The combat in Starbound needs to be redone.

If you'll pardon the reference...

Simmons: We need help! Do you know how to use that thing?
Tucker: My sword? Fuck yeah, I know how to use it. What's there to understand about swish swish stab? It's a fucking sword dude, it's not a fighter jet.

It IS a side scroller so it can't be TOO advanced. But I have seen some valid points above such as the shields. Low levels blocking high levels wouldn't do much in the way of blocking but vice-versa, the damage would essentially be null.

 

I disagree about going over 100 hp max and stacking defense, that would make the game significantly more leveling based.

And... really, lack of growth of difficulty and equipment requirements would defy the whole loot and progression system...

 

The combat is fine for now but the shield is OP, I had 5 npc shooting me and my captain america shield deflected all!

 

But it isn't a clear indication. It doesn't give clear feedback. The number in the UI goes up but the gameplay doesn't change. Seeing the value go up to 9 tells you absolutely nothing because it's not reflected in actual gameplay.

The concept of "I'm taking less damage!" or "I'll deal more damage!" is there, but the in-game feedback is not because monsters' Armor and Armor Penetration values are invisible and all based on 100 hp. How MUCH less damage? You don't know because of the invisible armor penetration. How MUCH more damage? You don't know because of the invisible armor. That's not clear feedback, and it's not good design.

If I took a screenshot of me damaging and taking damage from a level 1 monster and put it next to a screenshot of the same scene with a level 20 monster and appropriate gear masked with the cosmetic slots, you wouldn't be able to tell which was which. That's not good. And because monsters are random and have zero personality or abilities/behaviors even tangentially related to the way they look (admittedly an entirely separate issue), nothing about "The things that were giving me trouble before" is actually even special or meaningful. That's not good.

I'm going to leave this link here, as the thread discusses at length the very issue. http://community.playstarbound.com/...rmor-penetration-system-vs-progression.37572/

OP, I will happily remove this if you feel it derails your thread, but I'd encourage you to give it a look and contribute your thoughts as well.

 

I think it should be more possible, doable even, to go into a planet with 4-5 less armor than its threat level. Taking mroe damage is fine (as if dying in 2-3 hits wasn't enough), but being insta gibbed is kinda lame.

Same goes for weapons, I don't want to instagib enemies which are only a couple levels below my weapon (dealing 2-3 times the damage is more than enough to make it easier) and receive 2 damage from them (I'd be happy receiving 5-7 damage even from much weaker mobs).

 

Nobody cares about it being to hard or easy here (I don't think) but the combat does really suck

 

these fanboy levels are off the charts!

 

Not even. I just don't care about the combat too much. Not everyone plays the game the exact same way.

 

Like Terraria has zero progression and every mob has the same power and weapons?

The armor pen/armor/level system sucks. Those three things are all that matters. A weapon's speed and damage mean nothing unless it has the highest available armor pen. The only stat on armor that matters is the armor level itself. The most important characteristic of any monster is its level alone.

I can see what the devs are trying to do with the system, but it isn't working, and it isn't fun.

 

The indignation in some of these threads...

 

From the upcoming patch notes:

'- Experimenting with a new leveling/damage/armor curve (Thank you to Chewymouse) (done, needs testing)'

You guys have been heard!

Now settle down and stop bitching, its going to be fixed.

 

While shields are awesome, holding one up keeps you from healing your energy. I learned the hard way while shooting my pistol and blocking, when you run out of energy, you run out of shield T_T.

 

Shields are not OP. For starters, if your shield is too low of a level (even though they don't display levels, they DO have levels) monsters will be able to penetrate your shield and you'll take reduced damage instead of completely blocking attacks. Also, while shields are great against enemies with guns (and indeed the only option for fighting enemies with guns, especially in penal colonies), they are not so great against monsters that like to charge or body slam because one-handers do not swing overhead and often do not have as much knockback as two-handers. So there's a trade-off in that respect.

As far as the combat system goes, I don't mind the current combat system. I think many of you are expecting too much out of a combat system from a game that isn't really about combat. Sure, there's boss battles and a lot of fighting, but when it gets down to it, Starbound is (I think) more about crafting, exploring, and building. I think the armor pen/armor/level system works pretty well - you go to a planet's threat level that's equal to your armor and armor pen levels (or a slightly higher threat level if you're good at combat), and then gather materials or find loot to get your armor and armor pen higher, at which point you can go to a higher threat level planet and repeat the process. It's a really fun system that promotes exploration and you might find yourselves enjoying it more if yall actually stopped to progress as the game intends instead of trying to rush content by nabbing high-level loot by zerging the highest threat tier.

Yes and no. These stats are important to weapons within the same tier, and as a player who likes to spend a lot of time on one threat level before moving on to the next, these things are important to me.

 

That doesn't strike me as a constructive way to respond to a discussion. Do you think that others will treat your opinions with respect if you don't treat their opinions with respect? I think Raybrandt makes a good point. To go off of his/her comments, the current combat system feels very complementary to the rest of Starbound's gameplay. If it were made more advanced, the game may become too centralized on combat, which would be uncomfortable for players who enjoy a balance of activities.

 

We're talking about the damage system, not the combat in general. The developer has already acknowledged that it's a problem and is patching it.

Why are there so many fanboys on the forum who think that a game in its second day of beta is perfectly balanced and we shouldn't point out its flaws?

 

What else is early beta for than to test combat and make tweaks and changes to improve it.

Constructive criticism folks.

 

I don't think anyone here has said anything about it being "perfectly balanced," I think everyone has just been giving their opinion, which is what open and public forums are for. Why do you feel so threatened by opposing opinions?

 

Just read the new update. Looks like things are going to be improved! Excellent!

 

With all due respect to the developers,

I agree with this.

The system is bad, and I really hope they do away with it. Starbound deserves much better than this.

 

The lack of ammo is very troubling.

Ranged combat definitely needs to be redone. Something feels weird about a recharging energy meter being the sole ammo source in a game for any ranged weapon.

Also sword trails look REALLY awkward.

 

Disagree. The new 3DS Zelda has a magic bar for literally every item other than sword, and all you can hear is praise for getting rid of the need to stop everything because you ran out of arrows. The point of rechargeable ammo is so you dont need to stop your progress or exploration to buy various kinds of inventory clogging ammo.
Also, the sword trails serve a purpose: lasting hits. It is a way of showing the arc of the weapon, and how it is still in effect. I really like slow weapons due to the long swing and trail since it is more forgiving with charging monsters.

God please stop talking the truth so brightly, im blinded and deaf... Shields are nice with 1H since they have invincibility frames and are the hard counter to ranged, but the tradeoff is that you are using a shortsword instead of a carverXL. The range is terrible and no upwards swing makes it harder to use. Stunlocking wins every time, and the 2H weaponry is just too good to pass up in regular combat.

As content rushing... I see why people do it, but then they usually go and complain that there is no more content and devs should hurry with bugs AND content. I'm only at tier 10, looking for guns to take on the UFO and dont think I'll rech tier 40 planets for another couple of months. some call it slow, I call it intended progression.