Tutorial derelict ship way too hard

[Sully C.]

So I started with the easiest difficulty, followed the tutorial, got to the derelict ship objective.

I equipped my crew with guns and sent 3 with spacesuit to the ship.
I managed to kill the aliens in the 1rst room but then like 5 others arrive and wipe my crew.
They are all unconscious and god knows what other status effect. When they get up they immediately get beaten again by the aliens.

How are you supposed to kill them all? Also do crewmates shoot threats near them automatically or each time there is an enemy do you have to select a character, right click on an enemy etc?

Combat asides, I also get alerts that oxygen on the broken ship is low, how do I get the exploring crew more?
After a while I also get a message that the shuttle has been drafted for too long. When I turn drafted off the shuttle just... leaves my crew and goes back to the main ship. Can someone explain what you're supposed to do?


I feel like the tutorial doesn't explain combat and survivability on derelict ships enough before sending you out, or the one in the tutorial/starting system is way too hard.

[Bobucles]

Derelicts do have a form of difficulty rating, and the starter derelicts are among the lowest. It only gets worse from there.

It takes a while to get used to the game's action economy. Movement is the most brutally slow action by FAR. You can move a single tile, or you can shoot twice. When you see enemies pause the game, immediately stop moving, and lay down a hail of fire. If your crew are still moving after seeing enemies, they'll get massacred because moving 4 more tiles means getting slashed a dozen times.

I do wish that movement wasn't so heavily weighted. Ship layouts are super important to squeeze every tile out of crew paths. A handful of extra walking tiles is another work job they don't have time to do.

[Nebelbiber]

Crew members shoot at enemies automatically, but you might want to give them commands to manually take out one alien at a time, which is important. And as Bobucles mentioned, pausing the game during combat can help a great deal.

It's easier not to get hit in open spaces instead of narrow corridors. You can always lure aliens to a place where you want to fight them. A very good way to stay safe is of course in space where the crawlers can't go!

If your crew isn't able to take out all aliens at once (because of injuries or low energy), then just take them back to your ship and let them rest and heal, and then have another go. Just keep in mind that if there's an infestation/hive on the ship, there might be taller alien structures on board, and these will spawn new eggs. I don't think this is the case in the starting sector though.

Your crew can always replenish their oxygen at the airlock or platform. Shuttles will fill these up with the oxygen they have on board. Shuttles will have to refill their oxygen from time to time and that's why they will fly back to your ship when undrafted.

[I blame Earthshaker]

It's not too hard, you just lack enough intestinal fortitude to learn the game before rushing to a forum to complain!

[Sushi_Rocks]

It gets "worse" later in the game. However, derelict difficulty may be completely random. I don't know exactly.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2923538797

The crawler/zergling enemy type can not fly in space, but your astronauts can. You can try to lure them to an open spot and shoot them from the flying position where they can't attack you.
(Haulers will still ram and attack you!)

They will retreat once your crew doesn't touch the floor anymore though. So you have to kite them. Meaning you have to go into their vision range AND be on solid floor to trigger their attack mechanism. Then retreat into space and fire at them. Repeat.

I would advise you to NOT dock your shuttle at the air lock some of the time because of the strategic advantage from space mentioned above.

In general for early game: Don't pick a fight with aliens on a space derelict that you cannot win. Sometimes avoiding the battle at all is the best strategy until you have build up the necessary crew and equipment.

You can also try to split&fire. For this tactic you leave on astronaut stationary while the other one makes the aliens hunt it in a circle. The distracted alien will catch the shots from the stationary marine.

[Sushi_Rocks]

Oh, I forgot:

You can draw oxygen from:
1) Your own shuttle
2) Pod hangar doors
3) Air locks
4) Shuttle bay doors
5) Space suit lockers

Right-click and select "take oxygen".
You can only take as much oxygen as is in there.
The buildings have a blue/red-bar on top displaying how much % oxygen is left inside.

Later you can build mobile oxygen tanks and deploy them if necessary.
You can also research implants. This will give you the option to install oxygen rebreather implants which make you crew last longer by decreasing oxygen consumption by -50%.

[Sully C.]

Originally posted by I blame Earthshaker:

It's not too hard, you just lack enough intestinal fortitude to learn the game before rushing to a forum to complain!

Like I said I followed the tutorial. It's supposed to be enough to learn the playable basics without needing to read fan guides.
And when a tutorial teaches you combat and sets up a combat you're usually meant to easily survive it.

