Anyone else tired of digging to the center?

It seems to be what the main Starbound story progression has become centered around. Only coal spawns on the surface of planets now, so progression requires digging to the chewy center to find significant amounts of [insert new ore type here]. It seems like such a waste of planet diversity to me. Once you dig past the surface layer, every planet devolves into cobblestone, the same list of mini-biomes, and [insert new ore type here].

Also the eternal mystery of why certain ores only appear based on planet types. It doesn't really matter what planet you go to since it all turns into "dig shaft down, get [insert new ore type], then leave." It would be nice if the developers used the planet variety more directly instead of telling players to ignore it in pursuit of the same, planet type independent diggie diggie hole experience.

 

On one hand I agree with you because I have ended up with thousands of Cobblestone from single trips into the undergrounds of certain planets. It is largely just "dig down, find new ore", but that's fine with me; the lack of as many neat things to find underground as there are above ground is what makes it seem a bit weird to me, I guess.

On the other hand, would anyone EVER dig down without incentive? It's so much easier to run across a planet's surface than it is to dig around beneath it, at least as far as movement goes. I like that there's a reason for me to dig down and look for stuff on at least one planet in each new difficulty tier, though it's usually just the one time I dig at all.

I think the current system is all right. It seems boring to dig down repetitively, but that can be changed with enough incentive. I'd love to find actual underground civilization stuff (big dungeons with actual loot, not little scattered ones), for instance, and I imagine I'll enjoy the fossil system when that's added in as well.

 

I guess I am an odd one, as I don't dig a shaft. I dig from deposit to deposit, cave to cave, or feature to feature. The only time I ever went to the core of the planet was on the first world and moons. moons due to plutonium being so rare...

 

Stop digging a hellvator, thats boring. Dig like your exploring instead.

 

Like @Tamorr, I tend to find a surface cave and begin digging from one deposit/cave to the next. Every now and then I find a dungeon/chest/loot etc.
I can agree though, it can become a bit of a grind but the question then becomes how do you lessen a central feature without invalidating it completely?
The devs seem to be adding in a lot of little extras as they go, so creating diversity in the progression grind is clearly important.

Perhaps as they add various means to progress they can look at synthetic ores from another cost such as pixels and/or other resources.
Maybe some merchants can be found who have limited but slowly regenerating stock, so an explorer travels between a slowly increasing supply line of planets.
Stationary refinery drills that slowly drain ores. (Kind of hard to physically drain a planet you aren't on, but they could maybe generate limited supply before breaking etc)
Combine the proposed hire/housing feature to include miners (Sort or like the drills or merchants)
More variety of mini biomes/dungeons etc (Seems to be the case already)

With some balance these sorts of things could begin to substitute the digging grind without removing it completely.

 

I love to explore underground.

The problems right now are:
1. Caverns aren't connected enough, requiring you to hold down left mouse while you wait to hit the next pocket far too frequently.
2. (as has been said) Planet-type pretty much guarantees a certain set of sub-biomes and a single type of micro-dungeon copied ad nauseam all over the place.

 

My issues with underground;

1. Ore is too scarce at low levels, but obnoxiously common later on
2. Way too many monster spawns. It's not challenging, but annoying. I don't like drop bears.
3. As said above, Caverns are just random holes that rarely connect.
4. Again above, the variety of minibiomes and dungeons underground are too common and similar. It's not an awesome find, but more "Oh, another one."
5. Music isn't cavernous at all levels. It's only cavernous at the core.

I don't like going underground. It's not fun right now. The ore being common on higher planets leads to worse inventory clutter, the annoying monsters just spawn way too often, and it's not fun to explore. To be brutally honest, it was better before the giraffe updates.

 

I play Maplestory music in the background
I prefer Ellinia and Sleepywood's background music

Ellinia

Sleepywood

 

I dunno. I'm finding the mere existence of more microdungeons a greater incentive to dig underground, on top of not being able to get ores just from meandering the surface. Such places being the only areas I can get certain kinds of blocks and decor/furniture is a nice prize.

That said, there certainly need for an bigger variety of them, and I wouldn't mind some full-sized dungeons/towns that are entirely underground here and there. They'd be considerably rarer than the surface types, but unique mining zones, survivalist bunkers, perhaps a new NPC race or two...

On top of that, some more sub-surface-only biomes with unique loot are definitely in order. I like that Flesh Biomes are currently relegated to underground. The discovery of a Limestone Biome was cool.

I like the current setup WAY more than the EK iteration. It just needs to be plumped up more.

 

My main problem is digging to the center of the planet before even being able to leave. I'd be fine with it if core fragments had any other use, but as is it's not really necessary for your thruster repair kit to require the the planet's core.

But I digress.
I feel like, at higher levels, ore should be more diverse. I see no reason why we can't find iron next to titanium.
There should also be more incentive to actually go deeper--less common occurences being more common deeper underground, chests that contain higher-level items than usual above the lava layer... that kind of stuff.

 

I thought sub-surface weapons generally WERE stronger than the stuff you find at ground level.

 

I looove digging around underground. Because of cave jumping, following trace caverns, deep dark water, more interesting platform opportunities, the staggered progression of the first time you dig, vs when you return and descend rapidly. Mini-biomes and treasures have improved drastically. In comparison the surface of planets feels more predictable. My biggest qualm is the speed of digging. The waiting makes it a chore. Constantly crafting mining tools puts you at a balance of trying to come out ahead in terms of time spent.

 

When I start a new char, I just start mining a Hellavator, then I alt-tab out and get a sandwich or something, do something else for about 5-10 minutes then check back. It usually gets me to the core.

 

Firstly: Volcanic/Scorched/Magma planets NEED NEED ABSOLUTELY NEED MORE VARIETY UNDERGROUND. They're boring beyond belief without any actual sub-biomes anywhere, it's horrible!

 

Yeah, the endgame needs some work. The Mysterious Stars mod brings back the Koala level of planetary diversity once you've hit the high tiers. Frackin Universe also does, but introduces a tonne of stuff. Too much imho
http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?resources/mysterious-stars.2447

 

What I want is some sort of "prospection" system on the ship. You take the ship to a planet, enable it for an ore you've found before and once on the surface, you'll see a 'sonar ping' circle coming in the general direction of the closest deposit of that ore.

Looking for stuff aimlessly is really annoying.

 

There's a mod for that too... I'll stop now, haha
http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?resources/ground-penetrating-radar-station.2512/

 

Sorry to jump in like this but just so I'M clear, plutonium IS rarer then solarium now?

Is there an mp3 or something collection of maplstory anywhere? It was one of my favorite parts. I miss the slime tree music the most, though.

 

I'm getting tired of not finding any underground dungeons anymore... Or at least hardly as many.

 

i actually noticed something

when you reached the endgame planets (hot). it doesn't have the basic resources like copper.iron and platinum. after these 3 basic metals ores become more common and common

the basic rarity system has basically turned upside down
copper being the most rarest and say volium being the most common in the top tier planets
requiring me to go back to the basic planets to get more iron so i can make more blocks like windows