Release 197: New Universe, New Worlds, and New Characters!

[Heureka]

If i go to character menu, places and then to worlds, only the world i have a beacon on are listed. Should it not list all worlds that i have discovered?

[jomorazero]

When you’re on a different world, go to that same exact menu and it’ll give you the option to track it!

[Heureka]

Thanks, it will help.

[Xaldafax]

@CreativeWorlds

My issue with the penalty is I think the game is already punishin’ enough with all the resource requirements an’ grinding. I play it to try and relax, I think there’s a bit too much seriousness in it.

I feel you on the death penalty but it really is so much better than losing all your tools and gear in 3-4 deaths. The grind is a bit too but I think the real issue here is too many people in this game are forcing themselves to rush the game. Things like:

• be level 50 in a week or as fast as possible
• have the full shop with selling all items and all coils, blah blah blah so they can make a mint
• connect every planet and city and personal house in the known universe
• build the biggest city we can so all the new people come there… etc.

All this adds stress to the game play and causes grind syndrome when overall it isn’t horrible… it’s just some work to get the stuff you need.

Once I just slowed down and enjoyed the building again or not expecting all resources to be right there when I wanted, things didn’t seem bad. Now I am not discounting that gems need to have caves that they can be found in, and some of the other things like signs behind power, etc. But those are just little tweaks to the overall design.

[TheBirne]

japp, don’t overdo yourself. To reach level 50 is something that can be done relaxed in one or two months and to get enough machines and stuff it is doable over an even longer time without any bigger stress (true, you may die, but not that often that you really feel that it’s a permanent pain in the bottom of your back torso. yes, it hurts a bit, but since you still level and even don’t lose more when die again quickly it’s kinda suggar coated when compared to normal XP drain in RPGs ^^

[Bryethewizard]

I’m only level 26 and I go all over and die all the time! No sweat. Ill get there eventually
It’s supposed to be about fun

[olliepurkiss]

@OmniUno

Great work on the latest patch - things are really feeling good!

I’d like to share my thoughts on major balance issues so far. In order of priority:

1. Many surface resources are too scarce - amongst others Saltpetre fragments (to craft all bombs, damage brews and forge mats which we need to up damage) and shimmering orbs (needed for all available end-game tools) are way too rare for their demands. These are quickly going to grow into some of the most expensive items in the game (and the most farmed / most time consuming to gather).
2. Block placement XP is way too high - nothing gets close to it - especially with block placement being allowed at 0 stamina.
3. Mining has become a huge chore with the lack of caves in optimal farming altitudes. This seriously deprives mining of a sense of exploration and replaces it with a sense of grind. Needs serious attention - Vulpto and Andoweem are examples of much better solutions than is live now.
4. Signs need to have a version without a power requirement - this will frustrate many a player and prevents the logical organizing of items that anybody progressing will want to do. Gating them feels rather pointless.
5. The balance of resources on high-end worlds feels off. We don’t get enough copper and get excessive iron. It won’t be long before copper is thrice the value of iron. Ancient tech components are also way too abundant and will quickly become uselessly cheap.
6. Forge crafting without 500 extractor power is extremely useless. We need at least one accessible recipe that gives more than 100 boon points per round to make it worthwhile. I constantly ran out of stability before unlocking one boon on anything until I got 500 extractor power to use tier 2 mats. This is preventing the forge from being meaningfully useful until well after the player has gem access.

If you could target fixes for at least some of these balance issues that would be very well received. Keep up the great work guys!

As always thanks for the detailed feedback. We’ve been looking at these over the last week or so and this is what we’ve come up with:

1. We are adjusting the world regeneration algorithm which will have an effect on the regeneration of resources. We are also watching the resource drop and use rates so we can balance correctly. This is something that will be ongoing, and I want to make sure we make considered changes. Please keep feeding back on what feels sparse and what feels abundant.
2. We’ve been looking at this, and building doesn’t seem like the worst XP offender overall. We can see the potential exploits, but are nervous about hurting builders by reducing XP amounts. What we’re looking at doing it not giving XP for placing blocks outside of beacons. This should reduce the effectiveness of spamming blocks to gain XP without penalising genuine builders.
3. We’ve tweaked some of the values around where caves are spawned, and also the chances of resources spawning on cave surfaces so this should be a little more forgiving. The cave change will only be seen on new worlds, and the resource change will affect all worlds, but only when resources are regenerated.
4. Stone signs will no longer need power.
5. The lack of Copper (and other low tier resources) on high tier worlds is deliberate as we want to ensure there are economic gradients between worlds because that provides an interesting question of how to get those resources. You either go back to lower tier worlds to mine, or you can buy those resources. It also keeps value in those early resources, and gives lower-level players ways of earning money as they have resources which higher level players may want. We’ll keep an eye on Ancient Tech Components and may make a balance change in the future.
6. We’re currently looking at the Forge balance, as well as how to introduce and explain the feature better. There will be changes although they may be a little way down the line.