[Sushi_Rocks]

Originally posted by Sully C.:

Originally posted by I blame Earthshaker:

It's not too hard, you just lack enough intestinal fortitude to learn the game before rushing to a forum to complain!

Like I said I followed the tutorial. It's supposed to be enough to learn the playable basics without needing to read fan guides.
And when a tutorial teaches you combat and sets up a combat you're usually meant to easily survive it.

Listen, for some players - including me - the tutorial was quite sufficient. Maybe you don't learn as fast, or maybe you just learn in a different way.
I'm not trying to insult you in any way. Just clarifying that it seems helpful enough for some (or even too extensive/annoying), and it may be hard to accommodate everyone's desires and interests.

I actually found the tutorial very annoying at times because I have played many games like this before and I can understand and develop certain concepts relatively quickly. I then sometimes felt too much "taken by the hand".

Some players want the game/tutorial to introduce them to every detail of the game mechanics.

Others prefer as little tutorial as possible because they either (1) already have [a lot of experience with similar video game mechanics]/[a quick grasp], (2) want to discover the game mechanics themselves, (3) are trying to develop a creative play style (uninfluenced by the intended learning) without learning requirements, or (4) find that the tutorials interfere with their game flow/immersion.

(I have left out the possible reasons FOR a more detailed tutorial, because you already have your own and I just want to raise understanding for the other side of the argument).

It is probably quite difficult for the developers to decide for one of the solutions, or to find a good compromise. Maybe surveys among the players would help here.

As a result, I also think this criticism is premature. The game is in Early Access. That means that the game mechanics can (still) change again at the moment.
So if you were to program a detailed tutorial at this point, you'd have to change the tutorial with every new change. That would mean double the work for almost every change. This costs development time and therefore MONEY. And because this is a business (enterprise), I suspect that profitability is one of the goals. I think you understand what the catch is in this.
Consequently, it makes more sense to program a detailed tutorial - if at all - only after the game has finished development.

Therefore I find it quite exemplary (positive) that we are even provided with a tutorial at this point.

But I don't want to prevent you from expressing your experience with the game or constructive criticism.
You would probably have the most success if you make concrete suggestions, which hints or similar would have helped you at which point.

Would you have preferred a completely separate tutorial scenario for simulated combat? Or would you rather have had it integrated into the normal gameplay (at the appropriate points)?
What did you miss specifically?
Would you have hoped for a specific written hint or explanation? If so, what exactly for?

[Sully C.]

Originally posted by Sushi_Rocks:

Originally posted by Sully C.:

Would you have preferred a completely separate tutorial scenario for simulated combat? Or would you rather have had it integrated into the normal gameplay (at the appropriate points)?
What did you miss specifically?
Would you have hoped for a specific written hint or explanation? If so, what exactly for?

When the tutorial told me to equip guns and go to the derelict ship I just expected an easy fight to explain the combat mechanics. I think everyone gets the implication that fights in the proper game will be harder than in the tutorial, but you got what to do explained and shown.

Maybe just a few more lines explaining how movement and attack works in drafted mode for combat.

When a crewmate becomes unconscious, something explaining how to help them. Maybe also less enemies in the tutorial so you actually can help them instead of them regaining consciousness and immediately getting downed again by the remaining enemies over and over again.

Or just, one easy room/enemy at the start to get a feel for the combat and then progressively harder rooms.

[Nhika]

Alot of essay replies..
Just float your dudes in space and let them fire at stuff lol

[tebow baggins]

Originally posted by Nhika:

Alot of essay replies..
Just float your dudes in space and let them fire at stuff lol

thats not always an option on bigger wrecks

[tebow baggins]

Originally posted by Sully C.:

Originally posted by I blame Earthshaker:

It's not too hard, you just lack enough intestinal fortitude to learn the game before rushing to a forum to complain!

Like I said I followed the tutorial. It's supposed to be enough to learn the playable basics without needing to read fan guides.
And when a tutorial teaches you combat and sets up a combat you're usually meant to easily survive it.

its not a mobile game

[bunny de fluff]

Just refund it. No point playing a game which the tutorial you cant beat.

[aksel_bugbyte]

As of the moment the game does not have a fail safe tutorial, it only has a scenario we've intended to be best to start with for learning the game, paired with objective messages that guide the player through different tasks.

There is difficulty scaling regarding the aliens on derelict ships, but still some randomness to it. First derelicts will be the easiest. However, it's possible to wipe the team on them depending on positioning and also how the aliens manage to surround your team.

The game autosaves every 5 min, so it is possible to load and try a different approach. Some kiting and trying to avoid letting the smaller aliens get into melee range is how they are beat.