Apex Interstellar: You can leave, but you can't come back!

DjVortex

DjVortex
I was at Kraken's Retreat in the LOS system, when I decided to do some Apex Interstellar traveling in order to get an invite for the engineer who wants that, so I booked a flight to some other system. Got to 100 Ly, got the invite, so I tried to book a flight back.

To my surprise, Kraken's Retreat (a surface port) was not selectable as a valid destination.

You can book a flight out, but you can't come back! Of course the problem was that my ship was there, and I wasn't able to go there.

Oh well, I booked a flight to Murakami Gateway, an outpost in the same system. When I arrived I realized that oops, outposts don't have shipyards, and thus no Inter Astra to call your ship. Sigh. I had to book yet another flight to a bigger station in another system.

I would imagine this could be a way to get genuinely stranded, if there is no system close enough with a bigger station.
 

DjVortex

DjVortex
PilotB said:
That button saves the game from it's incomplete mechanics. It fixes the game and improves the gameplay experience.
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In this case, no it doesn't.

This could be an absolutely awesome experience: "Hey, I'm stranded in this system, as I can't return to the surface base that has my ship. Could some kind soul give me a lift there?" Then another player could fly you there. A very unusual and nice interaction between players, one player helping another.

But nope. That button just destroys it. (Sure, someone could still do it just for the experience, but why bother? The damn button just solves the problem in seconds. There is no need to go through all that trouble.)

Ever heard of the case where a commander had tried to set a record of getting the farthest from Sol, and had flown in supercruise for 48 hours in the most distant system reachable at that time, and ran out of fuel, and the Fuel Rats had to rescue them via an absolutely massive operation? This event even got gaming press coverage. Well, what do you know, that's never, ever going to happen again. Why not? Because of that damn button. That's why. If that button had existed back in those days, that massive operation would have never happened, they would have never had to organize and execute it, and it wouldn't have got any press coverage.

And that's not the only example, just the most prominent one. It just sucks the challenge out of what's supposed to be a space simulator, where previously you could get yourself stranded and in need of help, but now that magic button in the main menu just magically teleports you to safety.

I'm surprised the magic button also doesn't fill up your fuel tank. I suppose the existence of the fuel rats is the only reason they didn't do that. Would have destroyed the very point of their existence.

If I were in charge of Frontier, I would have that button removed from the game immediately. It can burn in the deepest pits of hell for all I care.
 

Walter2

Walter2
PilotB said:
That button saves the game from it's incomplete mechanics. It fixes the game and improves the gameplay experience.
Click to expand...
For example: I was also building up taxi-miles the other day and finished my journey on my fleet carrier, dropped there by a friend (Apex won't go to FCs, especially after dark). My current ship was a few hundred light years away, and several billions-worth of space hardware was just the other side of a few bulkheads.

From that position, there is no way to gain access to any of your ships or take control of your FC.

Had I known about this limitation, I would have asked my friend to drop me at a larger space port where Ad Astra could handle the problem for me - but I didn't know about that solution at the time. The chances of another friend turning up in the region were pretty slim.

I was doomed to wander the bleak corridors of my FC for eternity, spurned by all - even those three layabouts who natter forever.

I pressed the button.
 

PilotB

P
DjVortex said:
This could be an absolutely awesome experience: "Hey, I'm stranded in this system, as I can't return to the surface base that has my ship. Could some kind soul give me a lift there?" Then another player could fly you there. A very unusual and nice interaction between players, one player helping another.
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I've been in that situation and if the button is removed I will uninstall next time it happens. It's not a fun interaction. It's an utter waste of my time and the only option you'd have would be to not play the game until someone decided to take pity on you. Kind strangers that want to travel thousands of ly are few and far between. It's a nice world you dream of but it's not realistic or entertaining for many to be permanently locked out of game. You can't even die when stranded on a prison ship. That button is the only fix for a load of bad game mecanics.

If you don't like it don't press it. It removes hours of meaningless crud from the game. It's amazing and you're entitled to disagree but your version of the game isn't one I'd play.
 

DjVortex

DjVortex
PilotB said:
If you don't like it don't press it. It removes hours of meaningless crud from the game. It's amazing and you're entitled to disagree but your version of the game isn't one I'd play.
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While we are at it, why not also add a button that fills your fuel tank. And another that transports you and your ship back to the bubble from wherever you are. And another that finishes the space port you were constructing, no extra cost. And another that allows you to jump to whatever star system in the galaxy you want, instantly. And another that fills up your entire material inventory. And those thargoid titans? Such a grind to destroy them! Why not have a button that would have instantly destroyed all of them? Not feeling like completing a mission you have taken? Just add a button to immediately complete it for you. And why do we even have these combat CGs where we need to keep fighting and destroying ships? Just add a button to the main menu that destroys them all and gives you five trillion credits and ten trillion merits, and unlocks every single module and ship in the game. And why exactly do we even need any "SCO drives"? Just add a button to instantly teleport you wherever you want in the system, any station, any planet, anywhere.

