Add a PvP-oriented Origin station

[Groleo]

At the moment, the barrier to entry for PvP is quite high. New players need to learn quite a lot just to be able to access ship weapons, and the cost of buying new ships and the time it takes to repair are prohibitive if you want to get into lots of fights. Quite a lot of my friends who are into more PvP-focused games like Rust and Sea of Thieves have been put off Starbase because it takes so long to get to the ‘fun stuff’, and once you’re there it’s not profitable and takes ages to get back in the fight if you lose.

My suggestion is that you add an alternate spawnpoint for new players who are more interested in fighting than mining and building, far away from the Origin stations but not completely out of reach. This station could be themed as a pirate station, a breakaway from the overbearing tyranny of Origin, called ‘Haven’ or something. Here, the default free labourer ship would come with a weapon, and ships with weapons would be cheaper. The safezone would only extend to the 1500m station border, with no resources inside it, and loot would be more concentrated and more valuable – think sparse loot chests, rather than hundreds of more or less equal, spread out asteroids – to force people to fight over it.

The zone would work a bit like a miniature Sea of Thieves within Starbase, where players can hop on, quickly get a cheap ship to fly around with their friends, see some action, probably get blown up, and then afford to do it all again fairly quickly. Unlike SoT, though, you then have the rest of the universe to go and play in, so your victories actually have some meaning…

Make it so that new players can access some of the most fun activities that the game has to offer straight away, rather than gating it behind hours of grind, and I think that would massively broaden the game’s appeal and bring in way more players.

 

[cl0ck]

we need downvote buttons like reddit so people like me don't have to waste 10 minutes writing 3 paragraphs on how ridiculous this is

 

[Grixis]

The game doesn't deter you in any way, you can get out and do some PvP in about 2 hrs. The learning curve is a bit steep but this is a much more advance game compared to something simple as Sea of boredom and the like.

I will agree though the repair tool needs more of a small AoE so you can repair components that are deep in the guts of the ship with ease. Starbase is more on the realistic side of PvP, you're not going to tank 3 whole magazines from an autocannon or anything like that.

My suggestion is to jump in a cheap, small vehicle for pvp and slap an autocannon on it.

What you are suggesting would literally kill the game in a week

 

[Eagle]

Perhaps this is not the game you were expecting...

To be honest, I see Starbase like a living universe where you can do many different things: economics, trading, mining, building, buccaneering. This is not only PIUM PUM TA-TA-TA-TA, BOOOM and let's go again.

I perfectly understand people who are interested on PvP and want to progress in that area, but I think it is important to adjust the expectations and understand how this game works and the way we have to take to get there.

Each action has consequences here, and sometimes they are quite expensive.

Have a nice day!

 

[Groleo]

The game doesn't deter you in any way, you can get out and do some PvP in about 2 hrs. The learning curve is a bit steep but this is a much more advance game compared to something simple as Sea of boredom and the like.

I will agree though the repair tool needs more of a small AoE so you can repair components that are deep in the guts of the ship with ease. Starbase is more on the realistic side of PvP, you're not going to tank 3 whole magazines from an autocannon or anything like that.

My suggestion is to jump in a cheap, small vehicle for pvp and slap an autocannon on it.

What you are suggesting would literally kill the game in a week

Based on this post, it sounds like the issue we agree on will be fixed - repair will be getting easier and salvage more profitable in future.

I don't think adding a PvP zone and cheap combat ships would kill the game, as long as it's balanced so that more advanced ships are a lot stronger than cheaper ships. Just make an area where players who prefer that stuff can fly around and kill each other more easily, while not bothering new players who don't want that. This zone should also be split from the advanced/ more serious players by making the ships there much weaker than what's available if you invest a lot of time.

I have 150 hours in the game since EA, I'm aware that it's possible to strap an autocannon on a cheap ship and head out of the safezone, and I'll be playing it for a long time with or without more PvP options. The point of my suggestion is to make it easier to draw in more players from the (very large) demographic of people who prefer PvP. Make it easier for them to find fun stuff to do so that they don't get bored and quit in the 10 hours it takes them to figure that out. This way the playerbase grows and the game gets better, even if you prefer other playstyles.

 

[Mur]

Only thing about this post I would like to point out. I think that there is an opportunity in this game to have diverse gameplay. Like, I don't think everyone needs to be a miner and there should be an a way for people who enjoy more FPS type game play that they can get a jumpstart in doing that kind of gameplay.