RELEASED FrackinUniverse 6.4.3

i dropped my power station and re-picked it up to get the recipe:

power station - 1
learned to craft: perfectly generic item

EDIT:
also, are FU flowers supposed to be plantable on literally any surface?
i can plant them on my extractor, even on my ship floor

 

a log would have been better, dude. then it would tell me *exactly* what item it was trying to unlock. No biggie though, since only two things unlock fro the power station


as for flowers, yes.

 

Nice Update,

I stumbled of this mod today Guns and Ammo and I have to say this is pretty amazing.

The idea of having all ranged weapons using ammo that needs to be crafted has a massive effect on the game play and the use of ranged vs melee weapons.

Especially with all the new resources you guys added, this would be awesome.

With a little help I would be trying to implement this for you, alternatively as a stand alone mod.

 

I'm torn on that, actually. I know the guy that makes it and it is free for anyone to use...I just don't know if ammo is the direction I want to go.

 

@sayter I can imagine, it really changes a lot of aspects for the game.

1. Gameplay

using a system that requires ammunition, makes ranged weapons a more selective choice. Like with many Survival games, for example Fallout, JA, DayZ (that I know all too well) the choice to use a ranged weapon is very much dependent on the ammo available. There are great guns but the ammunition is rare and expensive, thus the user relies on less powerful weapons.

A little taste of that we already have with the spear. The throwing spear requires resources and is only available in limited amounts, thus every throw has to be considered.

Pro:

• Forces the use of different weapons, dependent on if and how much ammo is available
• Forces user to make more use of melee weapons, get closer to the enemy
• Continuous use of resources, ammo costs resources, those need to be crafted and found
• more exploration to find the ingredients needed.

Con:

• Makes the game more complex
• harder to play, once the ammo is gone you are fu......

2. Balancing

This is probably the harder part to get right. One has to balance all kinds of elements with each other, resources, amount of ammo, damage, availability etc. Just because one finds a good new gun, does not mean it can be used right away. First one has to get the right ammo.

Since this is such a different approach, it would mean that many weapons have to be rethought and also the ammo for it, how much ammo types should be available and what requirements would they need. The ammo needs to be available in the right tier and on the right planets.

A good example to learn from is Fallout 4 and the crafting system. Some mods have really opened up the way ammunition can be crafted. Certainly Starbound is different and other resources are required but the basic concept can apply,

For example:

• Gunpowder (Oil, Volatile Powder)
• Casings (copper, ...)
• Bullets ( lead..., Iron bar )

Think about crafting bombs...

In conclusion

as much as this is a daring concept as much it is intriguing. Especially for long term Starbound players it provides an entirely new take on the game. Many guns will remain useful and often Players will carry more than one, just because their ammo is easier to craft. The variety of weapons in general will benefit and melee will become much more of a thing than now.

Especially because Starbound has such a fascinating crafting system and gathering ingredients is a core function of this game, it would make sense to use Ammunition and to be able to craft it

I hope my little analysis helps with your decision

(the only thing left then is to make melee weapons deteriorate with use like axes and you have a full circle )

 

The biggest problem with ammo ideas is storage. Where do we keep the ammo? Is there different types? How do we select them? How much can I carry? Is it just easier to buy it all, and if so... That's a lot of work for nothing, cause everyone will just puchase it.

 

IMO, I would rather use something like augment slots for ammo.

Infinite ammo, BUT you can slot an ammo type. And maybe these ammo types are difficult to get (except for normal ammo).

Like, you can slot a "Box of Armor Piercing Rounds" .... still infinite ammo, but now your gun has an Armor Piercing "enchantment".

 

@SivCorp @Xylia

as far as I have looked at the mod, one could use charges to fill up the ammo count of a weapon, meaning magazines. This way all is dependent on the size of that magazine, defined as
"ammoMax" within the weapon
.

https://github.com/GTG3000/GunsNAmmo

Plus there is stacking. This should easily give enough slots to go for a spree. ( 99 x 1000 rounds for a single slot, if a magazine holds 1000 rounds)

If the amount of different ammunition is not too high, many weapons will share the same ammo type.