So much grind avoided. Would make the game so much better and more convenient! Let's start a petition!
 

aRJay

aRJay
Walter2 said:
For example: I was also building up taxi-miles the other day and finished my journey on my fleet carrier, dropped there by a friend (Apex won't go to FCs, especially after dark). My current ship was a few hundred light years away, and several billions-worth of space hardware was just the other side of a few bulkheads.

From that position, there is no way to gain access to any of your ships or take control of your FC.

Had I known about this limitation, I would have asked my friend to drop me at a larger space port where Ad Astra could handle the problem for me - but I didn't know about that solution at the time. The chances of another friend turning up in the region were pretty slim.

I was doomed to wander the bleak corridors of my FC for eternity, spurned by all - even those three layabouts who natter forever.

I pressed the button.
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On the FC in the corridor leading to the guard and the flight deck elevator there are several escape pods I used one over a year ago when out exploring and found that when I disembarked from my ship on the FC that the ship was actually still in the planetary base I had just departed, the pod took me to that outpost. A couple of days ago I used it to return to a station to collect the ship I had been engineering there and ferry it to the FC.
As long as where you want to go is the last secure place you docked it is great, if it isn’t then you might have some additional steps to take.
 

PilotB

P
DjVortex said:
Just add a button to instantly teleport you wherever you want in the system, any station, any planet, anywhere.
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Do it. I would still have to play in any system I wanted to actually do anything in. All it would remove is a load of utterly useless loading screens. They're nothing but a waste of time to me. They might be your immersion but they have 0 value to me. Removing fuel and increasing jump distance to 80kly would just let me play the game more and experience fewer useless loading screens in between actually playing the game. I don't value what I'd lose and we're never going to run out of systems to visit even if we could instantly reach any one we wanted.

Loading screens aren't gameplay and travel is a 0 skill activity. I will not miss it.
 

ruifo

R
Walter2 said:
For example: I was also building up taxi-miles the other day and finished my journey on my fleet carrier, dropped there by a friend (Apex won't go to FCs, especially after dark). My current ship was a few hundred light years away, and several billions-worth of space hardware was just the other side of a few bulkheads.

From that position, there is no way to gain access to any of your ships or take control of your FC.

Had I known about this limitation, I would have asked my friend to drop me at a larger space port where Ad Astra could handle the problem for me - but I didn't know about that solution at the time. The chances of another friend turning up in the region were pretty slim.

I was doomed to wander the bleak corridors of my FC for eternity, spurned by all - even those three layabouts who natter forever.

I pressed the button.
Click to expand...

FCs have scape pods too, as another option out of it, and back to a station.
 

DjVortex

DjVortex
ruifo said:
FCs have scape pods too, as another option out of it, and back to a station.
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Incidentally, escape pods are also a bit of a "hack", particularly because they teleport you instantly over very large distances. But at least they are a somewhat sensible in-universe solution to a real problem (at least if we give it some leeway on the "instant teleportation" stretching willing suspension of disbelief). While perhaps not ideal, I think they are an acceptable solution to the real problem that they solve. Could there be something better and more in line with the in-universe logic of the game? Sure. But as it is, it's acceptable, even if barely.
 

DjVortex

DjVortex
PilotB said:
Removing fuel and increasing jump distance to 80kly would just let me play the game more and experience fewer useless loading screens in between actually playing the game. I don't value what I'd lose and we're never going to run out of systems to visit even if we could instantly reach any one we wanted.
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Yeah, why would anybody even want to fly space ships in a space sim? Useless. Let's just remove all the ships. And without ships there's no need for modules or engineering either, so remove those as well. Useless grind. And what do we need fleet carriers for? Without ships there's no need for them. Just remove them. And without ships, there's no need for missions either. Nor community goals. Remove those as well. Just remove everything. Just make it a galaxy viewer and that's it. Nobody wants to actually play this game.
 

aRJay

aRJay
DjVortex said:
Incidentally, escape pods are also a bit of a "hack", particularly because they teleport you instantly over very large distances. But at least they are a somewhat sensible in-universe solution to a real problem (at least if we give it some leeway on the "instant teleportation" stretching willing suspension of disbelief). While perhaps not ideal, I think they are an acceptable solution to the real problem that they solve. Could there be something better and more in line with the in-universe logic of the game? Sure. But as it is, it's acceptable, even if barely.
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Escape pods would be perfect in a single player game with one little addition, when you are returned to the game the clock and calendar should update and tell you how long you were in the pod.
As it isn't a single player game I just head canon that time has past, which isn't an issue for me as I do very little in game that is time dependent.
 

PilotB

P
DjVortex said:
Yeah, why would anybody even want to fly space ships in a space sim? Useless
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False equivalence. Don't let me stop your meltdown but almost everything you name has been improved to reduce the pointless waste of time it was. You can die on your high horse but it's not some slippery slope. Some game elements are just not good which is why they've been making steps to stop the obnoxious elements being a waste of time. You're welcome to remove your SCO drives and just slow boat around if you want the authentic space sim feeling.

Less time on crud more time flying around interesting things doing interesting things in my space arcade game because it's definitely not a sim.
 
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