The Refinery And How It Hurts The Game

I can't see it as unbalanced. I've never scraped by to get 1000 pixels, and it doesn't sound like most have either. Fact is, once we have the ability to sell things, it will matter even less.

This all above and beyond the fact that there isn't a whole lot of use for pixels other than those brief interludes of armor and weapon building once you reach a new alloy tier, or wanting to decorate with all the items you've synthesized in the 3D printer.

 

Once dying is actually easy again rather than it being nigh IMPOSSIBLE to die (no fall damage, enemies damage is laughable, dat HP gain) it'll be worth something again.

Until then? Well...

 

Once you hit the last sector you can find so much ore on most of the planets that you can build up a really good stock of money in no time. I found it really handy for building a base as I just use the 3D printer and boy can you go through the credits with that.

 

What about making refinery smelt ALL your ores everytime you use it? Easy way to obtain pixels for sure, but not a safe way to store pixels. Atm its quite unbalanced, and it kills the compressor purpose. What do you think about this?

 

The compressor never had to exist in the first place but stupid people had to cry and moan about how they had no way of storing pixels

 

I'm sitting on 60k compressed pixels atm without using the refinery. I can make over 10k pixels while running a loop around a large planet. The OP's argument is invalid.

 

I share your opinion tbh, i don't like the way this game is going(aka from a challenging game to a casual friendly platformer) but compressor is here, so lets just make it useful. It's stupid to have a bank like refinery that can dish out tons or pixels

 

The drills in particular are pixel hungry. The materials to craft to the next tier (up to 4 so far) are pixel hungry. As the implement more full tiers the need for pixels will continue to grow.

Pixel farming is rather tedious. A good mining expedition can keep you rolling in pixels for quite some time. Unless you LIKE trying to grind out the 6400 pixels for a diamond drill at tier 3.

 

But keep in mind that drills are most likely one-time investments since you can completely repair one by spending only 4 copper ore.
Also 6400 pixel are only
~214 silver bars
or
128 gold bars
or
64 platinum bars
or
32 diamonds

using the refinery.

which tbh.. isn't really that big of a deal. ~30 mins farming max and then you're DONE and don't have to make a new one forever.

 

The OP has a valid warning. Currently since the game is in beta small issues like the pixel inflation is not a major concern. The Devs have better things to work on at the moment.

However, many of the posters here are obviously short of level 10 planets and are unaware of how much crystal is available later. Crystal ore is worth 100 pixels a piece and can be gathered at significant speeds on later planets. While I do not necessarily know as to what the refinery should do (create higher tiers of ore/break down ore into pixels). At the moment anyone who has reached level 10 planets should be able to agree that pixels are worthless, and that this is something that should be, and presumably will be addressed.

This game suffers from under valued pixels and im sure the Devs will address this in due time.

 

It's not just the ores that become more profitable on those planets. Mobs drop way more pixels and can be killed way faster then exploring caves for ores.

All in all, T5 is only partially done and T6-T10 are only there to be there. They're even less complete and we shouldn't jump to conclusions about balance, when the devs didn't even really try to tinker with that yet. If you notice, T6+ gear doesn't even require pixels.

 

Not really... all you are doing is transmuting lesser useful forms of pixels (common ores) into more useful forms. and theyre not being trivialised either, they have simply converted the method of collection.
You either spend time in combat getting 100-110 pixels per monsters (Gamma tier +) or getting 100-110 per cluster of ore.

 

Start trying to fill out a large building with cosmetic stuff and then come back and say you have more than enough pixels.

 

I personally think swimming in thousands of gold is a good thing. Most of you who see it as a problem are probably not building anything. Try to build a city using replicated items from the 3D Printer and come back to this thread when you run out of money

Edit: LAWLS, someone posted immediately before me (while I was typing) with the same comment. Funny.

 

Feel as if op has the right idea but is on the wrong track. Just my opinion but-

Rather then remove the refinery, need to instead remove pixel cost from crafting. Then adjust the prices of it in use elsewhere along with gains from the refinery. I was always under the impression we would be using pixel to buy torches and print things.. /never/ just to craft. It seems so shoehorned in that it leaves a bad taste in many peoples mouths. If its focused on just the printer and buying/selling items it would be easier to balance out I feel in the long run.

When you make it necessary for even the most basic thing, like crafting it becomes a necessity. You have to make sure its easy to get on some level so people can continue to progress. Leads to some of the trivializing later on as prices and ore volume inflate.

 

Anybody notice how all of the crafted gear in Sector X doesn't have a pixel cost yet? Pretty sure all that's gonna cost quite a lot when it's fully fleshed out. Why don't we worry about the refinery a little later when it's more relevant to the gameplay. Same goes for pixels. Right now they are pretty much just a place holder. Yes they are likely permanent, but that doesn't mean they are relevant to this stage of the beta. When the later systems come online and more features are implemented we might see pixels become a lot more relevant (3d printer anyone?). And if we don't, we can bring back this discussion. I just don't think it's a big concern right now.

 

Again I see people misjudging where problems actually are, and advocating for the removal of features as opposed to fixing them. That's potentially how we lost the AP system, but I'd like to believe the devs are just testing multiple systems.

The refinery is not a problem. The game is constantly being balanced, so in the future we can expect it fitting in more naturally with the rest of the game.

It would also be nice if early ores remained useful in some way other than fodder for the refinery. Copper, silver and gold (even platinum and diamond, too) could likely be used for circuitry and other advanced components. Not to mention jewelry, decoration and truly decadent items.

 

That 14.400 value isn't the selling price of the item, it's the pixel cost if you want to print it on the 3D printer.

 

Huh? Scrape by to get 1000 pixels? I think you're doing it wrong. Are you killing things? I was averaging 4-6k pixels after clearing the surface of an alpha sector planet. I'm rarely below 5k pixels now that I'm in the X sector. Usually I'm spending 10-15k pixels on scanning objects, and I rarely ever put ores into my refinery.