Star-map tiers are...lame

What I meant was with the current system, even if you create a home planet in the alpha sector, when you defeat that boss and move on to the beta sector, you have practically no reason to go back to your home in the alpha sector. There's currently nothing special on an alpha sector planet that you can't get on a beta sector planet, so why should you go back other than to relive old memories at your home planet? There's just about no replayability for each sector once you finish it. So each sector is essentially its own universe that you come into, rent the place for a couple hours, and move on. If all the sectors were combined into one huge map, just with different planet levels spaced across, you can set a home planet that you know you would go back to since you're just bouncing back and forth between planets in the same general vicinity as you unlock new tiers.

 

As I said, that makes no sense. You're saying that you need to defeat a boss to get access to new sectors, but you're also saying that the sectors are on top of each other. If I'm a new player, I'm going to be immediately confused as to why I can't travel to one planet right next to my starting location, but I CAN travel to a different planet next to my starting location.

And how would this change whether or not your Home Planet remains useful? You're still going to have no reason to ever go back to your Home Planet, it still won't have anything "useful."

 

1) I don't think that's the entire reason or even the reason.
2) And the OP's model is not about hurling people into a universe with no real guidance.
5) Because most of the content right now is simply endless upgrades/graphic swaps.

 

I'd have to agree, I think there needs to be more diversity per star map in terms of planet difficulty, otherwise there's no real point to going through a few of the planets in each tier. there maybe chests with loot, I'll admit there might be some neat randomly generated castle or something like that, but why bother going through a few of them if you can just hit the next tier off one planet, and move on to better loot, and possibly better dungeons.

 

I feel like you're just playing devil's advocate here. If you read what the OP said, you'd realize he suggested a bunch of prerequisites you need before you're able to visit higher level planets. His example is that levels 10+ have toxic atmospheres, so you need an air purifier to land and survive there, presumably crafted from a material dropped from the tier 9 boss. Other level planets would have similar requirements. It would be the same system as now in that you need to defeat a boss to get to the next tier, but the item you get would allow you to survive on the next tier's planets. So you could travel to a higher level planet, but you would lose health rapidly upon arriving on the planet's surface, or maybe you can't land there period. Either way it would still be in your best interest to progress through the tiers normally.

You're really asking if your home planet remains useful if it's down the street versus light years away? If I'm in my game in Gamma sector, I don't ever go back to Alpha sector where my original home is because it costs 200 fuel to get there and then 200 fuel to get back.

 

By the time I reached Delta, I had 1000 fuel, and was running out of additional place to store fuel.

By Tier 10, I no longer bother digging the stuff up, because I literally have not a single place left to keep it.

 

OH GOD NO! NO, PLEASE GOD, NO!

It will be endgame spore allower again.

NOT events, better be resourses, or something little and more or less optional, like new stuff in shops, new NPC's in city.
Because there is just so much different events that could be programmed.
Need to define event.
Now i talk about big stuff. From war on the planet(house destruction included, also aiding sides, and rebuilding on aftermath) to monster attack(hello bosses), asteroid crash(time to blow it up), plague spread (time to craft cure from random ingridients or whole planet dies(just NPC, biome change will be too much for engine to handle))
Shortly - big stuff.
Endgame spore was a nightmare mostly because events there happened often and simultaneously.
(and there was reason for dev's to think that this would be a good idea, it's mostly half****d strategy thingy.)
If we consider use of events like this they:
1 Need to be triggered either by quest item(for starters to test them) and then by timer with default timespace between adventures(ajustable) be 48-72 hours.
2 Can be canceled up to certain point.(goin down on event planet for example)
(Than more i think about it than more needlessly complicate and generally obesse this idea will get so i stop now.)
Oh no, it's happening.
No timers, only low possibility whenn player returns home.

P.S.
Sorry, language succesfully broken again.
Foreign, yes, also 6am here.

