Captain Haddock
Posts: 7
2/15/2015
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So after spending an hour grinding out Scintillacks to get Drowning Pearls so I can pay off the Khanate to lower my high suspicion caused by self defense of the always aggressive Khanate ships, it was at that point I wondered where the hell did my life go this wrong?
=============== Player Reputation ===============
This game desperately needs real player reputation amongst neutral nations while increasing the number of sea creatures to keep the danger. It doesn't make sense that there is a tenuous "peace" between London and Khanate yet when you go to the Khanate the ships want to kill you on sight... Seriously this sucks. It doesn't make sense from a gameplay or lore point of view. The game should have relations to factions and the option to fulfill your legacy (ie be rich) offshore.
It would be good if a nations vessel dubious of your privateer nature (ie reputation with that nation = -5 to +5) opens up a dialogue and gives you a choice of skill checks. Even if you fail, you can still just run away.
Also you can have cool things, like the Khanate being hard to gain reputation with, but easy to lose it. And the Dawn Machine cultists have just erratic gains and loss. And so over the course of play you just **** people off, past the point of a irrevocable relations threshold, and you just have to make do.
But seriously it kinda needs this. Less unreasonably aggressive ships. Suits the text, suits the game.
Supremacy changes antagonizes rival factions.
Suggestion: If you were to do this, you'd need a way to identify friendly from hostile. I have blown up the merchant ship in game currently, every time. Because every ship/creature is hostile.
Bug/Spoiler: If you overthrow London with the Anarchists, you still get banned from London from helping the Pentecostal Apes.
============= Engine/Game Speed ===============
Grueling... Absolutely grueling from start to end. You seriously need to tweak that. The map is too large and even by end game it feels like a mobile game where you feel like doing something else as you go from one point to the next.
Boost the speed across the board.
Spoiler: The Tireless Mechanic directs you to go the Dawn Machine for the Element of Dawn..... Where I died mind you.......... But this is a lie. You must give them the best forward weapon which I was NOONE near getting, in order to get it........ So the game sent me on a wild goose chase ........ This is bad writing with bad questing imo..... You should separate these two quests or give more options.
================= Hold size ====================
Also needs to be increased across the board. The best viable sense of ship progression is Starter -> Merchant -> Dreadnought. Everything else is terrible due to all the items you need everywhere. This is a problem start to end.
Suggestion: Submarine boat? Terror increase rate is in between a ship with it's lights on and off with it's own unique terror circumstances but is vulnerable to submersible creatures and (possibly added depth charges) and needs torpedoes to fight... Kinda sketchy idea I grant you, but I think it could work well. I had a bad experience in a U boat once.
================== Ships ======================
Ships need re-balancing for the reasons above. There is no point going for the ships that hold less. This game needs big holds. Not a matter of opinion. It's how the game operates. You need to find different differences between ships. Maybe weight affects turning/maneuvering.
========== Items that are luck based ==============
In a 10 hour game I have not gotten one live specimen. Not one. Yes I can check the wiki but every time someone has to check a wiki is a game failure. Even after checking a wiki I still haven't gotten one. Introductory quests are on standby.
This really needs tweaking.
=============================================
And that's it. Yes I know a lot of this is tall orders, but it kinda needs to happen especially for the reputation. That would be a result of game choices rather than not a predetermined linear path of scripts.
Well that's it, I'm done.
edited by SenTerran on 2/15/2015
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WormApotheote
Posts: 725
2/15/2015
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You can buy live specimins from the Labyrinth of TIgers assuming you have died and passed on a legacy at least once (..I'm not actually sure why that prerequisite exists though.)
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No, I don't pull the Eater of Names.
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Captain Haddock
Posts: 7
2/15/2015
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Gregg Johnson wrote:
When you build the Memento Mori, it tells you you can give it to the various factions. Grand Geode is the only port anywhere near the Dawn Machine, and clearly connected to it. This is especially clear if you delivered Sphinxstone there. You might not figure it out immediately, but it's more than feasible to connect the dots without relying on the wiki. H__l, if you sail into Grand Geode with the Memento Mori it tells you, plain as Day, what you'll get in return.
It's a ridiculously powerful engine, building it isn't supposed to be easy.
edited by Olorin on 2/15/2015
edited by Olorin on 2/15/2015
I'm not questioning the difficulty but here is the problem:
"'We need once-living monster-material. And since we can't get the heart of the Bazaar (no, we really can't), we'll need something from the Dawn Machine. Sorry.'" "The Dawn Machine lies far to the South West." -- From game.
