Starbound

quick look, it seems the players all need to get the mod for themselves.
Also looks like it can cause errors with players not having it, etc. be careful.

first boss is a joke... not really sure how anyone fails at it..

you did notice the switches right? you dont shoot it. dont get near it.
just run in circles, flip the switches to charge the lazer, and use it. 3 times.

I have been paying attention, in the subreddit, etc. But, not actually playing for the last few months.
There IS progress... but, I don't know if its all good.. directionless, is what I think I would call most of the updates.

Somewhere along the way, they seem to have given up on the procedural generated monster, dungeons, etc. and started adding pure prefab mini-dungeons, and boss planets. Right out of a Metroidvania. this are not horrible, for what they are... but they are totally at odds with the procedural generated worlds.
This is also totally at odds with their progression. They seem to do, and undo things constantly. like. they build these prefab boss fight dungeons. but the combat systems, and upgrade systems are not set."
so they have to redo the levels 10 times, for every time they add a new skill, that breaks the dungeon, etc.

Which really seems to be the case to me. The devs are doing everything ass backwards. They added all sorts of art assets and toys.. and are now trying to build a game around that...


Sandbox elements are still great though. colonies, etc.

so, 1.0 real soon. Unstable/nightly has 1.0 on it. Some patching might occur still, but more or less. Its as it will release, and likely in a week.

there is a game here... but, its no Terraria. Alot more crafting, town management, lots of flash with no substance. Still feels.. empty.
Its really noticeable how in Terraria npcs constantly attack you. here, they don't. you clear a spot, and you can go afk. No farms, etc.

Yeah, Starbound was announced, during the period Terraria's development had stalled. Everyone expected Terraria+1.

Development has been slow as hell. and fairly directionless. Constantly reworking things over and over, with no clear goal for game design.

Terraria has a very tightly and complex balance of game systems. the combat, exploration, and building all work hand in hand. Hellavators, boss arenas, farming arenas, event arenas, and hotels.
Itemization is carefully designed and placed to encourage exploration into biomes.(prefab gear, in progressive gen worlds) Old biomes and areas are recycled due to events, hardmode, and boss unlocks.

Starbound is constantly at odds with itself over RNG, progressive generation, and prefab content. Boss fights are in prefab arenas, akin to Metroid/Castlevania. which IS fun.. but at odds with the building/exploration. Weapons are full rng. Armor is prefab, all crafted.
NPCS do not constantly spawn in Starbound, like they do Terraria. Digging is... empty and boring.
Quests spawn RNG from any npc. Completion gives a RNG bag, which often has a weapon in it.
Crews follow you and help. Pets the same, and can have utility items equiped on them.
Building a town. your colonists will give RNG items to you as rent periodically. What NPC spawns in a room is affected by what is IN the room. Floran items in the room, will spawn a floran npc. A table, 32 "spaces" of chest/container, will spawn a MERCHANT npc. etc, etc. check the wiki for a partial guide.
Tenant - Starbounder - Starbound Wikiits pretty complicated.
Farming is more extensive in starbound.





Tip for new players. the "flag" item, built quite early allows you to place a flag, and set a teleport location at that flag. Allows you to teleport back to that flag, from a teleporter. Very handy to drop one at your homebase, then carry a few, to drop at quest givers etc.
Cotton, and silk annoyingly rare.
Your homeworld should have cotton growing on it. Pick it, AND uproot it for the seeds. Plant it asap, in your town and start harvesting. You'll need alot.
Same with silk, via the moth trap. Get multiples of that up and running asap.

It may have changed, but biome specific monsters do exist now. These are prefab monsters. And, any given biome will have a chance to spawn 1 of these, +1 RNG monster on universe gen. These biome specific npcs DO have a chance to drop unique crafting materials. The drop is specific to the monster, NOT the biome however. So, if you need a specific item, you need to find the monster. may wish to make notes of where, you saw the unique ones, in case case you need to farm them later.

Today is the day.

Starbound is out.

Unless you really like the town building aspect of Terraria. I can't really recommend this honestly. Lots of decent side things in this, Which are half implemented. rng quests, archeology, crews, pets, etc.. but none are a full game or even minigame in themselves, with rewards properly itemized, etc.

Colony building is the best part of the game.
The prefab story dungeons are ok. Megaman/castlevania style.

Digging is boring, and pointless. you don't even HAVE to do it. ever. and little to nothing populating the underground.
Story scanning missions are awful.

gah. net being a pain.