I do not get this game and I need someone to help me understand

[Ulthar]

I have watched many YouTube videos and it is difficult sometimes to watch because it feels like a game where you just build, travel, collect, and repeat

The characters do have some personality it seems but it's more like this guy doesn't do work or this guy wants to sleep or whatever but it isn't at that rimworld crew stimulation.

I want to land on alien planet and explore ancient caches of technology, engaging faction diplomacy etc but it's hard to watch this game because it seems like the only time they encounter another ship they immediately fight .

Can someone help me understand, am I missing some deep layer? I am having a hard time understanding how the game loop is satisfying because eventually you just have all the stuff you need and then that's it I guess.

[Oddible]

Play No Man's Sky then. This is a management sim with RTS elements.

[HunterSilver]

No, it sounds like you want to play a different game.

This game is mostly about being a locust, hopping from solar system to solar system stripping them of materials.

[The Butcher]

Its just bad, that's all.

[Darke]

Originally posted by Oddible:

Play No Man's Sky then. This is a management sim with RTS elements.

Yeah, seriously, get No Man's Sky. Game's great (or at least was, I haven't played in 4 or 5 years), and sounds nearly exactly what you want.

This game's loop is travel to new area -> harvest stuff -> build bigger ship -> repeat. With a side loop of trying to keep your ship above the mininum amount of food/energy/repair materials until you research the first dozen techs which are required to setup a self-sustaining loop at which point you're really just getting bigger, avoiding things meaner than you, and trying to finish the storyline.

Due to the portals to a new galaxy (basically you go through them to increase the difficulty level and reset the galaxy to a new random one), it tends towards more of a combat heavy 'roguelite' since there's almost no value to exploration other than finding more materials, and the opporunity to just reset things to a higher difficulty every now and again.

[Flin Fredstone]

Well if you want a challenge, in the initial setup of the game set all factions to hostile and see how the adrenaline goes. Minus one perhaps for some chance of trading.
Or if that's to hard, set them all to neutral with degrading faction stance. So sucking up, sending gifts or doing their tasks keeps you in the positive .. until you lapse.

Doesn't change the explore, mine, build, expand aspect but it gives you a clock ticking.

[Death Approaches]

Flin he doesn't even know how to play yet, if he makes it to day 100 on Medium defaults on his first run, I'd be impressed. most run out of something and start a cascade failure before they learn the order of importance of their dwindling supplies. :-)

Originally posted by Ulthar:

because it feels like a game where you just build, travel, collect, and repeat

if you want to grossly oversimplify, then yes, that's all it is. but good luck surviving long enough to move out of the current star system thinking that way.

The characters do have some personality it seems but it's more like this guy doesn't do work or this guy wants to sleep or whatever but it isn't at that rimworld crew stimulation.

they have no personality whatsoever. they vary by stats and by appearance, but that's it. they're otherwise lemmings doing your bidding. and some lemmings are better than others. if you get "attached" to certain people, that's you roleplaying.

I want to land on alien planet and explore ancient caches of technology, engaging faction diplomacy etc but it's hard to watch this game because it seems like the only time they encounter another ship they immediately fight

sorry, that's a different game. if you don't like micromanagement games, you might want to return this. but you do have a 2hr trial window, give it a shot for 1h 45m at least?

Can someone help me understand, am I missing some deep layer? I am having a hard time understanding how the game loop is satisfying because eventually you just have all the stuff you need and then that's it I guess.

what you're missing is what's REQUIRED to make those things happen. you go to the toilet. it's not magically disappeared. nope that's biowaste, and you're responsible for dealing with all the biomass on the ship, be it poop, plant matter, corpses, whatever.

it's a game of micromanaging the details of creating growing and surviving, not overall adventure. it's logistics and planning. it's about getting your ragtag crew to not commit suicide or cause fatal accidents or get captured or suffocate because you can't provide enough air cause you don't have the machinery nor the consumables to do it. you need to care about the distance from your bunk to your bathroom, to your bridge consoles to... well, you get the idea. every little thing is about learning to optimize every little thing.

if you thought it was No Man's Sky or Starfield or something, it never was presented as that. this is more a game of visual math. (most games are, actually, just the math is well hidden. here it is only slightly hidden.)

you understand it fine, but you think it's got something it doesn't, so it's really hard to overcome that. you're going to feel it's "lacking" before you even start.

I really do hope you try it, and with an open mind forgetting those preconceptions and just take it for what it's presented as. it can be thousands of hours of fun, trust us. :-) but if you're mad about it not being something it never was, that might be too much to deal with.

[Ulthar]

No, it sounds like you want to play a different game.

The advertising makes it sound like it is basically rimworld in space, where the crew have personalities but that doesn't seem to be the case. You are quite right though, I want to play a simulation that takes into account how people would really behave and this is more of a "I have a OCD, let me collect, build, grow" type of game like all the others of this genre.

There are tons of games that seem to focus on what they call "Survival". You gather resources, and build up a pretty house or base for nothing/no point. It ranges from Medieval Legacy to this game. I do not need puzzles or a set linear story but I need to feel like there is something else going on besides routine maintenance and as was stated earlier "being a locust, going from system to system to strip it of parts"

I want to build colonies, restore humanity, save the worlds, form federations, interact diplomatically but I also want to see my people develop relationships.

