early game vs late game
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Betelgeuse
- Fleet Officer
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It seems early game is alot more fun than late game even with the cool weapons in late game why do you think that is?
Crying is not a proper retort!
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dvlenk6
- Militia Captain
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I've noticed that with many RPG/Adventure type games. Some 4X games too.
Here's what I think:
-Starting out, the playership (character) is pitifully weak, can barely survive against even the weakest enemies. The character is also usually either completely or nearly destitute; so can't afford better equipment.
-The goal is to ramp up the playership to face bigger badder enemies; ultimately to defeat the Iocrym. Anything that helps you do that is a thrill; i.e. You are winning!!! Yeah!!!
So...
Loot:
Early - Great loot is relatively easy to come by. You have almost nothing, so anything you find seems pretty good 8) .
Later - Hard to find meaningful loot. The loot is there, and in much greater amount than early on; but you don't need it anymore. You already have better, you already have more credits/rins than you could spend.
That's a thrill lost in late game to me.
I can't speak for anyone else; but for me late game is a breeze.
Challenge is another thrill that seems lost in the late game to me.
Nothing really stands a chance against the maxed out playership.
Early on, a few Zulu Gunships could easily kill the playership; and there are many stages where it is a challenge to stay alive.
Later, with a few simple tactics, nothing can hope to overcome you. The only challenge is preventing other things from being destroyed in some of the missions.
The Dwarg have made the middle game challenging again, so that's good; even though I hate them severely
.
Here's what I think:
-Starting out, the playership (character) is pitifully weak, can barely survive against even the weakest enemies. The character is also usually either completely or nearly destitute; so can't afford better equipment.
-The goal is to ramp up the playership to face bigger badder enemies; ultimately to defeat the Iocrym. Anything that helps you do that is a thrill; i.e. You are winning!!! Yeah!!!
So...
Loot:
Early - Great loot is relatively easy to come by. You have almost nothing, so anything you find seems pretty good 8) .
Later - Hard to find meaningful loot. The loot is there, and in much greater amount than early on; but you don't need it anymore. You already have better, you already have more credits/rins than you could spend.
That's a thrill lost in late game to me.
I can't speak for anyone else; but for me late game is a breeze.
Challenge is another thrill that seems lost in the late game to me.
Nothing really stands a chance against the maxed out playership.
Early on, a few Zulu Gunships could easily kill the playership; and there are many stages where it is a challenge to stay alive.
Later, with a few simple tactics, nothing can hope to overcome you. The only challenge is preventing other things from being destroyed in some of the missions.
The Dwarg have made the middle game challenging again, so that's good; even though I hate them severely
.just making the rin economy tougher should help with late-game. Also having that advanced sung ship or some nasty positron (perhaps positron missile?) battleships (like the ranx in mid-late game) would make things more interesting.
You must agree that late-game is much more interesting and filled out than it used to be.
Personally I prefer mid and late game to early-game. Early game is all about searching desparately for equipment/cash to allow yourself to float. Mid and late game are about riding the waves. With the hull-plate ionizer zulus really aren't much of a problem for me
Taking away the ability to buy level X and IX equipment with credits from Adventurer Outfiters would make things a lot harder. (Got a 500MW and a Tailkon-200 before the major Ares showed up)
You must agree that late-game is much more interesting and filled out than it used to be.
Personally I prefer mid and late game to early-game. Early game is all about searching desparately for equipment/cash to allow yourself to float. Mid and late game are about riding the waves. With the hull-plate ionizer zulus really aren't much of a problem for me
Taking away the ability to buy level X and IX equipment with credits from Adventurer Outfiters would make things a lot harder. (Got a 500MW and a Tailkon-200 before the major Ares showed up)
I think D6 has made a great summation about the stages of the game. EGP is fine as it is, but some of us may feel that it's boring...of course it could seem that way if we've played it many times over. But it can still be a challenge since every game is different.
MGP is the same as well and if you're not equipped on an even scale of the enemies, you're in for a serious ride...it's a greater challenge.
Then we hit LGP and as D6 also stated, it's a cakewalk because by then we're pretty much maxed out and usually filthy rich in both economies.
So what I was thinking is maybe in mid to late GP, have some wrecks be rigged for mugging/stealing from the player and temp sabotage their ship while they make a clean gate-out get-away in an escape pod or small craft they had in the hanger. After all, there could be survivers at times and it would be more realistic as well.
