Forums » General

The good, and the bad

Apr 12, 2020 ManCubus1294 link
Why I think the game is good,

The game is revolutionary and a singular experience in the mobile gaming and PC gaming world (PC Master race, cough cough) I have not seen something that uses rotation or movement like in this game. Combat is very skill based with ships being a medium requirement. This means someone who's played a long time has skill and can probably use most ships and beat people in better ones, which is unique for a space game (eve is very statistical and alot more math then a a game in my opinion) the trade is okay, not ground breaking but not silly and broken. the graphics are also beautiful for a space game of this type (first person and such) I think this is something larger gaming corporations could make alot bigger and better. (opinion)

What I think is the bad, and outweighs the good just a bit more (opinion),

The community in my opinion is way to toxic to anyone giving feedback that isn't positive. Much like the community of Day of Dragons (awful game and community. Big scandal, etc) and I had to ask a nicer player how to leave channels, it's just too awful. I know being competitive comes with a game. But the savagery in this game is unlike most. Taking it way to far. (opinion)
AutoAim, it's a very handy thing when I tried it on mobile (God awful steering, no up and down), but sometimes it responds and sometimes it feels delayed like it isn't working half the time. Maybe I'm just too noob/bad at the game but I can never seem to get it to work correctly all the time.
Player owned shops and bot assisted pvp and pve warfare, this is what I didn't understand the most. This just seems like bad development to let players run shops (which is a unreliable yet an obvious way to earn income in game i.e players being able to always sell stuff even offline) it's very amazing what plugins people can make. But I feel like this is a large and unfair advantage in a game like this. Not to mention the combat assisting boys, which are banned in other games for their obvious edge they give to a player letting them gun down players like me who aren't able to defend against something that is auto tracking me. (I might just be crazy, but five players with all the same name entering a sector a bit fishy to me) it might be okay to the developers, but I can see it being a issue for future players (who may or may not) want to play knowing that the game encourages players to use auto weapons ( Especially the ones I get killed by instantly with no warning) or plugins/ multi screen aimlock. This will have long term effects I think would ruin the games balance (in my opinion)
Something that also bothers me is the overwhelming financial advantage the older "veterans" have. Having hundreds of millions of funds compare to us who just started. And it seems it'd take years to even reach that height, as no missions or trades give anything near the level of credits (in game currency) they have, anywhere from 50k-600k. This game has been out a long time, but I know the thought of never being able to reach those levels without playing for (3, maybe 4 or five years) it is a huge commitment and waste to do. With any of the good trading that provides a few hundred thousand every trip being locked behind the subscription wall. (my opinion)

I'd like to keep this civil and not lead it to name calling or negativity, I'd love to see everyones thoughts on it. But until a later date when this game has reached a more final product I will be abandoning my account and the game all together. Moving onto other games until this one is done. I'll check in to see what everyone says. It was fun!
Apr 12, 2020 Luxen link
autoaim - I assume you mean autofire since you specifically mentioned mobile - is delayed a certain amount because people were actually abusing it with certain weapons. It's never been something you should rely on, though - toggling fire or tapping it is much more reliable in the long run, given all the rules autofire has to deal with, even ignoring the delay.

players run shops and other bots because in-game mechanics havent been made yet. there's only two devs, and they don't LIKE player run bots, but they also can't prioritize that right now, so its being left aside. iirc.
Anyways, I think you are overexxaturating what benefit a shopbot can create; easy way to get credits? The owner of the bot still has to farm up the gear, and credits are insanely easy to get, once you cross that combat three license threshold. On the other hand, no, pirates and the like can kill you without the gear shop bots can provide - that gear is for when experienced pilots go up against other experienced pilots.

auto tracking? SLow down and explain what you're talking about. pirate groups [and other groups] do setup wormhole blockades and chase down people they see, you know. just wait until later, when they've left. blockades by players don't last more than a few hours.

