Electronic Finesse vs. Brute Force

Aye I did now, you edited while I was writing my post, all is good

 

Im with the OP on this one.
What made me go over the edge finally, was the light source for the back slot. A lantern on a stick? seriously? Is this a kindergarden's version of lord of the rings or something? when I read about this new item I expected a high tech backpack with a light source or at the very least, some sort of steampunk looking item, specially considering you can only craft it after destroying a damn UFO. But a friggin' lantern hanging from a tree branch? really?

Excuse me, but the choices the devs are making about this are starting to get a little grating. "Terraria in space" is what people called this, and its what I wanted. But right now, this is more like a "Terraria you begin in space". Lets face it, besides starting in a spaceship, this game is terraria all the way. You drop on a world, mine copper, iron, gold, etc, grow crops, chop down trees (that you cant grow back) and then you take off on your ship to a new world. The only difference really, is that in terraria you have to quit and save, and create a new world file. In starbound you only have to use your spaceship. And no, having star trek doors in the game doesnt make it science fiction.

This game needs to drop the sword and board, medieval fantasy shit and focus on actual technology, otherwise its just going to be a 4GB terraria.

 

Yeah it's 2013 this aint da hobit drop it like it's hot son.

 

Alright then, whatever. But please don't tell people their discussion is pointless when it demonstrably is not.

 

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I do think that metals should go into the building of electronics (to craft laser weapons perhaps). But the one problem I have with games is when they make obsidian ridiculously hard. Obsidian is about as hard as steel in it's scratching force but it is brittle since it is volcanic glass. I would love to see obsidian used as it has been in history. Perhaps by making a macuahuitl or similar types of weapons. The Aztecs get no love. ):

 

I cannot agree more. So far all it really has over terria is that its rather prettier, and you can choose races. Now I grant Beta, but we shouldn't have to include 'Yes I know its a beta' in every piece of critique when the whole point is to gather our input.

 

Aztecs need more love

 

Hold on, let me go fanboy for a second. The actual Starcraft books and lore (Not just the games) have most of the things from Starcraft 2, most people see the Protoss as religious fanatics (Infact, some of their sects ARE religious fanatics.) but that's lore, and books and background info they don't feed you in the games, so people like you play it, get a misconception, then wonder why it's like that, when fans of the series who have taken time to find lore, etc go "Oh hey they added that cool" It's like judging the WH40K Universe on the first game, never reading the books or the lore that goes with it all, you'll have such a different conception of it, it's not even funny. Much like the story of the three blind men describing an elephant.

As far as the point of it goes, you are technically coating your pickaxe each time you upgrade it. With a new type of material, the base is always stone, that said if you really have such an issue with it, they need to remove diamond completely, as it takes such a degree of pressure and heat to "melt" even the tiniest of slivers of diamond, that there's no way you could do so with a furnace and a crafting table to get a diamond, shaped like a pickaxe head. This is where 99% of what you're saying is a personal gripe, because you suspend disbelief for this, this and that. But nothing over here. It makes little to no sense logically and comes across as odd at best to anyone who is trying to figure out what level of "realism" you're going for, oh wait you don't want realism you want verisimilitude. Because Florans, Apex, FTL, or sentient penguins piloting a giant UFO give the appearence of being real or true. As we know the world and universe? That's preposterous at best. In Starbound's universe? IT all makes sense, just how Gold is harder then Iron in Starbound's universe.

 

Diamonds do not form from the compression of coal, that is a common misconception. The carbon in diamonds predates plant-life on earth, and coal is formed from the compression of organic materials like plant-life.

 

Since Games Workshop started forgetting what 40K was originally about, a lot of the new lore is garbage that reads like terrible fanfiction

Also, you can still have verisimilitude in a totally made-up world

It doesn't have to actually be realistic, it just needs to feel internally consistent, like it could be real

That's why using diamonds to make tools feels fine in a sci-fi setting, but building striking tools that use silver and gold feels so strange for a lot of us: it feels more like magic and fantasy

 

I concur with WH40K, the point stands for that though.

While I agree, the only reason silver/gold feels strange, is because it is such common knowledge, if more was known about diamond on a regular basis, that'd feel strange to. Because Silver/Gold is in the exact same territory as diamond is, yet no one ever argues it, just because something is "hard" doesn't mean it's useful as a tool in any way shape or form, this is where people really do just need to suspend disbelief, if I didn't the entire game would bother the hell out of me, because there are so many things off about it, you have to assume that silver and gold are much harder in the Starbound universe then they are in our own.

