Make the Matter Manipulator Matter

When I first started playing Starbound, and I got the matter manipulator for the very first time, I was excited. I thought, "Cool! This must be the tool we're going to use to do all the sandbox stuff!" Well, I was both right, and wrong, and here's why.

For starters, I initially assumed that the matter manipulator would be my primary digging tool. Not a pickaxe. I assumed that over time, I would be able to upgrade it, and make it better, and have it be just all around super awesome.

But that's not what it turned out to be. Sure, the first thing you have to do with it is cut down a tree and dig up some stone, but once you've done that, you never need it again except to place blocks and decoration items.

The matter manipulator should be more than just a decoration tool!

Here's what I'm going to propse:

Remove the pickaxes entirely.

1. The matter manipulator should be the pickaxe. I mean, it's in the name! Matter Manipulator! Where's the matter manipulation? The title alone inspires so much and holds a lot of promise.
2. Allow the players to upgrade the matter manipulator. This means:
   
   • Making it dig faster.
   • Expanding the size of the affected area.
   • Allow the players to choose how much area they wish to affect (possibly using shift/ctrl + mousewheel) instead of the normal 2x2 and 1x1 while holding shift. Maybe mining a larger area, like 9x9 for example would take a lot longer than 3x 3. That would at least incentivise mining smaller areas as opposed to larger ones.
   • Extending the range. While this isn't all that important, it might be helpful in certain situations.
3. If not improve the matter manipulator, at the very least allow us to use something that isn't so archaic, like a mining laser, for example. This is a sci-fi game after all! Make the drill be the first digging tool you create, and move up from there!

The way digging is currently handled is too much like a fantasy sandbox than a sci-fi one, and it truly frustrates me to see that the main tool to be used for the first half of the game is an old fashioned pickaxe. And, while digging is fun and all, it's totally immersion breaking to have an extremely high tech tool in my hands at all times only to have to use something that's almost no tech for basically everything important.

 

I totally agree on that and I also was like "wtf, you can't be serious by having a pickaxe after u came down from a space-ship with an matter manipulation device?!"

I do like the style anyways, but it would make much more sense. Also it is very odd, that the pickaxe is getting broken but the axe is not. I also reccoment to upgrade the visuals for the matter manipulator fitting the species you chose, as you did with the ships.

 

Yeah, the manipulator was something I looked forward to using as my main tool, at least it was different than pickaxes, axes and drills, as well as more versatile if only we could upgrade it, since it can be used over a longer range, to for example cut down those vines that are ONE block too high to reach with normal tools.

I would totally approve of scrapping pickaxes, drills and axes entirely to instead have an upgradeable matter manipulator, or have it as a late-game item instead, with you starting with a pickaxe, working your way up the drills, and then making a matter manipulator far superior to the one we have now, faster and with some features that you mentioned like area control. I don't agree on the reach however, I think it's fine and balanced as is.

 

I do agree that the matter manipulator should be upgradeable and actually be useful, but you are being extremely rash with removing pickaxes. I read this on another thread and thought it was an excellent idea, the upgraded matter manipulators should be equal to the equivalent tier of pickaxe. For example if you have upgraded your matter manipulator once from base level it should be roughly equal to a T2 pick - copper pick (without upgrade it is the equivalent of T1 pick - stone). Then, with each upgrade that affects the area it mines, the speed at which it mines that area could be slightly slower than it's equivalent tier of pick, as not to render picks irrelevant and useless compare to the matter manipulator.

 

I think it should be final tier! Pickaxes, drills Then MM

 

The power consumption of a matter manipulator type device would be gross. In other sci-fi genres they use lasers for mining. Personally I am not to upset with the pick-axes since the character is a survivor from their home world, I assume the ship is a life boat of sorts with only the most basic of needed technology for survival.

So making technology based on scraps the characters finds is ok, but at some point I do agree that a better mining tool should either be discoverable or researchable.

 

I'm tweeting this.Tweet tweet tweet.Done.

I don't know if one should remove the pickaxes;but certainly the matter manipulator could use some upgrades.Maybe we could allow it to fire a drilling laser;such laser could also be used to push monsters around.

We could use it to gather water,lava,play around with stuff,activate switches,MANIPULATE things.

