New Patch: Fuel

I would like to see trees being replaceable come soon along with a means to convert them into a low yield fuel.

Doesn't have to be much, I would just like a way to be able to jot across the stars and know no matter how much I strip a planet down.. set it as home.. waste fuel coming and back to it.. I wont ever get stuck there so long as trees regrow or could be replanted.

Just a very very weak safety net so coal which is used for torches and other things isn't the only means low level. As is, they need a weak renewable fuel to avoid the possibility unlikely as it is, of reaching a point where you can't escape a world.

It is really unlikely but still seems possible. Which I think is a slight oversight on what is a key part of the game. It doesn't matter how available a resource is, if it is nonrenewable. If it is the only way to at low levels, then it is still possible for players to paint themselves into a corner since limited fuel is the only means to reach new sources of.. limited fuel.

It also ensures at some point eventually not in our lifetimes but it would be possible to, theoretically end an adventure just from exhausting all the fuel present in a universe. Lets say someone did that in a system without realizing it and didn't have enough to make a jump to a new one. They would be trapped basically with only a limited number of jumps left to explore worlds. Kind of sad to think about that it is possible to screw yourself over like that.

However what happens when we add multiplayer? I could foresee you spend all your fuel and jump to a world - that has been stripped clean. Already visited. Unlikely, but what if? Another way to get stuck.

 

I know exactly what i mean http://www.techopedia.com/definition/3952/sandbox-gaming

They want you to land and find coal, nobody said it would be easy. Once you have enough to go to another planet, the progression continues until you have the option to use several different ores as fuel.

I don't see how making sure the abundant wood, that you can get literally within seconds of landing, not work as fuel was a horrible idea. If they made it work less efficiently you'd essentially take as much time to gather enough as it would take you to simply look for coal.

So no point in that.

 

I'm surprised how many people agree that wood should be brought back, even as a charcoal alternative to coal.

Before the update, I was toting around for more coal than I knew what to do with. I had at least 800+ coal on me at all times. And the reason was because I used wood for my fuel. I had uranium and plutonium (no solarium) in a box because why would I use it when I can flatten a forest world and have enough fuel to jump 30 times across the galaxy. Even if we have wood required to be processed, wood would still be OP. All I have to do is toss 1000 logs into whatever processor processes it, and have it processing while I'm jumping around using charcoal for fuel.

Yeah, coal is used for a variety of things (mostly alloys and torches) but it's EVERYWHERE! I don't see how having to mine 25 coal to get to another planet in your star system is a problem. You have more than enough coal on any given world to satisfy you for a lifetime. I'm sorry if mining is tedious for you, I really am, but did you come into Starbound expecting not to dig, at least a little bit? Before the update, I didn't have to dig lower than the top layer of a planet to get what I need... and now I hardly have to dig at all! Go to a moon or desert or arid world. The ground is soft, it takes literally no time at all to dig up huge pockets of coal due to how obscenely common it is.

Even using it as my main source of fuel now, I still have hundreds of coal on me for no apparent reason. And as I'm sure many people ahve pointed out already, you're STRANDED... emphasis on that... I don't feel getting off the planet should be as simple as chopping down a tree, processed or not. "I'm stuck on my starter world until I get coal!" Congratulations, you just repeated essentially what the tutorial told you to begin with.

 

Coal as fuel for a spaceship is impossible, from a lore perspective, which doesn't bother me but it bothers some people. Wood and coal both burn pretty similarly, so I personally find it odd enough to break my suspension of disbelief that coal would work for fuel and wood wouldn't.

Also, as it stands, having only one kind of fuel source is very very limiting for a game that prides itself on so much choice. You're forced to scrounge for hours if you hope to travel to a decent number of other worlds. Wanting to go to other planets in no way "rockets you toward the action", as all you have to do is walk a little to the left to get attacked. What it does do, though, is vary up your landscape, vary up what you're fighting, and simply provide more opportunities to explore, instead of forcing you in a corner. If you're a player with a short attention span, or, like myself, just like to see new places, then you're a little screwed. If all I want to do is explore villages, dungeons, and destroy bandit camps, I should be allowed that option in a game like this.

As an alternative example, if I'm playing Skyrim and I want to kill a dragon as a thief, I shouldn't have to learn a conjuration spell in order to kill him to progress with the story. That would force me to play the game in a way that, up until that point, I was lead to believe I didn't have to play. Mining is a requirement, for sure, but I don't want to build massive hellevators on every planet I visit.

If there were more fuel sources, specifically ones that are found in dungeons, then players would be rewarded for dungeon exploration as well as mining. If you think of it from a lore/roleplaying point of view, having a character that's a dungeon delver wouldn't spend his or her time mining. Up until this update, it was possible to play the game contently without having to dig very far past the surface (at the sacrifice of not getting the better pickaxes or sets of armor you could craft), but now you have to if you want to get anywhere.

