Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Sean Mirrsen]

Actually, if the place containing the item needed to progress is either a challenge in and of itself (i.e. a hard platforming dungeon with little possibility for cutting corners), or if it's just a place where the item is sold, then posting coordinates online won't change a thing. It'll make it less frustrating to search for, but won't make obtaining it any easier.

Personally, I like to imagine the place containing the Molten Core (or a Metalworking Station) in Alpha Sector to be a huge, towering industrial complex filled with magma and steampunk defenses that are weak enough to handle with a hunting bow and basic sword. So it's a place that you literally can't miss even from orbit, meaning that you'll see it on the system map if you travel to the system, as per the event system I outlined earlier.

[Guardian G.I.]

Is there a way to pause the game without quitting it?

[Sean Mirrsen]

Is there a way to pause the game without quitting it?

Build a cocoon of anything around yourself and you should be safe from almost everything, but you can't actually pause it as far as I know.

[Sappho]

Actually, if the place containing the item needed to progress is either a challenge in and of itself (i.e. a hard platforming dungeon with little possibility for cutting corners), or if it's just a place where the item is sold, then posting coordinates online won't change a thing. It'll make it less frustrating to search for, but won't make obtaining it any easier.

Personally, I like to imagine the place containing the Molten Core (or a Metalworking Station) in Alpha Sector to be a huge, towering industrial complex filled with magma and steampunk defenses that are weak enough to handle with a hunting bow and basic sword. So it's a place that you literally can't miss even from orbit, meaning that you'll see it on the system map if you travel to the system, as per the event system I outlined earlier.

But in that case, it's still a combat-based tier system. There's no way to advance without good equipment or fighting skills. Why can't there be a way to get it without having to fight something? I'm still dying on level 6 planets, and I promise you, I'm trying my hardest. I didn't buy this game to fight, I bought it to build and explore, and I'm not able to do that unless I fight stuff. There ought to be a way to do it without fighting. Make the rare find spawn in a random location for each player, independently of the generation of the planets, so that the coordinates can't be shared. Make it something you can buy, but in order to buy it, you have to do a ton of complicated crafting stuff to make the item to trade for it. Make an option that doesn't require fighting. I guarantee I'm not the only one who was sold on this game by the impression that it's about crafting, building, and exploring. Why is everything locked by combat only?

Those who are saying that other ways would be "too easy"... It sounds like you enjoy the fighting part. In fact, once combat is better balanced, I'd be willing to bet the first "boss" won't be too difficult to beat for those of you who like fighting. Probably far easier than doing some elaborate crafting to get to the next tier. Why is everyone so dead set against there being a way to do it for those of us who generally just suck at fighting and don't enjoy it?

[Sean Mirrsen]

The platforming dungeon wouldn't be combat-locked. It would be platforming-locked. The basic hunting bow is a pathetic weapon, and the idea is for the "defenses" to have as much HP as a pixel pot - they'd be there to annoy and distract, not kill. When you're standing on a ledge above a magma sea, the last thing you want is a steam engine shooting BBs at you.

So, sort of a location boss. A place you have to get through, rather than fight through. Maybe filled with indestructible doors and cunningly hidden switches, in addition to randomly strewn-about logbooks and diaries detailing the reasons why the complex is abandoned. Stuff like that.

[Sappho]

The platforming dungeon wouldn't be combat-locked. It would be platforming-locked. The basic hunting bow is a pathetic weapon, and the idea is for the "defenses" to have as much HP as a pixel pot - they'd be there to annoy and distract, not kill. When you're standing on a ledge above a magma sea, the last thing you want is a steam engine shooting BBs at you.

So, sort of a location boss. A place you have to get through, rather than fight through. Maybe filled with indestructible doors and cunningly hidden switches, in addition to randomly strewn-about logbooks and diaries detailing the reasons why the complex is abandoned. Stuff like that.

Aha, I understand what you meant now. That could be good as well. I'd still vote for a crafting route though. Something really convoluted, not necessarily difficult, but with so many steps requiring things from so many different kinds of planets that most people would find it easier to just go the combat route.

[werty892]

Spoiler: Exploration. (click to show/hide)

This game is really beautiful sometimes, and the music

[Sappho]

Spoiler: So, um... How do I know when I'm in space? (click to show/hide)

[Darkmere]

Why is everyone so dead set against there being a way to do it for those of us who generally just suck at fighting and don't enjoy it?

I'm not, I would just prefer that if there was a mode to circumvent tiered progression (the "sandbox mode" mentioned earlier... which I am in the process of typing up as a suggestion to the devs right now) that it isn't overlapped with the storyline mode. I'd probably play the sandbox mode on occasion just to mess around with other races and scout planets for decorations to steal liberate on my main adventure character. If such a mode existed I wouldn't even want to bother with the tiered progression at all, just have everything unlocked from the start and let players go where they want when they want and gather whatever they choose.

How do you know when you're in space? You'll freeze to death almost instantly. I had to fly up for a long time in a gravity bubble to hit that point. it's really far.

[Sappho]

Well, I've been building this space ladder (it stopped being a tree long ago when I ran out of wood) for a long time now and it's getting tedious. I think I might just leave it at its current height and build a fort up here. It's pretty beautiful, anyway, especially during the day.

