I was having a bit of a moan about repairs with @AeneaGames, and we were throwing some ridiculous ideas about how to make it less painful (well, mine were ridiculous, Aenea’s more sensible).
But over the course of the, em, discussion (cough) 2 ideas came up that may actually be worth considering.
First off, repair bombs. Why is this not already a thing in this game. Makes perfect sense in every way, I think.
The other, a bit more radical idea, was to remove repairing all together. Make machines and coils much longer lasting, but have a finite life span. This way it creates a market for coils again. As there would be a constant need, and those who have huge amounts of machines and coils, need to use more resources to keep them active, as it should be.
Option 2 would be my preferred way to go, I think the benefit to the games economy would be significant.
After so much effort making machines and coils, I’d hate to have to do it all again
If repairing machines/coils is a quality of life issue, wouldn’t remaking everything be an even greater issue?
I read in another thread the idea of repairing coils by repairing the machine they’re connected to. It would take just as long, but would save the hassle of going to each one.
Repair bomb sounds like an oxymoron, but since we already have bombs for things like healing and regeneration, it fits in.
I know exactly what you mean about remaking coils, and it was my first reaction to the thought too.
But, I came round to the idea, let’s say durability would be 10x current, so you get 10 times as long out of coils and machines before you remake, I’m gonna say at that roughly equates to the pain of the current repairs (this will be different for all), but it will create a demand for coils, gems etc which would benefit the economy.
So same amount of pain as now, but with benefit of helping the economy, where as now, there is no benefit to making repairs, other than repairing the machines.
At the risk of turning this thread into another “economy is going great / economy of going bad” thread, it seems that the main issue with the economy is diversity.
A hundred shops selling identical items (aside from forged goods) means that the high prices that early adopters used to get are falling as others catch up.
Adding more diversity, personalisation / branding, and a greater number of items (which will come with time) will create a more dynamic economy.
But this is off-topic so I’ll shut up before I break your thread
It took me a few months to mine the gems I needed to build a few coils for each of my machines. I read about people getting hundreds an hour, but my best was about 80 over a long mining session. I spent a large chunk of my remaining coin to buy 5 coils for my mixer. I can’t afford to buy another one, and the thought of going back to being a miner for a large percentage of my game time, so I spend that remaining little time building (the bit I do enjoy) is mind numbing.
Regardless, I seem to be in the minority with some of my ideas about Boundless, so I’ll hand the mic to whoever else wants to chime in.
At least link them into 1 repair like the spark gens. Repair bombs would be nice. Also 2x Horizontal or vertical AoE would be a nice forge for a spanner. (5 Wide or 5 tall)
I done exactly the same, and if you are at the same sort point I was at that stage, you are unlikely to be repairing your coils all that often, I maybe be wrong though.
Eg, I have to repair some of my coils almost every day, or they wear out.
Maybe 10x durability is too low, let’s say the coils were set up to break every month at the same usage, if you repair your coils once a week, it would be 7 months before you had to replace yours, loads of time for you, but makes me have to think a little more about what I’m doing.
Consider a compromise. You can continue to repair coils, and spanners would continue to have a use, but once a coil reaches zero health, it breaks permanently and disappears, forcing you to craft/buy them again.
If you’re a regular player you can just keep repairing. If you’re an elite player who can’t keep on top of advanced coils wearing out because of crafting volume, your get a chance to relive your early days or drop some pocket change from your super enriched coin stash. Everyone wins.
Also, it follows the precedent of the Beacon which runs fine while fuelled and refuelled, but disappears with regeneration when the fuel runs out.
I do not see any issue with the current system using gems spanner, wish the aoe effect would work but using forged gems spanner with repair effect boon repairs everything one shot and take maybe 40 second to repair all machine and coils.
i think a solution in between would be the best. Let the coils/machines last forever but reduce the HP or condition points of the machines after every repair with a minimum so ppl that dont want to buy new ones can still use them but have to repair more frequently. and those who like to queue up the machines over night have to buy or craft new ones since they dont last this long.
There really isn’t anything wrong with the current system except for one boon on spanners.
The only change I would like to see is where if you repair the machine it repairs the coils too or completely remove durability on coils since it’s redundant to have on them and machines.
I know exactly what you are saying and understand the thinking.
However, I think that if aoe is added to spanners, you may as well just do away with durability altogether.
If it takes just 40 seconds to repair everything, or one hit from my gem spanner to repair the machine and all the coils attached, then my spanner will last for longer than I will probably need it for, kinda making it pointless. So might as well remove durability on machines completely.
Not saying my ideas are perfect, but repairs are probably the bit of the game that makes me think ‘why am I doing this?’
My other idea was a robot pet that you feed spanners and it does all the repairs for you (this was in the ridiculous ideas section!)
These are closer to what I think would be a sensible compromise.
I certainly think there should be some penalty for allowing your machines/coils to wear out completely, it has happened to me quite a few times and I always think that I should not just be able to whack it with a spanner a couple of times and it’s back to what it was.
Maybe a system similar to the stamina/hunger meter.
An overall durability that reduces slowly with use and a faster moving stability that can be repaired with spanners.
Hopefully from my first post it comes across that I think repairing every individual machine and coil is boring and irritating, I didn’t explicitly say that, but there you go.
Repair bombs would removing this, that was first idea.
But if it has to be boring and irritating, it would be better if it could add things to the rest of the game. Spanners, even aoe ones don’t do that.
However, being forced to replace coils perhaps would, as it would possibly create a stable product for shop owners to sell.
I honestly think durability on coils was a dumb idea to begin with. Whether it takes 40 seconds per set of coils to repair with an aoe spanner or longer is irrelevant. I don’t think anyone wants to spend a stupid amount of any time doing a pointless thing like repairing coils. I don’t even like the idea that crafting stations have durability. It’s dumb. Spanners should honestly be reserved for any sort of vehicle repairs we’ll have once airships and other vehicles are implemented.
This was the worst thing having to grind for, this is the sole reason i am so broke!! I spend all my money on coils. I am a gatherer and hoarder so it is VERY HARD for me to make money… and spending what little coin I get ensures my poverty for longer. I am almost always on the verge of quitting, PLEASE. we need more quality of life stuff, not to make our lives more miserable and grindy.
I’m in the same boat as crtl-64 and I still haven’t finished getting all my power coils so if the ones I have have to be replaced just to give someone else in the game something to sell then I might as well find another game because the grind for me would just become absolutely pointless and unbearable … in fact I would start calling the game Pointless instead of Boundless. I think it’s good to brain storm and share ideas but for me personally this is one that would genuinely make me walk away from the game.
