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A large chunk of the problems would be solved if there were no sectors, and if there weren't any hardcoded locks on progression. It'd be great if you could conceivably take a brand new character onto a level 35 deathworld and scrape out enough ore to make a really cool sword, etc. A big help to that would be dismantling the shit AP/Armor system in favor of a HP-based system, and changing the tiers from straight upgrades into different types of specializations. Also, craftable ranged weapons.
2.
I think that the reason for the AP/Armour system is so that it seems different than Terraria. Not that it needs it, in my opinion. It's not like having a few systems be similar would be the end of the world.
To be honest, that's a really shitty reason, especially when the AP/armor system itself is so shit. Even if they revamped it, it would still be shit. There's a reason why pretty much every game with progression using scaling HP (or the equivalent) as a base: it
works. In Starbound as it stands, either you one-hit enemies that can't hurt you or are OHKOed by enemies you can't hurt (without cheesing with blocks). That is a direct result of the AP/Armor system. It's neither simple enough nor complex enough to function well.
I'd like to see something like this:
-HP scales based on level for monsters. Each mob type, when generated, includes a HP value from somewhere within the range for that level of normal mob. For example, a level 1 mob variant, when generated, may have a HP value somewhere in the range of 80-120HP. All of that "species" of mob would have the same HP value. Again, a level 50 mob would have, say, a HP value somewhere in the range of 800-1200HP (purely hypothetical).
-HP scales for players based on exploration and trade (can find items or buy items from traders to permanently increase HP up to a set cap); strength of items increased based on the level of the planet: a level 1 planet might give you items that boost HP by +2, while a level 25 planet could give ones that add +15 or something. You could work progression in here, by requiring certain things be accomplished to build HP beyond certain marks
-A similar scaling damage system for mobs and looted weapons.
-Crafted weapons which scale damage based on a player attribute, rather than the ore used, once you're past steel. So for example have a quest to improve spearcrafting, which increases the base damage of all player-crafted spears. Scatter a ton of these around the galaxy, both in the form of NPCs and in found lore. Make the ores past steel give different specialized attributes to their equipment, rather than flat progression. For example, let some mobs be generated with armor as a special trait, and have durasteel weapons have an armor-piercing effect. Have crafted Cerulium weapons get a random effect associated with ice or bubbles. Give Rubium weapons a damage bonus against large-sized mobs. Give the different armors different stats and set effects. Stuff like that.
-Again, get rid of sectors and intermix all the planets into a single zone. Let people access every ore at once after they get, say, a silver pick, provided they're good/lucky/thoughtful enough to do it.
It's so easy to make this better it isn't even funny. I honestly don't know what they were thinking.
e: Also, it took me two days to get from a new character to steel. It took me two hours to get from Aegisalt to Impervium to playing Smooth Criminal on a steel drum.
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Topic: Starbound - We have lift off. (Read 997209 times)