Feedback on V0.13

[Palandus]

I think I'm roughly 2/3 of the way to being complete. I did find the cave, but I haven't collected at least 4 keys that I've collected in the past, so I don't consider myself complete. I'll use spoilers for specific points.

Pros:
- Feels like a somewhat increase to Data amounts for certain anomalies.
- I like that you implemented Drones in this release. Pity I don't have the research data to invest in them.
I really like the Dyson sphere. Makes me feel tiny next to it. Well done!
I like finding things in deep space, like seeds and mini ship wrecks that give Data and short interesting blurbs!
- I really liked the four part questline to find the sunless planet!
- I like that you can fix up that old telescope with sufficient titanium; I'm glad I didn't scrap it when I first encountered it

- Note: It may be that I'm exasperated more today with the fact that I had a head-splitting migraine for several hours and that simply made all the little problems in the game seem worse, so I do apologize about the tone.

Cons:
- Some probes are catchable. Others are not. I have a ship, that in deep space flies at 340 au/s, and I can't catch them. The moment they make the "go to warp" noise, THEY ARE GONE. In system, I move at close to 160 au/s and I can't keep up. Whereas other probes, they move at a snail's pace and I grab them with ridiculous ease.
- Feels like my constant complaints about low Data amounts for things that realistically should give more, are falling on deaf ears. Data given by anomalies is extremely inconsistent with text of the anomaly. Take for example the mass driver controls preceding the Nyctian system. It says the technology is super advanced... and yet you only get 50 data. But then, you find a comet, and it gives 150 data. Why? Why can you not increase the Data values for things that sound advanced but then give terrible Data?
- Every time you give more Data, you increase costs as well. No one is asking for more costs to existing stuff. A lot of us is asking for more Data or new technologies to try out, but every time you add more Data, existing stuff skyrockets in price. For example, ship hulls increase in cost by 50%; take the Leviathan class; in 0.12.4 it costed 800 data. It now costs 1200. And all the preceding classes also got bumped up 50%, so in order to get to Leviathan now, it requires an extra 2000-3000 data over what it would have required in V0.12.4.
- The game seriously needs an actual respec button, to respec your Data. Make it an expensive thing to do, but it is needed. It is needed because you are not listening to feedback, and every time you add more data you add more expenses, which counteracts the increased data, giving the illusion of an actual increase to data amounts.
- Derelict Freighters and Neutronium Cores do not respawn.
- Sentinel Flenshers do not give any loot. I've destroyed close to 20 of them, and none gave any loot whatsoever.
- The Axial Ultragun feels like it got nerfed... the base gun is pretty much useless now, without investing a lot of research into it.
- It is nearly impossible to detect Wrae ships until you are pretty much right on top of them.
- The first storm planet relay is NOT where you are told it is. I went to the precise coordinates and could not find it. I searched extensively and only ever found the second relay.
- For me, Shield Generators could only be unlocked AFTER I did the Sentinel systems.
- I'm constantly getting unknown fragments from ships I destroyed. I'm assuming they are the parts for missiles, beams, and drones, but it is irritating how many I keep finding. Either give us some Data for collecting each or stop them from dropping.
- Focusing on a Missile or Beam build, means that you cannot attack Progent ship wrecks for resources. It would be really nice if I could target a wreckage chunk with a missile. I can target neutronium cores and derelict freighters with missiles, so why not wreckage chunks?
- The flak defense system is utter sh!te. It looks pretty, but you have to have like 7-8 of them, at maximum research, to be actually effective at taking down gornanu suicide drones. Literally it is the only thing I'd used flak for as a missile or beam build takes out Sentinels fairly fast so you don't have to worry about their missiles or drones. It is far more economical to invest in tier 2 research for plasma cannons and use them to destroy drones coming your way.