 

No offense, but maybe you should look up what science fiction means...

 

maybe you should look up the difference between fiction and non fiction.

Oh I did
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/science-fiction
"fiction based on imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social or environmental changes, frequently portraying space or time travel and life on other planets."

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/fiction?q=fiction
"noun

• literature in the form of prose, especially short stories and novels, that describes imaginary events and people.
• invention or fabrication as opposed to fact:he dismissed the allegation as absolute fiction
• [in singular] a belief or statement that is false, but that is often held to be true because it is expedient to do so:the notion of that country being a democracy is a polite fiction"

 

Science fiction is usually about things that could possibly exist within the current scope of science (or some unknown new force). Fantasy is usually where things don't make scientific sense or are different.
However, mix the two, and you now have a universe where there exists scientific law, but they are different from our own.

It's just a game. It's not like this is a science fiction literary masterpiece. Although a world consistent to Asimov's Foundation series would be fantastic.

 

Right now? I'd settle for one as coherent as starwars. The Aesthetic is just too all over the place.

 

I think it's just that with how things work in the game right now, it leaves everything to your imagination as far as how the tools are working, and for people who come into the game expecting more hard sci-fi that's what causes the strangeness

If there were additional flavor text, or some kind of visual indication with the workbench that you're not just hammering some gold into a certain shape, but are actually using some ultra-tech device to manipulate stuff on an atomic level, it would feel more acceptable

We already have the matter manipulator setting the precedent for being able to tear materials apart in the form of blocks; perhaps adding that tool to the workbench schematic as an ingredient that isn't consumed, or making the matter manipulator some kind of requirement for using a workbench, would help solve that problem

Even adding something to the workbench's description like "For more detail-oriented construction where your matter manipulator doesn't cut the mustard"

Additional flavor text for ores could help as well, saying how a bit of molecular rearrangement makes the ore really useful for tool making

It doesn't have to make real-world sense, it just has to do a better job of justifying why things are the way they are

 

I'll toss in my own two cents, so to speak. Not attempting to be confrontational here, but the majority of people don't have these immersion issues, because they have the sense to separate reality from their video games, and find something else to focus on. Hence the whole topic of "Video Game Logic". Video games are not like sports - they don't have to follow the laws of nature nor any rational human thought pattern. I understand that everyone's brain works in a different manner, but I find its easiest to accept a game as is, and enjoy it - rather than post about how you don't agree that gold should be harder than stone, or that you should be using a laser drill instead of a pickaxe.

Realism and video game logic sometimes combine and form wonderful things (See: Portal series), while other times they are forced to wed, and have a terrible relationship that leave everyone with a sour taste in their mouth (See: Call of Duty series). It all depends on how "realistic" the game is trying to be, and the universe in which that game takes place in. If Starbound were taking place in our current universe, with our current natural laws and understandings, it would be so different that it wouldn't be Starbound. Which leads me to the other point someone argued, Consistency. The game is currently as consistent as it can be. There has been no prequel, and there has not been a sequel yet. For these characters, in this timeline, of this game's universe, these things are appropriate and it's just how they work.

Do you sit down with a sci-fi book and say "No, laser rifles don't exist - this is so unrealistic..." Or perhaps you watch a good horror movie and think "Pffft. There's no way they'd trip over that tiny pebble. Let alone stay conscious to watch the killer [expunged for audience's sake]." There's really only one basis for this, and its that you're so grounded in what you consider to be your reality that you must argue everything that challenges that. Which is why we call things like this fantasy - they're not supposed to be reality, nor are they trying to be, in this case.

If your argument is that the game is using things from real life that are not depicted correctly, well, what did you expect? Go ahead - sit down and try to make new things with no basis in real-life. No arguments. You can't use something that looks like a scythe, unless you make it a gathering tool. Your enemies look like animals? Start over. Yes, this is an extreme example, but I'm hoping it drove the point home.

Again, just my two cents.

 

Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures. It is similar to, but differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated physical laws. (wikipedia)

Fantasy in a futuristic setting is not science fiction.
I'm fine with the game being unrealistic, but it aint scifi.

 

yeah wikipedia over oxford ok....... Well I still made my point with validated sources. I have no clue why you are trying to counter a fact. Also their is no magic in this game so it is not fantasy.