Ratings and Goals is the key to commitment.
First of all, the game is awesome. I can only imagine how much better it will get over time.
Review based on 70+hrs played
To the point.
The things that in my opinion penalize the game and the players:
•Originality (what the game needs) = Time (dedicated builders) ≠ Outpost profitability and survival.
•Raid rating system.
•Visibility on what makes an Outpost survive (point: death ratio, evaluation...).
•Visibility on the loss/gain of rank after having finished the raid and if it is adaptive to the outposts (hidden average deaths of players for a given Outpost).
•Permanent closure of the P10-Outpost.
-This choice should be left to players who have defeated or at least attempted the Outpost, not to times.
The gameloop, although intuitive encourages players to create DeathKillMegathing-Boxes (which are cool even though they do not attract all players) by the simplicity it requires to be built (and therefore the time dedicated) and the prestige system that requires killing much more than building entertainment and new challenges. System which is at the origin of the growing number of these models. Although the death boxes will eventually decrease due to the annoyance of the players who leave them, we do not want a repetitive game where originality gives way to redundancy, and certain Outpost classified as uninteresting caused by lack of precision in the ratings.
Ratings/reviews left by players should count and be more varied, stats alone are insufficient to judge that a "bad" Outpost does not "work" and condemn it, although they can precisely certify that another "works" without knowing if it is "good".
It goes against Lore, but we want those who enjoyed and dedicated time to the Raid to be able to visibly and measurably notify those who dedicated time building it (OutofGas/UpAndRunning is too brutal and frustrating for a lot). The system works although it is discreet, but i still find it a little too shady in some aspects.
Well-designed areas are time-consuming and bring in little Gas*, where DeathKillMegaThing-Boxes are Gas* factories and guarantee their durability. O=T≠Ok
There are many technical constraints that force the system to burn outposts quickly (thank you btw for implementing replays, this aspect is simply magnificent), and we have to clean up, but a bad evaluation system penalizes dedicated builders who make the game better and one unlucky day sends the work to the trash.
Assuming that the evaluation system is accurate and effective, a prestige10 Outpost should be able to survive if it really deserves it. Like a legacy. 200 social OutPost but no "monument" that continues to draw blood. The idea here is of course that he gets relegated to social, and I'm sure you have a plan for that aspect of the game.
There could be a category, where all OutPosts that have reached P10 and accomplished something (a big requirement in rating AND cumulative death over a longer period?) would be displayed and playable, giving rewards to those who beat them , a title? something visible in the replays so that we can say "damn look at him, he's strong he's Xthing that means he's tough and today he played my Outpost". And once every X time, this same list of monuments is subject to a selection where only the top continues to be playable for the reward. So there is recycling, so there is something to achieve and to share.
We can't just build aiming for the trash can.
And idem, tierlist of "tough players" with their "evaluation" notified separately from the others. Their replays are "must-watch" and the whole cocktail gives a game where building well is attractive and "building only DeathKillMegathing-Boxes" is less interesting, playing well is rewarded, and those who just want to play as it is have more variety in their play sessions.
Looking forward to the smartphone app to manage Outpost
Also, please pretty please add a "permadeath" clone that we can choose and play separately, we love to suffer here, and we want to show it.
Finally, I am fascinated by the game, its potential and the work you have done. I had read some about the gameplay, thinking "it would be crazy, but they won't make it, it will be boring and repetitive". I was wrong, it's amazing.
+ the potential for content creators
Love
EDIT:
+ a 1/1 texture/cube reward season-based to well-ranked Outpost
Comments
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Outposts dying due to time rather than number of Raiders is one of the big problems. 24-hours after an Outpost is activated it can die having seen only one or even zero Raiders. There's no guarantee someone's work will be seen by anyone much less seen by someone who will enjoy it.
Whether that's because the algorithm sucks at showing Outposts equally or because the ratio of Raiders to Outposts is too low, I don't know. Maybe it's a combination or both. It needs to be fixed.
For some reason BHVR balanced the game around having five Outposts at once, which is too many. The average player can't keep that up and will burn themselves out trying. Two active Outposts per player would be more reasonable, and let the player choose a third Outpost from their max Prestige Outposts to have live on in a special pool that will still generate materials/GenMat for the Builder and Raiders. The Builder can choose a new max Prestige Outpost to have live whenever they want, so no Outpost is ever truly dead, and their other maxed Outposts can all be set to Social.
There should be no loss of Rank, only gain. Don't punish Builders for focusing on fun over kills, don't punish Raiders who are persistent but not perfect on their first try. Outposts should only gain Rank. Raiders should get the same amount of Rank from each Outpost difficulty when they steal the GenMat whether it took them one try or a hundred, and no Rank is lost if they abandon. The current Rank system is chasing Raiders away from attempting Brutal Outposts, and that's hurting Builders. You want Raiders to be willing to die over and over again.
That's my opinion, anyway, and a lot of it fits what I've seen said here and on other forums about MYM. These different issues (Outposts not getting Raiders, Outposts dying at P10, and Raiders farming low-difficulty Outposts and refusing to challenge themselves which burns out the Raiders and also hurts Builders) are having negative effects and chasing players away.
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We want to avoid getting the same Raid twice at some point, even if there is some twick here and there due to capacity upgrade, so they need to be put somewhere else. Rank need to be a up/down system or else there is no point in grinding it, but there is some way to rewards raiders and builders other than just the basic rank.
The seasonal aspect of the game should push tryharder to do brutal due to the time limit and the goal rank to get them. lets wait and see :)
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Like Cube or a Texture reward every season based on rank, that you could only put once in a Outpost to showoff. Or skin for Mob, you name it. There is ways
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