Finally, MAJOR CON:
- I cannot find the space battle that occurred between New Tartarus and Tripura II. It says 29,000 AUs out from Tartarus, but I've searched a full 360 around New Tartarus, at 29,000 AUs, and never found anything. I tried 29,000 AUs from Tripura II (the location mentioned by the Zoar purchase) and no dice. I even flew the entire distance from Tripura II to New Tartarus, taking a good 15 minutes of flight, and still nothing. After an hour of searching for it, I've rage-quitted the game and will need a day or two come back to more testing.

[justkevin]

Thanks for the playtesting feedback!

Some specific comments:

- Existing RP sources do need rebalancing, however I've put that at a lower priority compared to adding new sources like the swarm probes, freighters, etc. At some point I'll need to go through and modify most RP sources, possibly adding in some adjustment factor that takes into account game progression.
- I'll take a look at the flenser's it's possible they are missing their drop table
- "unknown fragments" are the drop when you've completed that drops sequence. They probably should just stop dropping but the logic isn't in for that yet.
- One of the changes in 13 was allowing secondary weapons to target non-ship targets. I haven't had a chance to add targeting to debris/asteroids. It's a little bit trickier because you don't want to have to cycle through asteroids if there's a sentinel bearing down on you.
- I'll look into bumping up havok.


The battle debris (a progent wreck and a lifepod) should be at -39.9 x -58.4. That should be a straight line to tripura, but now looks closer to 27.5k

[Palandus]

Okay. Fair enough. Back to testing...

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I didn't find that tab would target the core or freighters, but had to manually click them with the mouse.

I did find it now that you gave the coordinates. I had to pass within 1300 AUs to even get a blimp on my radar. That is an extremely small margin of error. If I came within 1400 AUs of it, I never would have found it. Flying at super fast speeds, I'd never find it. I had placed a note of where I think it would have been, and I'm like 3000 AUs from that point. I wasn't close enough at that point to get the blimp.

Game is saying I have 3 keys, yet I recall getting a 4th. I have: Araona homeworld, the Desert City in crater, This one, and Hidden redoubt. I don't think it is counting the Desert City, as I recall getting a notification about a key for the other three.

Also, there was a purchaseable cylinder at Citadel for 525 titanium. I bought a different item, put paid 525 titanium for it and the cyclinder disappeared from the menu, but got what I purchased.

There is also two types of Sentinel Cutters; the old one and a new one that is much bigger. Same name though.

The Sentinel Frigate is a bit big for a Frigate. Most consider frigates larger than a corvette, but smaller than a destroyer or cruiser. Maybe give it a different name?

If you going to boost flak, you'll need to either missiles hardier or nerf plasma, otherwise why use the new flak when plasma is still better and cheaper? Nerfing plasma isn't a good idea, as it is already undesirable for a main weapon.

Comets aren't where they are supposed to be... the ones who don't get proceduratlly generated. I cannot find the black comet anymore and neither can I find the prismatic one either. I hunted all over the place near where I know where those two spawned in 0.12.4, and could not find them.

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Note: My opinions why plasma is undesirable as a main weapon:

1. Short-range; both beams and missiles have greater range. Getting closer means that the enemy can hit back and evading is more difficult. Enemies typically have better close-range weapons than you do, so getting closer is usually a bad idea until you have shields and lots of them. My missile build works fine with 4 shield generators; when I did plasma, I needed close to 8 or 9 shield generators to survive close up with Sentinel Carriers and Battlecruisers.

2. Very inaccurate; beams go straight for the core and missiles do so as well. Plasma shoots where you aim it and it isn't always the easiest to spot the core of the ship when the camera zooms out so far when you get a larger class of ship. If maybe the core of the ship had a blinking light on it, indicating visually where it was, that would help a lot.

3. Bad damage; beams cut straight to the core, with huge dps per second (though huge drain on energy) and missiles go to the core as well, but also blow up things along the way. Plasma has to eat away, slowly, through enemy layers of armor, dealing damage to individual modules, rather than groups like the other two. Plasma is super-heated ionized gas (in excess of like 10,000 Celsius), so why not allow it to super-heat target modules it hits, when reduces their effificiency significantly due to overheating?

