i havent been in the CA of Starbase, but i have tested a fair amount of other games, both in CA and CB.
The main thing i can see as a potential "problem" in the long aspect of things.
And DO correct me, if i am wrong in terms of how the current state of game is
This is the info i have been able to gather through official links/videos and a friend who is in CA
-Ressources are finite.
The safezone, no matter its size, will be emptied out rather quickly, leaving new players to go into PVP territory just go get started.
i've seen that type tried before, and in the long run, it drove new players away unfortunately.
a few "solutions" to the "problem" could be.
The ressources in SZ will only get you so far. if you need 3 types of ores to make a complete ship, have the SZ contain 1-2 at max, so if people do want to gather their own ressources to build an entire ship, they WILL have to venture into dangerous space.
Asteroids do not respawn at all - This is as i understand, how the CURRENT state of game is
1:As people mine out more and more in an infinite large world. you need to travel even further to get to the asteroids. If there is any outside of the "asteroid belt"
This will for sure drive away some new players, as they are forced to travel several hours in dangerous space, just to get started.
2: As far as i have been able to get info, there is/will be a mission system that you can use to get credits.
This as a new player, in the future, will be a good way to get started. but there is a but.
How long will it at that time, take a new player, to get enough credits to buy a ship capable to go toe-to-toe with someone outside SZ?
if it takes to long, they will loose interest.
In My experience, it should take 2-4 days (12-24 game hours) to be able to refit the laborer with armor and 1-2 guns.
spend more time doing missions, be able to buy better armor
Asteroids in SZ respawns at a random time.
Could be between 1-4 weeks, and required to be mined out completely for the "countdown" to start
Leave a single pice of an asteroid left, and it will not respawn
This gives new players the oportunity to make some money while being safe, and trade their way into the items they need to build a ship.
They will have to put in a lot more time, as they do not know where or when an asteroid is going to respawn.
Now, i can not speak for how the game is exploration wise, as there is not "that much" in there yet.
But from what i can see that there is in the pipeline (roadmap) it seems that there is a good cause to be excited on that front.
even as a casual player, there will be lots of things for you to do.
Now for something else
One thing i personally would like to know works.
if you exit the game, outside of the safezone (in current state of game) What happens to your ship? - is it despawned or does it stay in space, so when you log back in, you could potentially be "left without a ship" (that reminds to much of RUST and that type of games, and they dont have a large playerbase for that reason)