Fading Optimism. But still optimistic.

[Drelthar]

I feel they are handling it about right at this stage. From personal experience, there was previously talk of alien interdictions and plenty of stuff on Youtube, but many of us never ever had the chance of encountering an alien, no matter how hard we tried, the RNG was against us, or we didn't carry the right cargo for the day of the week, or whatever.

At least this way, we are all having the opportunity to interact with aliens if we want to. Those that don't want to are, at present, unaffected. And when we do enter the USS, the interactions depend on how we react, and there are also variations on the theme.

This has been my first direct contact with the aliens, and I would say it has been done very well indeed. Too slow for some? Well, it's been a couple of days ! I'm now heading out again to see if I can snitch some of this cargo they are keen on getting their tentacles into, and to save humans in escape pods. Now that would be an excellent subject for a CG [yesnod]

Only if they were specifically marked as Escape pods from None Human signal Sources.

 

[the100thmonkey]

Surely the purchasable commodities lane is there for the people who don't have Horizons.

I'm not saying it's "right" to do it that way, but if research limpets are confined to surface bases, the options for vanilla players are limited.

For clarity, I don't care either way - I'm not particularly invested in the storyline.

 

[Padaxes]

Surely the purchasable commodities lane is there for the people who don't have Horizons.

There are two other CGs for that. They clearly don't mind locking out non Horizons players either as the new mods are only available on planets.

Just by way of an update I'm loving the combat encounters since the CG ended. You can argue till you are blue in the face about the right difficulty level , but there is no doubt it's very good fun, initially at least.

I also found a POI with medical crew on scene which was nice.

I still think it's a poor show that the whole area is just infested with non human USS, you can't move without one popping up! And that the rest of the game world seems completely unaffected.

Here is an idea:

Put these systems in a new state, "Incursion" or "Defence" whatever you want to call it with associated flavour text and missions. Cut down non military / research NPCs. Stop trade, up the cost of needed resources. So players can make money from trade runs into dangerous space and support the effort. Up the risk of Hyperdictions a bit to add spice to offset the rewards.

Missions such as "Haul in much needed medical supplies we are overstretched by this alien menace" with the risk of Thargoid interference. As mentioned above search and rescue missions to the POI wrecks , snatching survivors from the jaws of the enemy.

All totally voluntary of course, otherwise just avoid the area, but the lure of riches and the feeling of risk while taking part.



EDIT: And I see GalNet has caught up with events! Good news!

 

[Ian Skippy]

USS, as in, a place in local space, you can drop into, has to exist yes.

I think, most people would not deny that, however, the METHOD of FINDING a USS, the way they spawn, the passive, timer based, dice roll of it all, annoys a lot of people.


It would be nicer to be doing -something- anything, to actually feel as though we were searching for things, instead of waiting for things to spawn. They made some minor attempt at this with the mission USS's, and adding in a specific planetary body, though, they still left the timer in once you get there... basically nullifying it! which was amazing to me.

Indeed, to me the issue is that too much is too random, they spawn too often and the content is too generic. In other words, you generally do not care.

DISTRESS SIGNAL RECEIVED should be a thrilling event. Currently you just shrug because you dont have a fuel collector limpet with you, and who cares about that NPC in his generic situation anyway. Make it rare. Pick it up across the system so you have to actually go somewhere. Have the survivor spawn chained missions for you, leading up to a big reward. I dont know, *something* more exciting than most USS we have now.

 

[Drelthar]

Indeed, to me the issue is that too much is too random, they spawn too often and the content is too generic. In other words, you generally do not care.

DISTRESS SIGNAL RECEIVED should be a thrilling event. Currently you just shrug because you dont have a fuel collector limpet with you, and who cares about that NPC in his generic situation anyway. Make it rare. Pick it up across the system so you have to actually go somewhere. Have the survivor spawn chained missions for you, leading up to a big reward. I dont know, *something* more exciting than most USS we have now.

Ah yes, that's another issue though, aside from the spawning system of scenarios.

Many scenarios appear to be "unfinished" as in, they don't appear to have their own full contained narrative structure.

A start (not always needed, distress calls for instance, the start has happened already, though, there could still be it's own start, vis a specific message to you from the distressed, or the distressers, or a mixture of both.)

a Middle (this is in all scenarios, it's the STUFF you do in there)

An End, this isn't required in many (degraded emissions, your just grabbing stuff, the end is collecting the final piece, however, they have added an extra middle/end to these, via pirate traps, or other competing scavengers, this is a good example of doing something decently here!) however, in distress signals in particular, lack of a satisfying ending to these scenarios ruins the entire thing. You saved a guy! he is still calling out in distress.... huh, but your refueled! your not under attack anymore! surely I should be rewarded in some way...

And then, yes, the reward itself doesn't even have to be the end, it could, as you said, link, into other things.

Maybe, the guy on the ship, is just too damaged, and uses his escape pod, asking you to pick him up, becoming a passenger mission with specific parameters, and a specific reward.

Maybe, if you fail to save him, a black box is dropped, which another organisation then asks you to deliver, leading to more... I mean, Frontier I am sure, have these ideas, I just wish it was a priority for them to implement them!

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

BUT , I'm feeling a sense of impending doom. There seems to be a reliance on certain mechanics, take USS for example, a crappy placeholder mechanic that shouldn't even be in the game.

It is way to indicate something's is happening in space. What else do you want them to have there? Every time someone says - USS is placeholder crap - please, show you game design skills, show me what can be placed instead, ALL other game design considering.

