Starbase Update News

[KaiFB]

Hello all Starbase players old and new. Today we announce a large update that we plan to release in the next week or so. We are pushing out a good deal of features, in-world changes, as well as economy and balancing changes. These are features and changes that we had originally planned to add to the live server later together with Station Siege.

The reason for this rather sudden major update is that Starbase’s sales performance hasn't been the strongest, and thus we need to prioritize other projects for some time in the interest of ensuring the game’s continued development and long-term future. Starbase’s server costs are low so they aren't in any danger, but its development will be slowed down and updates will be less frequent for some time. While this is not ideal, we're looking forward to returning to development as soon as possible, reinvigorated and ready to make Starbase the game we all want it to be.

Our goals for the upcoming update are:

- Reducing AFK time (flying, crafting) and making the current "populated universe" easier to move around in
- Making the universe more lucrative but also more dangerous
- Providing a reasonable amount of new gameplay to everyone

Here's a summary of features you can expect on Live soon:

- Moon Mining & Bases
- Capital Ships
- Heat mechanics
- Hangar halls (SSC/Repair hall) to player stations and capital ships
- Blueprint update
- Alloy furnace
- Recycler tool
- Speedometer, gyroscope for ships
- New tripods(plasma, rail, laser)
- Rail cannons, premium FCU, tier 2+3 enhancers, and professional yolol chips are now obtainable

Universe Changes:

- A lot more large asteroids everywhere
- New dev stations (Robur & Farbelt Outpost)
- New fast travel connection

Balancing & Features

- Research tree & crafting balancing
- Fast travel core requirement removed from using the Fast travel gates, gate speed increased
- Some weapon/device cost balancing

We hope you'll enjoy these little changes coming soon to the Starbase universe. The full changelog will be published along with the update. Sieges can continue be tested on the PTU side as before, and serve as a prelude of things to come to the live side later on.

 

[XenoCow]

I hope that the more focused work on other projects will serve as cross-training, so to speak, for the team so that when SB development gets back into full swing, that you all have fresh eyes and stronger developer muscles to tackle this beast of a game.

Best of luck to keeping a roof over your heads. We'll be here when you return, or at least I will.

 

[Kmank]

I don't know how to feel about this.

 

[XenoCow]

I don't know how to feel about this.

Me neither yet.

 

[Drstarke]

looking forward to the update hopefully after this patch starbase get a comeback

 

[Foraven]

I think that update should alleviate a lot of the complaints about the game, that should draw back some of the player base (I hope).

 

[mikan]

After enjoying the update, I'll leave this game, but I'll wait for the next update while playing another game.

 

[Lukas04]

This update still wont bring people back for long, its still missing content to do after you finish the innitial wave of content it brings, but i am looking forward to playing the game for a few weeks or a month again atleast. The news about development slowing down sucks of course.

 

[Aha]

A mandatory special feature to ease the frustration with the new mechanics rendering ALL SHIPS literally useless:
Every existing ship prior to the update those aren't stored in a dev station (like origin) receives a 1 time only free tow ticket no matter where the ships are. You can tow it from 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 km away for free, once.
Every existing ship prior to the update receives a 1 time only free reassembly ticket to reassemble the ship to a chosen blueprint. You only have to pay for extra parts if you don't have them of course. The ship must be fully repaired before being able to use the special reassembly ticket.

Imagine having players come back to the game because there is a large update, hoping for content, and realize that you can't even use any of your ships, the ones out there in the belt are unable to move: RAGE QUIT, **** THIS GAME. The game gets even more bad reviews and you, FB, keep sinking even faster.
Please.

ps: you don't just have to do this, but give it a huge voice as well so people know, they CAN play the game.

 

[shado20]

- Providing a reasonable amount of new gameplay to everyone

we need the basic game play to be available first, everything is a wast of time without being able to live 100% away from origin in our own stations no matter how crappy the new system is! if stations work, gameplay will almost fix itself for some time!


- A lot more large asteroids everywhere

the original videos of the belt was full of rocks, now its not, you removed a lot of the rocks to add clouds, they now should all be bigger. shift the t1 &t2 out and make the t3 the smallest ones and go up from that

- New dev stations (Robur & Farbelt Outpost)

we don't need more dev built stations, we need player built stations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- New fast travel connection

when will this option be developed for players to make?

 

[Kelmoir]

This is great, so many features players have been waiting for.

Allthough, apart from the crafting balance I can't really see

- Reducing AFK time (flying, crafting) and making the current "populated universe" easier to move around in
- Making the universe more lucrative but also more dangerous

More dangerous, because the moon is not ad huge as the belt is?

The heat changes might indeed provide an Issue for many ships, that are suddenly unusable (or worse, work for 5 minutes, and then overheat, right, when you hit the belt).

Will this cause a ship shop purge of ships that aren't fully/reliably working anymore, due to heat? Outdated ships are one thing, but this breaks them...

And finally, it hurts seeing, that also starbase is struggling with revenue, and resources for further development. But I take your approach of diverting resources in the meantime to save up cash for more development here over the approach, NQ had to do with DU (tossing away so many promised things, turning it essentially into a pvp arena with browsergame-esque resource gathering).

 

[Goodgu]

It's unfortunate to see the game delayed, but I think that pushing these features to live is a better option than leaving the game as is.

That being said... We need group/company storage with this update. Company storage will allow large and small companies to truly function and keep players interested in the game for months or years until development can continue. Many people say that crate-ships are the solution, but these are not reliable and are extremely difficult to work with beyond 10-15 players. Unless players have a good way to cooperate at scale, this update will bring a lot of players back to the game, only for them to leave permanently when they realize that the game still does not have this basic feature 9 months after EA release.