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by Ulthar:

No, it sounds like you want to play a different game.

The advertising makes it sound like it is basically rimworld in space, where the crew have personalities but that doesn't seem to be the case. You are quite right though, I want to play a simulation that takes into account how people would really behave and this is more of a "I have a OCD, let me collect, build, grow" type of game like all the others of this genre.

There are tons of games that seem to focus on what they call "Survival". You gather resources, and build up a pretty house or base for nothing/no point. It ranges from Medieval Legacy to this game. I do not need puzzles or a set linear story but I need to feel like there is something else going on besides routine maintenance and as was stated earlier "being a locust, going from system to system to strip it of parts"

I want to build colonies, restore humanity, save the worlds, form federations, interact diplomatically but I also want to see my people develop relationships.

So the crew does have personalities just not in the way you expect them compared to Rimworld.
They have one basic pos or negative trait. (Not both!)
Which affects slightly their general mood.
They can form relationships which also affects their general mood.
But you can overcome most of the mood malus with different kind of facilities, objects etc. So what you provide to them in terms of fulfillment or luxuries.
Just like in Rimworld. (A happy person will work slightly better, faster etc. An unhappy person can crash out numerous ways. From setting fire in your ship, to just chug down all the beer he or she can drink and so forth. Thus a crashed out crew member that sets fire to everything can be a huge issue. Since the environment is different.)

Now here comes the main difference. In this game there are some systems that are critical in regards to the well being of your crew and their ability to survive.
(Rimworld also has this. With food, weather and such.)
Since we are in space these are translated into different requirements:
- meals (more complex system than in rimworld)
- O2 and other gases, like water vapour or Co2, or hazardous gases (not that complicated but best not leave it out)
- power system. (More complicated than Rimworld due to high power and low power, and that certain facilities only use high power when in use)
- space system (as in space in your spaceship, utilization optimization etc. As it affects your spaceship hull and shield points. What dangers you can overcome. So slightly similar to the wealth system. Where wealth translates to what the random generator throws at you, here it is the other way around, depending on how you built, expanded your ship, what you have a chance against.)

Now you need to provide resources all to these systems. (And i am pretty sure i left out a few:P)
And these systems require more resources, that is why it requirese more micromanagement occasionally, because in rimworld many systems once setup, do not require constantly resources. (You can chose to have chem fuel, wood fuel gen, vs thermal and solar and wind. Here it is not as possible due to affecting the space system. You need to grow food constantly and keep it balance, have enough energium or energy rods to be able to run your stuff, hyperium to travel and so forth.)
There are also dangers like in rimworld. They have toxic cloud, or lightning storms, we have solar flares and asteroid hazard, micrometeors etc.

So yes it is similar to Rimworld(no DLC) to space. But as there is a difference between the two games in regards to the MAIN ENVIRONMENT there are differences that had to be made. And these differences are translated in a way that a) you might not like, b) is acceptable c) you find good. If you don't like it, then there is not much to do but give it a chance that maybe your oppinion changes.

You can build space stations as there are missions to do so. You can also build a station for yourself. It is a game mode, but you can also build stations in every system if you wish, just you need to abandon it once you leave the system.
Planet colonization is not an option, because in ship mode the main objective is to find a habitable planet.

I hope this helps.

[LeftPaw]

Can I have one crew member murder the rest of the crew?

[E=d.u²]

They have little personalities, like some like to hear music, others like to eat, etc, and they express those and it can interfere in their mood, what can interfere in how they deal with the rest of the crew. But it is a lot tamed down in comparison with Rimworld.

[LeftPaw]

I can't believe you can have crew fall asleep in their spacesuit 2 minutes into a mission.
I guess it's okay if you turn off your brain.

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by LeftPaw:

Can I have one crew member murder the rest of the crew?

Yep. Deliberately and accidentally as well. (Accidentally set everything on fire, and the O2 generator goes bb, and you cannot repair it or rebuild it so everyone suffocates)

[LeftPaw]

Originally posted by Nordil(Hun):

Originally posted by LeftPaw:

Can I have one crew member murder the rest of the crew?

Yep. Deliberately and accidentally as well. (Accidentally set everything on fire, and the O2 generator goes bb, and you cannot repair it or rebuild it so everyone suffocates)

Wooooo! I had no idea the game was that good. I'm going to dust it off and play it. I'm sure I have had this game since before it hit steam. As I remember I bought it from their website many moons ago. I bought it because it was made by Bugbyte who made some awesome games in the past.

[Ulthar]

I still don't get it it seems like a loop of just building ship up and scavenging while you look for Eden. You don't do any landing missions or have events on ship or set policies or promote anybody

[E=d.u²]

Originally posted by Ulthar:

I still don't get it it seems like a loop of just building ship up and scavenging while you look for Eden. You don't do any landing missions or have events on ship or set policies or promote anybody

It's a survival game, the objective is survive while interacting with anything that happens in space. Not different than Rimworld or Kenshi.