The worst thing to come to Starbound yet ...

After this patch, I just summoned forth an unprecedented fury, and channeled my inner AVGN when I say,

"What were they thinking?!"

Unbreakable dungeon blocks? Are you kidding me? How did they ever think this would be a good idea? I could have seen it working in the PvE aspect of things so you can't build over enemies, and to make sure a nice looking area doesn't get desecrated, but it just opens up a myriad of annoyances.

I've created and recreated numerous starter planets, but there appears to be no sign of this alleged "shield generator" that would allow me to build.

Particularly, this one ...



How in the hell am I supposed to explore and use these dungeons as access ways if I can't explore?

I WANT TO GET IN THERE.

Worst of all, sometimes, I'll be mining, and then run through some kind of invisible dungeon, which prevents me from digging down further. If you can't find the access point from somewhere on the surface, or, god forbid, somewhere underground, that entire area is essentially locked, no digging, no exploring, no nada.

I'm happy they fixed the trees bug and implemented some other new status effect things, but it seems as though they fix two things and then break three more.

 

There is, you'll have to find and disable the shield generator. It should be accessible, though it's probably guarded by traps or monsters. Pretty sure that it was stated that the shield generator won't be right next to spawn, so you'll have to look for it. On the plus side, since you can't dig, it'll have to be somewhere you can reach by walking/climbing, which will limit how deep you have to search for it.

 

I can tell you after making and traversing numerous starter planets that there is no such thing.

Here's another issue:

This addresses the "random "dungeon" caves" problem, which gives me a headache.

One tactic to exploring is building platforms and such, as can observed, and placing torches to make landmarks or to see the way, but with this patchwork quilt of unbuildable locations, this can make exploring far more treacherous than it needs to be because you're forced to just run and jump blindly into pits.



Oh, and what happens if you fall into such a pit, and have no items or tech to get you out? No escape.

And before you tell me that there's a dungeon nearby, no, there isn't one, unless it's somewhere above, which would be really stupid; I went ahead in the direction where the unplaceable torch is, and there's nothing there but cave walls and a 168 dmg fall-to-your-death.

 

If the blocks are actually locked, then I suspect it's there somewhere, you just haven't found it yet. (It is possible that it's currently bugged, but I would like to see a screenshot of the entire reachable portion of the world first to check before just assuming it's not anywhere.)

Or, you make some rope before you go exploring and use it to get yourself out. Just sayin'. With a lot of the new changes, just charging forward into things without at least a little preparation is most likely gonna get you killed (just like exploring in real life). Progression isn't going to be as easy/simple as it was in the past; you're going to have to work for it.

 

To be fair, this isn't real life and people probably play it for mostly that reason. It's a game; one that largely incorporates exploring and digging and remaking your world. I don't think there should be a forced chunk of the game where you can't/are significantly hindered at doing those things, because as several people have stated this isn't a platformer. I'd be down for the unbreakable blocks being in the hardmode or even normal mode, but easy should be easy.
Personally, I think that the best course of action would be to either make the dungeons randomly protected (so you could skip out on that dungeon but there's another one over there you can gut), or only the really big/rare/special dungeons are protected.

 

Obviously, the major stuff will be fixed. Can't imagine they intended for random swathes of the planet to be undiggable. Working properly, unbreakable dungeon blocks is a sound idea.

Hopefully they'll be tweaking the protection to allow placement of most furniture type items though. I get not placing blocks that AI can't pass through, but torches should be allowed. The flashlight is decent, but it's not the same--not to mention it makes combat while in use near impossible, which would be a big 'definitely not OK' for dungeon crawling. Should pretty much always be able to place wooden platforms too. The game shouldn't care if I want to use a climbing rope or make a ladder out of bookshelves.

The dig site in particular doesn't seem like a 'dungeon' that should be protected either. Wonder if all dungeon-esque type instances will be protected absolutely (until you find the attached switches), or if they've got plans for various lines to be crossed before qualifying.

 

maybe there should be a head item that sacrifices the protection of a helmet but has a light even brighter than a flashlight

 

My problem with that is it would basically be a must-equip item, if they did intend for you not to be able to place wall lights in protected areas. Anything that's a must-equip shouldn't take up an inventory slot, like the MM. If they do have a constant-equip flashlight type device in the works, then kudos.

My guess is they want us to burn coal on flares and the like though.

 

I honestly can't imagine that they're keeping the whole not-being-able-to-place-torches thing

It just seems so... obviously tedious and not-fun? It doesn't seem to me to add anything to the experience, only be annoying.

 

why not distory the generator so you can build?

 

The naturalcaves dungeon is larger than the obviously built-up area.

I'll dig through the files when I get home and see if I can't find the location.

 

There does not appear to be any shield generators anywhere yet, but the dungeon is still protected somehow. My guess is that the devs are in the progress of testing functionality and so every dungeon is currently protected with or without a generator.

 

Yes, thank you.

Like I said earlier, being unable to light the way with torches makes exploration totally not fun at all. The flashlight only helps so much, but with no ability to place torches, it's easy to get lost, and don't get me started on trying to juggle your weapon and flashlight at the same time to fight.

 

Work on the generator is done. It's implementation is not.

 

Overdramatic much? I welcome this change. YOu could easily dig to the end of a dungeon before. For example the Apex testing facility with the tech at the end. This isn't gmod. There have to be limitations in some places. Every dungeon will have a generator itt's just not implemented yet as Izzabelle just posted above.

Also I am in disagreement about the lighting issue. The lighting system in SB can lead to VERY atmospheric moments when all you have is the dim light of your pack or the focused beam of your flashlight as you explore the dark unknown.

 

...wait, are you thinking of the correct dungeons, OP? I'm fairly sure they're talking about the ones such as the Apex testing facility mazes, not actual caves. That would be dumb if it were actual caves.

 

Digging from the inside out is as designed, the answer to said problem is in fact in the dungeon. I can understand the frustration in hitting a shield protected block from outside the barrier, though. There needs to be context that that is what you are hitting, especially underground. In the case of hitting a shield protected block while mining underground: It should give off a distinct sound or look(i:e:shield flicker briefly highlighting the protected blocks) when struck. You are, after all, hitting the shield and not the material.