 

[Foraven]

- New dev stations (Robur & Farbelt Outpost)

we don't need more dev built stations, we need player built stations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have already way too many player stations, most of them abandoned or barely used. I want more devs stations; means more place to go and some safe stop to park my ships when I am done playing.

 

[Gearz]

This doesn't sound too good at all 😕

 

[Verbmaks]

Seems like game had to returned to CA state, lot of content become more available for players. Warp-core is useless (no more limitations for newbies, who still have no enough pilot skills, to jump into dangerous zone and lost ship because of gravity or pirates). Lot of T10 asteroids in SZ (just WHAT?! Why? There's no more motivation to flight into Z5 of Eos belt, just sell chunkers at Origins and get millions credits per hour). What means 'Reducing AFK time'? Is it increased speed limit, or just reducing meanfull zone for playing by adding T10 asteroids into SZ?

It all looks like not good situation for live. No more sense for big ambitious (huge long-range haulers ships, station network in farest belt zones, trade routes to Arma, to supply pvp players with resourses). And one more huge problem for Starbase - we still have no any reason for pvp. It just pvp for pvp, organized by groups of players just for fun. People need goals in game. But now even for me there's no more goals.

I really love this game, really love this community and I hope that this development slowdown doesn't means full stop of development. Yeah, for couple of month we all will have goals - build capship. Maybe it will stimulate old players to return into game, maybe you'll get new wave of selled copies of Starbase, maybe dozen, hundreds, thousands of them, and maybe game development will return to active phase. But please, I really ask you - create goals for players. Even if it will be completely playerbased gameplay. Any kind of territorial control, exploration any corp competition. Anything.

 

[ZombieMouse]

Good to see features coming soon, sad to see development resources going elsewhere, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

I second the call to just remove tier 1 and tier 2 asteroids from the game. All they are good for is destroying ships.

I'm curious what will become of the fast travel core. Having a long charge up and the ability to do a short jump would be interesting, but game balance discussions around the merits/demerits of that are probably for another thread...

If there was just one thing I could ask for in addition to what has been listed, it would be item crates.

 

[Lukas04]

Seems like game had to returned to CA state, lot of content become more available for players. Warp-core is useless (no more limitations for newbies, who still have no enough pilot skills, to jump into dangerous zone and lost ship because of gravity or pirates). Lot of T10 asteroids in SZ (just WHAT?! Why? There's no more motivation to flight into Z5 of Eos belt, just sell chunkers at Origins and get millions credits per hour). What means 'Reducing AFK time'? Is it increased speed limit, or just reducing meanfull zone for playing by adding T10 asteroids into SZ?

It all looks like not good situation for live. No more sense for big ambitious (huge long-range haulers ships, station network in farest belt zones, trade routes to Arma, to supply pvp players with resourses). And one more huge problem for Starbase - we still have no any reason for pvp. It just pvp for pvp, organized by groups of players just for fun. People need goals in game. But now even for me there's no more goals.

I really love this game, really love this community and I hope that this development slowdown doesn't means full stop of development. Yeah, for couple of month we all will have goals - build capship. Maybe it will stimulate old players to return into game, maybe you'll get new wave of selled copies of Starbase, maybe dozen, hundreds, thousands of them, and maybe game development will return to active phase. But please, I really ask you - create goals for players. Even if it will be completely playerbased gameplay. Any kind of territorial control, exploration any corp competition. Anything.

Personaly, im quite happy about the changes this patch Brings. Sure, you can spend all your time mining asteroids close to Origin if you really want to, but you could do that before already. With Stations now having Hangar Halls, you arent as bound to Origin as before, and also arent as depdendend on Credits as before. This problem should be self balancing, as you still require Z5 ores for further progress, and if nobody ventures out to get those Ores, then nobody sells them for a fair price on the Auction House, which should get people to move out again to Get to Z5. The issue with CA's market exited because you could completly ignore Rare-Ore requirements due to the Marketplace, which is why this didnt work back then.

The patch reduces AFK-Time through a bunch of things. Warp Gates are faster, Capital Ships let you warp, Insurance Transfer ranges have been increased by a very long range, crafting has been made faster and the research tree should gate keep less from the actuall content.

A lot of the components of this patch are what is required for the creation of a decent Gameplay Loop, without many of the features in it even a real gameplay loop would fall flat, so i think its important that those are out atleast. It is of course dissapointing that there isnt a real loop yet.

 

[shado20]

they have shot themselves in the foot! releasing the patch many have been waiting on to come back to the game, at the same time announcing the death to the game!

 

[LaRoaZ]

> Game releases on early access with an insufficient basic set of gameplay mechanics to make a a compelling experience. Some components clearly not thorougly tested or rushed (research, inventory problems, easily bugged mode, factories, blueprints etc)

> People flood in, see unfinished stuff, most leave game within a couple months.

> Players concerned about declining population, lack of basic stuff being available. Frozenbyte says it'll be fine.

> Game put into holding pattern with minimal development because "Not enough game sales".

I feel like the person in charge of making decisions about when to release games needs to re evaluate their decision making process.
If starbase was released with factories and hangar halls and a working inventory system and sieges and capitals etc, sales would have been Very sufficient.
Maybe there are factors that arent apparent to me that led to these decisions being made the way they were, but i dont know about those and cannot take them into account.

In any event i am in favour of any decision path that leads to starbase reaching a level of completion and population that makes it a more broadly compelling experience. If that means putting it into a holding pattern until engine problems are sorted or more financing becomes available then i am for that decision.

Still i cant help but feel like this was a predictable outcome, and i am disappoint.

 

[mikan]

You don't say you're going to have more new ores, do you?