So I made it back, and I'm 150m richer. Which means I can finally buy that military hull for my Anaconda. (And not much else
. Damn end game stuff is expensive
)
I actually got along with it in the end. There was still too much of the 'straight line grind' of old ultimately, but there was less of it, with more colour and activity taking its place. I think what helped was:
- The FSS is at least a game mechanic
This triggered a primal gaming 'hunt the loot' / 'complete the set' response in me at points, even though it's very simplistic on the face of it.
I think it helps that you can see it's built on the working system (with planets moving about if you're zoomed in on them enough etc). Meaning you can apply some astro-logic to hunting desired types down. IE tracking down a gas giant to find that missing metallic which must be clustered around it, knowing it's liable to be close to the centre of the system as that's where the heavy stuff would have clumped, and not a far flung one. (With the bonus Skinner's Box aspect that even worthless planets can spring cash on you, making it worth clearing them out to reveal the more precious signals. IE if an ice ball turns out to bear geologicals, or if a rocky is in the goldielocks zone it could always be terraformable).
It's still kinda uninspired to see all this stuff transposed into a 2D wire view, and some kind of 3D delve would have been much sexier, but it does kinda work. And the scan view allowing you to quickly parse the system ('OK that's a
huge metallics signal' etc) but still require you to search for the individual sources does work.
Being able to whack up my settings to Ultra VR + 1.5 HMD setting out in the black made for a super slick-looking experience. Closest I've felt to being in a spaceship
(Even if there wasn't always much to do beyond look around the canopy at the changing backdrops and drum on the dashboard
)
Planetary life, for all their plaintive songs and glowy translucent tricks, didn't really do it for me, picturesque as they were as picnic stops. It was getting rammed by an errant flying 'gourd' surrounded by spiky bacterial formations that perked me up mid-trip. That ultimate extra elusive Skinner's Box kick that there's weird life out there to discover in the furthest flung fields added a certain something. (Even if the encounter again was very light on actual gameplay. And why the hell do you only get 100k for discovering a new location for an alien lifeform?
)
One of those 'wait for updates to accrue' boons, but risking these for the first time while out in the black was proper sweaty
Can def see using some of the 'neutron routes' in future. By the time you've found you're next one it's probably not even much quicker than straight line grinding, but it's a lot more exciting
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*Traditional photo log*
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That's me done with it until they add another tier or two of content. I might check out some Codex phenomenon discovered near the bubble, but that's it. Actually enjoyed this trip on balance though