Maybe a 10-15% chance when a player docks with a newly killed wreck, a survivor could jump the player charactor by surprise, hack into their credit/rin account and wipe 'em clean or, steal an installed weapon or device...what ever, and make their escape. Of course this could be refined, but does the idea sound interesting?
MGP is the same as well and if you're not equipped on an even scale of the enemies, you're in for a serious ride...it's a greater challenge.
Then we hit LGP and as D6 also stated, it's a cakewalk because by then we're pretty much maxed out and usually filthy rich in both economies.
So what I was thinking is maybe in mid to late GP, have some wrecks be rigged for mugging/stealing from the player and temp sabotage their ship while they make a clean gate-out get-away in an escape pod or small craft they had in the hanger. After all, there could be survivers at times and it would be more realistic as well.
Maybe a 10-15% chance when a player docks with a newly killed wreck, a survivor could jump the player charactor by surprise, hack into their credit/rin account and wipe 'em clean or, steal an installed weapon or device...what ever, and make their escape. Of course this could be refined, but does the idea sound interesting?
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Betelgeuse
- Fleet Officer
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I think part of the problem is in late game there are just tons of enemies. Early game you can get away with lesser equipment and still survive due to there not being as many enemies. In late game you don't have that choice because you will be constantly fighting hoping you kill more than come through the gate.
Huge swarms may look cool but taking the time to kill all of them becomes bothersome to some (some people may like it like this) Even if they are not a threat to your ship you have to get rid of them somehow due to friendly fire.
I don't think any economy change will help with late game because those weapons are easily found at stations or farmed off of ships. I would also like to point out it is common for the black market shipyards to have the best shields and with the current trend of killing them
Huge swarms may look cool but taking the time to kill all of them becomes bothersome to some (some people may like it like this) Even if they are not a threat to your ship you have to get rid of them somehow due to friendly fire.
I don't think any economy change will help with late game because those weapons are easily found at stations or farmed off of ships. I would also like to point out it is common for the black market shipyards to have the best shields and with the current trend of killing them
Crying is not a proper retort!
I tend to find the early to early-mid game most interesting. Here minor variances in the random layout can have most effect on gameplay. By the late game, you are pretty much ready for anything and everything the game can throw at you, so the differences dont mean as much.
Effectively, you get a new start to the game each time, but the end tends to be the same.
Effectively, you get a new start to the game each time, but the end tends to be the same.
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(name here)
- Militia Lieutenant
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The only real threat in the late game is the Phobos dreadnought. That thing scares me. It seems invulnerable, even with the lamplighter at +40%
Concentrating fire on the Phobos with your lamplighter for ~7 seconds, keeping the shots to within a 15 degree span, while targeting the within 30 degrees of the bow or stern, should kill it. That's not as bad as the Iocrym, at least.
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(name here)
- Militia Lieutenant
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It also always spawns defending a station with a grid of archcannons and a large fleet. further, I can't orbit it at the rate it turns.
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Fossaman
- Militia Captain
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- Location: Traveling to the galactic core
Uh, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I often see Ranx dreadies tooling around with 4-5 gunships in tow. They're really irritating when they distract your ICX at the wrong time.
For me, it seems like the middle and late game are more fun. Those first three-four systems after St. K's, especially. I'm fighting enemies that can splatter me all over the cosmos with outmoded weapons, and I have to think lots about my tactics. Later on, I'll have an awesome shield and a nice weapon, and it won't be such a big deal when I run across Dwarg, or Ranx, or Ventari, or a Gaian processor...I'll still have to think things through, but it's not so life or death. Those are the really fun systems.
I think what would really help the early game is an enlargement like the late game has been given. The early game has stayed virtually the same since the first couple public releases. Sure, Abassid, Himal, and Urak have been added, but those are fairly rare, and not really that important.
What I would like to see is stations that are a challenge to crack, some pseudo-capship types for the early game (drakes don't count!), and more plot. Those are the things that make the later parts of the game fun, in my opinion.
Oh, and give me back my x-ray lasers found in eridani!
For me, it seems like the middle and late game are more fun. Those first three-four systems after St. K's, especially. I'm fighting enemies that can splatter me all over the cosmos with outmoded weapons, and I have to think lots about my tactics. Later on, I'll have an awesome shield and a nice weapon, and it won't be such a big deal when I run across Dwarg, or Ranx, or Ventari, or a Gaian processor...I'll still have to think things through, but it's not so life or death. Those are the really fun systems.
I think what would really help the early game is an enlargement like the late game has been given. The early game has stayed virtually the same since the first couple public releases. Sure, Abassid, Himal, and Urak have been added, but those are fairly rare, and not really that important.
