How do I skip all the boring stuff?

from StarControl Forums

Steam refused to fulfill my refund request, so now I've either got to figure out a way to make Star Control not suck or admit Stardock finally made a terrible game and be out 40 bucks.

I'd rather do the former. I loved GalCiv 2, GalCiv 3, Sins of a Solar Empire, and Ashes of the Singularity. I've always enjoyed and been impressed with Stardock games, so when I saw the teasers and trailers, and heard about the basic concept of Star Control: Origins it all seemed pretty great.

I was expecting to play a game about meeting funny aliens, forging alliances, creating a federation, and doing a lot of arcade style space ship shooting.

Instead I got a game that is only about 10% of all those things, and 90% landing on planets, driving around in a rover, collecting resources, and not shooting stuff. Mass Effect tried that; everyone hated it, so they abstracted it to something much faster and easier in the sequel.

So how do I skip all that boring stuff and get to the part of the game that is actually good? Is there going to be an update that drops a zero from the price of every ship and lander upgrade and doubles the maximum speed and turning of the Vindicator? Is there a mod that already does this? Cheat codes?

Anything?

Help me out here. When I'm not driving the lander or staring off into hyperspace between star systems I'm actually having good time. Unfortunately those two activities occupy at least nine tenths of play time. I'd really like to invert that percentage.

19,327 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock.net Forums Top

Sounds like somebody didn't play original Elemental. 

But to address your concerns no, sounds like you know what's there, don't like it, and are stuck with giving up on it or waiting for updates that may or may not help. 

Reply #2 from StarControl Forums Top

Actually I did. I have the little pewter dragon statue to prove it, too.

I just forgot about that particular chapter in Stardock's history. I very much hope Star Control sees the same dedication to improvement.

I think I'll move that little statue back to my desk as a reminder to always wait for reviews. I haven't broken that rule in almost a decade, but I did for Star Control and got a nasty burn for it. Oops.

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Reply #3 from Stardock.net Forums Top

I know it's not what you were asking for, but if you do a little grinding up front you can make your ship pretty good at combat and then get RU from killing aliens, assuming you enjoy the combat.

And of course you do get faster engines, more starbases and such eventually.

Reply #4 from StarControl Forums Top

I agree. I think the planet lander portion of the game is tedious. The 3D aspect doesn't make it better. It actually makes it 10x worse by making the process take that much longer. There is nothing fun about running into trees and falling into pits with a stupid lander. And the sheer amount of the playtime taken up by such a boring activity really killed the momentum. And to be honest, SC:O's story was pretty damn shallow once you realize there is only a few hours worth of plot after all the lander tediousness is taken away. 

Reply #5 from StarControl Forums Top

It took me until day 2 until i realised that holding SHIFT while using the lander actually provides a boost to make these sections a lot faster and tolerable.

 

And after the upgrade to boost my lander collection capacity, I was able to start making RUs like a boss and further myself in the game.

Reply #6 from StarControl Forums Top

Ignore all blue and grey minerals, only worry about picking up green, yellow, and purple.  Once your mothership is decently upgraded, start ignoring green and only pick up yellow and purple.  You will land on a lot less planets this way, which makes the game go much faster.  You'll be able to stay out longer on missions before needing to return to base to sell the full cargo hold, and you'll still have more money than you need.

And the most important upgrades are the lander upgrades that protect the lander from fire and toxic.  The higher your protection, the fewer planets you need to land on, because you can just land on the truly rich planets and not bother with any others unless their is an energy signature to investigate.

EDIT: Think in terms of "cargo hold density" or how much money per cargo space you are putting into it.  Blue and grey aren't even worth picking up.  They are not "dense" enough, they are worth too little money per cargo space to even want to pick them up.  When the cargo hold is full you'll need to return to a base, so picking up cargo that is not worth the space it is taking up is a bad idea.  It will make you have to return to base constantly and you will have little "loiter time" (ability to remain away from base exploring).  If you are using the cargo hold upgrade you are thinking backwards.  The cargo hold upgrade for the mothership is a sucker's upgrade.  If you are filling the cargo hold before you run out of fuel you are doing it wrong.