WARNING: WALL OF TEXT I may be preaching to the choir here, but i just had to get some ideas out. If this has already been brought up in a different thread, which I did look to make sure that it wasn't, or if the developers have mentioned changing this (If so then link me), then I apologize for wasting everyone's time on this long-winded babble. Ok, so when the game updated to Spirited Giraffe, they added placeable teleporters, which I thought was a fantastic idea,allowing us attach to more than just a single planet. They connected vast stretches and far corners of the universe together, making everything seem not so far away. What I liked about them, though, was that they were expensive, and if you wanted to place a teleporter, you not only had to pay up 3000 Pixels (and 15 diamonds, if you haven't found a core yet), but you also really had to think about where you wanted it, because if you wanted to move it, or if you misplaced it, or accidentally broke it, not only did you lose 3K pixels, but you also had to pay 3K more if you still wanted a teleporter. They were expensive, but worth it. Now when they made it so that you could use your race's flag as a teleporter marker, I thought it was also a good idea, since 3000 Pixels is quite a chunk of change to spend on a full blown teleporter early on in the game. It was very useful, say, when you made a house in your starter system that isn't on that planet's beam-down point. Just place a flag and not worry about having to walk halfway around a planet to get to your own house. Very cheap, very easy, very useful early on. The problem, however, arose when flags got updated in Pleased Giraffe. They now completely outclass normal teleporters, because, right now, mechanically, there is almost no difference between the two. The only reason you would ever want to use a normal teleporter is if you either wanted to teleport underground, or between two seperate areas without having to use your ship as a midway point. In both cases, not really something that most people worry about. As of right now, it's drop a cheap flag on a planet that is even mildly interesting, travel a few systems away, and then teleport back to it when you need it. Not only does it make it so that you aren't as invested into a planet as you normally would (you don't have to worry about wasting a flag on a useless planet), but it also makes planetary bookmarks obsolete (Why bookmark it when you could just teleport to it?), and It keeps players tied to their ship more than they need to be (Since using flags means that you need to use your ship as a "middle" step between areas. Sure the flag can't teleport you yourself, but when your ship has a lock on you at all times, does it even matter?). So now, I propose a simple idea, one that would fix all of this: make it so that you can only teleport to flags if you are orbiting the planet it's on. Not only would this reincentivize normal teleporters as the definitive method of teleporting, but It would also make planetary bookmarks even more useful than they are now. Need something from a dungeon on a planet you already passed? Not a problem! Just warp back to it and teleport to the flag you left there while exploring. Simple as that. Keeping in mind that this is a game, SAIL does state that the Ship's teleporters are short range teleporters, hence you being able to beam down the the surface without having to have another teleporter at the other end. Having a flag on the planet would just be a quick way for you to tell the short range teleporter "Hey! Beam me there!" In short, I think the current flag-teleporter setup is broken. Why spend 3000 Pixels on a teleporter, that you can only place once, when you can make a 20 fabric, 1 copper bar flag that does almost anything a teleporter can do, while being replaceable, with no setbacks at all for you wanting to move somewhere else. Makes no sense, and the simple way to fix this is to make it so that you can only teleport to flags if you are orbiting the planet it's on. Thank you for your time in reading this, if you have any ideas, let me know, I'd love to hear what people think on this. TL;DR: Flags are OP as hell and need to be nerfed.
I think this is a great fix, a compromise between the usefulness of the flags but not OP. Only problem I see with this is the teleport menu becoming confusing/inconsistent because some destinations are not available when on another planet. Also, side note. The Apex flag currently is the only one that doesn't mention teleportation in its description.
The way to solve the organization problem would be to create a tab on the bookmark menu, that had the flags of that planet.
It should still be possible to teleport to flags from teleporters as long as both are in the same planet.
I find it baffling to think they didn't see a glaring balance issue when they first implemented flags in the first place.
i think they're just going to remove the teleport function of flags now that teleporters are a working thing.
The idea of nerfing the flags to short range destinations will totally destroy the only way to go in specific rooms in a base I created, from anywhere (except considering the suggestion of TCR47 to have a teleporter at the entrance and go to the flag from there)
No it won't. You will just have to shell out for proper teleporters. This suggestion would simply stop people from being cheap aka always using flags instead of teleporters. I think your post demonstrates his point perfectly.
For the sake of not wasting time, I'd like to see this request modified so you can teleport to any flag in the solar system you're in. There's no cost to moving around within a system other than time, and while I will admit you can just plop a flag on each planet's spawn point and not need to fly ever again when not in that system, I do believe that that will detract nothing from the game compared to being able to jump halfway across the universe because of a piece of copper and fabric. -k5
