Bugs / Feedback

Hi All

Let me start by saying it pains me greatly to be writing this post. I'm a long time fan of Space Engineers with thousands of hours played however that game was starting to show its age and my excitement at learning SE2 was coming was huge.

So to support the new SE2 project I as I'm sure many of you probably did I bought the pioneer edition to show our support for a franchise that has given us all so much enjoyment. With the release of early access and a clear road map I had high hopes for SE2 and I'm hoping that with more time and much more work Keen can deliver a product that lives up to being a genuine successor to SE1.

While I understand early access is about supporting a developing product and with "Alpha" gameplay there is always going to bugs and glitches which with the support of the community we identify and help grow the project but that has for me at least become harder and harder to do when it seems the very core of SE2 is somehow fundamentally broken. VS2.3 seemed in the first few days to genuinely be a good step forward and to make the most of that I started a new survival save. I have somewhere between 100-200 hrs in this new save and for the most part its been ok, a little bumpy in places but in EA bugs are to be expected.

However I now find myself in the position that the game is literally unplayable, and that makes me rather sad. I made it with some difficulties to space and progressed to the Kemick sector and to Dustspire juction and it was here that the real issues started for me. The contract system as it current stands is literally broken. I mean I can overlook a wrong description or two, but when progression in your game is absolutely tied to the contract system and that system just doesn't work there are deeper issues that need addressing. Most of the bounty contracts as reported on here by quite a few players just wont complete. However these don't hinder progression so while frustrating just another bug to fix, but when the final contract at Dustspire to construct 3 satellites and progress to the next station/sector bug's out that's a bigger issue to me as now your halting a players progress.

I've now tried maybe a dozen times in various ways to get the contract to complete which freezes/bugs at the hand over stage. So as a last resort exited the game in order verify files on steam as this can sometimes be an issue. Now my save will NOT LOAD.

Keen I want to love SE2 as much as much as I do SE1 but you really do need to make sure that released gameplay mechanics that are so tied to game progression actually work.

I'll conclude by saying that I'm going to step away from SE2 for a year or so and hopefully Keen can iron out the broken mechanics that currently riddle the game. If they can do that I will most definitely be back in the future. I think as a long term fan that is the right thing to do here, my big worry is anyone new to the franchise may not be so forgiving or optimistic Keen can get SE2 where it needs to be to be that epic successor to SE1 we hope it can be.

Apologies for my ramblings but I'm off to play something that actually works.

Regards

Paul Floyd