 

Well, then I guess you're having a much better time with fuel than a lot of people on these forums lol. But regardless, I would personally find more satisfaction in "claiming" a group of stars over time where I can see my area of influence than just leaving my old sector and going to a new one every time a boss is beaten.

 

Here's a game development secret: 99% of the itemization content in literally every game which has ever been made is simply a stat upgrade or graphic swap.

 

And that means players are supposed to never skip them?

 

In the general case? No. Progression is supposed to be gated by the new equipment.

In the specific case? Yes, there's plenty of content you can skip in most games. A Boy and His Blob can be completed in under five minutes, but that hardly means the game has no content.

 

If progression is fun, I wont skip it, if its not fun why is a game forcing me through it?

 

Hazards of long posts, I guess. You just get TL;DR'd.

The bottom-line biggest issue, cutting out all the 'let's make exploration more fun' and the 'let's make ships more interesting' that I put in my big ol' titan-foot of text is that hopping BACK through sectors is a pain in the ass, and a pain in the ass to get back to where you can actually accomplish something. People don't build bases because returning to that base is a colossal drain on your fuel reserves, especially when you can just build one (A small one) on your ship and have it come with you.

 

Fully on board with the OP's suggestion, I don't even bother building bases since you just up and leave them anyways to the next sector, to never return.

 

How about this for a starmap system, extending on OP's fog mechanic in the starmap?

Visual representation of the starmap:


Tier 1: Single starsystems represented by dots that are entirely taken up by tier 1 planets. This is essentially the tutorial tier, so before you get the beacon you are confined to the star system you start in, as your FTL drive can't support interstellar travel. This is the only artificial barrier between tiers with this system. These tier 1 systems are abundant in various planets, many supporting peaceful civilizations, creating an incentive to go back and not just abandon your home base. "Home" can also be extended by building a civilization of your own, having your own NPCs live under your rule on your home planet.

Tier 2-4: These tiers will be mixed together in the systems. They take up most of the universe at large.

Tier 5-7: The outer layer of "danger clusters" (need a better name). The space between stars in these areas are dense in stellar clouds or asteroids or something, making it harder for ships to travel through them making them require more fuel. While it is possible to make it through without any fuel upgrades or ship shields, it is very difficult. Maybe the bosses from tiers 2-4 all drop upgrades to the ship, making it progressively more easy to traverse 5-7 space.

Tier 8-9: The inner layer of the "danger clusters". The space between stars is even harder to travel between here.

Tier 10: Small clusters of star systems in the center of these "danger clusters". These star systems tend to only have 1-2 planets in them, all of which are tier 10. The stars supporting these systems are harsh, solar flares constantly beating down on your ship and planet. Your ship can only last so long in the constant abuse and has to automatically emergency beam you up, regardless of where you are, and warp out of the system. There will of course be a counter to this, like some sort of drop from the Tier 9 boss. (Thanks Rendorl for pointing that out)

Of course it's a very rough layout and there's a lot of room for improvement to support a smoother progression though, for example, 2-4 tiered planets, without resorting to damage numbers.

 

Reverse it. That make more sense.

Only if there is tech to counter it, otherwise this is nonsense.
(You know, some crazy people accualy live on T10 planets)

To summ the thread.

Tiers on starmap is not a bad thing for beta test (which is, need i remind, happening right now)
To quickly test generators, planets, difficulty curve.

But there is no place for them in final version.

 

Explain.

Yeah, I guess that was kind of obvious. I don't know why I didn't include that in the beginning. It would probably have to be something dropped from the Tier 9 boss.

 

I really like this idea =)

 

Doesn't function, at all, with random worldgen. Unless everyone starts on exactly the same planet in exactly the same system, you can't guarantee a decent starting system.

 

Oooh, missed a spot, well you get the idea.

Univerce depends from player, not opposite. In this scenario it is possible to enshure that player always respawns in low-tier area of galaxy. Or should i say galaxy always will generate those bubbles around player.