TBH I always wanted to talk about this one specific problem. This one is no joke tho, I really want this to happen alongside with the 1.0. EVERY FRICKIN RACE IS THE SAME AND HAS NO CORRELATION WITH THE CURRENT LORE No i know someone gonna say about cyborg or mutant, but please listen to my reason So i've been playing a lot of game previously before i got introduced to the magical drug that is starbound. Like take example from: Skyrim, Endless space, Civilization, etc. And what do they have in common?. Yah thats right, your choices at start do matter to your playstyle, Every races you pick, every faction you choose. these thing actually matter, and thats what makes you S.P.E.C.I.A.L, Because balances in races makes no sense in the lore. I'm not talking about bionics or any artificial enhancement, I'M TALKING ABOUT their evolutionary trait based on their lore and appearance. What happen to Hylotl spending their eternity evolving to adapt living underwater? Where's their aquatic combat advantages like Throwing spears in water like a torpedoes or Stealth ability in the underwater? How about novakids? They are well know for being a drunken Deadshot with affinities to ranged weaponry. Could goes like an ability to lock onto enemy to make sure your shots doesn't misses, or calculating ballistic trajectory VISUALLY! But how about something that might has great imbalance? Like the Floran. This creature were born with many predatory traits. Even in the lore one floran is able to kill many people in a fully armed and guarded palace (look it up in the lore). There is also glitch, a synthetic armies of metal man, Incapable of feeling pain or exhaustion, able to go on and resistant to biological damage such as bleeding and poison, And they are the only one who should be able to eat a SOUP MADE OUT OF BATTERY! And maybe avian with their lightweight bones and feathers, they should be agile. These birdlike creature should have reverse jointed limbs and able to run like velociraptor and jumps like flea. Floran should have their predatory trait, such as night vision, seeing stealthed creature, Constant regeneration trough photosynthesis. Or their all rounded superhuman strength. I want the appearance of a hostile floran to be an actual threat as they are basically like an orcs or a super mutant as in other game. And an their special ability to tinker and reverse engineer with junks. Why can't this ever happened Some minor changes really makes no sense as before a certain update, floran can eat raw meat, glitches only eats metallic food, certain seeds can only be consumed by avian. Thats said as different race has their own preference in their diet. It's not like you can feed a SOUP MADE OUT OF BATTERY to a human and expect them to gives you a thumbs up and a Five star on Kelps. Floran aren't supposed to like vegetables and how about certain beastlike race able to eat confectionary and sweets like chocolate without poisoning their stomach, Because the major branch in their evolution should make themselves what they are not making them as human as possible. Didn't any of you remember that human are now a minority at starbound universe. Like scientifically trough evolution we can see that they are supposed have different dietary Avian has beaks which mean they are more used to eating seed and nuts or other solid food Glitch are a non-biological creature, therefore they didn't need organic material to survive Floran are mostly carnivore, thats why they have sharp teeth and fangs Humans are omnivore, but they still shouldn't be allowed eat a SOUP MADE OUT OF BATTERY Novakids can't possibly have a digestive system While there is many other evolutionary factor that makes them very different. Some still would say that they just don't wanted any Imbalances, But remember! Starbound is also a role playing game where you takes the role of some kind of space police. The imbalance is actually existed in the lore and you can't deny that a floran is strong enough to take down twenty human in a hand to hand combat. Every Racial advantage and disadvantages makes the diversity of Starbound. While each races has their internal struggle socially like civil war or a racism problem. The ridiculousness of the racial balance goes like in this example Human: ello' sir i would fancy me self some afternoon brunch of your traditional dishes Glitch Server: Well here you go sir, one SOUP MADE OUT OF BATTERY coming Human: What an exquisite looking food sire, I'll have my pleasure eating them *1 hour later News Reporter: BREAKING NEWS! a human has found dead in a derelict glitch cafe, the cause of dead is chocking a battery between his throat and his trachea. His internal digestive organs is also cauterised and melting as a very high trace of battery acid is found within his soup. Looks like it is another case of food poisoning. the protectorate is still investigating the serial killer behind this Or here is another one Human Jailbird: Oh look a wandering floran armed with a broadsword twice out height, Lets rob him with a chair. Human Junkie: Wait! that is a floran, didn't you read you biology book? These things is fifty time stronger that us. Human Jailbird: Shut up jeff!, you know that out AI is not programmed to be intimidated by them Didn't you get what I mean? Why can't chuckle fish makes this racial difference for these creature. Disgruntled loyalist: But lichen! how about the human