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[goduranus]

I suspect that the recent dissent of the CR mechanic might be in part due to new players getting stuck at the game start. Sure one could come to the forums and read up on a strategy guide, but not everyone visits the forums. So I suggest that the start phase of the game be made easier, so that new players are less likely to get stuck due to temporary unbalancing changes in alpha and beta releases.

I think 5-10k extra starting credits, to let the player equip another frigate or destroyer, will be enough to get new players over the starting hump.
Also, it should be announced that this "easy start" will be taken away when the game is release, so we don't get any anger about "Why make early game so hard" when it is eventually taken away.

[Shoat]

The game is completely exposed - anyone can just use a text editor to edit credits in savegames (or the character creation plugin) themselves to adjust difficulty, so I'd prefer if Alex didn't have to spend time on stuff like this.

[goduranus]

the average gamer probably don't know how to do that

[Shoat]

the average gamer probably don't know how to do that

I was able to do that to games when I was 12 years old (either to mess around after finishing a game, or when running against a wall because it was too hard for me) so I expect most adult gamers to be able to do the same.
Browsing through a file structure as open as the one we have here is very intuitive and easy, it requires no specific software and no previous knowledge of programming.

The "average gamer" is most definitely able to do that - they're just too freaking lazy to even attempt it.
And if someone can't handle the difficulty (which is not a bad thing in and of itself) and is too lazy to make it easier for himself, I don't think rewarding him with an easy mode button is the right thing.


Also, modifications to starting conditions (better/more ships and/or more credits) can also be delivered as a mod (and I've seen those kinds of mod pop up regularly) - and at least installing a mod should be something everyone can do without failure.
But then again, for the "average gamer", googling to find the mod section of these forums and then finding a fitting mod in here is way too much to ask, right?


My main point is that I don't want a single second of Alex's time to be spent on something that we can very easily do on our own - especially if it's something that goes against the goal of this game (this game is supposed to be difficult after all) and, thus, would be only a temporary thing during early development.

[firstattak1]

I actually feel the difficulty is fine.

First though, the difficulty has always been with this game, even before cr.

But to the point. The difficulty at the beginning helps new players. With it, the player is forced to learn tricks and techniques to get through the game, so they learn their own way to play the game, making it extremely fun. So the difficulty is more like a second tutorial, that doesn't give you step by step instructions, and how the game is now, it's easy to learn the do's and don't.

[Megas]

The "average gamer" is most definitely able to do that - they're just too freaking lazy to even attempt it.
And if someone can't handle the difficulty (which is not a bad thing in and of itself) and is too lazy to make it easier for himself, I don't think rewarding him with an easy mode button is the right thing.

If the game is too hard out of the box, casual gamers will simply give up and give Starsector a bad name, potentially leading to fewer sales.  In the end, Alex needs to make a profit.

Editing a game is more work than reading the instructions or manual.  How many people read their manual?

My main point is that I don't want a single second of Alex's time to be spent on something that we can very easily do on our own

It should not be required to fix problems (including unbalanced difficulty) with a game that customers pay for.  The game was unforgiving enough before CR, but now it is worse.  Modding should be for adding fun, new third-party content; not fixing the game.

The difficulty at the beginning helps new players. With it, the player is forced to learn tricks and techniques to get through the game, so they learn their own way to play the game, making it extremely fun.

That assumes the player is good enough to survive the beginning.  If he cannot, he hits a brick wall.  The problems with the current difficulty is it is at its hardest at the beginning, then gets much easier.  The beginning is very unforgiving; one mistake can cost everything, and leave the player in worse shape than simply restarting a new game.

[Thaago]

I'm in favor of this. I'd even say start new players with a destroyer rather than a frigate - when not in iron mode. New players probably won't select iron mode, so it saves the difficulty for us veterans while giving new players a fighting shot.

...

My main point is that I don't want a single second of Alex's time to be spent on something that we can very easily do on our own - especially if it's something that goes against the goal of this game (this game is supposed to be difficult after all) and, thus, would be only a temporary thing during early development.

Well... to be fair this kind of change will take literally 1 minute of Alex's time. If he happens to be editing some part of the related code instead of needing to load it, then it will take less than that .

[BillyRueben]

Until boarding is fixed, there's just no reason at all to use marines because they eat up a lot of supplies for a feature that doesn't work 90% of the time.

You know, I read that all the time recently, and still have yet to agree with it. I've used marine quite effectively in boarding many times, and my success rate when using marines is near the 50% mark (probably around 75% if you count the "ship is too damaged" prompt as a success).

Back on topic: What needs to happen is the ability to start with a destroyer plus a few tugs to keep the player away from fleets that can rough them up, as well as an "enemy fleet attempts to disengage" threshold adjustment to keep the ships fighting the player even against bad odds.

[Astyanax]

Seems like having one of the answers to the questions at the start of the new game ("I'm new to the stars!") give $5000 extra in the bank, a starting destroyer, and automatically set damage to 50%.  If you want to take it further, maybe offer initial suggestions and ways to mitigate CR... kind of like a mini-tutorial?

[Flare]

I don't know if this is a well thought out idea. He's basically adjusting the difficulty and posts notes about it here: http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=7279.0
already.

What is essentially being suggested is that he take time away from coding the long term balances to push out a temporary fix when there's no real influx of new players or need for sales that require such a move.

Stop gap measures like the ones suggested are a last resort for games that have fully committed onto the train of promoting and marketing themselves and where all the major programming is done. These fixes might be seen on a game that has been officially released and is getting reviews and lots of attention, but for a game in development I think it's suitable if there's already a base of people who give feedback, and doesn't require more revenue or more people who give feedback.
There hasn't been much marketing for this game, and for all intents and purposes I think Alex does this on purpose due to the sales already granting some revenue, and the game already having attracted a base of people who critique the game, know the development history of it, know which new stuff needs testing, and which issues are being addressed and approximately when. Why attract people who will pay a discounted price when there are right now when most conditions are met when you can hold off and charge them more at release?

[Okim]

The best solution would be to put a link to mods forums right under the download game options with a red sign - 'try out these for a variety of gameplay if you got stuck in vanilla'. And then just make a couple of 'easy' mods that give extra credits, ships whatever.

Yeah, that surely sounds like a shameless advertisement

[mendonca]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66536185/easy_start.zip

Tried to whip one up in my lunch hour ...

Can't test it here, but the intention is that it adds a charactercreationplugin to give a 'I'm new here!' option.

Subsequently, player gets either a Mule or a Hammerhead as option1 or option2, and a few more credits.

Vanilla friendly only, really.

[Megas]

Why attract people who will pay a discounted price when there are right now when most conditions are met when you can hold off and charge them more at release?

To be fair, I would not pay $20 for the full game.  I was willing to take a chance and pay $10 on a game with potential.

[Andy H.K.]

Why attract people who will pay a discounted price when there are right now when most conditions are met when you can hold off and charge them more at release?

To be fair, I would not pay $20 for the full game.  I was willing to take a chance and pay $10 on a game with potential.

Truth be told, I think Alex should up the price already.

Back on topic, I think if the beginning we have enemies that are manned by green crew only things would be smoother. Worse stat and dumber AI should give players an easier time.

[goduranus]

I made this post without realizing that Alex was alreadying going to make the early game easier. Darn, just show how little attention the average gamer pays to patch notes and blogs.

Though, 0.61 game start is hard. I am no noob, but I did a fresh start to test some script changes, and I got blown up and was stuck with a shuttle and no cash on the first battle.