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Starbound |OT| Boundless...

Amazing looking. I'll probably wait for this update to hit then dive back in.

Frankly Starbound is the gift that keeps on giving, I kind of feel guilty that they're giving us so much stuff for so little, much like I do with Shovel Knight.
 

Retro

Member
The fact that mechs are modular really plays up the sandbox nature of Starbound. You've basically got another extra wrinkle now; a new thing to build and customize beyond your character / ship / colonies, a new type of loot to dig up and collect, and (from the look of things) a new way to explore more hostile environments.

Really looking forward to seeing how deep this goes.
 
The mech stuff seems nice, but I think the area the game needs improvement the most is combat and inventory management.

I personally hate how when you switch a weapon you have to wait before using it. It makes certain weapons irritating to use. There are other pet peeves but that bothers me the most atm.
 

Retro

Member
Oh, sweeeeeet!

http://playstarbound.com/9th-may-bless-this-spess/

Hey everyone! Since the last blog post we’ve been working hard on the features you’ve seen already, but we’ve also been working on an entirely new feature! This is something we’ve wanted for a really long time and it has finally found its place in the upcoming update.

While travelling through space is exciting, sometimes you just want to kick back and relax. And who can be bothered going up and down a gravity well constantly? In the next update you’ll be able to have all the comforts of your old house on Earth, but in space. Simply call in a station probe to deploy your personal space station.

Your initial station package includes an entrance for your mech and a teleporter for convenience, while providing lots of room for activities.

station3-1024x683.png


If it’s less space than you’re accustomed to, don’t worry about it! Your station can be expanded with a variety of modules to create the intricate corridor maze of your dreams. All for a very relatively reasonable cost.

station4-2-1024x683.png


Lots of people have been asking us when Starbound is coming to Xbox One, and while we don’t have a release date for you yet, we can confirm it’s still a thing that’s happening! We’re working with the super talented folks at Blitworks on the port, so it’s in good hands. We’ll let you know more as soon as we can!

Gifycat images in the article itself if you want to see it in action. Modular Space Stations is kind of a cool approach, but I dunno what it's for... it's easy enough to store everything on your ship or establish a colony, so maybe there's something special about space stations that sets them apart from "a place to decorate."
 
Oh, sweeeeeet!

http://playstarbound.com/9th-may-bless-this-spess/



Gifycat images in the article itself if you want to see it in action. Modular Space Stations is kind of a cool approach, but I dunno what it's for... it's easy enough to store everything on your ship or establish a colony, so maybe there's something special about space stations that sets them apart from "a place to decorate."

That is pretty neat. Hopefully we can populate our space base with people too. Maybe we can have our extra crew chill out there because I don't always want a full crew on board the ship as it gets pretty cluttered with bodies.
 

bosh

Member
If Starbound ever came out on the Switch I would go wild.

I remember putting 60+ hours into the initial alpha build. I occasionally come back and see whats different and updated (some really cool stuff since then).

Soundtrack is one of the best also.
 

Retro

Member
Tinkered around for a few minutes in the new Unstable build.

Mechs are fun as hell, even with the gimped starter one I played around with. You can customize the body, arms (which would be your weapons), legs, boosters and horn. You can also change the main and secondary color as well. I didn't have time to find any new parts and I'm not sure if each race gets their own starter mech, but the one I had came with a cool hand cannon and a drill arm.

On that note, apparently the quest is bugged, use...
Code:
/startquest '"mechunlock"'
/completequest mechunlock

...to unlock it quickly (/admin mode required). You deploy from your ship via the transporter or there's a button on the upper right hand side (where the beam down button is). There's also a mech assembly station where you can tweak your mech's build;

Code:
/spawnitem mechassemblystation

I found a (peaceful) Weapon Depot space station and checked that out, lots of new furniture (mostly futuristic stuff) to build with and ACTUAL ELEVATORS! That you ride like vehicles instead of those goofy platforms that de-spawn if you accidentally interact with them! Been hoping those would be in, now I can make some properly vertical structures.

The new Universe Map looks cool, but the UI isn't particularly intuitive. Lots of planetary info seems missing, or it's popping up in some places but not in others. I didn't have time to tinker with it much either but I think it's buggy too. I'm gonna have to tinker around with it later and find out what exactly seems off about it.

