Weapon disassembly.

Problem: Weapons really need to be re-worked in Starbound. Don't get me wrong, there are some awesome weapons, but the coolness of a weapon seems inversely proportional to how useful the weapon is. Case in point, I got a very rare bone axe that fired five exploding bones out of it every swing. Epic weapon. It does less damage than the starting sword, somehow, despite being useful for tearing through dirt quickly.

And let's say that that weapon did as much damage as it looks like it should do. I found it on the second planet I went to after killing some big animal. After I follow the tutorial's advice and make a UFO attack my face, it essentially becomes worthless, much like every gun I've ever happened to find. I've found so many crummy weapons with awesome specials made useless by crap stats, it makes me cry on the inside.



Suggestion: If a weapon were separable into base components, down to the point where damage dealt is somehow in an item form, I would pay a thousand pixels PER TIER just to disassemble my favorite weapon and reassemble it with better stats so I could keep using it. Having access to lots of weapons is great, but what good are they if I am forced to stick to the Upgrade 1.0 just to stay alive?

 

Clarification: that's 2k for a T1 item, assuming it costs 1k pixels to assemble one from parts, as well as 1k to disassemble another T1 item you want at least one attribute of. A very nice weapon might end up costing you 6k at the first tier, which is about par, I'd say, with all the other weapons I've seen being sold. A T10 upgraded version of your favorite weapon (say, a shotgun) you've named Stinky Pete would end up possibly costing you 330,000 pixels in editing alone over its lifetime, but with all that invested in Stinky Pete, it would be a weapon you'd hold onto and cherish, which I think is important in a game with so much fluid variety.

 

Alternative: It might work just as well to have to consume an entire other weapon to transfer one desired stat into your favored weapon. That would avoid a lot of excess item types.

 

I really like the idea of upgrading weapons with pixels, but with diminishing returns perhaps.
Either that or if they ever keep/add the AP system back in, have the cost = AP x 500

 

sound really cool and adds a whole new depth to the gameplay. Hopefully can be added in, but it definitely could be modded in as well.

 

but 330k pixels is way too much.

 

One problem I have with Minecraft any more is that in order to get certain obviously useful features, you have to turn to mods. I'm hoping that my suggestions will be considered so that I can play vanilla Starbound for a long time and not have to worry about a modded version.

I dislike the idea of diminishing returns here, mostly because the damage curve seems exponential. I want to take my bone axe from L1 to L100 worlds (or however they are in the final game) and pour effort into it unless I find something that makes me want it more.

I agree that it's a lot, but keep in mind, that's the total cost of 10 different versions of a single weapon that is with you through the whole game and is still useful at the very highest levels, is something you've got a lot of time and effort invested into, and will feel special.

I cannot stress enough how much I feel this would improve the game for me. And the other way works, too. You like your default gladiator-looking sword more than the bone-axe of doom, you should be able to keep it and have it remain useful with some effort.

 

Clarification: I should point out I'm not just talking about upgrading weapon stats. I'm talking about potentially changing how a weapon functions legitimately in game. Finding a weapon that shoots exploding rounds and swapping that into your shotgun in place of its normal rounds.

 

I dislike the weapons too. Everything I find is infinitely crap. It makes sense that used weapons are weaker or more busted than new ones you've crafted yourself, but it makes look worthless. Needs to strike a good balance I think.

 

This is exactly the problem that I foresaw when they initially announced procedurally generated weapons. If there is no crafting system to allow the users to customize these random weapons, the entire process of finding weapons itself becomes a fruitless chore. We also lose any identity we might desire for our characters - I wanna be a space pirate doggonit, but all these guns suck or look stupid!! Not to mention the piles and piles AND PILES AND PILES of useless weapons of no value that serve no purpose other than to occupy your time by throwing them into the trash can.

Unfortunately, fanboy syndrome buried the post I made expressing my concern under proclamations of excitement for a flawed game system.

 

Additional: Everything in the game should be recyclable into points. This would make the trash weapons (and other items and materials) feel less useless.

 

Have weapons break down into case, core and enhancement. Case provides look, core determines strength and enhancement adds any additional on swing effects. Breaking down costs a static amount of pixels but recombining is variable based on the tier/rarity of the materials used. Allow combining at a crafting station/anvil and require the proper tier crafting station for the level weapon you are putting together (Anvil for T1, Robotic crafting table for T3 etc)

 

Alternative: The case might be changed into a pattern and a raw material, the core and enhancements into items, even if the item is a code fragment that gets combined with the pattern when crafting the item to get it to come out a certain way. That way, if you want a bone axe, use bones to make it. If you want a steel axe, use steel, etc. It also requires that you find a scythe of some kind in order to make a scythe, but not a bone scythe specifically, if that's your pleasure.

 

Additional: This whole setup also needs to be accessible at every level in order to be fully realizable. Perhaps a third function of the 3D printer. That thing isn't useful enough yet.

 

This sounds pretty great.
I found an awesome looking watersword that was immediately invalidated by a crappyweapon I found in the next dungeon.

 

I like the idea of scanning a weapon in the 3D Printer and getting the schematics of its components, so that you may put it back together again.

 

Additional: I feel as though scanning a weapon, while good, isn't enough for me. I'd want to keep the same weapon, though having generations of built weapons wouldn't be too bad. However, you do touch on something I feel is important, everything in the game should be 3D printable.

 

Not everything in the game should be printable, that would be too OP. And if not done correctly... Refinery + Printer = infinite resources

 

When the recycle function gives you a fraction of the pixels it costs to print something, how would that allow even abundant resources, let alone infinite? And how is being able to replicate something you've destructively scanned once already too OP? The crafting table already takes pixels along with resources to craft something, and if those resorces had a value, say 100 per wooden plank, you could craft a crafting table with, what, 3600 pixels alone, provided you'd already fed one into the system at one point? How is that OP?

 

Forgive my ignorance of how this currently-useless function works