Played Capt. Jameson for first time! (feedback)

[daleadil]

I posted on Reddit CF, but it seems this is the primary community.
So if you guys don't mind, I'll just cross-post this here.

Regarding: CAPTAIN JAMESON ALPHA VERSION 0.3

Captain Jameson First-Play Experiences:

First Life: First thing's first, I explored the new UI. Unfortunately, I accidentally undocked my self while exploring the UI. So by the time I had figured out how to communicate with the stations and figured out how to read the map, and flew around a bit, I was super low on oxygen. In fact, I didn't even know there was an oxygen mechanic until I got the warning sign that my oxygen was low... so yeah, I died of hypoxia.

Second Life: I was able to reach the unknown stations (marked "?" on the map), but I didn't really know how to activate it. I think I'm supposed to transport a passenger or something? Perhaps killing the surrounding mobs will activate the station? I died of hypoxia before I could figure out how to activate it. Can someone tell me how to activate the stations?

Third Life: Alright! I read the in-game FAQ. It turns out trying to access a greyed out station triggers a guardian mob to spawn. Defeating the guardian mob releases the station for use. I'm still alive! At least I didn't die of hypoxia this time. I liberated one oxygen station, but it turns out I got lucky when I killed its guardian, I found a little crack its charlie level armor that lodged my command module in and I blasted away until it was dead. Unfortunately I wasn't so lucky when I tried to liberate another nearby station. The guardian was too tough and it killed me before I killed it.

Fourth Life: This time I liberated 2 orange level OXY and NAV stations. Then I died to the REP guardian. I'm improving, but I'm also still dying. I think its because I don't have that many modules attached to my ship. By now, I've learned not to activate stations before I feel I have the fire power to take on the guardians. For my next life, I plan on flying around a bit, collecting modules before I try to activate a station.

Suggestion Based on Experiences:

Possible Problem

Suggested Fix

[/b][/td][/tr][tr][td]New players don't know how to activate station.[/td][td]Make it more obvious by including a message amongst the TELNET static.
Here's a crude mock-up of what I mean: i.min.us/idLPYy.png[/td][/tr][tr][td]First few guardians are way too hard. I didn't really even have any modules when I fought my first guardian...[/td][td]Maybe for the first few guardians, decrease their difficulty? I know they're supposed to be bosses, but most players in their first few lives don't have that many modules attached, if any at all. Expecting them to fight charlie-level super armored guardians is a bit much.[/td][/tr][/table]

[rb10c]

I respectfully disagree. I think, the first guardians are by far the easiest, due to their shape. You just need to wedge yourself somewhere without getting shot... However, the importance of oxygen was not there.

[daleadil]

Seeing as how I haven't gotten to the later stages of the game yet, I can't really respond to your comment about the guardians.

As for the oxygen, Alpha 0.2 came with a few fixes. Plus, I haven't seen the later stages of the game yet, so I don't want to say, "INCREASE OUR OXYGEN TANK!" and realize later on that the game has become boring.

Plus, the home base actually has an OXY station that you can always fly back to. So the life I'm playing right now, I haven't really died of hypoxia yet.

[Darkond2100]

Sounds to me like you had a relatively easy time. My first game, multiple Guardians ganged up on me over and over again before I could figure out what was doing wrong. WHAT GUIDE?!? (xP)

[sdonai]

I agree with the idea of putting some sort of help into com static. If i hadn't watched a few youtube videos beforehand i wouldn't of even known about how to communicate with stations and such.

I think the first couple gaurdians are about as hard as they should be. My problem with alpha is that there aren't very many docking stations at all. I don't have hours to play the game and it gets fustrating when i have to go do something else and i can't find a docking station.

[Vaconcovat]

Hmm, yes i'd say tweak the worldgen just a little to only slightly increase the chance of a dck station. It is quite annoying that the dck stations are so far apart.

[ggodeye]

Edit (revised entire post):
I don't think I've ever so strongly loved and hated a game at the same time. I often go from feeling like I own the universe to dead in a < 3 seconds. Just want to share my experience and hope to help other frustrated beginners.

First 2 (3?) lives were uneventful. Took me that long just to figure out how to "save" properly.

Started making a lot more progress once I figured out how to remap the space bar to the right mouse button, that enemies respawn after reloading and found this cptforever.hollowpointpuffin.com/mapgenerator.php?mapID=3.

Some tips I have: Bubble shields and blurst shields are the only chance I have until Delta. Period. I will often save/load until I find a Alpha or Bravo bubble shield (then upgrade alpha to bravo at UB near start). The blurst shield factory near the origin is my best friend and I use it to buy enough of them to create a wall on my front for liberating stations from guardians. I just face them until they deflect enough shots to blow up their own guns. Once I have some cash I go to the charlie factory @ -108x,800y and buy 1-3 chronogears.

My first real attempt lasted 20+ hrs. Had a good set up of modules with entire front and side protected by bravo blurst shields, 3 oxygen mods, 2 chronogears and my front guns protected by bravo bubble shields. Ended up in an early grave due to asphyxiation. Downward spiral started by unintentionally grabbing a crucial structural part off my ship and causing the entire starboard side to disperse into space. Greed was my real downfall and spent 3 seconds too long trying to grab every high end module I could before heading to the nearest O2 station. Ended up suffocating with an OD on the screen but not close enough to contact. In hindsight, it should have taken me 3ish hours to get this far instead of 20+.

My next attempt had a greatly expedited start due to wonderful luck. Found 1 alpha oxygen mod, 2 alpha chronogears, 1 charlie and 1 bravo bubble shield in the first 10 minutes. Currently taking out Delta ships with this set up and working on getting my propulsion up to acceptable acceleration levels. I haven't spent any time gathering and selling parts for cash this round. Saving a ton of time, but have no blurst shields. The delta snipe lasers, bubble shields and chronogears combo make them a non-issue thus far.

I'm not quite sure what to do with myself at this point. I'm considering spending time building up some cash from salvaged charlie ships to buy a blurst shield wall and then taking the echo scrap yard and dock @ 148x,-20y. I'm worried that I will encounter a guardian with spikes and get owned.

Any suggestions?

[Farbs]

Are there any echo or foxtrot boot/jackers around? If so, I'd recommend scouting them to see if any are poorly designed but well armed. Usually when I find there's no obvious route forward via scrapping and purchasing one or two random modules from a successful boot/jacker hunt put me back on track.

Often when I'm nervous about taking on a higher level guardian I'm right to be, and end up scampering off with a reduced set of modules and my tail between my legs. When I come into a fight with a decent set of weapons I'm usually fine.

[scrander]

Wait...there are stations beyond the 500x, -500x, 500y, -500y limit? Never mind, the coordinates in question are -108x 52y.

Also, don't worry too much about spikes. Just keep your distance and fire away. I think of blurst shields as a last resort with the guarantee that spikes will never EVER touch them.