Used Ships Market and Gameplay Loop

Waterlimon shared this feedback ago

Not Enough Votes

Obtain money by completing contracts
Buy a broken ship where the price reflects degree of damage
Repair / Upgrade / Grind it using lessons learned in tutorial
Sell it back for money or Use it for contracts or Use it to upgrade your existing ship
Repeat

This has the following benefits:

Approachable for new players - repair and upgrade is easier than building a ship/station from scratch
Adjusts to player skills and preferences - you can buy a fully functioning ship/station for lots of money, or a complete wreck for a lot less money. You can buy a tiny ship, or a massive one.
Challenging - each broken ship is a unique case and keen can build in surprises
Player choice - do I repair? do I upgrade? do I grind for components? do I transfer parts to my existing ship?
Challenge - analyze what functions of the ship are functional, and what is missing. What is worth keeping, what is not. How to safely work on the ship if there are hazards.
Educational - repairing various ships teaches player how to build one of their own.
Motivating - you get new ships to work on by trading in money from contracts

Want to build your own ships? Buy wrecks from ships market for grinding and use components to build your own.

Want better ship? Buy a good condition one from market.

Want to repair ships? Buy a damaged one from market, repair it, sell it.

Need better ship but are poor? Buy a damaged one, repair it, use it.

Want to upgrade your own ship? Buy a damaged one with the blocks you need and transfer them over to you own ship (I wish we had Rare blocks or weapon heads or such worth collecting)

Want to learn how ships are built? Repair and grind some down, youll learn in the process!

Eventually player will reach a point where they have the will, resources, and skills, to build their own ships of their own design, from scratch. But I think the Used Ships Market and the gameplay around it would form a solid core that stays relevant even endgame.

I talked about ships but stations work too.

I like this feedback

Replies (1)

Waterlimon ●

The big implementation question is, where does the broken ship end up after you buy it (doesnt really apply to functional ships)?

There should be options:

Reserve a pad at the station that functions as the Used Ships Market. Then you use the station services to work on the ship.
Have it be delivered to your own station using remote jump drive technology. Choose between a pad (marked by a connector) or a region of empty space near the station.
Use your existing ship to transport the bought wreck. Either physically pull it, or somehow use a jump drive to transport both ships together to your station.

It needs to be real easy so new players dont need to think about it too much.

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