That sounds like we need to go to the Dawn Machine, except you can't port there and the Grand Geode, unless you have business there, offers no information.
All you need is either when you get to Grand Geode ask about acquiring a part of the Dawn Machine to which they say something like "*eyes you with deadly suspicion* For the a piece of the heart that is the Dawn Machine we would ask for something equally illuminating and powerful. It is unlikely you will ever have something of that much importance." And then the Mechanic goes "It is impossible to approach the Dawn Machine without dying as a side effect. We're going to have to deal with these people eventually."
So then the player goes OKAY I HAVE TO COME BACK LATER. Simple. Not NOTHING. There is no way at all I could ever know that I couldn't complete that quest without completing another quest, or that there wasn't something I was supposed to do like fight a giant sun creature or anything. There was NO INFORMATION. I HAD NO IDEA.
Being a game of trial and pure quest nuance is being a wiki game. And it's 2015. There is no reason for that.
And arguing against that is like saying "I love opening up the wiki." Well I don't. I feel like I'm just going through the motions when I open up a wiki game. It's already complete. I already know what happens.
What's the point?
edited by SenTerran on 2/15/2015
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Madmurdock
Posts: 25
2/15/2015
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First point I agree with. Sounds like a great idea, especially the part about being hailed by ships. Would be nice to get when arrive in Khan's heart. A message telling us to identify ourselves and our motives. Definitely something for the devs to consider I think.
As for game speed...a hesitant disagree from me. When I first started playing, the speed didn't bother me. I enjoyed sailing from place to place. Then as I got better, I managed to get the Fulgent Impeller and now, I'm going so fast and using so little fuel that it makes me think the progression is fine. You go from being a slow, weak ship, to zipping around the zee in seconds. I think increasing speed will actually detract from atmosphere. The zee is supposed to be a vast, terrifying place and it's not once you can outrun anything and reach ports before SAY even hits. As for the Tireless Mechanic, I believe there were/are plans for there to be other ways to get Elements of Dawn. However, I don't really mind if they do this. It's possible to get both the momento mori and the fulgent impeller by getting the mori on one captain, killing him off, then transferring the mori to the next captain using the rival legacy. That way you can make a second mori after handing the first in for the element of dawn. Yes, it's long winded but you end up with the best weapon and best engine in the game, so I'd say it's worth it.
Hold size is fine in my opinion. My progression goes starter ship < Yacht (70 hold) < Merchant ship (120 hold, if I decide it's worth it, otherwise I skip it) < Dreadnaught (100 hold). They want to make it so that you have to pick and choose what you keep and what you have to throw out. Ruins the "survival" aspect if you can just hoard 200 fuel. However, I agree something has to change about the hold in one or two situations, like the Port Cecil quest line. You can earn over 70 units of Schintillack from that quest chain. So only 2 boats can physically hold it all. That's not fair. You shouldn't have to dump half of your reward into the zee because you don't have enough hold space.
About changing the ships, I agree to an extent. I agree that if you're upgrading from the starter ship, there is no point going for another ship that has similar or less hold. It's just a waste of money. However, 100 hold space, or even 70 from the yacht, I think is enough. Once I upgraded to 70 hold, I never had another problem, except in the mention Port Cecil quest.
Luck based items...I can't really think of any other examples to the living specimen. I know strange catch is kinda luck based, but I've still got loads throughout my play time. I think there's only one or two ways to get a Living Specimen and if you get unlucky with it, you can always just buy a couple. They don't really have THAT much use anyway. So I'm not sure anything needs to be changed here unless you can come up with a few more examples.
EDIT: And about it not being clear how to get the Element of Dawn...I think I agree with you there. While it makes sense to assume that the Grand Geode is part of the Dawn Machine, and it will tell you what you will if you have the moment mori, there isnt ANYTHING if you DONT have the momento mori. So you're left at the Grand Geode certain this is where you need to be but with no way of confirming it. So yeah, I agree just a little bit of text saying, "Come back when you have something valuable to trade with" would be ideal.
edited by Madmurdock on 2/15/2015
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SporksAreGoodForYou
Posts: 291
2/15/2015
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Madmurdock wrote:
And about it not being clear how to get the Element of Dawn...I think I agree with you there. While it makes sense to assume that the Grand Geode is part of the Dawn Machine, and it will tell you what you will if you have the moment mori, there isnt ANYTHING if you DONT have the momento mori. So you're left at the Grand Geode certain this is where you need to be but with no way of confirming it. So yeah, I agree just a little bit of text saying, "Come back when you have something valuable to trade with" would be ideal.
edited by Madmurdock on 2/15/2015
The Impellor is a pretty big effort to get. Even if you know exactly what you're doing, by the time you have it, you've likely sailed all over the map 10-15 times, and if you're paying attention, it's possible you've more or less completed everything else. I know I have.
