Fuel/Coal Crisis, and how to fix it

They're going 10 to 1 with it actually. Sad for now, but once trees start growing (They're planning this.) That'll be considerably less problematic and will give you a renewable energy source.

 

I'm perfectly fine with needing alot of it if it's renewable. Some of us like keeping a warehouse/farm/various other use for homeworld but as things were this was heavily discouraged and ended up feeling like a waste of fuel which is bad considering the sheer amount of junk some of us tend to pile up. I just can't resist taking every avian emblem I see in those tombs and temples.

 

Or they could give you the option of turning wood into charcoal on a 2 for 1 ratio.

 

Going to throw my testimonial in here, since this thread is the second result on google for "starbound coal" and I've seen too people downplaying the issue with remarks like "you're all lazy", "dig deeper", etc.

Before v. annoyed koala I made 3 characters, all of whom had enough coal that tasks such as making steel items; stockpiling torches to last a 2-hour dig; checking out a couple solar systems in each sector; required at worst a 15-minute farm if I didn't have enough spare coal from digging for more precious ores. After the latest update I am forced to reuse torches (not a huge deal per se) just to scrape together enough to get off the planet in search of a real fuel jackpot. The only reason this is really annoying me is that I've decided to finally build an npc city, but coming up with enough steel for the spawners while searching for an awesome planet to put it on just isn't feasible right now. I've learned to avoid systems with less than 3 planets 'cause I don't want to spend more than 1 fuel when I feel like a change of scenery.

As for uranium, I just finished searching 4 Delta planets and 4 Gamma planets (forest, desert, tundra, moon) and haven't found a trace. And yes, I dug all the way to the core and hundreds of blocks waysides and sideways. Pre-update I was finding it everywhere and rarely had to resort to using dirty coal as fuel. Which brings me to a small digression: the update said "uranium can now be used as fuel"-- I bought this game on the 8th and I've been using it since


anyway, that's my beta feedback: from this player's perspective there has absolutely been a change for the worse in coal and/or uranium deposits. Now I'm off to try that tweak and FORCE the game to give me coal (in reasonable, non-cheating quantities of course)

 

because that makes sense

 

I have 1400 Coal and 500 Uranium from actually exploring planets and I already have 170 Plutonium after 10 minutes on my first level 9 planet, so I have no idea what the hell you people are complaining about. Could be that I explore every planet instead of bitching about being stuck on a planet I don't like the look of.

 

Personally the best thing to me about wood to coal if that's what's going on is it can be used to make a few early torches that can be used to dig down for more coal.

 

-So I can see that I've been down there already. I can see exactly the spots I have and have not explored.
-So that I can see on my way back up without having to put torches back down. Why do something twice?! That's double the work and 1/2 the fun.

Maybe I'm just too used to Terraria's methods as a play style but I honestly don't understand why you would do this.

 

Ok so there is a patch due tonight that should hopefully address the Coal issue.
http://pastebin.com/wNTHqKA4

I think it is good regardless of how petulant we seem that they are taking note and acting quickly .

Kudos Chucklefish I feel like my Panda tears have been heard

 

not to mention the hassle of doing this.

 

You missed a big one

6: have another resource for torches since coal is needed for so much else. How about fabric and wood?

 

I think that might make it a bit too easy, personally. 10 (or maybe 5 before we get the ability to plant trees) seems like the magic number to me. You're not going to be using it to constantly fuel your ship but it's there if you need it.

EDIT: Plant fibres for torches maybe?

 

Or monkey pelts... That would at least work for florans.

 

yep, turn the plant fibers into fabric, wrap the fabric around the stick, you now have a torch.

 

Coal is more valuable than Gold in this patch. I completely agree on this topic.

 

The patch is out so should no more be stuck on firt planet , well only if relaly unlucky and spaen on a desert planet whit no wood or coal

 

I'm with this in general, maybe not for the whole "use wood" thing, but I think there could be other solutions.

I'm not going through the whole thread because of "lol u suk get gud" negativity, so if I'm reiterating anything, just chalk it up to me agreeing. I think that that coal is used for way too many important things for its availability. I think torches need to be made with something that's not coal, for one, because I'm not one of those people who can bear recollecting every single effing torch in every cave I ever go to.

Also, alternatives to coal for fuel need to be more available. Supposedly uranium is available once in Beta sector, but I've spelunked to the cores of five Beta planets (one of which took TWO HOURS because it was such a deep planet) and one Gamma planet, and have not seen a single bit of uranium. Is it restricted to certain planet types or something? Because I've done Jungle, Forest, Desert, Arid, and Snow so far. I'm about to dig down into a Grasslands planet once I circle it for dungeons.

Edit: Just went down to the mantle on the Grassland, no Uranium. I'm beginning to think that Crusender is telling the truth and that everyone else claiming to get uranium underground any earlier than T5 is full of shit.

 

uranium start to show up in lv 5 planet, or has low has lv 1 planet if you go to space (asteroid)

 

Even then it can be stupid rare. I just spent like 4 hours making campfires and torches and getting up to the asteroids, and even with the leather snow gear I have to put down a PAIR of fires very often. Its really REALLY slow without being able to fly with the gravity techs. Even then, Ive been up here for hours and havent found a single non-starter ore across... oh I dunno, 10 different asteroids maybe. (And big ones). Forunately, my coal count is actually climbing because theres a fair bit of it here, but its still ludicrous how much work I need to do just to be able to check out neighboring systems, let alone make all the steel I need for things.

To those people claiming that there's plenty out there: You are either full of it, got really lucky, or didnt actually reset your universe. When you play with other people on a server, and ore is so plentiful that you have over 100 silver, plat, and gold bars after an hour of mining and you still only have like 20-30 coal? Theres something wrong.

 

Dude, how the HELL can you be in sector 9 already? :/