Progression/Block Unlocking in Survival
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I think the devs could plan to add tech unlocking through exploration + story simultaneously.
- You can unlock the same hydrogen thruster through both methods in a single game mode.
- This allows for a multi-dimensional approach to unlocking tech that would suit more than one play style.
- If you unlock the hydrogen thruster through exploration, then the story would no longer give the tech, but it could still give other rewards which might be valuable in multiple ways especially if there is an economy system later on.
As well the devs could also include the the ability to turn off progression in the same game mode, (meaning all blocks are unlocked) but allow you to do the story if you want as side missions (again for those other rewards). This option can also be presented as an entirely separate game mode.
Exploration options for unlocking tech:
- Farming a resource from a plant/animal.
- Coming across a data pad on a mission or during an encounter.
- Scanning tech you find/see during encounters, abandoned bases, crashed ship sites.
- Raiding pirate faction ships for tech unlocks.
- Building tech on missions or encounters (thus you learned how to construct the tech).
- Mining the appropriate ore/resource for tech unlocks.
I like this feedback
Just think when more content is in the game you could be exploring worlds for different reasons. Farming? Lore? Getting a mineral under water, to upgrade suit or jetpack etc. And as you do this you could stumble on ways to unlock technology allowing you to do multiple things at once while making exploration more valuable.
Just think when more content is in the game you could be exploring worlds for different reasons. Farming? Lore? Getting a mineral under water, to upgrade suit or jetpack etc. And as you do this you could stumble on ways to unlock technology allowing you to do multiple things at once while making exploration more valuable.
Yes! Unlocks could come via some type of XP system so that hitting unknown signals, doing side quests, hitting trade stations, destroying enemy NPCs, or main story can all build XP to unlock the blocks.
Not relevant really for VS2 since we only have contracts... but going forward a worthwhile consideration.
Yes! Unlocks could come via some type of XP system so that hitting unknown signals, doing side quests, hitting trade stations, destroying enemy NPCs, or main story can all build XP to unlock the blocks.
Not relevant really for VS2 since we only have contracts... but going forward a worthwhile consideration.
"Right now we only have one 'faction', the overarching colonization one. Keen has released ideas for others, and I am assuming with this post that they will be in conflict with each other, and you the player has the ability to join different ones and work towards their goals via Contracts.
That is the main point, a different type of progression for factions and blocks. Contracts for factions, and something else for general blocks."
-From a thread I made on a progression proposal, it got like one vote lol
Your ideas are nice, the only thing that might be a problem for players is that point 2 and 3 rely on wandering around waiting for random spawns, to unlock blocks. If the current -linear- unlocking system is used, you as the player could get stuck and frustrated waiting for what you need to spawn in?
Your 6 general ideas actually fall into 3 different types of progression systems, if you take a step back and think on SE2's planned systems as a gameplay loop:
Points 1 & 6 --- Your default block progression system, you can plan ahead for it (Skyrim crafting)
Points 2 & 3 --- Your random loot drops, or unique things (Skyrim side quests)
Points 4 & 5 --- Your faction rewards for completing their posted contracts, cool faction loot at higher tiers of completion (Skyrim faction quest rewards and advancements)
...if they separate the two. If they keep one progression system for everything, your points could still work pretty well with non-block progression unlocks, i.e. loot.
"Right now we only have one 'faction', the overarching colonization one. Keen has released ideas for others, and I am assuming with this post that they will be in conflict with each other, and you the player has the ability to join different ones and work towards their goals via Contracts.
That is the main point, a different type of progression for factions and blocks. Contracts for factions, and something else for general blocks."
-From a thread I made on a progression proposal, it got like one vote lol
Your ideas are nice, the only thing that might be a problem for players is that point 2 and 3 rely on wandering around waiting for random spawns, to unlock blocks. If the current -linear- unlocking system is used, you as the player could get stuck and frustrated waiting for what you need to spawn in?
Your 6 general ideas actually fall into 3 different types of progression systems, if you take a step back and think on SE2's planned systems as a gameplay loop:
Points 1 & 6 --- Your default block progression system, you can plan ahead for it (Skyrim crafting)
Points 2 & 3 --- Your random loot drops, or unique things (Skyrim side quests)
Points 4 & 5 --- Your faction rewards for completing their posted contracts, cool faction loot at higher tiers of completion (Skyrim faction quest rewards and advancements)
...if they separate the two. If they keep one progression system for everything, your points could still work pretty well with non-block progression unlocks, i.e. loot.
Woops, forgot to add the 'association' indexed to the 'analogy' in Skyrim.
SE2 'block' progression, SE2 'loot' progression, and SE2 'colonization' progression systems, respectively, on the 3 different examples of emergent gameplay.
Woops, forgot to add the 'association' indexed to the 'analogy' in Skyrim.
SE2 'block' progression, SE2 'loot' progression, and SE2 'colonization' progression systems, respectively, on the 3 different examples of emergent gameplay.
You could expand the progression system to be more generic, so that it supports both the story-line mode and free survival play, while still being simple. Similar to what Diggrok suggested above, make it a point system, but have a research tree where the player can choose how he progresses.
Then it would simply go so, that you get "research points" from suitable sources, which the player accumulates, and can then spend to unlock the nodes in the research tree. "Suitable sources" could depend on the game mode or it could be the same for all. Depends on what they are and how we want it to actually work. An example list of things that could give research points:
- Completing story missions. These could be a significant amount so that if you choose to play the story mode, you have a clear incentive to prefer the missions.
- Loot from encounters. More difficult and/or rarer ones would give larger amounts while easy/common ones give a smaller amount.
- Non-story missions could give research points as reward. Could even be tied to the mission type and its flavor description e.g. "recover cargo containing valuable information", "explore strange anomaly", "salvage high-tech block from wreck" etc.
- Own research. Finding new resource types the first time could award research points. Assuming there will be animals/monsters at some point, encountering one type the first time could give points. Building a new block the first time could give points.
Of course, to make the research tree work appropriately in a game where the resources available to the player and his power are constantly growing, the research costs should increase as you progress through the research tree.
Basing the unlocking of blocks on accumulating points, gives the devs and modders the freedom to decide which accomplishments generate points. By giving the player the choice on how he spends those points, gives him the freedom to proceed through the research tree on a path he likes the most.
You could expand the progression system to be more generic, so that it supports both the story-line mode and free survival play, while still being simple. Similar to what Diggrok suggested above, make it a point system, but have a research tree where the player can choose how he progresses.
Then it would simply go so, that you get "research points" from suitable sources, which the player accumulates, and can then spend to unlock the nodes in the research tree. "Suitable sources" could depend on the game mode or it could be the same for all. Depends on what they are and how we want it to actually work. An example list of things that could give research points:
- Completing story missions. These could be a significant amount so that if you choose to play the story mode, you have a clear incentive to prefer the missions.
- Loot from encounters. More difficult and/or rarer ones would give larger amounts while easy/common ones give a smaller amount.
- Non-story missions could give research points as reward. Could even be tied to the mission type and its flavor description e.g. "recover cargo containing valuable information", "explore strange anomaly", "salvage high-tech block from wreck" etc.
- Own research. Finding new resource types the first time could award research points. Assuming there will be animals/monsters at some point, encountering one type the first time could give points. Building a new block the first time could give points.
Of course, to make the research tree work appropriately in a game where the resources available to the player and his power are constantly growing, the research costs should increase as you progress through the research tree.
Basing the unlocking of blocks on accumulating points, gives the devs and modders the freedom to decide which accomplishments generate points. By giving the player the choice on how he spends those points, gives him the freedom to proceed through the research tree on a path he likes the most.
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