Species-specific Weaknesses/Strengths

I think it'd be cool if the different specciess of NPC and Characterss all had sspecial weaknesssess, but alsso sstrengthss.

Like one or two of each for each race, like floranss would be able to regenerate energy fasster when in contact with "ssunlight", or glitchess would be posssibly tougher, Hylotlss could sswim more eassily. While ssimilarily, each would have weaknesssess fitting of their theme and lore, like Floranss being more burnable, Hylotlss being electriccity-weak and glitches... I dunno, could posssibly make them unable to gain health regen effectss ssave for med-kitss and both bandage typess, or ssomething, I don't know.

Trusst me, they're jusst exampless, I honestly don't really know of anything that'd TOTALLY make complete ssensse.

You could make the racess a great deal more unique gameplay-wise by doing ssomething ssimilar, where each one has limitationss that the otherss wouldn't have, and sstrengthss only they have. Not sure what it'd do, but I feel it could sserve ssome purposse. Make the racess jusst more thematic/potentially immerssive even.

 

The RP is strong with this one.

Also, I would definitely like to see something done with the races. Hylotyls are supposed to be amphibious with underwater cities or something like that, yet they can still drown.

And why can Florans eat vegetables if they're (paraphrasing) "carnivorous plant beings"?

 

Yeah, well I perssonally had the idea when looking at the sstarting differenccess between different raccess.

 

I had the same basic idea, but i was thinking along the lines of special abilities:

Hyotl: Can move faster under Water, or can hold breath longer than other Races. (one or the other)

Avian: Able to fly short distances or reduced falling damage. (one or the other)

Floran: Ability to take root in the Rain to regenerate Life but unable to move during regeneration.

Apex: Ability to craft a small drone that helps in Battle.

Novakid: Ability to glow in the Dark.

Glitch: Overcharge; faster Energy regeneration for a short time.

Human: Combat Roll to Dodge incoming Attacks. Costs Energy.

 

Good ideas there, but I don't think it would be too overpowering to give those first two both abilities

 

Yes.

Also I'd like to see different crafting options/limitations weapon wise. Obviously Novas can already craft rifles and pistols instead of guns, what if humans could graft a gun and some melee weapons while Hoyotl made the best swords and Florans the best bows and so on.

 

I would even like to see the different suits of armour each race create have different properties. Currently all racial armour sets provide 30 armour, 20 energy and 15 health. If, for example, Avian Hatchling armour gave 20/30/15 and Floran Sprout armour gave 30/10/25 Avians would play more using their energy for guns and abilities and Florans would be more likely to be running around with two handed swords and axes tanking damage with their health and armour. This would change the gameplay on repeat playthroughs, increasing the Starbounds longevity and making the races matter when making multiplayer parties.

 

got to admit, when i first started playing i was totally surprised that there were no pros/cons for the races. I vote for a yes on this idea.

 

Have been suggested several times and been shot down every time. At the moment it's not even established if crafted armors will have unique racial traits like these despite quotes of Tiy "idea-guying" it on IRC.

 

Why has this idea been shot down? I really wish there was something about the different species to set them apart. I was going to see if I could make a mod for it but I'd have to access the hard code.

 

Chucklefish has stated that they won't be adding race-specific traits, which is quite a bit nonsensical but the only thing we can do is complain.

You're the member of a fully aquatic race that lives on the ocean floor? Too bad. You drown like a Human every time you try to return home. >_>

 

From what I've heard around the forums and read in the blog (IIRC) it is definitely confirmed to be implemented at a later date.

 

Sounds good. That would make race choice a little more important than just aesthetics.

 

Well, amphibians usually at least partially lose the ability to breathe underwater, and the square-cube law would mean that simply absorbing oxygen through the skin would, at best, delay it.
As for the others, it can be justified due to things ranging from "Would make them unbalanced" (Ex: Florans would logically take more damage from fire compared to the other races), wouldn´t really make much sense if given some thought (Such as making Glitch characters able to take a lot of damage or making them unaffected by the hunger meter back when it existed, considering that they are supposed to simulate a civilization, so doing the latter would undermine them; or making Avians characters able to fly, as their humanoid shape wouldn´t help them much, if at all. Similarily to how ostriches can´t fly), etc...

Of course, that doesn´t mean they couldn´t get a proper set of crafted weapons, as all of them basically can only craft retextured renames of the same weapons, and making the race-specific weapons more different from each other wouldn´t make them seem too similar in gameplay, is already done with Novakids, and would prevent the issue of causing players to pick them up basing themselves solely on their traits due to the randomly-generated wepaons and the ability to add blueprints for the other races' weapons (Which can be already found). Plus, by applying some Fridge Brilliance and Fridge Horror, it adds to the lore of the game (An example of the former would be making Hylotls able to craft bows and either spears or, as I suggested already, whips: They would use weapons which seem obsolete because, in their culture, combat mostly exists as an art form, so the difficulty to use said weapons would be fitting, as someone who can use them would be seen as an artist; while an example of the latter would be making Apex weapons able to inflict such debuffs as slowing or preventing enemies from attacking at range: The PC´s backhistory would make it reasonalbe that the reason he/she can craft them is because he/she found the blueprints in the stolen Miniknog ship; and it would make sense for the Miniknog to use less lethal weapons: Their purpose isn´t to kill the target, but to incapacitate it in order to be able to use it as a test subject).

 

No racial traits, as that would lead to people selecting race for the best trait rather than playing the race that actually want.

At best, it has been suggested that racial armors will have special traits instead, since armor can be shared across characters. Game content should not be perminantly locked out simply because I chose X race instead of Y.

 

Out of curiosity, Lazarus, what is the best race to play in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim where each race has different stat and skill distributions?

No matter what the answer is, I'm not going to pick that race because I like the Khajiit far more because of their appearance, lore and because I like to play as a traveling merchant in games where I can.

And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. I'm pretty confident that most people think the same way when they make any character.

 

TES race traits are minor enough that they don't really matter. The abilities you get trhoughout the game overshadow any racial ability.

Starbound has made it along just fine without any racial traits, so there is no reason to add any now outside of on armors. Furthermore, I've not seen a single suggestion for racial traits that wasn't imbalanced in some way. Put it on armors and everyone gets what they wanted. Racial traits not locked to any one race perminantly.

 

Sounds about right.

"X isn't in the game and it's still okay, so X isn't necessary at all."

Um... no? Just because you haven't contemplated a reason does not mean there is no reason. I can think of at least one and that is "people want it and it won't destroy the balance of the game."

Honestly, armors applying "racial bonuses" would suck with the recent changes to the armor system in Nightly.

It's hard to devise a balanced idea when you can't playtest it. There are still ways to find balance, though.

You've never answered my response: "Why not both?"

 

I have answered. Why not both? Because then you can double stack a bonus. The point is that no race is better than any other in any permanent way.

And you CAN test out ideas... with armors... Use them as temporary mediums to see how the trait balance out. While you are there, why not just leave them on the armors?

 

Then you can either prevent double stacking by racial exclusions, or make it so that the effects are not additive (I.e. two 10% boosts result in an 11% boost). Counterargument?

Point taken. Still would like to apply statuseffects through a species file, though.

Because that is lame and does not make as much sense as having both racial and armor bonuses.