Backpack crafting with more substantial cost
I think backpack crafting was a really good idea. It allows the player to start from scratch with nothing but his suit and tools. This is good. I like it. Keep the backpack crafting.
However, currently it is too good. The time increase when building from raw ores instead of components, is hardly noticeable. This makes it now so, that as a player you *prefer* building from raw ores, because the same ore can be used for many components, and the cost is insignificant.
We want to be able to start from scratch. That is very good indeed. It just needs balancing. Here's a suggestion:
- Increase the building time when using raw ores. Make it take double the time to build, compared to building from ready-made components.
- Add a resource cost to it. Have it take double the amount of raw ores to build a block, compared to first turning the raw ore into components.
Or, better yet, make the above "raw ore penalties" a custom difficulty setting, so that each player can adjust them to their preference. This would be the ideal solution.
With this change we still can start from scratch with nothing but our tools, but now there's a visible cost to it when building directly from raw ores. When turning the same amount of iron first into steel plates allows you to build 100 armor cubes, instead of 50 cubes with raw iron, building a smelter and using it, suddenly seems a really good idea.
This way we have an incentive to switch over to crafting components with devices as soon as we can, and the backpack crafting will remain the tool for the very early game, and for special circumstances. We would naturally prefer crafting ore first into components with devices because there's a clear advantage in doing so.
Yet we can still build up from nothing. Which I really genuinely like. Don't remove that possibility. Just balance the backpack crafting.
I like this feedback
To clarify with a simple example:
Currently in the game we have:
- The smelter needs 35 kg of iron ore to craft 1 steel plate
- You need 30 steel plates to build a 2.5 m armor full cube
- Or you can build that 2.5 m cube directly with 1050 kg of iron ore
30 x 35 kg = 1050 kg
The resource cost is the same whether you build the cube directly with iron ore or you craft the ore first into steel plates. This is the problem. There's no resource advantage in turning the ore into plates first, and the additional time delay in building is too small to matter.
If we change it so, that using directly raw ores when building blocks consume 2x the resources, while keeping otherwise the numbers the same we get:
- Smelter needs 35 kg of iron ore to craft 1 steel plate (same as before)
- You need 30 steel plates to build 1 armor cube (same as before)
- Or you can build it directly with 2 x 30 x 35 = 2100 kg of iron ore (double cost for raw ore building)
Now the player gets a clear choice:
- He can use his 2100 kg of iron ore directly to build one (1) armor cube
- Or he can use those same 2100 kg of iron ore to craft 60 steel plates, and then build two (2) armor cubes
Given this choice, you now have a very good incentive to craft components first and build blocks using them.
To clarify with a simple example:
Currently in the game we have:
- The smelter needs 35 kg of iron ore to craft 1 steel plate
- You need 30 steel plates to build a 2.5 m armor full cube
- Or you can build that 2.5 m cube directly with 1050 kg of iron ore
30 x 35 kg = 1050 kg
The resource cost is the same whether you build the cube directly with iron ore or you craft the ore first into steel plates. This is the problem. There's no resource advantage in turning the ore into plates first, and the additional time delay in building is too small to matter.
If we change it so, that using directly raw ores when building blocks consume 2x the resources, while keeping otherwise the numbers the same we get:
- Smelter needs 35 kg of iron ore to craft 1 steel plate (same as before)
- You need 30 steel plates to build 1 armor cube (same as before)
- Or you can build it directly with 2 x 30 x 35 = 2100 kg of iron ore (double cost for raw ore building)
Now the player gets a clear choice:
- He can use his 2100 kg of iron ore directly to build one (1) armor cube
- Or he can use those same 2100 kg of iron ore to craft 60 steel plates, and then build two (2) armor cubes
Given this choice, you now have a very good incentive to craft components first and build blocks using them.
Replies have been locked on this page!