I have all the materials I need to build my golden pickaxe and distress beacon, but now after exploring almost the entirety of two planets (the surface and caves anyway, gotta keep movin' ), I need to invest more effort in hunting down mobs for 10 pixels each or find those little destructible chests that drop 6 each. I need to do this until I get 550 pixels so I can build both items. I had no real problem with this when the beta first came out, but after getting to tier 3 several times before and having to do it again now, I can see that this is going to get very tedious, very fast. I believe that if this mechanic is kept in place as it is, players won't want to start new characters for fear of being stonewalled into hunting low-level mobs. This will be especially applicable to those who play perma-death. On to my idea! Option 1: Remove pixels from the game altogether. If you find the materials for an object, you can build that object. Merchants can use a barter system (trade 3 copper ore for a loaf of bread) on lowly-developed planets, and currency can be used on more civilized planets, local to that planet or faction (apex coins, floran notes, human credits - cool!). A moment of silence for the pointless steel chests of 6 pixels each. Option 2: No pixels required to build stuff. Again, on the fourth time going through the beginning of the game I am tired of hunting down dozens of extra mobs for (a chance at) a handful of pixels each. Pixels are still used to buy/sell from merchants. In summary, I feel that the need to hunt down pixels to make gear takes away from the dynamic, fluid feeling of exploring a huge galaxy, and I feel that pixels make the game more tedious than they make it "full." Tell me what you think!
Just a thought that may help you a bit, you don't normally try to build a gold pick in the Alpha Sector.
Well, I never had a problem with pixels. All I do when I need materials/pixels is go on a trip towards the center of the planet. On planets I was you'd usually find a lot of stuff deep down there. Some underground ruins with lots of those pixel chests, and a lot of ore to choose from. A "deep dig mission" can set you up pretty nicely, especially when you have refinery in place. But even before, I'd dig deep and by the time I'd be on the surface again I'd have about 2000 pixels and lots of metals. It's best to move fast when digging, so don't try it when you've got stone all over the place. Sand, mud, dirt, snow, etc, reasonably easy to dig trough materials is where you want to be. I've long since forgotten about hunting mobs for pixels, I think mining (even pre-refinery!) is much safer (if you rather dig trough stuff than visit caves full of monsters), more rewarding (you get a lot of materials too) and at times way less time consuming (since at least on my planets there's usually a depth where there are caves which are LITTERED with those pixel caches).
After the recent update, I created my new character and appeared on what had to be the luckiest planet ever.. The ENTIRE planet all around was dotted with mushroom-people villages, it also had a few glitch houses, and an avian tomb. A round-trip around the planet netted me 4700 pixels, a truck-load of blueprints, a gun, and enough materials to make a golden pickaxe right away. But that was just absurd luck.. Without a refinery, getting pixels WOULD be a laboring task, but WITH a refinery, it's no more/less difficult than the simple process of mining.
