Backpack Welding and Early game progression - But BETTER
Let me preface this by saying i understand this is an Alpha state, and most of these features will probably be iterated upon at a later date, still i thought i'd share where i'd like to see the early game progression and some of the key features i highlighted in the future.
Backpack welding and no hydrogen cost for basic jetpack use:
Space Engineers 1 had a very steep learning curve in the beginning. I came from other similar titles and still felt barricaded by lack of guides and instructions around how parts and tools interacted with each other.
Space Engineers 2 however has turned that around entirely. Not only do we get a fully fleshed out tutorial/introductory system to the game in the shape of contracts and other mission early on, but Keen has, very obviously, reduced the complexity for newer players to jump in and start building with the new backpack welding and no hydrogen cost for basic jetpack use. This is both a good and bad thing.
The good:
- early game progression is easier, a player with almost no experience in the genre could come in and build their first ship/base with little to no restrictions and hand-holding
The bad:
- the existing fanbase and other players jumping into the title looking for a reasonably challenging survival experience will find themselves unsatisfied.
The compromise:
A couple recommendations i believe will fit well and allow both parties satisfied simultaneously
- turn the backpack + jetpack combo into an upgradable equipment item with scaling tiers (similar to player tools), and turn the backpack welding into a feature included in the advanced tiers, locked by some small form of progression.
- introduce different variations of backpacks. Hauling backpacks for larger storage capacity with increased hydrogen cost for jetpack use (makes sense, heavy stuff requires more juice to travel with). A lighter backpack variant with reduced weight capacity and no hydrogen cost for basic jetpack use (what we have now). and a more expensive to craft but clearly better backpack variant that has a large capacity AND no hydrogen cost for basic jetpack use.
I understand the overall intention of no hydrogen cost for basic jetpack use, it is a good thing (more like a must) for extended periods of building. but in its current state it just reduces the difficulty of the game, a reward i feel like i don't deserve until i put in some effort to achieve at least. - adjust the starter hydrogen ship we get for completing the first couple of missions to enable small scale production of materials needed for contracts to offset the removal of immediately available backpack welding.
I feel like these adjustments to the new features Keen has introduced provides a balanced experience for new and returning players alike. I am all for QoL features- Backpack Welding is amazing and i love not worrying about hydrogen when building, but these things fit in better as a reward given after early game struggle. Space is not easy, outright making your space game easier tends to come with negative feedback from existing players.
I like this feedback
I have another idea, instead of backpack building there could be tethered/hose building, where we can connect our suite to some device with a hose/tether limited range. Tiers could update the range/slope we could transport materials with. Later on if automatons also arrive in se2 this could be extended by having the device on a drone that follows the player around and another drone that transports construction materials between the assembler and the device on the drone.
I have another idea, instead of backpack building there could be tethered/hose building, where we can connect our suite to some device with a hose/tether limited range. Tiers could update the range/slope we could transport materials with. Later on if automatons also arrive in se2 this could be extended by having the device on a drone that follows the player around and another drone that transports construction materials between the assembler and the device on the drone.
I get that they wanted to reduce complexity for the early game and what tends to be a lot of running back and forth with basic components and the constant "inventory full" messages, but I do think maybe they went a little too far with the ability to build directly from raw unprocessed ores.
If they brought mining of stone back in, made it so that ore/stone need to be refined into ingots again, but let the player build basic components on the fly from those ingots, it would be a nice middle ground between the old (quite tedious) mechanic and the new (too simplified) one.
And I like the tether idea, which would go nicely on top. Many bad things can be said about Starbase, but the tether mechanic in that game worked really well and deserves to be copied.
I get that they wanted to reduce complexity for the early game and what tends to be a lot of running back and forth with basic components and the constant "inventory full" messages, but I do think maybe they went a little too far with the ability to build directly from raw unprocessed ores.
If they brought mining of stone back in, made it so that ore/stone need to be refined into ingots again, but let the player build basic components on the fly from those ingots, it would be a nice middle ground between the old (quite tedious) mechanic and the new (too simplified) one.
And I like the tether idea, which would go nicely on top. Many bad things can be said about Starbase, but the tether mechanic in that game worked really well and deserves to be copied.
The whole idea behind backpack welding was to allow players to start building from scratch with nothing else than set of basic hand tools. Like in any other survivol game. I think it should be available from the start, but should be heavily limited. It should be right enough to built a smelter and a battery but not much more. Then gain new features with new tiers. And perhaps even at the highest tiers, it shouldn't be able to do everything, so that the use of production blocks is still necessary. And may be have some negative effect, like wasting more ores or energy, so that player were motivated not to use it too much.
The whole idea behind backpack welding was to allow players to start building from scratch with nothing else than set of basic hand tools. Like in any other survivol game. I think it should be available from the start, but should be heavily limited. It should be right enough to built a smelter and a battery but not much more. Then gain new features with new tiers. And perhaps even at the highest tiers, it shouldn't be able to do everything, so that the use of production blocks is still necessary. And may be have some negative effect, like wasting more ores or energy, so that player were motivated not to use it too much.
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