Core Fragment Quest: bad design

@Tamorr
Ah ok yea I see what you mean. Yea sadly I used them on SAIL before reaching that point for the tutorial quest which started the whole infuriating mess for me that night.

 

yeah it is understandable, some things can get confusing when certain things overlap like that.

Have had it happen to me on other things in the game.... Well the confusing part.

 

Half true. I love Hellevators in terms that i dig straight down until i reach my goal and either dig up maze like or while it still works i just save/quit and get back in to find myself aboard my ship...safe and sound *haha* Wish there would be a handheld teleportation device that achieves something similar

 

You offered no reason for saying half-truth... Only personal preference. I'm saying that playing like minecraft, or terraria is a bad habit. It is more rewarding to go caving, because you have the MM, and can scan your surroundings to find everything. It's a different way to play, that is more efficient with your time.

 

Before I join the hellevator discussion, figured I'd make a quick muttering about the quests: At the moment, I'm not impressed with the quest designs at all. The tutorial quests not only reward players with a resource they don't really need(pixels) but also do so in rather pitiful amounts. Adding the core fragments to the line is also rather redundant but could be ignored if it weren't for the fact that the quest doesn't check to see if the thrusters have already been fixed prior to receiving that "quest." I personally consider that to be an oversight and I hope it is fixed soon.


Now, onto the topic of Hellevators:

Three massive flaws with your argument:

1. Making a hellevator is not about getting resources, it's about vertical travel. You do it so you can hit the right depths in order to branch out and mine/explore. Any resources gained while making it is a perk.
2. Claiming the MM makes using one obsolete: This argument has two problems itself. For the first, re-read the above point. The other problem is that spelunker potions do the same job in Terraria(scanning for ores) and does it better than the MM will. The only perk the MM has over the potions is that it isn't resource-limited.
3. Finally, and the reason I put that sentence in the quote in bold, you're playing the pot to Eagle's kettle. You claim using them is bad but fail to take into account that it may very well be your personal preference.

That said, there do seem to be some issues with using Hellevators in Starbound compared to MC or Terraria. Granted, I've not progressed very far since checking in on Starbound since the update but the seemingly lack of any permanent climbing features makes their use problematic. Minecraft offers ladders, Terraria has its ropes. Starbound? Doesn't seem like we get much of any real option, at least early on.

Platforms could work but aren't a great option due to how Starbound currently handles passing through them. Assuming one's standing on a platform to begin with, one has to press and hold down and tap jump or, conversely, hold jump, wait until you land from the original jump(no auto jump) and quickly press and release down. Note that I didn't say "tap down" on the latter option. This is because holding jump and tapping down allows one to jump again and this seems to be considered a higher priority than passing through platforms. Due to both methods of passing through platforms requiring one to hold one button down longer than another, the chance of passing through multiple ones is increased, which can lead to fall damage. For a proper hellevator, this isn't acceptable.

With that being the case, I only see two viable workarounds to compensate without resorting to mods:

- Increase the width of the hellevator and alternate the sides platforms are placed. The best width is going to be a shaft that's three tiles wide. Any wider and one increases the chances of missing multiple platforms when ascending/descending and thus, increase the chance of falling damage. This does have a couple of problems with it:
1. Requires hard sides. Without the walls on the sides, there's a definite risk of missing the platforms entirely and taking fall damage, which could result in death. This means that any time your hellevator breaches a cavern, you will need to take additional steps to make going up/down safe.
2. MM is only efficient at digging such shafts after being upgraded and loses efficiency when fully upgraded. Before getting the 3x3 upgrade, one has to take the additional time to dig out the other side of the shaft. Once the MM is fully upgraded, you either have to counteract the extra width, switch to using picks/drills to dig vertically or have a completely alternate means of negating the fall damage.

The other option is merely decreasing the vertical space between the platforms one adds. Sadly, this merely reduces the chance for fall damage and doesn't mitigate it near as much as I'd like prefer.

With Starbound as it is currently, I'd consider hellevators as viable as they were in Terraria prior to ropes being introduced. That is, they're useful but carry more risk than they realistically should without spending consumables.

 

I don't see a problem with playing it like either of those games... so confused at that.

I personally play all 3 roughly the same with minor differences due to what content they have. Of course I don't usually make a hellavator like some do, but that is me. the one thing that is common between them is I dote on the buiding and digging side. I don't mind digging in any of the 3 games, as to me it is gathering resources for what I am going to build.

Starbound is lacking in resources to build with at the moment, but I collect stuff anyway. This is due to my own personal mod I have yet to update, which involves default content to be craftable where they are not originally so; this includes blocks.

I can see why people use methods from other games as that is how most digging games are gone about. The digging for the most part is the same. It is the content that makes it all pretty much different. At least where resource gathering is concerned.

There are many playstyles through the games, but the way I play tends to lead me better rewards for myself. In single player. In multiplayer I abide by what the other person wants to do or how they roughly want to go about things; although even then I will always want to build, even if it is a small thing. I see no wrong in the many playstyles, as each has their own way to go about each game. Even if it runs similar to the way they play other games that would be similar.

I would only complain if someone went about this game like it was COD... Umm.. you have to dig, that is why the terrain is completely modifiable. What I am saying by that is someone playing a different game entirely and wants to play this game the same as that other. I can mainly understand when the games they are bringing playstyle from is similar... More confused when someone wants to play with what I mentioned above. Also note attitude and playstyle are 2 different things. As I have seen some with the attitude of other games and still play it as intended, a different genre of game.

Ok now that I almost confused myself running in circles I'll leave it at that...

 

I'm usually not one for "cheating" but I very quickly realized this would be a tedious starting quest, and one I would not like to repeat. So I gathered enough of the fragments for my other characters and enough also for my friends so they could bypass the quest.

Very oddly placed quest considering how weak the MM is when you're starting out. Coupled with the fact that the first thing people want to do is go exploring. Especially if they are unlucky and wind up on a bit of a boring starting planet.

However I do like the idea of a "dig to the center of the earth and get x material to fuel x objective" but it could have been introduced later, and have some extra variables like requiring some breathing equipment and heat protection. Also, mining to the center of a planet should be something requiring a fair bit of equipment like winches, elevators, and maybe actual mining equipment.

Felt a bit bare bones and out of place for sure.[DOUBLEPOST=1423073584][/DOUBLEPOST]

I'm having the same problem getting out of my hellevators. I'm using climbing ropes right now, which is fun but expensive. I was wondering if it would be somehow possible to fill the hellevator shaft with water and still manage to get out of the bottom without spilling any of it? I cant think of a way yet but I'm sure there must be one. Maybe a block which holds water but allows players to pass it.

If you have the breath protection tech active you can simply swim to the top. Although it would make descending a bit slower.

 

Honestly, I'm doing the second option I mentioned and just jumping back up.