Welcome to yet another EGS vs SE playoff!
Empyrion Galactic Survival and Space Engineers are two games I like, for different reasons. Both are space survival games, but emphasize different things. SE has very few NPC at all, hostile or neutral, a more "realistic" feel, and a lot of technical blocks that allow for some really complex designs. EGS is more of a traditional survival game, with NPC factions you can befriend or antagonize, hostile animals and creatures, and IMO the better flight model.
The theme of Practical Rockets is avoiding the common trope in both games to avoid the common "space navy" trope of space ships, where there are as many thrusters at the bottom of the ship as there are at the back of the ship. Large ships in these games are going to be pure VTOL, which should make things more... interesting.
My intention is to play about two hours of each game per round. This is three days in EGS, or one day in SE. EGS has seen some major updates since the last time I played the game seriously, and SE is releasing their beta of their long awaited Automation Update, so I figured its time to return to these two games for a bit.
Round One
Session One
Empyrion Galactic Survival
A Fine Beginning, part one
One of the biggest changes in EGS is how you start the game. On a positive note, they've changed the "starting tutorial" so that it doesn't provide you with most of the stuff you need, which is a good thing in my book. I know what I'm doing, so there's no advantage in following it anymore. The new tutorial also leans heavily on the game's "blueprint factory," which is a feature I ignore completely. Where's the fun of spawning in a prebuilt structure or vehicle, when you can build it in game, and inevitably make mistakes you need to correct along the way?
On a negative note, they also changed the starting area itself. In previous versions, you started on a procedurally generated world, in a procedurally generated system. You never know where anything is. The new starting area is hand crafted, so there's no variety, no surprises once you've played the world. I'm playing on Hard difficulty, and the other worlds are quite lethal at that difficulty, so I ended up choosing the earthlike world for my start. Things will get more interesting soon enough.
This game always starts with scrambling around, gathering materials. They've improved the graphics quite a bit, which IMO were good enough already. Like always, the "starting area" is quite fecund, which makes for an easier start. And of course, I desperately need the XP. For the first seven levels or so, there's always more technology I need to learn than I have XP for, so every little bit helps.
As sun starts to dip towards the horizon, I put the fruits of my labor into the portable generator, and starts producing parts for my "hoverbike," the bare minimum needed for a ground vehicle. I do another resource run while they're being assembled, so its nearly sunset before I can start building my bike.
It was originally going to be heartlessly utilitarian, since I was planning on recycling it later, but I couldn't resist fabbing some carbon fiber blocks to add a bit of detail to the bike. Unfortunately, the paint gun requires a small constructor, so adding a bit of color to the bike will have to wait.
Bike completed, I set the portable constructor to producing fuel, and make one more quick resource dash to consume time. The necessity of switching between flashlight and survival tool soon has me seeking my tent for sleep.
It was still dark when I got up, but the spotlight was enough to make the brief journey westward across the swamp towards the lake to the west. There’s a nice open to the north of a “hill” that’s ideal for a starting base.
Once daylight came, and I had ordered the initial parts of my base to be produced, I went into the swamp to my east to do some gathering of food, and hopefully minerals. The bike was too twitchy for my tastes, so I dialed down the sensitivity a bit.
The new easy start world isn’t quite as hostile as previous ones, even at night, so I neglected to make a shotgun for close encounters. Using the survival tool’s defensive laser made the predatory alien slug quite bullet spongy. At least they’re a source of eggs now, which are needed for advanced pharmaceuticals.
Once I got back to base, I was ready to start building my base.
Frustratingly, I’d neglected to build concrete blocks, a problem which I may have to fix later. I also misplaced my solar battery.
Rather than build a base small constructor, I decided it might be worth my while to have a mobile constructor, for smaller stuff. At any rate, it would make for a different start.
With a small constructor online, I immediately ordered a paint gun. Most of the time I don’t care about this kind of thing, but EGS’s paint gun makes blinging out my ships such a delight for some reason.
By time of my second morning on the planet, I was about half way done with my small shelter. I would be further along, but I had neglected to unlock container controller technology, and one chest couldn’t store many large sized blocks.
You can find the raw footage of this game session below. It’s just recorded gameplay, no editing out the less than exciting bits, snappy commentary, or other fun stuff like that. Maybe in a few years, once life has gotten less hectic, I’ll have time for that kind of stuff.
Session two will be tonight, as I wait for Space Engineer's Automation Beta to install. Focus is going to be constructing a light environment suit, so I can go diving into that lake in search of Promethium crystals in the deeper water. I don't need much, just enough to build some Multi-tool and Drill charges. I’m kind of in “Buckyball mode” at the moment, which usually involves a lot of frozen dinners. It’s not something I want to make a habit of, but taking a break for a few days never hurts.