race? they has nothing special for their race! No actually humans are unique. To human they themselves might appear common and boring, but to other race, human are actually different and unique. Being an extremely diplomatic race, and able to adapt to any technology. Can tolerate most food and absolutely more expansive and ambitious that many other races. But to be honest humans can be made for people who wants balance in play or a classic modes. As starbound is mostly single player and in multi player, We don't kill each other like a savage as in "every MMO survival games ever". We are unique to the extent that we can take our racial advantage to works together as a team with different skill and talent. Disgruntled loyalist: But then what is it gonna be good out of that other than making much more sense to the lore? Other than the fact that this might takes extra work, once again this helps many people and encourage them to try different things which equal to more playtime. for some modder, they could just easily splice and combine other racial traits to fits their owns. I am sure that this kind of change will change what critics thinks about starbound, Because this is a new change toward playstyle and would match with how starbound want to improve their lore and stories. This kind of might take more complex sets of coding, but it would took a little less effort than designing an entire dungeon or a story. Here, I'll show you how it might look like if they added this as a feature (edited it myself just now) Note that this is just an example as i do not know what the devs are gonna make them to be if they actually featured it I know that some passive ability existed in the stable, but note that the current traits is actually quite restricting you to only wear one specific sets of armour and if it do not match your race, and thats already unfair as nova kids current passive ability doesn't change pretty much anything since everyone else can glow in the dark for no reason at all. One more thing to know is the fact that races already have their uniquely different sets of armour, weapons, and furnitures . So if difference like that exist, why not go in all out and make a racial trait a thing. [As Suggested by Other] >Kezeal agree that racial bonuses would make it a bit more diverse, but I think they should be VERY minor. Something along the lines of: Novakid - glow in the dark(already in the game) Hylotl - 1.5x swimming speed Apex - slightly higher jumping Avian - slower falling speed, thus being able to fall from higher(because birds have hollow bones) Human - maybe just a tad bit more energy? Floran - slightly longer bonuses from food Glitch - immunity to poison? That way they kind of fit the races, and at the same time affect the gameplay only slightly. Though I can see some people still picking a race because of the racial bonuses. If they did go for major bonuses, then they would need to make sure everything is balanced in the bigger picture. Again, here's my two cents: Human - more energy Hylotl - increased speed underwater(like, 3-4x speed) Apex - +5% melee damage, +5% ranged damage Avian - more energy(they're pretty much feathered humans as far as the lore so far goes, as in nothing special about them) Novakid - faster energy regeneration(or lower cooldown for "no regen") Glitch - +10% resistance to damage Floran - +5% melee damage, +5% resistance to damage I made these before realizing how little time Hylotl have been underwater, and I can't come up with anything better from the top of my head, so I'll keep these here. They seem fairly balanced to me. I've given it some more thought, and if we wanted to add racial bonuses, then we'd have to re-do the hazard system. Instead of having "Hot", "Cold", "Poisonous", we would need to have like "Hot I" "Hot II" "Hot III" etc up to V, same with every other one. Humans, by default, should be able to handle Hot and Cold up to II while wearing regular clothes, up to IV if they wear the warm clothes, and V would require the tech you wear on your back. Humans - Hot&Cold III. IV with winter clothes. Hylotl - Hot&Cold&Poisonous I, can swim in poisonous water without any effects. Oxygen III Floran - Cold III. Poisonous III. Oxygen I Glitch - Cold I. Poisonous IV. Oxygen III Novakid - Hot V. Poisonous I. Apex - Hot&Cold II. III with winter clothes. Poisonous I. Avian - Hot III, Cold I, Poisonous II >Urthdigger I'd like to see racial differences, so long as it's minor. One big example would be "separate, but equal" bonuses, such as the food mentioned earlier. Each race having certain foods unique to them makes sense, and it's still balanced in a way. Sure, my avian can't eat currentcorn or automatos, but they can enjoy beakseeds and feathercrowns just fine. Another example would be making use of the villages across the worlds. Perhaps they would treat a member of their own species better (better prices at shops, better rewards from quests, etc). Not sure they'd get any bonus from dungeons of their own kind though. In any case, both this and the food bonus earlier introduce complications in exploration, in that depending on your species certain things may be more desirable to find, but in the end no race is better than another. Another difference may be to take advantage of the racial blueprints that we had (and which, sadly, I hear will be going away in 1.0). Glitch armor may be more sturdy than avian armor. Maybe