[Flying Dice]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think the problem with your view, FD, is that you seem to consider some hundred thousand pixels an "exorbitant cost" for an elaborate structure.

*sigh* I know I'm a bit behind here, but this is what's frustrating, that everyone is ignoring the one point I've been trying to make. I don't have a problem with a massive compound costing hundreds of thousands of pixels. I have a problem with a modest base (the sort that an active builder in Terraria would probably have before entering Hardmode) costing that much.

This is why I want basic blocks (concrete, fancy panels, temple bricks, whatever the Floran buildings are made out of--not fucking plutonium ore or golden furniture) to cost relatively little.

I did a rough hand count of the number of blocks visible on-screen (at least on my resolution; 1920x1080p), and got an estimate of 3182. Now, that's actually a little cheap for a 1p cost. Make that a 3p cost and you're paying just under 10k just for the walls and backwall of one screen worth of structure. That's reasonable. Now if you take the prices that people apparently want, say 10p (~32k pixels) or 25p (~80k pixels) per block and the price for one screen of structure is obscene, before you ever get around to actually decorating it.

Here is my point, since people have apparently been ignoring it: When basic blocks are printable at the 3D printer, they should cost <5p OR should be craftable as well, because a per-block cost higher than that quickly becomes too high for a builder to feasibly construct decent-sized bases. I am not objecting to printer costs as a concept, I am not objecting to the central progression grind, I am not objecting to golden toilets and shit being expensive to print. I AM objecting to annoying ancillary grind that is neither interesting nor necessary.

In Terraria, my homeworld base took up (rough estimate) around 9-10k blocks worth of material, all of which took me less than two hours to gather. Currently it would take more than that just to find enough generated bases to mine out, never mind actually doing it. With high pixel costs on those blocks at the printer, it would take more than that just to gather the cash to print them out--this is at endgame, mind you.

I'm not saying that someone should be able to throw up a massive base in a couple hours on a new character, I'm saying that someone on an endgame character shouldn't have to waste a week worth of gameplay just to be able to purchase some of the basic components of the base they want to build. This is not an MMO; there is no element of competition beyond any we create ourselves, so therefore there should not be the sort of grind which exists only to ensure that the most dedicated players are able to enjoy themselves.

e: Think about it this way: How much does it cost to make a set of top-tier armor and weapons? Maybe 2000-2500 pixels? The cost of a good, big base shouldn't be an order of magnitude above that.

Why is everyone so dead set against there being a way to do it for those of us who generally just suck at fighting and don't enjoy it?

I'm not, I would just prefer that if there was a mode to circumvent tiered progression (the "sandbox mode" mentioned earlier... which I am in the process of typing up as a suggestion to the devs right now) that it isn't overlapped with the storyline mode. I'd probably play the sandbox mode on occasion just to mess around with other races and scout planets for decorations to steal liberate on my main adventure character. If such a mode existed I wouldn't even want to bother with the tiered progression at all, just have everything unlocked from the start and let players go where they want when they want and gather whatever they choose.

I don't think anyone is saying that there should be a way to ignore the central progression. Sequence-breaking != skipping. What we've been arguing for is that people should be able to go straight to a top-level planet once they get fuel, not that they should be able to craft higher-tier armor without beating bosses.

Gods below, I'm trying really hard to avoid a rant about reading comprehension right now. Don't need that sort of stress, it's already my birthday and the start of finals week. >.>

[Kaitol]

Except the people who are saying they're terrible at combat and just want to craft and explore. Bosses being optional would be for them. And whats the point of making bosses mandatory for tiers if you can go to a level 45 planet and cheese out level 45 weapons and armor?

[jhxmt]

By the way, I've been uploading screen shots to my Steam account. Is anyone else doing that? I want to see stuff that people have found!

Here's one of me and a friend rocking out above a desert canyon.

It was funny - joining me in multiplayer was his first experience of the game.  He had a mic, so I got to listen to him being incredibly overawed for a long time.  We didn't even do that much - a bit of mining/cave diving, exploring the planetary surface, and then I showed him the navigation interface and how to get to new worlds (and the number of them).  He was starstruck.

Then I showed him musical instruments.  I think he's suffering from overload now.    He's never played Terraria, either, so the whole set of game mechanics is new to him too.

[Gunner-Chan]

Bosses being optional would be for them. And whats the point of making bosses mandatory for tiers if you can go to a level 45 planet and cheese out level 45 weapons and armor?

That would be silly honestly, since then you could go all the way to sector x and run around till you find a chest with a weapon and just trivialize most of the content in the game. That's exactly why I don't like early Terraria, you're wasting your time if you don't get gold as soon as possible.

I would like the random building blocks you find as 3d printable though. Since it means I can then grab a few blocks from a dungeon and later on print myself some building materials instead of having to take down a building in the style I already want. Like 10-15p for 25-50 blocks sounds alright.

By the way, I've been uploading screen shots to my Steam account. Is anyone else doing that? I want to see stuff that people have found!

I did find some blue penis monsters the last time I played.

[werty892]

Spoiler: What lurks in the deep? (click to show/hide)