Ahem ! Only just realised this great game is by the same dev who created Space Disorder. Well worth picking that game up as well (its free)
Ah ? I'll try that then, that could change things if there's indeed bonus materials granted for drilling/probing with a value of 10 instead of going for 1-2 times at 5 then several times at 1 to empty the planet of it's available H/He. Still, my point stands, the current slider is a bit painful to use (I believe you must have noticed too, since you're always maxing )
I reach the green ending pretty easily and the red marker pretty much every time. But this is no the point because as someone said, I'm the developer so I knwo every inch of the game. I just want to say that there is a real strategy behind and it's not entirely based on luck.
There is a pretty good beginner guide over at GrabIt magazine. You should definitively check it out : http://www.grabitmagazine.com/blog/post/Three%20Tips%20for%20Surviving%20Out%20There/
There is definitively a point to max up drilling probing. I agree that the UI could be improved though. The ships are not equal in value but this is intended. You have to deal with what you get.
Okay for drilling, i'll try that then, thanks ! Regarding the ships : I didn't mean that all should be equal in value. I meant that it could be interesting that the primary value of a ship isn't systematically "How much available space does that ship have" ? As it currently is, it's the only relevant stat when you're looking at a ship to take as your "capital" ship where you'll build stuff to travel with. It could be good to have ships with lower capacity also be interesting due to their natural capacities, but as it currently is, there is never a time where a "less storage ship" is better and will make you switch ship (unless you have to for survival reasons or to exploit the other ship to forage the system before coming back to your capital ship)
Okay, I think I've figured how drilling / mining works. Whenever you go to a planet, that planet has a pre-defined amount of materials available. Whenever you drill/probe, the amount of fuel you'll spend defines the percentage of that material you'll be recieving. IE : Say a planet has 20 H / 10 he If you probe 10, you'll recieve 100% (20 H / 10 He) and the planet will be depleted. If you probe 5, you'll recieve 50% (10 H / 5 He) If you probe 5 again, you'll recieve 50% from that (5 H / 2He) When you probe, the minimum amount available is always 1 (The way the rounding is done seems a bit weird to me to be honest) What does that mean ? Well, it means you basically exchange Fe for fuel when drilling/probing at 10. It's not that there are bonus ressources for drilling/probing at 10, it's just that you spend less time & less fuel drilling/probing ... well, unless Mikahslah tells me otherwise (And seeing how the gameplay is pretty slick, that wouldn't surprise me there actually is a bonus/risk for drilling/probing to the max ) Edit.: Seems to be different for mining. The above is true for probing on the other hand. Seems like mining has a lower cap (70% ? 80% ?) for spending 10 fuel.
I always mine at 10, you get much more fuel than the iron you loose so its a good risk/reward. Nice to the Mi-Clos here so I can finally say thank you! You created one the best games ever and a great gaming experience far from what I played before, and with no combat! Thanks again
But that happens, sometimes, right? Because of the random placement of the tiles? Probably as often as one loses in Out There because the first gas giant removes 100 hull. In one game my first gas giant removed 50 hull, and the second removed 30-something. I made it through 40+ star systems on that run. Perhaps you should give it another shot, philodygmn.
Thanks for the tip! And it is only 30 MB and requires only ios 4.3, which means I can put it on my 3GS!
Oh the geo scan, I think is the one I found the less out of all of the tech, and the one I think is one of the more useful overall. Just so close to red but then I teleported (remember that event Frost) to a distant star and couldn't get out of it. I think the frustration adds a lot to the replayability factor as you learn something new every trip, the game is so good and so hard that keeps you coming back again and again to discover more stuff try to get further.
I have never found the ultraprobe, so that is my least found - unless there are more techs that I just don't know about. I've only had the interferometer once, and I think it may be the most useful, more so than geoscan. Geoscan will tell you whether or how much to drill/probe, but first you have to go to the star system and orbit the planet/star. Interferometer will tell you whether the entire system is worth going to in the first place. Dream ship? Give me an interferometer, geo scan, shield generator + 1/2 upgrades, space folder + 1/2 upgrades, interplanetary drive + 1/2 upgrades, telescope, ansible, drill, hydrogen probe, ultraprobe. That's 13-16 slots, plenty of room (ok, plenty might be pushing it) for some consumables in a Treeship. With that setup I don't think I'd need seeds or wormhole generators or anything really fancy except on a one-off, build when necessary basis.
The ultra probe is more risky than rewarding as for when you orbit a sun your hull suffers so much damage (30-50 points minimum) is not really that great. Interferometer?, ok I think I never encountered that. Seems indeed more useful.... hmmm need to find it. I got the wormhole generator too but I never used. When I get that its usually on one of my best ships and dont want to screw over and end in some star without exit, which is what usually happens when I say yes to one of those events. How did you find it use? My dream ship: the bird-like ship, with a lot of Omega (dont really need anything else, it repairs, fill your tanks, etc...) and the things that make huge jumps between stars with Solar Sails too. I got something similar once and could go a see all the universe, but in the end I went to green not knowing anything and well, couldn't go farther than that. But it was a great ending.
Another thing to consider when drilling at 10, it's that often you get a free fuel refill (you find some hidden He pool or something like that). Never happened to me when drilling with less intensity.
Right, that's why I would need the shield generator + upgrades, especially the thermal one which refers to stars' atmospheres in the description. You totally do. It isn't a random event. It allows you to, by using an Omega, enter a black hole and exit through another black hole in your telescope's range. The description of the generator says this, I think. True. The reward outweighs the risk, when the risk is only the loss of 1 or 4 Fe (for broken or destroyed drill).
It's really a true gem, I can't stop playing it. The 'just another system' or 'just another run' factor is incredible. And, I know it's easy to mark the game as purely luck dependent in the very start...but there is so much more under the skin and the more I play the more I find it deeply strategic. No mistakes, luck IS a factor but working against the odds is part of the game itself...and there are many ways to counteract it. Who would survive in that situation anyway? I think that, among the people that played past the first 10-15 games, everyone noticed that they improve almost at every run. Not necessarily in score or colored targets, but in the comprehension of the whole world and mechanics. You really feel alone out there, trying to understand the cosmo and its secrets, trying to get home, trying to stay alive. Personally I've totally changed my strategy now. While at first I balanced gathering resources and pushing onwards...now I sit in the very first part of the galaxy trying hard to build up tech. Games are now very short or epic runs (meaning green ending or even red possibile, 'saw' R,G and B targets). I know that someday I will find the 'tree ship' when I'm loaded with tech and resources. Anyway, amazing game: great idea perfectly executed. I would like to take a moment to praise the music too.
It depends on your ship's resistance, as far as I can tell. I have the Ultraprobe in my current game and I'm using it with some regularity with nowhere near this loss. And note that the description of a star's environment. One might avoid flying into a 'suicidal' environment unless rather desperate, which probably isn't as likely with access to the Ultraprobe. It shines later in a game, though.
Yeah those are pretty useful. Very useful. I think I am going to write all the tech down and post it here. It will be pretty useful. Im totally looking out for it And the wormhole doesnt seem that nice IMO. Omega is hard to find compared to fuel and I have better uses for that. Thanks for the info.
In the game where I managed green ending, I had 8 omega. I had totally forgotten that I could use them as universal ressources, otherwise I could probably have pushed for the Red => Green ending