avians make better spears than other races. Novakids are already the only ones that can craft guns. In the short term, this does have the potential to make some races "better" than others, but so long as each race has SOMETHING they do well, I think they'd all be viable for one main reason: Trading. Villages, merchant tenants, other players, it's not impossible to get gear from other races. Really, I'm approaching the changes I have in mind from the viewpoint of multiplayer. Found some apex apartments on a planet? Go tell your apex friend. Really want to try out a human hammer? Find one to make it for you. Perhaps you could pride yourself on making a restaurant that carries food for all the different races... or make on that's Glitch only. >WolfWave I really, really, REALLY hope they add racial traits. it would make the game so much fun and actually add replayability to it. I'd say they could go similar to these Human - Strength or bonuses from farming and st Hylotl - No slowdown in water Apex - They're more like monkeys so maybe slightly increased damage or higher jump? Avian - Far less fall damage, slight float or higher jump Novakid - Either no cooldown for energy or fast regen + the glowy thing they have Glitch - %20 or so damage resistance to bullets Floran - More melee damage - faster energy regen in sunlight? >Squeegeeie I wouldn't give bonuses in any way directly related to damage our damage resistance. Probably the closest I'd think of considering would be something like giving a novakid a slight accuracy bonus when using guns. Apex are supposed to be sciencey, I'd make a bonus related to that, like increased duration when using stims. Giving avians Lee's fall damage makes me think that's why their sacrificial towers have to be made so high. I made a tower like that one in dwarf fortress. At the start year, I'd take some kind of animal, or an orc if I had one, and I'd take them to the top of the tower and drop them off. I'd consider where the gibs landed, and how far they flew from the point of impact as some sort of Armok fortune telling method for that year. So if you liked my argument please show some support at least large enough that one of the developer might see it. So put down your comment of your own idea of a racial trait, or your own argument about this topic Contribute to the polls after reading this (all votes is anonymous so no one can judge you) For every one like you gives, I'll send you one SOUP MADE OUT OF BATTERY (this might not be a scam)
The reason every race is the same is so that people woulden't be forced to play a certain race to get certain benefits (this has been discussed since the beginning btw). Its not something i agree with myself (i would have prefeared unique bonuses and such on all races) but i get there argument for makeing it so.
Originally the devs did have certain kinds of food flagged to be hazardous to all but a specific race (even if it never happened in practice.) I think Humans were the only ones able to each chilis with no consequence, Apex were the only ones who could eat the gene-modded bananas, Feathercrown was for the Avians, Oculemons would have poisoned anyone not of the Floran persuasion, Currentcorn would have harmed anything not of Glitch nature, and Coralcreep was actually flat-out stated to be fatally poisonous to non-Hylotl races. (Big Ape was fond of using it as a poison to quietly eliminate political enemies.) It would have been a slight pain, sure, but eh.
While I have a love-hate relationship with racial abilities, I do have some slight issues with your post. I did some more digging about the races and I seem to have been wrong about a few things(I was mostly surprised by the Hylotl one). Also, correct me on everything I'm wrong on. The only time given for how long they've been underwater was in the official introduction which has now changed. It stated "Through years of living under the ocean". Even they have building under-water that require oxygen, meaning when they were driven there by the Florans, they just made buildings underwater that could sustain them. I've found this silly in the first place. The biggest weakness of a Floran is that it needs a lot of water(correct me if I'm wrong about this one). The only thing I could find that would even remotely suggest that is their fashion being similar to Wild West. The original creator took Leonardo da Vinci as the inspiration. I may be forgetting something, but the only time I went "ohshit that's strong" is when 5 Florans took out the Apex prison where they tried to train regular citizens to be more assertive in combat situations to raise an army. That was allegedly before Apex became what they are today(I remember reading something about Greenfinger assisting Apex genetic change). No comparison to any other race, except Hylotl who were driven underwater, but that was just because Hylotl were a passive race, not a warring one. They may have predatory traits, but there's unfortunately no point in lore where we could calculate their actual strength. Only the "superhuman" strength has been mentioned in the lore, and even then mostly against Apex. Because a few bullets will still take a Floran down. Glitch on the other hand... Don't know. Removing the race-specific foods bothered me quite a bit as well. Thought they had their own reasons to temporarily remove it, but we'll see in the future. I can and will deny that until the