Hello,
As the devs have been dropping hints that a small team is working on Starbase again and that there is a big update planned for sometime in the next few months, I wanted to lay out some detailed information that would hopefully help in ensuring that Starbase can be a game players can really enjoy. I'll be presenting detailed information regarding what I see are the top issues preventing players from really committing to playing Starbase.
Issue #1: The Inability To Start From Scratch
The ability for players to start from nothing and build themselves up from nearly any location is a critical component of survival style games, a feature which Starbase is missing. A player should be able to hover around in an asteroid belt and piece together a ship beginning with nothing except his fists. Such a thing would take a lot of time, but that's not the point - it should be possible. This would allow players to fully repair their ships anywhere in the game world, or create ships or parts out of any other ships they come across in the game world. As it currently stands, there is a bottleneck preventing players from doing this; the player cannot create a hardpoint or resource bridge from their own inventory - the number of inventory slots for mined materials is too low to craft all the necessary items.
In order to build more complex items, such as a Resource Bridge, or before that, even a Hardpoint, players need to have 3 materials accessible to them. As the mining backpack has only 2 slots (can hold only 2 materials at a time), players are unable to progress on their own. Out in the wild, in attempting to make a ship from scratch, even with a pickaxe on hand, the player will quickly run into this problem which they cannot overcome - enticed by the ability to craft a basic crafting bench using only Bastium and Vokarium, the player begins to create all sorts of items including beams and small ship parts, but when it comes time to create anything that matters for their ship, they are stuck as they do not have access to three or more material inventory slots to build basic items. Basic Flight Computer, Device Hardpoint, Levers, Panels, YOLOL Chips, Generators, Fuel Rods, Heat Sinks and so much more are unavailable to the player. The player can build Material Crates, however in order to put materials into them, the player needs a Resource Bridge and Hardpoint, which again, the player cannot make. The oversight can be jarring enough for a player to give up on the game. There is a huge bottleneck here which cuts off players from progressing naturally through the game without relying on the ship designer.
During salvage attempts, the same problem arises; if a player wants to make anything to store resources, or to create any complex item, they must have a Resource Bridge and Hardpoint on hand at a minimum, even if they have access to all the materials they want in the game. I have resorted to bolting a hardpoint and resource bridge onto other parts that I can keep in my inventory in case I need them as a backup. For example, if my 1 resource bridge breaks, it doesn't matter how many materials I may have on hand, I can not repair my ship.
It is just as unfortunate that when starting from nothing, the player can make a crafting bench, but is unable to even make a simple Pickaxe (which takes 3 materials) to begin mining in the first place.
Problem: The player is bottlenecked when trying to build a device hardpoint or resource bridge which is necessary to progress towards building more complex parts. The normal progression would be to build material crates and store the multiple resources you need inside them, but without a resource bridge, you cannot accomplish this.
Solution: Increase "mining backpack" material slots to at least 3, and allow mining using melee attack. I'd prefer a more elegant solution like allowing a number of material stacks by default and bringing the backpack system back, but alas, this issue is just to point out this huge bottleneck so it can be resolved.
As the devs have been dropping hints that a small team is working on Starbase again and that there is a big update planned for sometime in the next few months, I wanted to lay out some detailed information that would hopefully help in ensuring that Starbase can be a game players can really enjoy. I'll be presenting detailed information regarding what I see are the top issues preventing players from really committing to playing Starbase.
Issue #1: The Inability To Start From Scratch
The ability for players to start from nothing and build themselves up from nearly any location is a critical component of survival style games, a feature which Starbase is missing. A player should be able to hover around in an asteroid belt and piece together a ship beginning with nothing except his fists. Such a thing would take a lot of time, but that's not the point - it should be possible. This would allow players to fully repair their ships anywhere in the game world, or create ships or parts out of any other ships they come across in the game world. As it currently stands, there is a bottleneck preventing players from doing this; the player cannot create a hardpoint or resource bridge from their own inventory - the number of inventory slots for mined materials is too low to craft all the necessary items.
In order to build more complex items, such as a Resource Bridge, or before that, even a Hardpoint, players need to have 3 materials accessible to them. As the mining backpack has only 2 slots (can hold only 2 materials at a time), players are unable to progress on their own. Out in the wild, in attempting to make a ship from scratch, even with a pickaxe on hand, the player will quickly run into this problem which they cannot overcome - enticed by the ability to craft a basic crafting bench using only Bastium and Vokarium, the player begins to create all sorts of items including beams and small ship parts, but when it comes time to create anything that matters for their ship, they are stuck as they do not have access to three or more material inventory slots to build basic items. Basic Flight Computer, Device Hardpoint, Levers, Panels, YOLOL Chips, Generators, Fuel Rods, Heat Sinks and so much more are unavailable to the player. The player can build Material Crates, however in order to put materials into them, the player needs a Resource Bridge and Hardpoint, which again, the player cannot make. The oversight can be jarring enough for a player to give up on the game. There is a huge bottleneck here which cuts off players from progressing naturally through the game without relying on the ship designer.
During salvage attempts, the same problem arises; if a player wants to make anything to store resources, or to create any complex item, they must have a Resource Bridge and Hardpoint on hand at a minimum, even if they have access to all the materials they want in the game. I have resorted to bolting a hardpoint and resource bridge onto other parts that I can keep in my inventory in case I need them as a backup. For example, if my 1 resource bridge breaks, it doesn't matter how many materials I may have on hand, I can not repair my ship.
It is just as unfortunate that when starting from nothing, the player can make a crafting bench, but is unable to even make a simple Pickaxe (which takes 3 materials) to begin mining in the first place.
Problem: The player is bottlenecked when trying to build a device hardpoint or resource bridge which is necessary to progress towards building more complex parts. The normal progression would be to build material crates and store the multiple resources you need inside them, but without a resource bridge, you cannot accomplish this.
Solution: Increase "mining backpack" material slots to at least 3, and allow mining using melee attack. I'd prefer a more elegant solution like allowing a number of material stacks by default and bringing the backpack system back, but alas, this issue is just to point out this huge bottleneck so it can be resolved.
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