Is anyone else curious as to the lack of automated anything in game?

Granted yes we have automated turrets, and you can set up giant wiring networks, but I'm talking more along the lines of resources. We're in the year ____, a far distant time unknown from anything humanity in the now can imagine, with sentient plant beings, zealot bird folk, fish-like dwellers, a race of evolved apes, royalty based robotics, and gas beings stuck in the West, and yet everything is done by hand.

I've made appeals before and raised discussions on the lack of Colonization being anything more than a "build this and get a trickle of money" simulator and at this point it was answered as a form of earning quests and odd items so I've given up my hopes and dreams for that. On the flipside though my curiosity has stemmed to a semi-logical area of "why the heck aren't there robotics/machinery on a factorization scale. I mean obviously they exist, we have to go kill a boss in a mining facility, complete with mining machines etc!

I guess the point of this post today is to talk with my fellow Starbounders and see what their thoughts are on the lack of automation in the game. Why can't we set up shop on a planet and have drones that harvest wood while we're underground mining, or drones that mine while we're exploring. Personally I always saw Starbound as a game where we'd be able to build a factory or two per-planet and watch as that planet suddenly churned out resources for us, or at the very least played a role similar similar to village crafting in other games where you can put people to work.

Any dev insight on the lack of automation would be appreciated. I'm also asking people to try to keep arguments to a minimum. The point of this thread is a very passive discussion on a feature that will probably be stuck being modded in and nothing more.

 

I'd love to see more advanced technology in the game, automated contraptions being one of them.

Things like automatic drill mining machines and water pumps would be most welcome. We should be able to put our planetary citizens into work, driving bulldozers and cutting forests down. We should be able to make metal smelteries and farms with watering systems. Generators, lumber facilities, big storehouses and stuff!



I dislike the Tekkit mods for Minecraft because the game is more fantasy-themed, I was never OK with adding nuclear reactors or industrial pipe systems in the game. Things like these would fit perfectly in Starbound.

 

I could see heavy factorization as a late endgame pastime, since after getting up one the resource collecting would get way easier, especially with things related to mining. Also the crafting recipes should be expensive as heck. Getting up a self-maintaining factory complex is always rewarding.

Though this would require a lot of things to be added. Almost a completely new layer of content into the game. Which means this is prolly modding-zone stuff. :/

 

Sorry, I must have missed. Thanks again Jonesy.

 

I would love to have the ability to contract my colonists to gather resources. I'd love elaborate, but my brain won't allow me to further process words related to what I'd like to say

 

Would be neat to have some industry and automatic stuff late game. Big machines that can slowly eat their way trough planets, drones flying around gathering stuff, slav*cough* valued employees that work for you. Etc.

 

I'd like more automation im the game, yes, but I am pretty sure that will have to wait until the game is further along in development as Chucklefish still has a lot of work left to do. Maybe they will add some into Nightly, after Glad Giraffe is released to Stable, to add to the supposed "crafting overhaul"?

 

Honestly, I'd like to at least something along the lines of the Gardenbot mod get added in, since aside from issues with Guards and Turrets attacking the otherwise peaceful harvester bots they are a very handy utility and adds a significant amount of automation to a process that needs it.

 

Yeah, they kinda got hash out and balance the NON-automated stuff before they can really get in on automated versions of 'em.

 

We're in the last three major updates says Tiy, don't you think we've gotten plenty hashed out and balanced? At least enough to introduce some rather small things friend?

 

Machines doing the work... hmm

It would be pretty nice to leave... explore stars and probably murder a lot of native settlers for the sake of eventually making a shiny ferozium chair for one of my settlers... and get back home to find out my machines/settlers have gathered a few yet very important or useful recourses needed for whatever project/mission/task was of utmost necessity at hand... but I think its not appropiate to this kind of game in general because of the aim of the game, exploring has to be both the fun and reward of it. If we progress thru the game, unlock tech to allow automatization of resource handling, then we ll reach a point where gameplay becomes stale in favour of hoarding, hoarding is nice if you like to collect things, automatization of the process is nice on paper, but what if its done... and suddenly find it takes over the fun? I dont think its a bad idea, it just would have to be implemented in a way such that it doesnt get in the way of the game as a whole, it would stay small and focused on filling the niche necessities or more annoying materials that would need to be gathered

 

I'd agree with this more if they didn't already give us the means to stuff a bunch of people in box mud huts, poorly furnish them, and then generate far more money in a few ingame days by letting them sit around randomly in chairs or making weird expression than I would exploring for an in game week. I mean what was the other thing Chucklefish wanted to focus on as an in game means of progression; farming if I recall?

 

When it comes to automation, one thing I would like to see is being able to build a structure from a blueprint and having the necessary number of blocks in your inventory so one does not need to manually place every brick and wall block when wanting to start a new settlement on a new world.

It sure would cut down the time it takes to slay all the-I mean totally stumble upon abandoned, already built structures to rearrange for my next Doomlord Apartments.

Another thing I would like to see added to the game would be machine that you store your various foodstuffs in that would let you craft meals from the food stored inside it. Like some sort of Automatic Food Processor. O.O or even a Star Trek style Replicator that would allow you to scan in your favorite meals and print them from pixels!

 

I was kinda hoping for this when I used the refinery and cooking fire to work while I went off screeen to build, only to find they both stopped after I moved a certain distance away.

I'm not sure if this is intentional, but it would be something that would have to be addressed if automation is going to be a reality. Its not like the system cannot do it, farming plants change even with long growth times, but what is the application looking at in terms of resources, and the implications for other features as well(for example, the decay times of dropped items)

 

Hmm yeah I getcha, colonization is a bit of a blight in a pretty picture, like that cousin you dont like seeing in the family portrait. Hopefuly it ll be fixed... who I recall you gave up on that matter! Ah well, I could say at least automatization should focus on the more necessary materials, the ones you usually do without for the sake of building and furnishing

 

I lead a good fight going toe to toe, bothering the almighty Molly, pressuring Tiy, etc but in the end they don't seem to care too much towards expanding colonization past easy money and a new outlet for low-interest quest giving.

 

Lets hope the future becomes an eye-opening experience for them! or us, lol

 

More advanced technology - why not. All races could develop and use different things - e.g. the Glitch evolving into a society doing Steampunk stuff - that would be cool.

 

Well there we go folks, a new update. Sadly nothing really sticks out to me other than a bunch of new weapons that I'm sure we'll pick up only to replace twenty minutes later, some vehicles that seem highly illogical to use in a game like Starbound, and quests from our colonists.... for seemingly no reason.

I'm not saying this update is bad or anything, because it's nice to see the effort that went in, but I'm not exactly impressed.... Really hoping the modders work with vehicles to hopefully give us something utility wise instead of just hauling butt from one side of the planet to the other. I can always make a teleporter