Empyrion Galactic Survival and Space Engineers are two games I like, for different reasons. Both are space survival games, but emphasize different things. SE has very few NPC at all, hostile or neutral, a more "realistic" feel, and a lot of technical blocks that allow for some really complex designs. EGS is more of a traditional survival game, with NPC factions you can befriend or antagonize, hostile animals and creatures, and IMO the better flight model.
The theme of Practical Rockets is avoiding the common trope in both games to avoid the common "space navy" trope of space ships, where there are as many thrusters at the bottom of the ship as there are at the back of the ship. Large ships in these games are going to be pure VTOL, which should make things more... interesting.
My intention is to play about two hours of each game per round. This is three days in EGS, or one day in SE. EGS has seen some major updates since the last time I played the game seriously, and SE is releasing their beta of their long awaited Automation Update, so I figured its time to return to these two games for a bit.
Round One
Session One
Empyrion Galactic Survival
A Fine Beginning, part one
One of the biggest changes in EGS is how you start the game. On a positive note, they've changed the "starting tutorial" so that it doesn't provide you with most of the stuff you need, which is a good thing in my book. I know what I'm doing, so there's no advantage in following it anymore. The new tutorial also leans heavily on the game's "blueprint factory," which is a feature I ignore completely. Where's the fun of spawning in a prebuilt structure or vehicle, when you can build it in game, and inevitably make mistakes you need to correct along the way?
On a negative note, they also changed the starting area itself. In previous versions, you started on a procedurally generated world, in a procedurally generated system. You never know where anything is. The new starting area is hand crafted, so there's no variety, no surprises once you've played the world. I'm playing on Hard difficulty, and the other worlds are quite lethal at that difficulty, so I ended up choosing the earthlike world for my start. Things will get more interesting soon enough.
This game always starts with scrambling around, gathering materials. They've improved the graphics quite a bit, which IMO were good enough already. Like always, the "starting area" is quite fecund, which makes for an easier start. And of course, I desperately need the XP. For the first seven levels or so, there's always more technology I need to learn than I have XP for, so every little bit helps.
As sun starts to dip towards the horizon, I put the fruits of my labor into the portable generator, and starts producing parts for my "hoverbike," the bare minimum needed for a ground vehicle. I do another resource run while they're being assembled, so its nearly sunset before I can start building my bike.
It was originally going to be heartlessly utilitarian, since I was planning on recycling it later, but I couldn't resist fabbing some carbon fiber blocks to add a bit of detail to the bike. Unfortunately, the paint gun requires a small constructor, so adding a bit of color to the bike will have to wait.
Bike completed, I set the portable constructor to producing fuel, and make one more quick resource dash to consume time. The necessity of switching between flashlight and survival tool soon has me seeking my tent for sleep.
It was still dark when I got up, but the spotlight was enough to make the brief journey westward across the swamp towards the lake to the west. There’s a nice open to the north of a “hill” that’s ideal for a starting base.
Once daylight came, and I had ordered the initial parts of my base to be produced, I went into the swamp to my east to do some gathering of food, and hopefully minerals. The bike was too twitchy for my tastes, so I dialed down the sensitivity a bit.
The new easy start world isn’t quite as hostile as previous ones, even at night, so I neglected to make a shotgun for close encounters. Using the survival tool’s defensive laser made the predatory alien slug quite bullet spongy. At least they’re a source of eggs now, which are needed for advanced pharmaceuticals.
Once I got back to base, I was ready to start building my base.
Frustratingly, I’d neglected to build concrete blocks, a problem which I may have to fix later. I also misplaced my solar battery.
Rather than build a base small constructor, I decided it might be worth my while to have a mobile constructor, for smaller stuff. At any rate, it would make for a different start.
With a small constructor online, I immediately ordered a paint gun. Most of the time I don’t care about this kind of thing, but EGS’s paint gun makes blinging out my ships such a delight for some reason.
By time of my second morning on the planet, I was about half way done with my small shelter. I would be further along, but I had neglected to unlock container controller technology, and one chest couldn’t store many large sized blocks.
You can find the raw footage of this game session below. It’s just recorded gameplay, no editing out the less than exciting bits, snappy commentary, or other fun stuff like that. Maybe in a few years, once life has gotten less hectic, I’ll have time for that kind of stuff.
Session two will be tonight, as I wait for Space Engineer's Automation Beta to install. Focus is going to be constructing a light environment suit, so I can go diving into that lake in search of Promethium crystals in the deeper water. I don't need much, just enough to build some Multi-tool and Drill charges. I’m kind of in “Buckyball mode” at the moment, which usually involves a lot of frozen dinners. It’s not something I want to make a habit of, but taking a break for a few days never hurts.
Oh, well... that's what pistons are for. 
