So i tryed my first Escort mission...

It literally destroyed my mood to keep playing the game after i saw the NPC message "it looks like i won't be able to rejoin my with my sister..."
All because the "sister" NPC probably thought it was a good idea to start following me and jump into a lava pit while i was still dealing with the enemies.
And because the game only "autosaves" i can't even try again.

So, now on the constructive part, the stuff that went wrong can be resumed in the following points:
1) The hostage NPC started moving and following me in the middle of the fight, while it SHOULD NOT MOVE OR DO ANYTHING AT ALL until the fight is over and i get to talk to it.
It's like there are some robbers in a bank with a hostage, the police breaks in opening fire... and the hostage stands up and start walking around flailing the arms like nothing is happening, it's quite silly to think about as situation but that's what the escortee reaction makes me think about right now.
2) The hostage NPC can't seem to detect and manouver around visible and clear hazards such as lavapits, it should be able to at least understand to be in the proximity of something dangerous and either stop or take distance from it, or even both, NOT jump into it trying to brainlessy follow the player
3) The game has no manual save and load features, only autosave, and while i do understand there are many people who have no problem with that or are either too lazy/distract to save on theyr own, it can be a problem in such cases like the quest mentioned above.
Please give us the option to turn off the autosave and/or be able to save/load the game manually

I don't know what happens after you "supposely" defeat all the bad guys and talk to the hostage, but if you have to escort it back to the place yourself... No, just no, if the mission place is too far from the quest giver it can be a real nightmare considering the distances in this game and the strenght of certain enemies, plus it's also a fact that escort missions are among the most hated tropes in videogames because of theyr mechanic, make it end just by talking to the escortee and get back to the quest giver please.

I almost never post in these forums but this experience i had was so bad that i had to somewhat vent and let the proper people know about it and give my feedback on the matter.

Thank you for your time

 

A few things -

1) Your hostage NPC can't be hurt by the enemies that were spawned as part of its quest, (at least I've never seen them take damage in such a fight, and I've done many of these quests) so it doesn't matter if it starts following you in the middle of that fight. It can only be hurt by other enemies.
2) None of the NPCs avoid those kinds of hazards - best to use a pile of dirt to cover up lava pits when you're doing an escort quest.
3) Almost all procedural generated adventure-type games save constantly; see Minecraft, No Man's Sky, etc. The lack of manual saves is not to coddle the lazy, but to facilitate multiplayer, as well as make the game a challenge. It is, frankly, an already very easy game. Using building materials for impromptu shelters and to cover hazards, I was usually able to complete such escort quests without issue even before I had tier 6 weapons.

There are other quests that follow the formula you describe (go to X place, talk to person, return to quest giver), but the escort quests are different and a little harder. Fortunately, if escorting an NPC back to a location is too difficult for you, there's a solution. When offered such a quest, click the 'decline' button below it, rather than the 'accept' button.

 

There's no way a survival/resource gathering game is going to implement a manual saving and loading feature. It would be like giving a roguelike game a "Wait, no, PLEASE DON'T delete my character! I PROMISE I won't die again!" button.

 

I will say this - the best way to do quests, in my opinion, is to gather up a bunch of them at once. If a settlement is giving you quests, odds are a lot of them go to the same place. It's as easy to escort one NPC as it is to escort five, so even though you're taking them over a pretty long distance it's not too bad.

The other thing I do is if I'm trying to get a bunch of crew members from one town, or want to farm quests to get a specific crew member, I'll just dig a straight underground tunnel to the other side of the world where the dungeon is. Line it with torches and nothing will spawn in it, so you can do your escort quests over and over without any danger. Throw in a hoverbike to cover the distance quicker, and you're set.

 

Floran thinksss persssson not thinking outssside the box.

Floran sssuggessstsss either finding a planet where dungeon isss right next to town, or creating a pathway for ssstupid victimsss to traverssse sssafely.

 

Something else to go along with this train of thought, I noticed that escort NPCs seem to be able to teleport with you as long as you don't leave the world itself. So, you can set up teleporters at towns and other points of interest, then just use them to travel around the planet as you see fit. From my testing, the only time you lose an escort NPC this way is if you teleport off-world, like to your ship or another planet. In that case, the NPC will remain where you beamed away from, and will start following you again if you get close enough to them.

I noticed this by accident when I was setting up teleporters on my main world, and noticed an NPC follow me from a glitch fortress on the planet's surface to my base near the planet's core when I teleported between the two locations.

 

What I do with escort quests is hurry along as fast as possible, leaving the NPC with their lack of techs and pathfinding skills in the dust. I get far enough away, monsters don't spawn and I think the hazardous terrain might unload a bit. NPC teleports back to me if I recall, but I just need to keep going and repeat the running from.
I don't quite remember, but pretty sure they don't even need to be close to you to hand in the quest.
Although escorts have died to some very stupid things, such jumping into traps in the Avian Tomb they were imprisoned in because I was on the other side.

 

You're right...the NPC you're escorting doesn't actually have to be with you to turn in the quest. If you turn in the quest while the NPC is stuck at some other location, the NPC will just stay at that location. They just seem to think "Meh...this is good enough," and that spot becomes their new home.

That little quirk is what led to the Glitch Fortress on my homeworld becoming a "Floran Fortress".

 

Handy tip! I didn't know this, will have to put it to use in the future.