Gameplay, metagame discussion

[Falkenherz]

tl;dr

The current game system incentives you to go out of your way to make gameplay boring for yourself. A pitfall which many good games did not close and I hope Avorion will still master this aspect.

 

 

 

I have finished my third game and finally reached the core and fought the endboss. I don´t want to know how many hours I sunk into Avorion the last weeks, just building and refining my ships and trying to "do everything", which frankly is near impossible. And repetitive. Which brings me to my topic: A good game should captivate player base beyond the initial grasp of the mechanics and offer an engaging revolving incentivising factors. That´s why I´d like to point out some things which could be improved.

 

Apparently, the most efficient design is a "borg cube", with about half a million to a million shield power and firepower anywhere in the region of 16k-100k. Having arrived at the endboss yesterday, I can see this making an annoying eternal fight at least half worth your while. I hate scripted combat. I´d take a fleet of 100 Xsoltan ships instead any day.

 

In the meanwhile I also think that crafted weapons are too strong. In fact the whole dps-equipment system could use an overhaul. The balance between number of turrets versus a turrets firepower versus possible shield strength and regeneraten needs to be more closely aligned.

 

I also do not want a too high difference between iron and xanion areas, because it would not really make sense from a roleplaying perspective. Otoh, I would like to have more incentives to stay in the lower tier areas, because on my third and fourth game, I just make a beeline for a mixed Trinium/Xanion area, just stopping by enough to get appropriate salvage lasers.

 

Concerning the systems and faction, I think that they are a tad bit too repetitive in view of the large galaxy we can explore. Elite: dangerous players know what I am talking of! Basically, each "inhabited" system is a bathtub with about a dozen toys floating in it. I have read with pleasure that the devs want to add interactive planets. Everything which makes a system feel more alive and individual!

 

I order to keep the game engaging for me, I will meta-restrain myself next time with the following rules:

- explore each area in depth and just move on when you´ve done/explored at least 50% of space around at least two factions; try to identify what makes each system special and recognisable

- realistic space ship construction and repairs: Only at shipyards and repair docks. No turret swapping on the fly.

- separate into career phases and imagine a roleplay background: miner -> mission runner -> trader -> freelancer (i.e. paramilitary rescue missions for distress calls) -> faction war -> the greater Xsoltan war/rift issue

- no ship min-maxing, each ship type has a purpose, trying to build a fleet in the end; or, go with one mothership which grows over your career with some small specialized "recon ships" and "fighters"

- no turret crafting, to still use the feature, don´t maximize the sliders but use 5 produced ones to craft exotic turrets and use those

 

In the end, I hope that the game systems will be adapted that this kind of gameplay flows naturally, without the player constraining himself too much. I don´t want to be incentivised to "cheese the game".

 

Besides this awesome spacecraft building, Avorion managed for a long time to surprise me anew after every hyperjump. If only this "wow" effect could continue forever. =)

 

 

 

 

[Maxavian]

Love the post. Very constructive and well thought out.

 

I think one thing for me that would sort of "slow" me down a bit would be the introduction of territory. If I can claim empty sectors and start building various stations, building up an economy and military, expand my borders, etc, then I'd be much more likely to take my time moving toward the center of the galaxy.

 

I have only been playing like 5 days, so I haven't really made a beeline straight to the good stuff, but I imagine it wouldn't be hard to do.

[SageThe13th]

I have finished my third game and finally reached the core and fought the endboss. I don´t want to know how many hours I sunk into Avorion the last weeks, just building and refining my ships and trying to "do everything", which frankly is near impossible. And repetitive. Which brings me to my topic: A good game should captivate player base beyond the initial grasp of the mechanics and offer an engaging revolving incentivising factors. That´s why I´d like to point out some things which could be improved.

Pointing out things that are wrong is all well and good.  But, you don't really suggest anything to fix the problems.  This kind of thing might be better being posted in the Gameplay Discussion sub-forum.

 

Apparently, the most efficient design is a "borg cube", with about half a million to a million shield power and firepower anywhere in the region of 16k-100k. Having arrived at the endboss yesterday, I can see this making an annoying eternal fight at least half worth your while. I hate scripted combat. I´d take a fleet of 100 Xsoltan ships instead any day.

I feel like the flying cube meta is almost unavoidable.  It's appeared in every space building game I've ever played.  And it's product of the fact that a cube is a very efficient shape in real life.

 

In the meanwhile I also think that crafted weapons are too strong. In fact the whole dps-equipment system could use an overhaul. The balance between number of turrets versus a turrets firepower versus possible shield strength and regeneraten needs to be more closely aligned.

This I totally agree with.

 

I also do not want a too high difference between iron and xanion areas, because it would not really make sense from a roleplaying perspective. Otoh, I would like to have more incentives to stay in the lower tier areas, because on my third and fourth game, I just make a beeline for a mixed Trinium/Xanion area, just stopping by enough to get appropriate salvage lasers.

I like the ways the material tiers work.  The biggest problem I have with replaying a lot of RPGs is having to go through the far less interesting early game over and over again.  In Avorion you can skip to the mid-game and I don't have a problem with that.  After all I still feel like any player just starting out will work their way through the material tiers slowly and in order which helps them learn the game.  There's still some room for for improvement, but I don't see the need for a massive reworking.

 

Concerning the systems and faction, I think that they are a tad bit too repetitive in view of the large galaxy we can explore. Elite: dangerous players know what I am talking of! Basically, each "inhabited" system is a bathtub with about a dozen toys floating in it. I have read with pleasure that the devs want to add interactive planets. Everything which makes a system feel more alive and individual!

I think this one of those things that will definitely get better over time as more content is added.  I believe the Dev even said that the core is in a bit of an unfinished stated.

[cy414]

unfortunately, the only solution i have seen to half of those issues, is adaptive AI.

and those things are so hard to make that even monopolies like EA fail at it.

 

on top of that, there needs to be enough balanced play/counter-play options for both ai and players to use.

 

the other half is in the persistence in quiet sectors the devs are working on now.

since then you will be able to build your own stations and claim territory. giving value to early sectors.

adjusting the costs of materials would also help, since if its easy to spam titanium/iron ships but costly to mate single ships of high tier mats, then establishing and maintaining mining claims in early sectors wold by more important.