If you want my opinion they're too Terraria-minded.This beta for now feels like Terraria but with a spaceship.Of course that's an extrapolation;but sci-fi comes at the price of technology,you'd guess.We want cool stuff.Different stuff.SUPERIOR stuff.Tweet.

 

I don't think pickaxes should be removed. Yes this is a sci-fi game, but only in the sense of space travel. There are primitive societies and virgin worlds and it makes a lot of sense for the player to find and use a wide array of technological and archaic tools and weapons.

This is the thing I loved most in starbound, the anachronism of it. We're not talking about the age and scientific development of a single planet, we're going through a lot of planets with different technological levels and taking the best of them, be it high or low tech, with us. So pickaxes and Matter manipulators should be placed side to side on your chest, the same way your sword and gun are.

And I think Matter manipulators should be upgradeable too, as far as being used to scan objects for the 3D scanner and such. Think of the MM as some kind of Omnitool that comes bare from the factory and that you can upgrade to perfection. Maybe not even upgrades, but utility chips you put on them and that use its memory.

 

Personally I didn't like having to craft a pickaxe. Especially the diamond pickaxe. Seriously? Is this minecraft? Sure silver and gold.. but diamond? //facepalm. After silver pickaxe, you should be able to craft a mining laser. Where diamonds come in to concentrate the light. Then you can get tech that increases mining power of the laser. I was disappointed in the mining aspect of the game. I love it yes, but it needs to stick to the originality... just... diamond pickaxes make me want to throw up..

 

+1 for badass mining laser!

 

I don't exactly agree on the scrap-pickaxe notion, but indeed, after you have the robotic table there is no point why the diamonds/gold/platinum/rare materials couldn't be used to upgrade the MM.

I could even live with it requiring different upgrades to be a good pick, a good axe, or a good placement tool. Also, would absolutely love it activating switches.

 

I agree pickaxes are much too abundant in this type of game genre and the matter manipulator seemed the perfect break away from that.

 

I actually don't bother with pickaxes at all as I have edited the config file for it to beef up the matter manipulator and increased its dig radius to hit a 4x4 area and beefed up the firing speed.....now I can plough through just about any material at a decent speed and width.

But I agree something like I have done needs to be official and maybe even have a way of upgrading the manipulator for higher tiers and do away with the pickaxes as they are used in too many other games.

 

I'd rather see a compromise. Have pickaxes early on, then move on to upgrading the Matter Manipulator when you get to more unusual materials.

 

Make matter manipulator have slots, you explore to find upgrade chips.
The stats are shown on all tools to compare speeds, strength, and durability.

Pickaxe = str + dur
Drills = str + SPD
Matter manipulator = str + spd + RNG

The MM has weaker stats but higher overall balance.
SPD means rate of fire.

So stone pickaxe has +10%. Each version increases it.
Drills get mostly speed increase.

 

If you add an option "I don't want to remove pickaxes but I want to make the matter manipulator really useful as said" I'd vote.

 

Well, *given the materials and instrument*, anyone of us can make a simple combustion engine. The 3D printer onboard provides such material/tools for sure (although judging by how we have to scan everything, the protagonist has no idea how to go creative with the thing), but I agree that there should be a certain "pre-scifi" part of the game where you use pickaxes and build out of wood and cobblestone.

 

Let's go back to primitive nature and shag trees scottish style.

 

I don't think anything should be scrapped but instead given specific purpose. The MM could be the slowest mining tool but also have the biggest and most customizable area, say 1x1-4x4. To complement this, having it take less time to dig for a smaller area and more for a larger would add a good dash of flavor. The pickaxe could stick to the 3xthree but be a bit faster overall than the MM at its highest tiers. As for the drill, giving it an unusually long digging area, like, say, 2x5, would be good, as well as having it a little slower than the pickaxe but faster than the MM. This allows each tool to be designed for a different use while fitting their respective themes as well (drill for mainly straight tunneling, MM for best customization/mass removal, pickaxe for general use).

The tiers for the MM could unlock the bigger digging areas, or require tech only found progressively later in the game. This could work for the drill as well since better technology tends to lead to wider options. As for the pickaxe, it's sort of like building a better mousetrap; there's only so much you can do (in this case, make it faster/better).