it. The inability to make procedural vehicles and the fact that once you achieve a certain level of technology, you've reached the limit of new content available to you are the two biggest factors. Even with player created ships used as supplement to available enemies, all the ships have to be individually built, tested, evaluated, rated, and programmed with an attack style. There's really almost no way I can think of to avoid enemies feeling "samey." As for the "endgame blues" - that's a hurdle that I don't really see any sandbox game overcoming. Eventually, you will have exhausted all available content. The complexity of design and balancing of parts against each other, plus programming and bug fixes means that for every X amount of time spent designing new content for the game, you get the TINIEST fraction of X amount of time of enjoyability and replayability. I saw rumors of a chaingun in the works. They could spend a month designing, programming, tweaking, and bugfixing a chaingun, and people might get, what, maybe 3 extra hours of enjoyment out of the new weapon variety, on average? Sure, releasing several new items at once will extend that significantly, but it also massively increases the complexity of all the design steps before it goes out, so the "impossible to satisfy" time ratio remains



Cosmoteer, Like terratech that i've been comparing it to all this time, remains a FANTASTIC game for people who want to try same thing in different ways, on different scales, with different limitations, and against other people's imaginations and strategies. It is the same as any other sandbox or simulator game - eventually, you've done all there is to do. But those sandbox and simulator games still sell AMAZINGLY well and get great reviews. They just appeal to a certain audience. If you look at a sandbox or simulator and aren't interested to try all the different ways to X thing to enemy Z, and then try it vs 2 enemy Zs, or an enemy thats 3 times as powerful as enemy Z, then, well, it's just not going to be your type of game.

[WillieSea]

Originally posted by Dr.Acula:

Originally posted by WillieSea:

The entire point of the game is building effective ships. Everything else is fluff.

Usually you build an effective ship to do something. So the "fluff" is what you're building the ship for. So if the fluff is getting stale early on then ship builder is somewhat pointless. Why design awesome ships if there is not much to do? I hope you understand what my issue is.

No, the game title even says 'ship architect and commander'.

Architect: You build an "effective" ship to attack/defend.
Command: You decide how the ship acts in the presented universe.

Since it is "Early Access" you could give actual suggestions on what you think would make the game better rather than just "complaining". Nobody wants to listen to a complainer that brings no ideas at all to the table.

[Dr.Acula]

Originally posted by WillieSea:

Originally posted by Dr.Acula:

Usually you build an effective ship to do something. So the "fluff" is what you're building the ship for. So if the fluff is getting stale early on then ship builder is somewhat pointless. Why design awesome ships if there is not much to do? I hope you understand what my issue is.

No, the game title even says 'ship architect and commander'.

Architect: You build an "effective" ship to attack/defend.
Command: You decide how the ship acts in the presented universe.

Since it is "Early Access" you could give actual suggestions on what you think would make the game better rather than just "complaining". Nobody wants to listen to a complainer that brings no ideas at all to the table.

First of all, let me quote myself from this thread:

Originally posted by Dr.Acula:

I think in terms of long term goals the game needs some randomized content and stories. FTL and Rimworld are good example for games that usually provide different experiences each time you play the game.

So I'm not just "complaining". Initially I just wanted to see if there was more variety to the single player content or if what I had seen in the first two systems would be representative for the rest of the game. I got my answer and responded accordingly in a respectful manner. Your post on the other hand is not exactly respectful.

Regarding the "command" aspect that usually doesn't just involve flying around randomly in the galaxy.

I mentioned Rimworld specifically as that is basically a sandbox that will keep you engaged quite long as it usually provides a long term goal (escape the planet). How you accomplish that is up to you. While you work towards that goal you encounter mostly randomized story content that either provides you with good or bad events. And even though most colonies in that game never reach the ending (within 1.500 hours played I only finished a colony playthrough once).

Regarding Cosmoneer the question should be what long term goals could be.

Should the game actually tell a story in the carreer campaign? Imagine something like a Freelancer game where you start with a small ship and you offer your services to the local
and galactic wide factions while encountering fixed story points. Would that be fun in Cosmoneer? I don't know. It depends on the story and its length.

Could you try to take over the galaxy becoming emperor or something like that? Maybe but this is difficult to implement as you're just one ship (or small fleet) and can't be everywhere at the same time to "secure" your position.

Another goal could be trying to reach a certain place (see No Man’s Sky for example) to either discover something incredible or escape certain doom. Doing something repetitive when there is no actual goal involved just gets boring very quickly. If you can see a specific end point though then it becomes much more bearable.