Gonna try not to spend too much time in Unstable, just enough to see what's what and that way when it hits for real I'll be ready to build. I've been tinkering around with some stuff the last few days but I haven't been building anything too amazing since I knew a bunch of new stuff is coming.
 
Thanks for the admin codes info. I had a play about with the mechs on the unstable and they seem quite fun. Slow but they feel quite powerful (and this was only the starter). I was a Novakid and the starter robot had the same kit (drill and canon), although it also had a big horseshoe on it so I presume the starter mechs are at least aesthetically linked to your race. Kinda makes me want to be Avian, I want to be a big Aztec bird mech.

I like the work they've done with the feet, they're not perfect but they do a fairly good job lining up to the uneven surfaces and it helps give your mech a sense of presence in the world.
 

Retro

Member
Thanks for the admin codes info. I had a play about with the mechs on the unstable and they seem quite fun. Slow but they feel quite powerful (and this was only the starter). I was a Novakid and the starter robot had the same kit (drill and canon), although it also had a big horseshoe on it so I presume the starter mechs are at least aesthetically linked to your race. Kinda makes me want to be Avian, I want to be a big Aztec bird mech.

I like the work they've done with the feet, they're not perfect but they do a fairly good job lining up to the uneven surfaces and it helps give your mech a sense of presence in the world.

I'm guessing the Horseshoe part is probably a Novakid body, so in theory you could probably find or trade for an Avian body. I made a character really quick to see what it looks like;

birdg6ub9.jpg


I'm also gonna guess that better legs = faster movement speed.

Edit: Checked out a space station, looks like there's a trade component to the game now;

tradehsu1a.jpg


Probably a really simple "Buy low / sell high" type thing, but pretty cool.
 

HaRyu

Unconfirmed Member
New update...now to see if I can get back into this lol.

Is GAF server still up or is up?

I believe it's down, as soon as HaRyu is up and around I'll inquire about putting it up.

Uhhm... I need to find the server.

Seriously, last iteration of the server, I migrated it all to a separate spare computer from my main. During the period when the server was down, I rearranged my room, and I have apparently lost track of the box. I'll have to look for it, and get it up and running during the weekend.
 
I've often debated picking this up, I see it's on sale on Steam today. Still debating it, but I have a feeling it will come to Switch like Stardew Valley where I might prefer to play it.

Still, looks like there's a lot to do and it seems like an interesting game, even though I've never been a huge fan of Terraria which it is often compared to...
 

Drain You

Member
They are really sleeping on that, especially considering it was supposed to be there at launch. I use XPadder but it's emphatically suboptimal.

Yea I'm disappointed no controller support also. I actually just hooked up a regular keyboard to my Surface just to play this. Would have much rather used my Xbox One controller.
 

Retro

Member
I've often debated picking this up, I see it's on sale on Steam today. Still debating it, but I have a feeling it will come to Switch like Stardew Valley where I might prefer to play it.

Still, looks like there's a lot to do and it seems like an interesting game, even though I've never been a huge fan of Terraria which it is often compared to...

It's supposed to hit consoles eventually, but it's taking a lot longer than I think anyone anticipated (which is kind of normal for indies, but whatever). However, if you're not a fan of Terraria you're not likely to be a fan of Starbound; the gameplay is essentially the same (explore / dig to find materials to craft items to withstand more hostile environments to explore / dig to find materials to craft items to ...), there's just a lot more of it (tons of planets with lots of biomes instead of one planet with a limited number) and more varied ways to go about it (farming, mechs, etc.). If that's not your cup of tea, I really can't recommend it.
 
For the record, I didn't like Terraria all that much, but love Starbound. Terraria was just ugly to me, while Starbound is beautiful and much more varied, plus the sci-fi setting is more appealing to me.