4. Energy hog; beams though they eat up more energy per second are more efficient for energy consumed vs damage dealt + effectiveness of destroying the ship faster. Despite needing supply of missiles, they don't consume energy to fire. Plasma does, and you have to compete with engines and shields for the energy supply. Maybe reduce energy consumed when there is extra space around the turret, like with rate of fire?

5. Plasma needs to be more spread out, increasing the effective size of the ship, giving more surface area for enemies to hit. Plasma has better rate of fire when there aren't modules adjacent to it, with better rate of fire for having lots of space around the turret. Making a compact ship is undesirable as the rate of fire takes a massive hit. Makes armor pointless, as armor is best for compact ship designs, even though armor benefits the plasma build the most. Not sure what to suggest here.

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EDIT2: Continued...

1. I like that I now know who the Progents are and who destroyed them.

2. I like that the lifepod, for the crystal, now has a marker when you get within 1500 of it. Though the lifepod did get moved from 0.12.4 (I kept track of it's coordinates)

3. Some comets are duplicated; I've noticed the yellow comet in two star systems, but others I've only seen in one location (ie red in singing star system).

4. Some probes are definitely faster than others. I saw one probe pushing in excess of 500 AU/s and just ran into one going 100 AU/s.

5. I like that you can find stuff in deep space. I don't like that if you are travelling at 200+ AU/s that you fly past them so fast that your tractor beam has no chance of grabbing them, and then when you try to fly back you can't find them. If possible add a marker to space-stuff in deep space, when you pass within 100-200 AUs of them, that shows up on your map, in case you flyby it at insane speeds.

6. Game is saying I have 6 crystals, but I definitely have 7 (my log lists off 7 different data crystals). Only one I'm missing for sure at the moment, is the museum, which would bring it up to 7 (technically 8).

7. Neutronium cores give very little Neutronium for the time it takes to mine the stuff from it.

8. I like the new deep-space speed boost tech.

9. Would really love rear-facing missile launchers, for the times when I need to flee, and shoot back. Also would be great for added missile supply and production. Star trek has rear-facing launchers, it it really comes in handy for them...

10. Why does ramming asteroids / ships with your ship, deal damage to the hull... when the shield is active?

11. Missiles are too easily shot down by enemy plasma fire. Maybe offer some new tech for missile builds such as armored missiles, or even greater sinnual weaving, or shielded missiles...

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12. Particle Collider, anomaly, only gives 65 Data. These things are considered super advanced for our day and age, so I'd think it should give more than 65.

13. Sure wish I could get those super powerful blue missiles that the Araona have. Maybe an unlock from visiting their provisional capital...

14. Sure wish I could get those super powerful red plasma shots from Sentinel ships.

15. Sure wish there was a special module, that could be added that increases the speed in which both beams and axial ultragun charges up.

16. Armor is still a waste of a module. It is heavy, expensive to invest data in, and it is better to have more engines, guns, or reactors, over wasting a slot on armor. If armor didn't take up module slots, I might see myself use them.

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17. Collected 8 data crystals, says I only have 7.

18. I purchased a zoar thingy, for 20ish Adamantine. It didn't do anything. (Hand Held Stasis Suppressor); Edit: Nevermind, found a use for it. Though 85 data isn't much for the time needed to activate said anomaly....

[Palandus]

I believe I've reached the end of current content now. I solved the mystery of the CMB, got 7 crystals (technically 8), found the cave, and thats it.

One thing of note is that when i did get the 7th (technically 8) data crystal, no new star system unlocked (where the cave was previously), when visiting kite station. I didn't visit it for the 5th or 6th crystal... which might be why.

Besides some bugs (to be expected), a monstrous migraine yesterday, and being unable to find the progent wreckage past New Tartarus, I do like it. I managed to get enough data to max out missiles, shields, reactors and axial ultragun.

