Well apparently you can't repair picks anymore. Unless there's a way to do it I couldn't figure out. Damn thing disappeared after a few minutes. Wish I'd realized that before I wasted all that copper on it. Anyway, I've upgraded the matter manipulator now, and it's a bit faster, but still slower than is fun. I'm exploring a new planet now... Here's hoping I'll find something interesting.
I'm not terribly pleased with how they're making the game more linear, though. My favorite part is basically exploration, and now I have to do a lot more work before I can go exploring.
You use ore, not ingots.
Or it got removed. I haven't played the experimental.
It got removed. Pickaxes are now VERY fast, but very low durability and cannot be repaired. They're a luxury item. People kept complaining "why is my stone pickaxe better than my super space-age matter manipulator?" and now they're complaining that the space tech is better. These people...
Just for the record, I'm not complaining that the matter manipulator is now better than pickaxes. I'm glad they made that change. The thing I'm unhappy about is the balance. Previously, after putting in X time/effort in the game, I was able to mine at a particular speed. Now, after putting in X time/effort, I'm only able to mine maybe half that speed. And since you need to do a huge amount of mining to upgrade your mining tool (copper being pretty rare for some reason), it takes even longer, and is even more annoying. I'd be happy if they increased the starting mining speed of the matter manipulator to the upgraded speed, and increased the upgraded speed as well. I get that the tool becomes really powerful *eventually*, but if it takes me several grindy hours to find enough metal to upgrade it, I'm not enjoying those hours. There are a lot of cool things I want to do, and it's frustrating to have to spend so much time sloooowwwwwly mining through the dirt, bit by bit, desperately searching for copper.
If they either make the matter manipulator faster or increase the frequency of ore, I think I'll be satisfied with the mining situation.
I'm also a little disappointed with the food/farming situation. They've basically removed the survival aspect of the game now that we don't have hunger. On the other hand, food is now everywhere, apparently. Every planet is absolutely covered with wheat, potatoes, corn, rice, and berries. I planted a wheat seed, and the plant grew in less than a minute. I think I'm even more disappointed with this than with the mining thing. At least I can upgrade my mining tool eventually, but I can never put the survival aspect back in the game. I hope modders will be able to do something about that in the future.
By the way, I've only been to a few planets, but so far all of them have been identical. Same ground, trees, colors, weather, even very similar animals. What's the deal with that? Are they trying to imply that every planet in this whole system was once a part of one giant planet, which later broke into smaller ones, so the life forms evolved slightly and just carried on? And that somehow, all of these life forms are able to survive and thrive regardless of their distance from the sun? How are the planets at the outer edges keeping so warm? Why aren't the ones in the middle boiling hot? I didn't mind so much when every planet was totally random, but now it just feels silly. It's harder to ignore the ridiculousness of it.
There are things I do like, as well, though. The outpost is a great addition. (Surely it will be possible to mod in a recipe to make the coffee maker?) The text is pretty funny, and I got a chuckle when I looked in the trash in the bathroom upstairs. I even got a winning ticket from the arcade game, though I don't know if it will ever be used for anything. Combat is definitely better now, though I'm finding it more difficult in many cases. It's more about timing and strategy now, which I approve of. And obviously it helps to be able to attack in any direction, though they really need to work on some of those animations. So far, the technology progression seems to make more sense than it did before, too. I don't need to build the low-level version of something then upgrade it to the higher-level version.
They do seem to be missing an iron pick, though. I mean, it does make sense that a pickaxe will mine faster than a space gun. With all the technology we have on earth today, we still use a shovel to dig a hole. It's just the best tool for the job. But iron is a much harder metal than copper, and makes more sense as a material to make a mining tool. You'd only use copper if it were somehow more abundant or easier to obtain, which it isn't, in the game. Iron is all over the place. So why is there no recipe for an iron pick? Or is there one and I'm just totally blind? Because I searched the list a few times, certain I must be missing it, and couldn't find it. Then there's the silver pick... Silver is really quite soft. No one would ever use it for mining. Since picks wear out so quickly anyway, I don't see the point in making "this metal is rare" equal "this metal is strong." I'd vote for just making an iron one, getting rid of the others, having it wear out quickly, and then making the matter manipulator a bit faster at the start to eliminate frustrating grind.
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Topic: Starbound - Caveat emptor (Read 440995 times)