What I would like to see is stations that are a challenge to crack, some pseudo-capship types for the early game (drakes don't count!), and more plot. Those are the things that make the later parts of the game fun, in my opinion.
Oh, and give me back my x-ray lasers found in eridani!
X-ray laser! Pew, pew pew!
> = = = = ۞
> = = = = ۞
Late game has more interesting things to do, but it is (seemingly) paradoxically less fun. Fossaman and dvlenk are right, there's not quite the challenge late game.
Here are three fights I like in early game (before any upgrades, with a stock Sapphire)
The first is Oromo gunship (er, whichever arbalest ship is the weak one) vs stock Sapphire. It's a great fight - the gunship can kill you in six shots, so you have to dodge like crazy - but you can kill it in a relatively few amount of shots as well. It's only barely in your favor because you have a shield.
The second is the stock sapphire vs two or three zulus - this is an easier fight and it comes up more often (just the way it should be) but they are still enough of a threat that they can kill you if you don't dispatch them fast enough. However, you don't ever get swarmed by them.
The third is the abbasid outpost. It is much stronger than you and you can't beat it in a fair fight. It can level your shield AND armor in only a few shots. You have a few options though
1. use the wrecks to block some of the shots, so that only one laser reaches you (and your shield can take that)
2. Hit and run or pop out from behind a wreck, shoot and retreat
3. stay far enough away that the lasers disperse and only one shot hits you; however, it's harder to get your shots onto the station
so you can beat it with sneaky methods (and it pays off).
Corsair IIs in small numbers, a drake with some corsair Is, and heliotropes are also fun. There's a good balance between things that are weak and no threat at all (corsairs in any number), weak but threatening (hornets, zulus) and strong (oromo) and really strong (helitropes or an early slaver).
Personally I enjoy the few strong enemies much more than the numerous weak ones.
There ARE that same kind of thing in late game - you got your Hurin (abbasid) and your Ranx and all that - there is however, a little more tendency of ships which are numerous AND medium-strong, which isn't TOO bad in and of itself.
However, there's another difference. Early game you have no money, and no gear. A few less fuel rods not generated or an extra gunship in the wrong place will KILL you. I just played an amazing game where I was broke and pretty much fuel less the entire game (died a few systems after St. K's) because I was using an Akan and selling my fuel to buy more ammo so that I could kill more things and take their fuel, hopefully coming out with more fuel AND ammo than I started with. That kind of risk, brought on by desperation and challenge is fun, and it doesn't show up as much late game.
Here are three fights I like in early game (before any upgrades, with a stock Sapphire)
The first is Oromo gunship (er, whichever arbalest ship is the weak one) vs stock Sapphire. It's a great fight - the gunship can kill you in six shots, so you have to dodge like crazy - but you can kill it in a relatively few amount of shots as well. It's only barely in your favor because you have a shield.
The second is the stock sapphire vs two or three zulus - this is an easier fight and it comes up more often (just the way it should be) but they are still enough of a threat that they can kill you if you don't dispatch them fast enough. However, you don't ever get swarmed by them.
The third is the abbasid outpost. It is much stronger than you and you can't beat it in a fair fight. It can level your shield AND armor in only a few shots. You have a few options though
1. use the wrecks to block some of the shots, so that only one laser reaches you (and your shield can take that)
2. Hit and run or pop out from behind a wreck, shoot and retreat
3. stay far enough away that the lasers disperse and only one shot hits you; however, it's harder to get your shots onto the station
so you can beat it with sneaky methods (and it pays off).
Corsair IIs in small numbers, a drake with some corsair Is, and heliotropes are also fun. There's a good balance between things that are weak and no threat at all (corsairs in any number), weak but threatening (hornets, zulus) and strong (oromo) and really strong (helitropes or an early slaver).
Personally I enjoy the few strong enemies much more than the numerous weak ones.
There ARE that same kind of thing in late game - you got your Hurin (abbasid) and your Ranx and all that - there is however, a little more tendency of ships which are numerous AND medium-strong, which isn't TOO bad in and of itself.
However, there's another difference. Early game you have no money, and no gear. A few less fuel rods not generated or an extra gunship in the wrong place will KILL you. I just played an amazing game where I was broke and pretty much fuel less the entire game (died a few systems after St. K's) because I was using an Akan and selling my fuel to buy more ammo so that I could kill more things and take their fuel, hopefully coming out with more fuel AND ammo than I started with. That kind of risk, brought on by desperation and challenge is fun, and it doesn't show up as much late game.