But, to your point, lots of other places have interactions with things blocked out. Once you have the Tireless Mechanic, perhaps the element of dawn interaction should appear, showing the bits and pieces you need.
Finally, while doing exactly as you suggest (two moris through legacies), I noticed something very strange. You can have 2 equippale items in your hold, but when you equip either one, they both disppear, only to reappear when you unequip. Freaked me out for a second. Buy a couple of cheap guns from London, and equip them and you'll see what I mean.
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Gregg Johnson
Posts: 263
2/15/2015
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SenTerran wrote:
============== Enemy AI suuuuuuuuuucks ================
Unless it's the spiked ball or a ship that can shoot backwards, then you can just sail around their back and they just keep trying to slowly turn to face you. I can understand for the giant cumbersome enemies but make the enemies try and get some distance between you in order to hit you and make the small enemies like sharks and eels be more agile. It feels like an exploit just constantly duking, not me being good.
This appears to be fixed in the testing branch, at least for zee-monsters. Will probably still be true of pirate ships and the like.
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Gregg Johnson
Posts: 263
2/15/2015
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Yeee, I did something like that too. And visited Polythreme before doing either.
Remind me again why Scintillack takes up cargo space?
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lady ciel
Posts: 2548
2/15/2015
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It is still 7 pieces per item, but I tend to hand those in one or two at a time. The final reward used to be 70 scintillack - now it is 12, 4 blue and a couple of other things. So you only need to have 12 hold space available.
--
ciel
Sorry RL means I am not a very active player at the moment. No social actions unless you are prepared to wait and definitely no sparring or other mult-action things.
No Calling Cards or boxed cats please. Will take dupes on the affluent photographers. Other social invitations welcome. Parabolan Kittens usually available, send me an in-game social action saying you want one and I will get one to you as soon as possible.
storynexus name - reveurciel
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Madmurdock
Posts: 25
2/15/2015
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SenTerran wrote:
Yeah on revision, I could just be very unlucky in regards to drops.
I can concede I may have gone overboard with hull sizes. But you can completely ignore Cutter and Corvette (even if it has a forward weapon which is a nice bonus). If the Corvette and Cutter had additions to hold size then I can warrant getting them. With enough duking you can win any fight barring the Dawn Machine Frigate and even then you'll just take some damage.
Oh that leads me to another suggestion. I'll put it at the end.
My problem with the game speed is that it seems like a chug UNTIL you get the impeller. Like you have to get the doomsday engine to move at a decent rate. To me, the best sold engine should move at a decent rate and the doomsday engine should move at a RIDICULOUS rate. It shouldn't be a "must have so the game is actually convenient" item.
============== Enemy AI suuuuuuuuuucks ================
Unless it's the spiked ball or a ship that can shoot backwards, then you can just sail around their back and they just keep trying to slowly turn to face you. I can understand for the giant cumbersome enemies but make the enemies try and get some distance between you in order to hit you and make the small enemies like sharks and eels be more agile. It feels like an exploit just constantly duking, not me being good.
edited by SenTerran on 2/15/2015
edited by SenTerran on 2/15/2015
Enemy AI does indeed suck. And yes, you're right, the first few ship "upgrades" can be ignored really. No need to get the cutter and corvette.
I see it more as, when you first begin you'll be taking in the atmosphere, spotting all these weird monsters, dropping at ports and using your SAY, which all suit a slower engine. Once you get more experienced with the game, you can start zooming around, focusing on certain quests. The slow engine is for early game exploration and atmosphere. Impeller and things like that are for late game playing with a specific goal in mind. I like that, but can definitely understand if you don't.
And yeah, I'm slightly wrong about the Schintillack. It actually comes to around 47 pieces, plus a few blues ones but I cant remember if they take up cargo space. Still is annoying if, like me, you like handing in all parts of a quest in one go.
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