There might be still 1000-2000 data (unless the super telescope is repeatedably...) still left over from missed comets and probes, but I've seen basically everything now, and explored quite a bit in the end-game area, found a few planets, got attacked once, and nearly died 3 times from lightning strikes.

Probably have more to suggest / discuss in a day or two.

[Palandus]

My missiles are now borked.

I ran into a weird anomaly in space, near the mass driver that is near the factory world. Now wherever I go my missiles fly in circles unless I'm within like 200 AUs of my intended target. Doesn't matter how many nexus jumps I do, but the effect that I encountered in the space anomaly is now permanent for my ship.

EDIT: Appears to have gone away, once I went to the storm nebulae.

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Most of the planets in the Storm nebulae, lack anomalies. I've found, I think 6 planets without anomalies...

Some lightning bolts hit harder than others. In one area, it hit my ship with the shields down for roughly 1/6th of my health bar. A nastier bolt hit me for 7/10th of my health bar. You only get Data for the first lightning that hits you.

For others reading:

The easiest way I found to detect the planets is to watch my speedometer. When I notice my speed dropping, I know there is a planet nearby, even if I can't see it yet.

The easiest way I found to detect enemy "cloaked" ships, is to fire missiles randomly. If they change their direction/trajectory, I know the ship is close by. And then I fire a larger volley in the direction I saw the first few missiles change to. Not sure how you'd do so with plasma, drones, or beams though. They are worth hunting as they drop a monstrous amount of loot when destroyed. Like 30 something drops, but as the lightning is nasty and their weapons are nasty, and hard to detect I feel they are balanced.

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A thought:
Due to the way the planets are positioned, directly in the center of a storm nebula, I have to wonder if these planets are generating the storm nebulae. They are all the same color, lifeless red rocks, floating in space, surrounded by storm clouds. They all lack anomalies. I wonder if they are artificial in nature and are generating the clouds as a sort of cover; to help the native cloaked ships avoid detection, probably from the Sentinels.

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Dunno if intentional, but the Axial Ultragun got seriously nerfed since 0.12.4. It takes much longer to charge, and it does less damage, with greater damage falloff the farther you are away.

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The first time I played the game, v 0.10, I got the fungal infection anomaly. In all the versions since then, I have not seen it since, even with investigating every anomaly.

[Phantom]

Got 6/7 keys

Trying to find the sunless world / the beast for a while no luck

????

[Palandus]

I found the sunless world. Do you want the answer to how to get it?

Which keys did you get?

[Phantom]

Originally posted by Bonegrinder:

I found the sunless world. Do you want the answer to how to get it?

Which keys did you get?

Yes please


Supernova
Birds
Capsule #1
Capsule #2
Treasure Hunt
Decay Race

[Palandus]

Ok. The reason I ask is twofold: 1. I wanted to know which key wasn't being registered which looks like the multicolored planet.

2. Because spoilers. There is one green star in the game. You get Data for visiting it. Fly directly west of it, will lead to a planet and warp nexus in the storm nebula. The planet is sunless and has the key.

[Phantom]

Had to get within 300 au of it, must have missed it a few times going by before...

that makes 7 of 7 data keys accounted for and I still haven't found "the beast"

[Palandus]

What beast are you referring to? I assumed you were referring to Typhon.

[Phantom]

Was assuming the achievement the beast was linked to some ingame discovery I'm missing

[Palandus]

Oh, so that is the last achievement I'm missing.

I don't know what the beast is then. It may have something to do with the Super Telescope I found... I'll keep revisiting it to see if that is the case.

[Palandus]

Looking at the image, for the achievement, it seems to remind me of that second labyrinth I visited in V0.13.0; damn that place was confusing. I managed to complete it, and got like a 350 data reward, but didn't get an achievement, so it may not be it.

Didn't find it in this run though, so JustKevin might have accidentally gotten rid of it. I seem to recall finding it in the provisional aroana star systems, but those systems got heavily messed around this release.

[apricot]

Are .12 saves compatible with .13?

[Palandus]

Negatory.