Subset Games Forum

So, yeah, been putting some good time into this game since it came out; I'd been in the beta, but had only played it on and off during that time while things were being worked on and all. I've now had a good 20 hours or so with the game, figured I'd share some initial thoughts on it.

First of all, the overall gameplay is excellent. The battle system is just amazing, and has tons of depth. Micromanaging the crew as well makes it even more interesting. The ONE thing that the game is missing, to me..... and this is one I keep reading in posts here on the forums as well.... is the opportunity to do things like, explore a space station with your crew, stuff like that. "Away team" sorts of things. Little events that would focus on JUST the crew instead of the ship, and might have some light exploration and such. Maybe something for an expansion, perhaps (please tell me you plan on doing expansions or something!)

Secondly, the game actually seems pretty well balanced. For the most part. I'm familiar with roguelikes and games that take alot of inspiration from them, so you wont be getting any "ZOMG the game is too hard!" or "Argh it's TOO RANDOM blargh blargh argh!" sorts of comments from me. I havent beaten Normal yet myself, but I can pretty reliably get at least to sector 7 if I'm thinking things through properly.

The overall difficulty level actually seems just right (to me anyway), BUT, the game does have a pretty darn nasty learning curve to it. The way events work adds to this. I think this is one of the reasons some new players get so frustrated. The sort of events where you're given a couple of options, right, and you pick one..... and some cosmic terror or something just outright EATS one of your crew. Or some particularly nasty negative effect. Now, if I encounter the same event again, I might think "Ok, this one has a chance of gobbling someone, do I have enough crew members to risk it?" and that's fine..... experimentation and some trial & error isnt bad.... but it does tend to leave players with that "way too random!" idea.

Another thing is the ships. It's great to see such a variety of player ships..... eventually. It seems alot of work is needed to unlock them, and that's fine, but.... there seems to be not too much in the way of hints on HOW to do this. The ship select screen gives vague hints about them, but I quickly figured out that if I wanted to get at least a couple of unlocks done sometime this century, I'd have to go look at a guide (which I did). Some of the ships also seem (potentially) rather unbalanced. Like the Torus B ship; I cant even imagine beating the game with THAT thing. Heck, the best strategy I've seen for that ship involves "sell a bunch of the stuff right away!" which... yeah, to me, suggests an imbalance. I'll experiment with that ship myself nonetheless, but ONE engi crew member and a pile of non-offensive drones seems a little crappy.

Lessee.... what else is there.... well, the sectors, I like the way they work, trying to plot the best course through each is a challenge of it's own. My one problem though: Blank beacons. REALLY hate these. There's no choices to make with these OR skill involved, or.... anything, really. A long string of these in a sector can make it so that you get almost no benefit from that sector at all, and there's really nothing you can do about it. Ion storms are also particularly irritating. I've yet to come up with any strategy for these other than "charge shields, charge engines, sit perfectly still and wait for FTL", which also makes them the most BORING events, unless boarders are happening. It's very, very rare that I have enough energy available to actually try to defeat the enemy while in one of these. The other hazard types, asteroids and solar flares, are alot more interesting.

Also, stores. Maybe it's just me (or maybe I'm missing something) but the "subsystems" type stores that sell cloaking and whatever are way, way, WAY too common. Usually, what I need to buy is basically anything that ISNT a subsystem. So that type of store is also the most useless (usually).

And finally: Enemy cloaking..... it causes my weapons to stop charging.... why, exactly? I think this is the one part of the game that just genuinely doesnt make any sense to me whatsoever.


So, there we go. What issues I have with the game are generally fairly minor. And other than those, absolutely loving it so far. Bloody brilliant, and as I said above, totally hoping to see addons and such.

As for the cloaking, the enemies weapons stops charging when you,the player, cloak. Stealth system would be a lot less useful if all it did was allow the other ship to synch up his weapons for one big volley.

It doesn't make sense if you try to find a realistic explanation for it. (there are a few floating around but other game play mechanics usually pokes holes in those explanations.) But the devs found that it was just a better mechanic and more fun game play to have it work the way it does.

Gorlom wrote:As for the cloaking, the enemies weapons stops charging when you,the player, cloak. Stealth system would be a lot less useful if all it did was allow the other ship to synch up his weapons for one big volley.

It doesn't make sense if you try to find a realistic explanation for it. (there are a few floating around but other game play mechanics usually pokes holes in those explanations.) But the devs found that it was just a better mechanic and more fun game play to have it work the way it does.