I would not go for infinite ammo, as this would defeat the purpose of limiting ammunition for projectile weapons, well maybe with the exception of certain self charging weapons....

The possibility for this is quite huge, maybe even as a separate module, if one feels that this alters the original game too much. However I do have a certain feeling that the game devs. originally aimed for limited ammo, since certain tools and weapons have limitation (Axes, spears...) . However that concept was wither dropped or never fully implemented.

One could start with the Bows, by introducing arrows and work it from there, maybe some launcher types, those don't use too much ammo too quickly...

 

The trouble with ammunition systems comes when players base there weapons on what has the highest damage/cost ratio, and then begin ignorign everything else as "Awesome but impractical". At the same time, inevitably many games will often make ammo plentiful enough that it becomes a non issue later in the game. Such as for example fallout 4, many players will take the perk "scrounger" specifically to ensure they never run low on ammo. OR you end up with a resident evil like situation, where using ammo is a cardinal sin and it's rarity is such that the use is punishing such no one would ever use guns. Even in some balanced games, if ammo is over-unified, you end up with players only using guns with a high damage/ammo cost ratio.

Since starbound randomly generates maps, even resources used to make ammo end up becoming a premium unless the player can cheaply acquire an infinite source early enough.

Ironicly, while I don't play terraria as of touching starbound, Terraria had the best balance for guns and ammo: You had multiple ammo types and most of them were craftable with ease and in limitless quantities, but you just had to be willing to look for the resources. Most if not all of the resources were likewise renewable resources, ensuring the player would never be faced with the dreaded "To awesome to use" or "awesome but impractical" scenarios with ammo choice. HOWEVER, this kind of system only increases the grind slightly or even severely; players won't march into any situation in which they could run out of ammo. Even then early on some guns were plain superior for having a higher damage/shot ratio.


I thought of my own idea: Alternatives to thrown weapons, the one-use guns. Keep regular guns as they are using an energy supply.

These guns have varying costs but tend to comprise of the following: higher damage than usual rocket launchers, grenade launchers, or machine guns. The crafting costs are balanced such the weapons are crafted and once fired, are removed from inventory. These weapons can stack, but can be used as the following beyond combat:

Demolition - self explainitory.
Freezing terrain and making it icey.
Making terrain fiery.
Drenching an area in liquids.
Small-scale terraforming.

It's just a thought. I'm not in favor of ammo due to starbounds random world generation system and the fact that guns early on are weak anyways. All ammo did in terraria was make me run back to a merchant every so often to buy more bullets and spend more time farming chlorophyte or just grinding even more money for materials to make exploding bullets.

Ammo only works for general ranged weapons when it's by design but starbound really isn't. I couldn't imagine having to spend 2-3 more hours on the first planet just to mine for more iron so I could have plenty of ammo for a tier 2-3 gun. Not to mention how ammo also makes people, again, only end up using guns with the lowest cost to highest damage ratio in games with ammo systems. When ammo is necessary for all guns, The entire game has to be redesigned specifically with that in mind or you end up with an artificial difficulty problem.

Another suggestion: Differing weapons than vanilla or already implented FU weapons which use ammo with like maybe 20-30% more dps and more effects, then you could afford to make ammo limited(so long as it still doesn't turn into an Awesome yet impractical..).

 

@LaughingAlex

The balancing issue is indeed the biggest obstacle to tackle, as mentioned in my earlier post. Certainly projectile weapons that require resources to work will have to be more powerful as you are limited by the amount to carry and the resources required to acquire the ammunition.

Never the less it also adds more tactical depth to the game as the player will have more often switch between melee and ranged weapons, just like he already has to limit the use of throwing explosives and other limited items.

for Fallout 4 one has designed for example a good loot mod that limited the ammunition available and in general FA2 was quite well balanced in that matter.

It definitely has something rewarding if you find a powerful weapon and you are able to apply it surgically against foes that re more dangerous, while otherwise using melee weapons or guns with less impact.

