Could somebody compare A.I. to other games?

[the.momaw]

Reviews are a bit light on the ground since this game is so new. I see some people say that it's "Eve offline" or "Like single player Eve without the bullies", but I haven't personally played Eve Online so that isn't very helpful. How would this game compare against things like the X series, or Avorion?

[Necroscourge]

It's a game where you fly around and decide whether you are shooting at other ships or rocks. If you choose to shoot rocks, you are in for some fun. Almost nothing good spawns in places where raiders can't show up often; in Eve these would be zones other players could kill you. Unlike Eve, there are no patrolling police ships, nor starbase defenses of any kind. So when raiders appear you HAVE to leave the system because for some reason the stations won't do anything but "call the cops"; and the AI beelines for you and you alone. Even "high security" zones are theoretically defenseless until somebody kicks up trouble.

So far I hate the economy in this game. In Eve, there are hundreds of players mining and building things, so you can see supply and demand in motion. Because there are not hundreds of people mining in Astrox, there is never any ore on the market, and even then refining is dirt cheap and just takes your time for nothing but profit. Combine this with the fact raiders are omnipresent where there are good rocks; it's mind numbingly annoying just trying to get materials.

[Kjell]

Hmm perhaps some suggestions on how to improve this? Will gladly create mods to test different styles of play.

[Necroscourge]

If I were to name a few things, so far this is what I got:
1. Increase in both variety of factions/ships and number of factions/ships present in higher security systems. I feel like 6+ security should have atleast some degree of constant patrol. The fact that raiders can utterly prevent me from operating out of a mining station is killing me.
2. Allow different kinds of rocks to spawn in more of the "mining" areas. I have only gone in the labour area so far, but the one place I have found with rare rocks is always patrolled by raiders in security 6 space.
3. Have AI ships running around contributing to the various economies. Mining ships making trips to/from mining bases, transport hauler convoys, etc. Look at games like Freelancer, Eve Online, X, and they have lots of ships flying around doing stuff.
4. Player built bases and ships. Right now all I do is contribute to the funds of the starbases I haunt. I want to be able to set trade routes, hire miners, etc that do a specific RTS like task and I want to see other factions use similar systems.
5. Almost none of the starbases offer all of the services that I want, almost every mining base lacks both fabrication and refining tech, and those with universities have every skill but those related to mining. Fix that.
6. Every recipe requires resources that all come from different rare rocks that you have to explore for some time to locate. There is no easy way to begin fabricating anything, you don't know what recipe requires what and you need to buy them all if you want to know. So I waste all of my money on fabrication recipes I need to grind for quite some time to use. Why are all of these mining bases in the middle of common resource fields unrelated to what they are supposed to be manufacturing?
7. Why is mining and production in the game at all, really? It's all I have been doing (because it was what I did in Eve) and so far it's been nothing but disappointment. The one place I found rare rocks is constantly patrolled by raiders (6 "Security", in Eve that would still be patrolled by the AI) , it costs you real time to refine ore but the raiders are still there loitering outside where there were when you docked, and you have to find these rare rocks RIGHT NEXT to a starbase or life support will kill you. This is all to produce tier 1-3 items. I feel like if I just fought other ships I would not be having anywhere near this hard of a time progressing.

[momoguru]

1. i likey :)
2. this can be tested.
3. i will focus on economy tweaks hard next week.
4. that is planned already.
5. k
6. this i will look at. shouldn't be that way for lower level stuff. that is not right.
7. don't be angry, i promise i will get this sh*t sorted out. iw ant the same magic you do.

[Necroscourge]

6. More clarification. I just learned what I am supposed to do to get the Iron casing stuff, it's another case of a zone with intense life support drain and raiders (Enochs estate); it feels like the effort required to get this stuff needs a wee bit tweaking.

7. Trust me, I am anything but angry. Thank you for being so receptive. That little bit came from me spending hours trying to start producing stuff and it felt like the game was fighting me every step of the way. For instance, any "laser" seems to need something called "Dynex crystals" and bullets need iron casing. These only seem to drop off one specific kind of object. So I am constantly selling and buying 10K recipes and learning that I can't craft it.

If there were production flowcharts of some kind, I would be doing way better. For instance all of the lasers need Dynex crystals. When I am shopping for recipes, the recipe should tell me what it requires and where I might get it from such as "Requires Dynex Crystals from X Ore". That way I save a lot of time and effort by just knowing what I am supposed to look for. I made and lost 60K over 5 hours just flailing trying to produce anything, and didn't get to produce a thing >_<

[Kjell]

I like the idea of knowing what is needed and what ore produces it. Seems to fit the game quite well. Great suggestions BTW!!!

[paladinwolf]

If I may add 1 suggestion? The skill list will tell you that you can't train a skill cuz you're not qualified, but it doesn't tell you what you need to become qualified. A tool tip or blurb on the skill telling you what the prerequisites are would be great!

P.S. Loving the game! Keep up the great work!

[Kjell]

That's actually something that would be very useful.

[Blackghost]

Originally posted by paladinwolf:

If I may add 1 suggestion? The skill list will tell you that you can't train a skill cuz you're not qualified, but it doesn't tell you what you need to become qualified. A tool tip or blurb on the skill telling you what the prerequisites are would be great!

P.S. Loving the game! Keep up the great work! :2018salienpsychic:

Amen