Feedback Amalgamation

I don't know if this is faux pas to put it in this way. My feedback is either Positive ("Way to go! this game is amazing") or relatively minor. Not worth making multiple tickets for.

This will be a laundry list as there will be a bunch of little things. These are rather minor tweaks. Some help with gameplay. Some are just possible oversights. Just things I notice.

Feedback:

1) Grinding down (at least small, half block sizes with L2 Welder/Grinder) takes 5 seconds while welding it up takes less than a second. This is entirely too long for something so small. Consider adjusting grinding times to more match what welding would be for that item with commensurate tools (mk2 welder to Mk2 grinder if I wasn't being clear). I had to move some components on a ship I made that had some half size small blocks Welding up took me 7 mins. Grinding down the part I cut off and didn't need (an identical piece) took >30 minutes. I contemplated just leaving the grid in the system and just flying away from it because the time investment wasn't worth it. I feel like this is the wrong sentiment to have though.

2) Love Love love Love Love the sound and look of the grinder.

3) Love the new Drill. Looks awesome! The only nitpick I have is the "explosion" every second or 2 as you remove rock completely blocks my screen for half a second. I'm functionally blind for a solid second. I like the realism and the effect. Recommendation: Lower the Opacity on it to 60% or so. So I get the awesome explosion but I don't lose sight of the things I'm working on. It feels like too much to keep getting blinded from my work every 2 seconds or so.

4) Jetpack boost is altogether...off. If I flip off the inertial dampeners, I can get to 310 at the same speed as if I used the boost pack. Not only that, but the boost uses SO MUCH H2 just to accelerate at the same speed as no dampeners. I find that I have no need for the jetpack boost.

5) Safe Speed: I apprecate this as someone who yearned to build mechs but I got frustrated with feet blowing up. Mining in a hole and destroying parts by just scraping on the edges was somewhat frustrating but had elements of realism that I liked. I'm good with a "safe speed" but would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have a slider on it (for game settings) to set it between 20m/s and maybe 1m/s (always something for safe speed; depends on how you programmed it) or even 0m/s if you want hard mode back. As a veteran player, slamming into something at 20m/s is wreckless flying and feels like training wheels. It's too much for veterans but I like it for the newest players. Suggestion: don't make it go away, give me control over it so I can turn it down if I want.

6) Strongly dislike the fact that thrusters somehow work better in reverse (retro-thrust). I like knowing my thrust to weight ratio and being able to count on the acceleration or lack thereof, not having 2 tiny engines that somehow do the same as 2 bigger engines. It makes no sense. If you wanted to do it, you could put a boost mechanic in there which generates heat, but would account for boosted retro-thrust at the expense of fuel or heat which would do damage if left on over time. something like that. Otherwise, uniform thrust to weight ratios are going to cause the least amount of headaches. I think the biggest problems with SE1 thrusters is the thrust to weight ratios were abysmal and you needed a bunch of MASSIVE thrusters just to fly a ship that's (large block) 30blocks x 20 blocks and has a refinery on it. A fun mechanic would be heat generation that will shut down the engines if you boost too long. Takes out a direction (like killing forward thrust for an amount of time to get the engines back to operating temp). Could add some risk/reward to some combat plays. Just a thought. '

7) in the Tab screen for inventory or when you press "F" to get into an inventory. Would be cool to have Q and E flip through tabs "Inventory" <> "Control Panel" <> "Production" with A and D in here jumping in sub-menus like "assembler" <> "Gear Forge" <> "[else]" I like the hotkeys and accessibility to manipulate this game without needing to look atmy keyboard and find the letter K or M or "." Maybe Shift+Q/E for the Main tabs up top.

8) In the Production of any given production block, would be nice to click 1 time on the item to select, then multiple clicks to add to the build amount. Maybe then a Shift click to mimic "Produce". It would just be faster. Or shift click adds stacks of 10 to the desired build amount. Then Alt+click would Produce... This is an ease of use recommendation.

9) Dig/Destruction mode sort of makes a hole that is 1/100th of a size larger than my character. this causes me to get hung up on the voxels and unable to fly back out very easily without grinding more or needing to do some silly up/down and gyro/camera wilggle around to get back out. Odd that I passed through it on the way in, but can't get out on the way out. Bears looking into. Possible Solution: Make the Dig/Destruction removal radius just 10-15% larger with the Hand Drill.

10) The Stealth asteroids are kind of weird. It is exceedingly difficult to find asteroids, even when Almagest is not obscured by a planet. I blew up my sledge because I ran into the stealth asteroids The skybox doesn't give them enough contrast and the sun doesn't illuminate them very well (could just be an "I'm a game in Alpha trait"). Anyways This is just feedback. The asteroids could use a color shift from Off black when not in the sun (Hex color #4A4A4A) or something. Just to make them Not black. I have a 2k Screen running on High Graphics and I can't see them at all. It's really hard to find any asteroids. Not because they're not there. But because I can't physically see them.

11) Regarding Assembler Input vs Output or Fabricator Input vs output. It was nice in SE1 to have those tied together so things were mode succinct. Now I have a bunch more storage bins in my inventory, but not really. Some are input, some are output... It's a little overwhelming.

12) Would be nice to be able to click on one of the stations outside of Verdure or Kemik in the Map screen and see a Waypoint on your HUD when back out of the map. Eventually I will venture far enough away from these stations. But If I'm on Verdure, a ways out, and I don't want to orbit a planet a couple times until I can see a bubble pop up on my HUD. Just would be nice. For that and other things. I don't necessarily need a permanent GPS marker on my HUD for these. I just need it when I want to get there and jump to the next system.

13) The Marker Icons (GPS, Unknown Signals, Ore, etc) are all super huge. On approach of these, they completely dwarf the big asteroid they are near/on. They're definitely cool. would be nice to have them 25% smaller.

14) The Build info when you point your welder at things NEEDS to be shoved off in the upper right corner or even just right hand screen. It's right over what I'm building and it's commonly in the way. I find it more of a distraction than anything. I'll refer to it (off to the right) if I need it, otherwise I can just load my backpack. Build Info was an astounding mod in SE1. I'm glad it was simply integrated into SE2. It just is in the way.

15) LOVE backpack building. Makes starting out SOOOO much easier. I love it. It's limited but will get you going. Good enough. I'm pleased. No complaints.

Let me know if you have any questions. I'd be happy to add more information if need be.