Never the less, there is no doubt that the difficulty level will raise, as even if projectile weapons are buffed, the limitation of ammo will force the player to be more efficient with the guns if he wants to maintain the distance....

 

balancing can be problematic, but not so much in SB. most of the core math is done *for* us in regards to weapon damage. It computes base DPS, fire speed, energy cost, and level and from there computes the overall damage capability of the weapon. This applies to all attacking items, regardless of weapon type.

The bigger issue for me is a really damned simple one: The game has enough grind. Making ammo adds yet more grind, and its one that has little to no actual reward other than using a weapon you already have. Plus, now you have yet another slot taken up in your inventory, which means your weapon takes *two* slots total, not one.

There is enough micromanagement of inventory in FU to not add this crap to the mix.

 

Those are some really valid points. When it comes to ammunition I guess it would make sense to buy them for pixels at least.

At the end one might argue that it does come down to an aspect of realism vs arcade feeling.

The infinite ammo gives the game a keen commander or megaman like feeling, while introducing ammo would change the game-play towards a more tactical approach.... I guess ?!? (see rimworld)

You guys have done a great job so far with FU and I trust you to best know the feeling and goal you want to aim for with your work. If possible I would like to help though making this an optional thing.

Thanks for your consideration

 

I'd rather increase difficulty by other means rather than a grindy resource management one . Such as increased mob spawns and damage(although NOT health, increasing health on existing enemies just makes fights last longer and makes players feel like they are shooting tanks and just breaks immersion and willing suspension of disbelief). Or new enemy types which require new tactics to deal with them. That increases tactical play to, overall. Such as say for example Divinity 2: Enemies did VERY high damage on higher difficulties but they were no more durable, so as long as you figured out how to destroy them quickly and decisively you could do very well with it. As long as you planned slightly ahead you could do brilliantly. That is what tactical play really is to me, not ammo management.

 

an ammo counter for guns is a tempting thing indeed
but the current implementation of opening the menu to reload is tedious at best and a hassle at worst

if i had the ability to do it myself, i would:
give all guns infinite reloads and balance their ammo capacity/ reload speed based on their damage and energy usage
if a reload key can't be implemented, i'd have guns automatically reload when empty, and every time you switch to them (like how all weapons have to wait for the cooldown period when you switch to them)
this way you'd have a manual reload of just double tapping your switch hotbar/ deselect weapon key
as for special ammo types; just make it like augments, but for guns. could also introduce some stat trade-offs

but then there's another issue:
what the hell is energy used for if your weapon of choice is two one-handed melee weapons/ sword and board combo?

tl;dr: if ammo is implemented, it should be crazy streamlined

 

- I do not understand English, I use google translation

 

thx

 

if you guys dont mind, could you report the recent 1-star review typed in russian? translation is basically "i didnt read things and cant bother to submit a bug report, and shit isnt working because I am using either conflicting mods or a warez outdated version of the game" none of which is a suitable reason for a 1 star

 

Hello, I was making Steam Workshop FU Chinese Mod, would like to ask a few questions:
(Mud) is the same as (Muck) and (clay) and (slush)? (Bio-Ooze) and (Slime) is the same? (Rad-Burn) and (Radiation) is the same?
(Sulphuric Acid) and (Acid) is the same?

- I do not understand English, I use google translation

 

Slush = Snow + Water
Mud = Soil (Dirt) + Water
Bio-Ooze = Slime + Poison (Poisonous)
Slime = Slime
Clay = Hard/Thick Dirt (used to make bricks)

Trying to use easy to understand terms, since you are using a translator.

 

I actually don't authorize *any* translations. I would prefer if you stopped immediately. The exception is only if you use .patch files. Nothing else is authorized. Especially since three separate idiots have tried to sell this mod for profit packaged with illegal Starbound discs in China (and claimed to be me). Nope. Not okay with it, don't trust anyone from there to do an honest job at this point.

No assets are to be touched, copied or otherwise taken from FU in your translation. *only* .patch files. Any deviation from this will simply have me reporting you to remove the mod from steam. I don't care if you understand, as the language barrier is irrelevant.