If you are getting one-shot killed by any weapon, you aren't paying enough attention. The higher powered weapons tend to be heavy, thus easier to evade. in your sensor log, turn on the option to read out pilots in the sector when you jump in. if there are more than zero, assume hostile if you don't know them.

again, credits are easy to get; at combat license three, you can take escort missions, which pay 6-650k each. in an hour of low effort convoy protection, you can make a million or more. grab a cargo scanner when you take the mission and note which items the convoy is carrying while you are flying. escorts that pay well, its cause that convoy was carrying items lucrative in that destination system, so you can learn trade routes that way.

I have this feeling you never reached out to anyone for help in a civilized manner, really - ALL of the tips I just made are pretty common ones that many pilots will make towards newer members.
Apr 12, 2020 We all float link
AutoAim, it's a very handy thing when I tried it on mobile (God awful steering, no up and down), Try droidbuttons. It's a lua plugin. It will your mobile experience much more enjoyable. Or use a controller.

Player owned shops I'm going to tell you the dirty secret that shopbot owners won't tell you. They don't make much credits. Most the players run their shops a service to new players in the game. And to add a little adventure and convenience to the verse. It cost $10 a month to run a shop bot that won't net very many credits to the shop owner. A shop owner could frankly make more credits by hunting down hive and selling the drops player to player.

that is auto tracking me I'm going to tell you another dirty secret. Many experience pilots use some form of voice comms while play this game. Nothing is faster than, "hey joe, that ManCubus1294 guy just jumped from o-6 to B-10, get ready to shoot" via voice. Also, many pilots know where other pilots like to go for botting or what not. In game experience is very important in VO.

Especially the ones I get killed by instantly with no warning) There are about 3 weapons(player operable ) that i can think of that can auto kill you in one shot. 1) The TU mine. 15k damage Though that is not auto. You have run into it. 2)The cap rail . The auto aim is atrocious on this, but it does 10k for per shot. Nothing really auto about it. 3) the avalon. 15k damage, Again, nothing auto about this. If you die to this, you were in the wrong place at the right time. 4) Honorary mention. Quad advanced rail. That can one shot some ships, but again it is rails, and involves skill these days.

Having hundreds of millions of funds compare to us who just started. And it seems it'd take years to even reach that height, as no missions or trades give anything near the level of credits (in game currency) they have, anywhere from 50k-600k.

Luxen beat me to the punch, but do escort missions. You get 60k to over a million credits per mission. All you have to do is stick with the protectees to where are they traveling. You also get bonuses for killing aggressors who attack the ships you are protecting. Do that every day for a year, and you'll have over 365 mil credits to your name. Most likely more.
Apr 14, 2020 Kierky link
So as far as the mobile experience goes I cannot speak to as I'm purely a PC player, I'll focus on areas I have more significant experience in.

Firstly, shop bots.
As a shop operator (ITAN Shop), I can tell you that this took a *significant* amount of time to perfect, and when I created the project for it, it was purely to fill in a gap where the game is lacking severely.

The game lacks meaningful trading. You can buy almost unlimited volumes of everything, pretty much anywhere. My project was originally created to form a market of player to player trade in the absence of player activity (24/7 operation can make up for the player activity levels). It makes some money, but definitely not a lot. It evolved eventually to being able to provide rarer weapons/addons to people in greyspace so the game is less of a grind for those who just want to fight and not spend ages farming.

In game currency
Every single vet will tell you the same thing. After about 5-10 million, credits mean next to nothing. Credits are super easy to gain through certain missions and most items/ships in the game are very cheap.
Apr 14, 2020 Whistler link
My experience is that channel 100 is a lot less toxic than ever. What's your name in-game, Mancubus? Are you darter?
Apr 14, 2020 Pizzasgood link
"Luxen beat me to the punch, but do escort missions."

Or do what I do and plunder escort missions. All they're going to do is slowly wander through space for a while before selling their loads and giving you a small fraction of the value. Cut out the middle-man's heart and you can sell all that loot yourself for a much bigger payoff. I used to give away 10 million credits per week as prize money when I ran Nation War, and I usually earned it in just one or two nights spent grinding up convoys.