I can live with that because the new stuff is great fun. We have new modules and ... oh a new CG that utilises them.... only to allow (again) the delivery of purchasable goods rendering the new mechanic and associated fun completely redundant. Worse than that its completely pointless trying the new stuff as the numbers / time taken don't add up. In fact if you run the Tissue samples you are going to end up in the bottom of the CG with huge repair bills to boot.

If your goal is only profit, you won't even watch towards Thargoid CG. Why do you care then?

Lot of hyperbole I must say.

 

[IcyScope]

Just my thoughts, I was going to start a new thread but this one seemed to very much echo my thoughts .

First and foremost, I very much enjoy this game and it has been my goto for a long time now. Nothing has even stolen my attention for a fraction of time as I feel I still have lots to do. Please don’t read this as another cry me a river post; it is simply my thoughts and reflections of the game today.

With 2.4 saying they would be narrative based I was genuinely excited. I have never been a top player in any game and have felt that certain parts of content have been created for the select few who have oodles of time and energy to devote to their hobby. An inner circle you might say. I also just like to play, I don’t want to have to read reddit / forum posts / and watch live streams to get the information I need to play the game. So with 2.4 dropping I purposely disconnected myself from the forums to the let the narrative take me away. I thought, maybe Galnet is the place to go, nope. I thought well lets head out toward Maia and find some aliens. Great, I found a few, let them scan me, I probed them, we had a laugh and now I’m not sure what to do or where to go. Where is the “narrative”?

I know we are early on in the release, and perhaps my expectations are too high but I really wanted to be lead down a road where I could be immersed in a story and feel part of this wonderful universe. However I am back to flying my brand new FDL all over the bubble (slowly) getting it engineered and setup.
So here is hoping the Narrative kicks in soon and this very detailed incredible universe transports me away from real life tedium.

o7

 

[Padaxes]

It is way to indicate something's is happening in space. What else do you want them to have there? Every time someone says - USS is placeholder crap - please, show you game design skills, show me what can be placed instead, ALL other game design considering.



If your goal is only profit, you won't even watch towards Thargoid CG. Why do you care then?

Lot of hyperbole I must say.

Well if you read the thread you would see that there were several suggestions, and if you can't see the shortcomings of a random appearance system, then what can I say? It's an absoloute bare minimum mechanic , that yes shows stuff in space. *see below

And with regards to the CG again your missing the point. Aside from the fact that the CG system itself is simplistic, there is one mechanic in this CG, it's exciting and its new. BUT it punishes the player, you have to travel a long way, using 2 tonne cargo racks, take a long time getting each unit and take huge amounts of repair bills potentially. So it actively discourages the participants from doing the most interesting part of it.

If everyone did Thargoid samples because it's more fun not only would they lose money it would never even hit tier one. And we would miss out on our new Thargoid weapon. So players HAVE to just go back to hauling normal goods.

Even if you disregard the financial compensation factor, it's completely posterior over .



Addendum: USS design, now I'm not explicitly a designer I'm a game dev with an interest in procedural generation. But just a few minutes thought allows me to come up with some alternatives, that are both more immersive and give more of a feeling of discovery.

I imagine USS being seeded throughout the system , with some occurring like the current ones in random positions , throughout the system, not in your vicinity. Some you pick up via comms, like warnings, distress beacons , others you scan and detect, like weapons fire or inert wreckage. The former gets picked up and longer than the latter. Their location could alter the type of USS. For example, in a high security system pirates would be less likely near a station. But you might be more likely to find police engaging a smuggler.

Example. Distress signals. "A distress signal has been picked up emanating from x direction" - insert signal test here, degraded depending on distance. Head in that direction until the signal becomes clear. Decide if you want to investigate further, pin point location and drop in it. Find out if its real or a trap.

Not so different it keeps the RNG core, except a: you know that they are around the system so you have to go looking for them and b: they have an extra layer of interaction , messages you can read, signal strengths. An extra layer could be added requiring modules for more refined scans to find weaker signals, or life signs. It could make an interesting savager /search and rescue career path. c: You could find other players tracking down the signals as well, or even using them as bait.

 

[CMDR Kantos Kan]

GalNet is stupid, i agree with you, currently its a pointless system and could quite easily be handled so much better.

As for the SS yeah, its not about being reliant on mechanics, its that FD have no choice but to make Thargoids OPTIONAL danger rather than REAL danger because if people came under attack by Thargoids without there express consent (landing in a USS) they would hit the E-roof and bury the forum in salt.

When you consider that FD feel their hands are tied into making a full out Alien invasion of high tec, unknown enemies but can only do it in such a way that people choose to be part of it, its never going to feel as deep and real as it could.

Its unfortunate, but that is just how it is.

I know that some will disagree with me but, seriously, why the Thargoids? Who asked for the Thargoids? Why not spending time to improve missions, work on walking around our ship? Heck, why not working on atmospheric landing? I mean, yes, Thargoids are fun for about 2 minutes. Then, people discover everything there is to discover about them, you'll find the best "meta" to kill them in less time it took me to write this. Where is the fun in that? I dunno, maybe I'm completely off the track but it seems to me that Frontier's time and resources could have been better used for other stuff...

 

[Padaxes]

I think the Thargoid themselves and the associated mysteries that came before are awesome .

One of the best side effects of the latest content is how great open play is! People winging up in local and playing together. Really great stuff.

Just what the game needed , and I really hope it keeps building on this.

My beef is the reliance on badly designed community goals etc to drive this stuff.

And the lack of impact in things like npc behaviour and background simulation.