If it's a matter of not wanting the player to leave their first planet so soon, then maybe the ship should be damaged and they have to craft something to fix it from materials you get deeper. After that initial repair, they should be allowed to roam relatively freely. I like the concept of using up fuel, but I don't want it to be this resource I spend hours collecting, then spend it all in half the time when traveling.

In short, I don't want to have to spend the entire game collecting coal every time I want to leave a solar system. This can be fixed with more fuel options, a ship engine that doesn't burn as fast, or replacing coal with a sensible (and almost as common) element that fills up your tanks a bit more. Or, alternatively, have coal and wood fill up the tank on a microscopic level, then craft a station that's capable of synthesizing more realistic fuel types.

 

I literally don't understand how you missed the part where there are several fuel alternatives now.
You just use coal to propel yourself forwards at the start and then there are no more fuel issues.

You've got a short attention span by your own admittance, well you might not like what i'm going to say, but you should adapt to the game not the other way around.

They didn't implement several hundred blocks of planet depth to have you sit at the surface and then planet jump.
Respect that decision.

 

This is a large exaggeration, even before they broke the ore generation with last night's patch I was easily able to find enough coal to fly to a number of systems in less than 30 minutes. Have some patience while you play, there is no reason to play this game if it doesn't have some replayability and progression.

 

There are less than there were last patch because every "alternative" you mention existed pre-patch.

Plutonium and Uranium are also both so vanishingly rare, it makes trying to claim them as "alternatives" to coal (especially when their fuel per unit ratio is a joke) is pretty hysterical.

 

I like the way wood was removed.And I know they are planning to fix thing and alter the game...but coal isnt a very pleasant offer too,would be as energetic as normal wood,maybe good for powering steam boats but not complex Spaceships...maybe Plutonium,Uranium and shit could spawn next to the planets core,where tough monsters spawn and Lava is common...or be given as rewards after completing quest for villages.Apart from that,everything seems fine and I am anxious to see what happens next in this amazing game

 

You're basically saying and have said through several posts they shouldn't voice their opinion on this matter because of developer design decision. However I feel you are mistaken. That is what the beta and forum is for, testing and discussion respectively. Fuel is a key game play element that should be actively critiqued. Including types of fuel, for various reasons.

We respect the choices, but also we add our input and feedback. That is what these stages are for.

 

You couldn't use them as fuel, so without arguing semantics, no they weren't "there".

A fellow forum member posted this. I feel it works perfectly in this situation too:

 

Yes you could. You couldn't use them if you turned them into fuel rods, but raw uranium and plutonium ore gave fuel at 4 to 1 and 6 to 1 respectively (again: a complete joke for how rare they are).

 

How far have you actually gotten in the game? How long has that taken you?

I've watched streamers drown in ore and gear within 24 hours. Do not make it out to be harder than it actually is.

 

I found plutonium rather commonly in meteors, didn't realize the fuel rod version was worthless until I converted them into several hundred rods.

 

As I understand it, coal is currently the only fuel source. What else is there?

You misread my post. Read it again.

That's some backwards thinking, there. The game is in beta, and let me quote a blog post from Tiy to clarify something to you. This is the progenetor stage of the beta, and this is what he had to say about it.

Don't tell people they can't suggest changes just because you don't like them.

 

Currently, just Uranium Ore and Plutonium Ore.

 

My final post here. How is this conversation in any way related to testing the code?
The very first line he wrote there? You're supposed to give examples of mechanics breaking down or outright not working, not pointing out that you'd like wood to be used as fuel.

You'd leave your mark if you helped it end up a better, more stable version.
Very few are working towards that goal, while the rest are just scratching their verbal itches.

 

It is a bit of an exaggeration, I'll admit that, sorry. xB In the early game, it does take hours before you have a decent pick, which as someone who focuses more on the adventure aspect and less on the digging aspect I took a while to actually get to using. Maybe it will feel less like this once they add more quests, but if we can dig... say 300 coal in 1 hour, but don't want to have to dig for 1 hour, we should at least be able to burn 600 wood to go as far in less time. Uses twice the resources, but removes a chunk of the tedium.

 

Like to chime in and point out:
The values for ALL ore (including fuels, or at least coal) are adjusted unusually high right now by developer admission.

Things will be much rare in the following patches. Potentially rarer then before the patch. We don't know what the final values will be.

 

How far into the game before you start seeing those? I've not made it past tier 2 yet. I'm actually trying to take my time with the game (despite everyone telling me I'm trying to rush into it simply for wanting to visit other planets).

 

Which is really, really stupid, but is more argument as to why tying all interstellar travel to coal (or even rarer uranium/plutonium) is dumb as a bag of rocks.