lore tells me otherwise. There's an entire in-lore mission where you, a lone *INSERT RACE* take down a cave-full of Florans single-handedly. It's not a randomly generated dungeon. It's one of the main missions. So you're saying humans are unique because they have no bonuses but in a slightly longer way? Or are you saying humans excel at teamwork compared to other races? Glitches have a hivemind. Can't get more teamworky than that. Miniknog also works in groups. >Humans don't have any bonuses >Humans can eat same stuff many other races And the last two don't even apply to this game. The food part is the least of concerns, as getting more food in Starbound is easier than dying in Dark Souls. In the nightlies you have to carry a life-supporting device on your back, so no more "I GLOW, THEREFORE I NOVA". You can enhance it to glow, but Novakids can use that enhancement slot for extra damage or something. They already have the upper hand. Now we're talking the same language. Kind of. Racial armors should have different bonuses, so you could choose what bonus to give to your character(though VERY minor racial bonuses could still work). Pretty sure when the game first launched the devs mentioned racial armors having different bonuses. I agree that racial bonuses would make it a bit more diverse, but I think they should be VERY minor. Something along the lines of: Novakid - glow in the dark(already in the game) Hylotl - 1.5x swimming speed Apex - slightly higher jumping Avian - slower falling speed, thus being able to fall from higher(because birds have hollow bones) Human - maybe just a tad bit more energy? Floran - slightly longer bonuses from food Glitch - immunity to poison? That way they kind of fit the races, and at the same time affect the gameplay only slightly. Though I can see some people still picking a race because of the racial bonuses. If they did go for major bonuses, then they would need to make sure everything is balanced in the bigger picture. Again, here's my two cents: Human - more energy Hylotl - increased speed underwater(like, 3-4x speed) Apex - +5% melee damage, +5% ranged damage Avian - more energy(they're pretty much feathered humans as far as the lore so far goes, as in nothing special about them) Novakid - faster energy regeneration(or lower cooldown for "no regen") Glitch - +10% resistance to damage Floran - +5% melee damage, +5% resistance to damage I made these before realizing how little time Hylotl have been underwater, and I can't come up with anything better from the top of my head, so I'll keep these here. They seem fairly balanced to me. Voting YES for racials, but would like to see balance in them. I wonder if by science I could lower the acidic level of the soup to make it edible... EDIT: Looking at the poll choices, I have to select "Unique" or "Equal". They're already unique. It doesn't say "I want racial abilities" and "I don't want racial abilities". I won't vote.
the glitch were built to simulate life and social evolution (they glitched out though and are stuck in the medieval age) because they are meant to simulate life they are programmed to suffer from things like pain and exhaustion. so while it is a robot that doesnt directly feel exhaustion, its programming detects things that would cause exhaustion and force the effects onto it. all completely beyond the glitches control or awareness its the same reason they are affected by poison, programming detects poison and starts mimicking the effects it would have on a biological creature this topic has been brought up many many times before (unlike other people said, I think searching the forums for "racial abilities" threads will provide more results) but all of them that I have seen always say glitch should get immunity poison and/or hunger and/or drowning and/or lava and/or suffocating and/or other things that would definitively make glitch the best race game-play wise
"The Glitch reproduce by finding a mate and physically building a new Glitch together. Occasional faults in this process has caused Glitch to be produced free from the limitations of their programming. Entirely self aware and full of advanced knowledge, these Glitch are generally thought to be insane and are hunted, imprisoned and executed." taken from the original official description of the race, still found at http://starbounder.org/Glitch and http://playstarbound.com/introducing-the-glitch/ . They talk about the ones players control. Also immunity to poison isn't that much of a deal. In all my hours of gameplay, I don't think I've died of poison once.
Chucklefish got rid of their ideas against racial bonuses at least around October of 2015, since that's when Tiy made this post in his AMA thread. ATM, in Nightly, Novakid glow slightly brighter than their counterparts. Vanilla Nightly Comparison: Comparison with mod to reduce default player emitted light:
Actually, it's not small. The default player glow was just modified to ridiculously huge a few updates ago. The mod I used in those pictures doesn't actually remove default player glow - it reduces it to the values used before Chucklefish saturated the game with light so that darkness is basically nonexistent.
I realy miss the good old days where you could hide from other players in the dark Hade a whole rp thing going with a murderer in the sewer system. Off course i get the argument for glowing characters, i just do not like it personaly.