Also, note that in addition to money being easy enough to get, it isn't actually all that useful. The high-end gear in this game is only marginally better than the mid-range gear, and the mid-range stuff is very affordable. A Vulture MkIII, a Fast Charge powercell, and a pair of Neutron Blaster MkIIs are all you really need to be effective, and it costs next to nothing. Even if you want to use better gear, the best station-sold stuff isn't very expensive. My primary combat rig is a Corvult, FC, and 2x Gauss MkIII. All together it probably costs something like 100k. That gets rough if you spend a few hours getting your ass kicked in a long, intense furball -- I've burned through 80 ships in a single session before -- but normally it's not a problem. Rare-drops and player-crafted equipment are where the prices start getting painful, but personally I don't consider them to be worth the effort in most cases. Maybe if you're arming a capital ship or have a very special circumstance in mind (e.g. an important duel or contest). The rest of the time the minuscule edge that gear gives you doesn't justify the price tag, and you absolutely can defeat people who are using that tier of equipment with a humble pair of N2s.

The only area where vets having stupid amounts of money gives them a real advantage over you is in hiring other people to build them capital ships. And if it makes you feel better, not all vets are rich. I started playing this game in 2009 and have put in just shy of 3000 hours, but I still don't have a capital ship and I usually only have 50 million credits or so.
Apr 15, 2020 Phaserlight link
just shy of 3000 hours, but I still don't have a capital ship and I usually only have 50 million credits or so.

Apr 15, 2020 Remen link
Vulture MkIII, a Fast Charge powercell, and a pair of Neutron Blaster MkIIs

This is the primo-cost-effective-pewing-rig, and my go-to. Either that, or Gauss-II's or III's if I'm feeling a little prickly. Also, mostly available everywhere, so you don't have to adapt to different performance profiles.

Also, that rig works well for skirms/hives, but not so well for farming. I like an Atlas over the Centaur, but ymmv.

Again, doesn't cost a lot, and available at moderately low levels.

...overwhelming financial advantage the older "veterans" have

Yes, there are people with tons of cash... but I've actually found those wealthy vets to be rather generous, if you're not a sore loser (or bad winner.) There have been times where I've ran low on funds and had to stop pewing, only to have someone pass me a few mil to keep going or to reimburse me for all those wonderful PKs I handed them. :-D I've personally done the same. Pay it forward/back.

The community in my opinion is way to toxic to anyone giving feedback that isn't positive

Hmm. I think you'll find that a lot of that toxicity is situational. Yes, people don't like negative feedback, but then who does? It's really about the way in which the situation is approached.

One notoriously grumpy jerk of a vet tutored me on pewing when I came back to the game, another one gave me tons of support when I was building my Goli and helped me with my faction levels early on so that I could get the weapons and ships I wanted. Another one follwed me from station to station when I was a noob and shot me every chance he got. I was so frustrated and was about to give up on the game until I found some friends. He and I became good friends, and when I completed my X-1 mission, he gave me my first IHDPC and LENBs (you'll learn what those are soon enough...) to equip it! Then we went and shot some people. It was glorious.

Just goes to show that it's about the relationships you build and how you approach the game and other players. Laugh when you get shot, even if you lose precious cargo, it's just a game. It really does help.

For the record, I absolutely agree. There are a few ultra-toxic people in the game, and I could really do without them. Racial slurs, personally insulting epithets (those that go after the gamer behind the pilot, and not the player/character,) and overall-general negativity about the game, the quality of the coding, the dev's decisions about game direction, and so on, is unappreciated and won't go very far toward engendering the affection of the player base or the developers. But then, those toxic jackasses don't care if we like them or not ;-) There are in-game ways of dealing with those personalities.

Be aware that some of the toxicity is role-play and I respect that. The ONE guys tend to give me a hard time because I'm in ITAN, but that's part of the game. In /msg they're actually decent people and we joke around a lot. I roll with the BS that comes with the role-play. Honestly, for me, without that rough dialog, the game would be rather dull. There is a quite large role-play component to this game, especially in certain guilds. If you don't like Role-Play, don't join those guilds.

I'm impressed with the feedback you've gotten to your original post. It goes to show that you can point out the flaws in the game, and the player base, and receive positive feedback with suggestions and solutions to address your disappointment.