Long time fan, picked it up again recently and three things stand out:
1. Save and load.
Having "surprise!" disasters doesn't feel challenging, it feels annoying. Having to surrender or blow up my ship to try again really rubs salt in those wounds. A traditional save/load structure would solve this without (IMO) taking anything away from the game. On escape, we could have 1 help, 2 save, 3 load, 4 save and quit, 5 self-destruct.
2. Backtracking.
Clearing systems feels kind of pointless except for completionism. Backtracking more than one or two systems to get to (e.g.) a specific vendor with a specific item, or a CSC for free repair/refuel, or a Corporate shop to order something is a hassle. Why not combine the two? Entering a gate into an unbroken chain of cleared systems brings up the galactic map and lets the player select a destination. If every system is cleared, the player can go from Eridani to LV 426 in one shot.
I could understand making backtracking a difficult choice if fuel was precious, but it's just not, so the situation doesn't put stress on the character, it only puts stress on the player.
3. Escort missions and aggro.
In a similar way, the AI behavior for attacking my escortee (e.g. CSC Antarctica) is designed to frustrate the player rather than the character. None of us wander up to an Ares Shipyard and ignore the sentries/ships destroying us. Why do the Aquilas (or whatever) continue attacking the Antarctica as I destroy them one by one? I get why they ignore us to start with, as we pilot yachts, freighters, or small gunships, but when I do the overwhelming bulk of the damage and it still makes more sense for me to fly into enemy weapons there is something wrong. If the captains of the Aquilas are suicide bombers, why not just ram the station and get it over with?
The current paradigm makes it less likely to complete the mission, but so would having the Antarctica suffer catastrophic engine explosions 5% of the time I board it. That's not fun, it's asinine.
.
In general I like the game, but the results of the cited situations make me turn it off and find something else to do.
Three QOL Suggestions
Welcome to the forums! I don't really agree with 1&2, but I'd agree that there's some things in 3 that need working on. In order:
1.In terms of save/load, the current system is set up specifically to reduce the appeal of save-scumming, and has a lot in common with other roguelikes/"roguelike-likes"...and I think allowing save/load at any time would make it a bit too easy to just grind through a game easily, removing a lot of the challenge of the campaign. Besides, death is a slap on the wrist in this game given you can resurrect with only a score penalty. My first full playthough had eight deaths and took more than 25 hours of playtime. Though it might be worthwhile to let players reload from the autosave that gets made every time they go through a gate, for a small penalty.
2.Clearing systems is entirely optional by design, as is backtracking. It's theoretically possible to finish the game without firing a single shot (although it would be seriously difficult), and I've done it firing only EMP weapons (and mining). Killing everything is basically a way to get as much cash and equipment as possible, and boost the player's score, at the cost of fuel and repairs. There is a rapid-transport system in the game to get from one bit of the Quarantine Zone to the other, with some limitations....it requires either a specific one-use item that's fairly rare, or a re-useable piece of equipment that's a little hard to find but very useful in general. I personally think that that's fine enough as-is.
3. This is a definite issue, and it's derived from the AI that transcendence uses. NPC ships can only target one thing at a time for an attack (by "target" I mean "the thing I am attacking" NOT "what I am firing my weapons at"), and primary weapons on ships will only ever fire at that target. Since many ships don't mount secondary weapons, this means that they seemingly ignore other potential targets. The mission coding also plays a part here...there's nothing to tell the Aquila's to change target if they start being killed. I'd agree this could do with a fix....either giving Aquila class (and other things in scripted missions) some light secondary weapons to make it look like they're focusing fire on the carrier but not being completely stupid, or by making their starcannons secondary-weapons. Or maybe having one or two of them break off and attack the player directly, or having some centurions around to fight the player. There's a fair few ways to fake it to make this look more plausible without changing the AI (which would be a long, hard job that would likely break things elsewhere).
1.In terms of save/load, the current system is set up specifically to reduce the appeal of save-scumming, and has a lot in common with other roguelikes/"roguelike-likes"...and I think allowing save/load at any time would make it a bit too easy to just grind through a game easily, removing a lot of the challenge of the campaign. Besides, death is a slap on the wrist in this game given you can resurrect with only a score penalty. My first full playthough had eight deaths and took more than 25 hours of playtime. Though it might be worthwhile to let players reload from the autosave that gets made every time they go through a gate, for a small penalty.
2.Clearing systems is entirely optional by design, as is backtracking. It's theoretically possible to finish the game without firing a single shot (although it would be seriously difficult), and I've done it firing only EMP weapons (and mining). Killing everything is basically a way to get as much cash and equipment as possible, and boost the player's score, at the cost of fuel and repairs. There is a rapid-transport system in the game to get from one bit of the Quarantine Zone to the other, with some limitations....it requires either a specific one-use item that's fairly rare, or a re-useable piece of equipment that's a little hard to find but very useful in general. I personally think that that's fine enough as-is.
3. This is a definite issue, and it's derived from the AI that transcendence uses. NPC ships can only target one thing at a time for an attack (by "target" I mean "the thing I am attacking" NOT "what I am firing my weapons at"), and primary weapons on ships will only ever fire at that target. Since many ships don't mount secondary weapons, this means that they seemingly ignore other potential targets. The mission coding also plays a part here...there's nothing to tell the Aquila's to change target if they start being killed. I'd agree this could do with a fix....either giving Aquila class (and other things in scripted missions) some light secondary weapons to make it look like they're focusing fire on the carrier but not being completely stupid, or by making their starcannons secondary-weapons. Or maybe having one or two of them break off and attack the player directly, or having some centurions around to fight the player. There's a fair few ways to fake it to make this look more plausible without changing the AI (which would be a long, hard job that would likely break things elsewhere).
Mischievous local moderator. She/Her pronouns.