Hmm.... I guess. Frankly, so far the cloaking mechanism has been utterly useless to me; each time I get it and use it, I end up dying MUCH earlier than I otherwise would (due to a lack of scrap that I in fact spent on the bloody cloak). Havent found even one situation where it actually helps, this being because I cant fire during cloak ANYWAY, without an augment that I never have. The ONLY spot I can think of where it might concievably be useful is the boss, but buying the horrid thing decreases my chances of getting there. If there's a decent use for it, I've not found it.

Annoying gameplay mechanic, really, though it's not all that big of a deal. Rest of the game sorta makes up for it, hah.

Cloak is great for dodging missiles. You can shot out of it it just doesn't last as long if you do. Its main use early game is at one power to dodge missiles for 1 power and it basically gives you first strike after the enemy misses with his first volley.

Misery wrote:If there's a decent use for it, I've not found it.

That's the problem. Personally, after learning how to use cloaks I take far less damage in a ship that starts with a cloak but no shields than the other way around.

Shops that sell subsystems seem to become less common after the early sectors though.

Drasha wrote:Cloak is great for dodging missiles. You can shot out of it it just doesn't last as long if you do. Its main use early game is at one power to dodge missiles for 1 power and it basically gives you first strike after the enemy misses with his first volley.

I'd thought of that, but it doesnt seem to actually work, or at least not when I do it.

The enemy would fire the missile, I'd instantly activate cloak, aaaaaaaaaaaand..... I'd get blasted by the missile. I thought it was a fluke until I noticed it happening damn near every time. The cloak, as best I could tell, was doing nothing whatsoever.

Havent used it since.

Though, I've also never had it in the early part of the game, only as a later purchase.

Now if only the game would stop trying so bloody hard to sell me the damn thing.

Misery wrote:

Gorlom wrote:Havent found even one situation where it actually helps, this being because I cant fire during cloak ANYWAY, without an augment that I never have. The ONLY spot I can think of where it might concievably be useful is the boss, but buying the horrid thing decreases my chances of getting there. If there's a decent use for it, I've not found it.

I would argue the Cloak is, generally speaking, the most powerfull of the available subsystems, which also shows in its painfully steep price

*At the start of every fight, cloak. You weapons are now charging while the enemeies are not. You will probably get to fire the first shots.

*Whenever you cloak, your Evede stat goes through the roof. If you Cloak before a projectile enters your part of the screen, it will miss you.

*Cloaking allows you to take a short break from the combat to repair, put out fires or fight boarders.

Edit: It should be mentioned though, that Cloak with only one power bar is a bit "meh". But when you have two or three bars in it, it starts being very usefull.

Misery wrote:
I'd thought of that, but it doesnt seem to actually work, or at least not when I do it.

The enemy would fire the missile, I'd instantly activate cloak, aaaaaaaaaaaand..... I'd get blasted by the missile. I thought it was a fluke until I noticed it happening damn near every time. The cloak, as best I could tell, was doing nothing whatsoever.

Havent used it since.

Though, I've also never had it in the early part of the game, only as a later purchase.

Now if only the game would stop trying so bloody hard to sell me the damn thing.

cloaking adds 60 % evasion/dodge. If you keep getting hit you are incredibly unlucky.
Are you taking energy from the engines to power stealth? Are you removing your pilot from the cockpit when cloaking? Try to keep your evade up while activating the subsystem.

PS. you say you cloak instantly. but is the missile on the enemy ship screen or on your ships side of the screen when you cloak? Do you pause before you cloak? I'm just very surprised that you get hit constantly. maybe there is a chance you cloak too late?

Gorlom wrote:cloaking adds 60 % evasion/dodge. If you keep getting hit you are incredibly unlucky.
Are you taking energy from the engines to power stealth? Are you removing your pilot from the cockpit when cloaking? Try to keep your evade up while activating the subsystem.

PS. you say you cloak instantly. but is the missile on the enemy ship screen or on your ships side of the screen when you cloak? Do you pause before you cloak? I'm just very surprised that you get hit constantly. maybe there is a chance you cloak too late?

Actually, I don't think it matters where the missile is on-screen when you enable cloak, as long as it's not "impacting your ship".

Icehawk78 wrote: Actually, I don't think it matters where the missile is on-screen when you enable cloak, as long as it's not "impacting your ship".

No, but I was thinking that if he reacted to it when it was on the players ship side of the screen it might get to close before he pressed the button? It takes half a second for cloak to initialize doesn't it?

Maybe i was over thinking looking for a possibility where none exists.