The Economics (Suggestions)

from StarControl Forums

First, let me get this out of the way. I have read/listen/watched many reviews for SCO, and many say the same thing. That it is boring collecting the resources. I 100% disagree with this, I think this is the heart of the game, it is searching for those resources which drives you to explore in to unknown and possibly hostile territory. It lets you discover stuff by exploring more thoroughly than you would normally. (Like the Orz easter egg!) 

Now that being said, here is some suggestions to satisfy people who get bored doing this exploration. (And I just like suggesting things.)

-1.5-2x the price for stunned creatures and drones. Right now it seems like a lot of work for little pay off. Even the 300 RU drones rarely seem like the price.

-Give each race 3 "premium" minerals they like at 40 RU's a pop. For instance, you can sell "Water, Aluminum and Uranium" for 40 RU's at any Mu'Key colony, Earth likes "Oxygen, Titanium and Francium" etc... etc ... (Heck if you want to expand even further on that ... after you collect and sell, say 1000 of each of the premium materials, that race expands its influence.) 

-Scatter various minor aliens and ships with simple dialogue trees giving hints where to find mineral rich worlds. Even introduce a minor miner race with the same dialogue tree but a different planet is named for each different individual encountered.

On the other hand you don't want things to be too easy on the player. The struggle in the beginning is a huge part of the fun imho. It should feel like you are up against a wall scrambling for resources. 

Just my 2 cents!

Time to go back and explore the galaxy a bit more!!

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Reply #1 from StarControl Forums Top


First, let me get this out of the way. I have read/listen/watched many reviews for SCO, and many say the same thing. That it is boring collecting the resources. I 100% disagree with this, I think this is the heart of the game

I have to agree. When Stardock said that the player would be spending, what was it, 10% of their time on planets, I was like, "Whaaaa...? Did you guys even play Star Control 2???"

I mean, they stayed true to a lot of SC2, but I spent most of that game on planets, collecting resources to buy better ship mods. Or at least more of them.

Now we have, what, three different kinds of critters? Maybe four? The planets are just...just...boring. 

The idea that players wouldn't be spending a ton of time on planets was...short-sighted. The story of SC2 was great, but the galaxy was almost entirely unpopulated; it was rare to run into an alien ship. 90% of the game was planet-borne, and so that's the way I've been playing SCO. That this was not re-created for this otherwise wonderful re-tread of the series is...weird.

Reply #2 from StarControl Forums Top

Much like SC2, over the length of a FULL play through, you won't be spending as much time on planets.

 

Early game, there is a grind.  It's always gonna be there in this game.  Luckily, Stardock hid a bunch of RU gems on planets in the form of side quests / exploration rewards that give thousands of RU at a time.  Once you get past a certain amount of building up the main ship and fleet, you'll be ignoring planets that only have 1 RU or 5RU resources and only landing when you see unidentified objects / gold / green / purple resources.  Once you get good enough at combat, you'll be farming enemies for RU to pay for the fuel you need to jump around for quests.

 

The original SC2 had as many planets with lots of resources, but the treasure planets were there for replay value and to cut down on the amount of farming you need to do early game.  If you're still picking up blue and grey resources after 10 hours into the game, well.. it's a big universe.

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Reply #3 from StarControl Forums Top

Quoting smajere, reply 2

Much like SC2, over the length of a FULL play through, you won't be spending as much time on planets.

Yes, I will.

 

Once you get past a certain amount of building up the main ship and fleet, you'll be ignoring planets that only have 1 RU or 5RU resources and only landing when you see unidentified objects / gold / green / purple resources.

Actually, I started doing that pretty much right away, after realizing you could mouse over the resources on the planet before you decided to make planetfall.

Once you get good enough at combat, you'll be farming enemies for RU to pay for the fuel you need to jump around for quests.

No, I won't.

Enemies pay anywhere from 250 to 500 RU per battle; a gold or green world can get you quite a lot more. Like, three to five times that...if not more. 

Reply #4 from StarControl Forums Top

I don't want to dissuade you from your chosen method of play.

 

Late game, SC2 and SC:Origins are more combat as you have a lot of travelling to complete quests.  Granted, you can go out of your way to avoid combat, but that's part of a Star Control game.  Once your main ship is pimped out, you won't need to land on planets in order to have enough RU to stay fueled.

Reply #5 from StarControl Forums Top

Quoting smajere, reply 4

I don't want to dissuade you from your chosen method of play.

Thank you. There've been some people on the Steam forum who've been real jerkwads about that.

 

Once your main ship is pimped out, you won't need to land on planets in order to have enough RU to stay fueled.

It's the pimping out part that has led me to prospecting, really.

You know that monster-huge fuel tank that costs like 120,000 RU...? Yeah. I'd never have gotten my hands on that without strip-mining a few planets, certainly not from quest money. That kind of thing.

Reply #6 from StarControl Forums Top

Quoting BionicDance, reply 1
Now we have, what, three different kinds of critters? Maybe four? The planets are just...just...boring. 

The idea that players wouldn't be spending a ton of time on planets was...short-sighted. The story of SC2 was great, but the galaxy was almost entirely unpopulated; it was rare to run into an alien ship. 90% of the game was planet-borne, and so that's the way I've been playing SCO. That this was not re-created for this otherwise wonderful re-tread of the series is...weird.


Even after I beat Origins, I am still landing on planets and gathering resources. (Sometimes there are ruins/objects the scanners don't pick up as well.) The only reason I really stopped resource collecting was the game plot, I did not realize you could "take back" Scryve conquered systems, so I thought I had to deal with that threat ASAP.

I counted a total of 6 creatures types. The bug things (hossles I believe they were referred to), the giant long-necked brontosaurus type things, the boar things (thrashers), the giant 4 legged spider-crabs, the sand worms, and the low crawling droids things that were classified as creatures instead of droids (they had a ram attack similar to a thrasher.)

Regardless, there definitely need to be a few more types. At least 16+. Maybe we can get it as DLC in the future? (Please Space Dock!!!)

Reply #7 from StarControl Forums Top

Yeah. I really would like to see a more fleshed-out planetary experience.

Regardless of what Stardock expected, it's a huge part of my gameplay experience. Huge.

Reply #8 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Sand worms? Where did you find sand worms?

Reply #9 from StarControl Forums Top

Quoting Publius, reply 8

Sand worms? Where did you find sand worms?

They are quite common. Just look for stone rings on the ground and place your lander above one :-)

Reply #10 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Thanks. I played through phases 2 and 3 of the beta and never tried that :D

Reply #11 from StarControl Forums Top

Quoting Publius, reply 10

Thanks. I played through phases 2 and 3 of the beta and never tried that :D


They are usually on the treasure planets, the ones with the gold and silver and other yellow materials. I was wondering what the weird "campfire" patterns were, needless to say I found out.

Reply #12 from StarControl Forums Top

Quoting Alpha-Bull, reply 9


Quoting Publius of NV,
reply 8

Sand worms? Where did you find sand worms?



They are quite common. Just look for stone rings on the ground and place your lander above one :)

 

Yeah.. I found these cute little easter eggs..  (don't drive over suspiciously empty craters)