Please keep the feedback coming.

[Aridhol]

Tech components are easy as pie to come by if you look in the right spots… I have thousands

But if you are mining for diamonds and commonly desired materials like Titanium for instance, you won’t find any tech components

I feel like this balance is pretty okay. Maybe it could be slightly tweaked down, idk

[OmniUno]

@olliepurkiss

• We are adjusting the world regeneration algorithm which will have an effect on the regeneration of resources. We are also watching the resource drop and use rates so we can balance correctly. This is something that will be ongoing, and I want to make sure we make considered changes. Please keep feeding back on what feels sparse and what feels abundant.
• We’ve been looking at this, and building doesn’t seem like the worst XP offender overall. We can see the potential exploits, but are nervous about hurting builders by reducing XP amounts. What we’re looking at doing it not giving XP for placing blocks outside of beacons. This should reduce the effectiveness of spamming blocks to gain XP without penalising genuine builders.
• We’ve tweaked some of the values around where caves are spawned, and also the chances of resources spawning on cave surfaces so this should be a little more forgiving. The cave change will only be seen on new worlds, and the resource change will affect all worlds, but only when resources are regenerated.
• Stone signs will no longer need power.
• The lack of Copper (and other low tier resources) on high tier worlds is deliberate as we want to ensure there are economic gradients between worlds because that provides an interesting question of how to get those resources. You either go back to lower tier worlds to mine, or you can buy those resources. It also keeps value in those early resources, and gives lower-level players ways of earning money as they have resources which higher level players may want. We’ll keep an eye on Ancient Tech Components and may make a balance change in the future.
• We’re currently looking at the Forge balance, as well as how to introduce and explain the feature better. There will be changes although they may be a little way down the line.

Thanks, I like all of the actions you’re taking to address these

The mechanic on copper and tech remnants on lower-tier worlds is a nice touch - I have since noted that many recipes use any base metal to balance supply & demand which is working out well.

One thing I can add to the list that I have discovered since: Ancient Tech Components are almost always used in recipes along with more Ancient Tech Remnants - but they spawn way more on high tier worlds than remnants do. This is leading to a situation where tech remnants are more valuable than tech components (tech devices are still scarce enough to be more valuable than both). Contributing to this issue is the ratio of tech components to rough gems - which may very well correct itself with the higher tier worlds coming.

Overall there’s a large variety of grinds to get different materials - it feels great. I’ll provide more feedback once the regen changes are live - that should address most of the current imbalances that I see.

[boundmore]

@olliepurkiss

Stone signs will no longer need power.

omg, thank you very much!!!

[ceresward]

@olliepurkiss

Stone signs will no longer need power.

(Emphasis added)

Currently we only have stone signs, no? Is this a hint that we’ll be getting other sign material options soon?

[Kal-El]

wood and gleam signs maybe?

[ceresward]

I was thinking metal and/or gem signs, but wood and gleam would be nice too!

[Stretchious]

You mean like these?

Art: New Signs!

Hello! So I’ve been concepting some new sign frames, made out of different materials. [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image]

[Nevioni]

The last Image just blew my mind!

[juanjoe33]

Please don’t nerf fiber leaves. I think is perfect how it is now. At low levels you need bones for your iron tools, but you can buy them because at higher levels you usually have a lot of bones you can sell. This is not the case for leaves, you always need them

[OmniUno]

Hmm, what gives you the idea that they will nerf fibrous leaves?

[schasm]

Ermmmm, do I have a bad memory or is this “Arie” in the sky here a new planet addition?!

Edit: I’m guessing there’s a new set of T0, T1 & T2 planets for PS4 players?

[nevir]

With the updated configs too, I bet!

[schasm]

grabs hammer