They do have a lot of DNA in common, so I may be an outlier and if the core gameplay was unappealing to someone, it's likely they won't like Starbound either indeed.
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
update was fine, but the content was a bit lacking IMO. Don't see myself playing it much more for now.

they need to add some more meat to the game. some sort of meta progression or something. the quests are junk and exploring forever gets old, especially when the inventory management is such a chore.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Version 1.3.1 is out on Steam:

Minor Changes / Bug Fixes
Added and improved sound effects for a variety of monsters, weapons and mech components
Fixed lots of typos
Fix ‘Parts and Labour’ quest description not matching its requirements
Fix bookmarks not being sorted alphabetically
Fix players ‘swimming’ off rail stops using rail hooks
Fix world.spawnLiquid not functioning on tiles with rails/platforms
Fix a bug allowing placement of blocks on some outside walls of player stations
Fix Triplod not registering in monster collection when captured
Fix final ore type not being listed in navigation interface for some planets
Fix placement of a boulder trap in a challenge room
Fix rustick being affected by physics forces/collisions
Make airless space areas actually airless and require breath protection
Fix tier 4 mech bodies not protecting against radiation
Fix penguin weapon shop not unlocking when repeating weapon testing mission
Fix passive monsters becoming aggressive when player engages hostile monsters
Fix some systems not zooming out far enough in nav and planets going out of view
Fix a bug causing a navigation crash when selecting gas giants
Fix objects with minimum / maximum liquid levels not being broken
Fix item drops being stuck in force regions at top / bottom of world
Fix quest indicators being affected by world lighting
Fix bug preventing some background tiles from being painted
Disable ‘go to quest’ button in nav when that system isn’t explored (e.g. in another universe)
Fix some bugs when dual wielding rail hooks
Prevent activating techs during mech deployment
Don’t show the ‘E’ hint in dialog sequences that are not skippable
Fix a bug where navigation could be canceled after consuming fuel but before starting flight
Rework behavior of hoverbikes in zero gravity
Boats no longer sail out of water
Add an icon to Tonauac’s safe fall blessing
Add a few more mech horns
Prevent rail trams from driving off the ends of active stops
Modding API Changes
Add world.setDungeonId binding



Kudos to the Starbound team for using the actual patch notes section so I can view notes with 1-2 clicks instead of hunting in the Steam forum or some random developer website.
 
Make airless space areas actually airless and require breath protection

They kind of broke another thing though: even if you have breath protection, your ship's AI will mercilessly pester you with "you are suffocating" messages even when you obviously aren't. :D

Kudos to the Starbound team for using the actual patch notes section so I can view notes with 1-2 clicks instead of hunting in the Steam forum or some random developer website.

That tends to happen more with indie games. I compile detailed patch notes for each version of my game even though I'm only sending it to like 6 people.
 
How is the patch?

Frankly great, I'm having lots of fun with the mech even though mine is still a rusty bucket. :D I was playing right now.

Also what I posted above about the AI warning you when it should't, was actually not due to a bug; it was a conflation of several mistakes on my part:
1) I had /admin on on my universe (no clue why, I must have used it at some point last year), which I hadn't noticed because I almost always play on the missus' universe. This meant I could not actually suffocate even when I should.
2) And indeed I should, because I had the EPP on my aesthetic slot. D'oh!
Not my best moment indeed.
 

bosh

Member
To all the souls buying the game off the Steam sale, Starbound is amazing. I bought it during early access in the alpha days, when there was basically limitless planets but not a ton extras like there is today. I spent almost a 100 hours in the alpha before stopping. With all the recent patches (and additions since the Alpha) I myself will be jumping back into the game shortly.
 
Frankly great, I'm having lots of fun with the mech even though mine is still a rusty bucket. :D I was playing right now.

Also what I posted above about the AI warning you when it should't, was actually not due to a bug; it was a conflation of several mistakes on my part:
1) I had /admin on on my universe (no clue why, I must have used it at some point last year), which I hadn't noticed because I almost always play on the missus' universe. This meant I could not actually suffocate even when I should.
2) And indeed I should, because I had the EPP on my aesthetic slot. D'oh!
Not my best moment indeed.

LOL great then. I'll give it a shot. I was playing the game again for a while in anticipation and then just forgot about it eventually.
 
Finally got around to the update, but damn it's more like a mini-expansion. I am surprised they got such a huge amount of changes in a single update. The mech stuff would have been enough, but a personalized space station too? Goddamn.
 

Mr Git

Member
I was chatting to someone at work and they mentioned Starbound and I was legit shook at actually meeting someone else who played it. Then realised I haven't in ages. Is the Gaf server still going up occasionally?

Also sorry for the bump if anyone got excited. :p
 
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