Newbie here. I’ve read and watched all the documentation and videos I can and I think I’ve got the hang of it.
I’m positioning myself to start trying to make profit by selling commodities, but literally in the hole try to get there. Very harsh starting conditions and I thought I picked an easier starting package (Victualler). I’ve had to focus on self-sustain (DW,OVE,RAT,etc) before I can even think about starting to make any profit. Just the upkeep of maintaining worker satisfaction is very expensive at the start. Let alone fuel for ships and other costs to run a base. Trading off-planet is not an option for new players - fuel is prohibitively expensive in the beginning.
New players are literally one mistake away from having to liquidate and start over.
Brand new players need an early source of income to help get on their feet while trying to learn the game. Starter income sources, starter production boost, NPC missions/jobs, market incentives, quests or tutorial step rewards. Something, anything.
I do like the game and will continue to play, but holy crap - new players have a hard life. Is it just me?
I agree with @777isHARDCORE, a most players do a COLIQ in their first couple of weeks. There have only been a few players I know about which have not done so.
The starting packages are quite generous. As you learn the game you will become far better at planning and designing your strategy. If I were to COLIQ now, I would very quickly be able to get to having multiple colonies again.
PrUn is an economics and logistics game. Production is really quite secondary. Don’t worry about being self-sustaining because you cannot realistically be able to achieve this. Its definitely possible, but it is in no way optimal nowadays. Instead, focus on doing 1 thing and doing it well.
As a victualler, you will find it hard not to turn a profit - especially on a faction planet. Options you have for diversification are into RAT via the FP or C via the INC.
Most of all, develop relationships with other players. Most everyone here is eager to talk strategy and optimisation. You’ll learn much quicker and gain access to far more opportunities for advancement.
To an extent, we’re making a game “for experts” and it being difficult to get into initially is kind of part of the vision. That said, we definitely hear you and want to improve things a lot for new players throughout the first access phase and beyond. So please keep the feedback and suggestions coming!
We have some longer-term plans that will reshape the overall new-player experience quite a bit. However, there are also improvements coming in the near future. Our next maintenance update will be focused on all kinds of smaller tweaks and support measures for new players to get into the game and understand what’s going on and what their options are.
Finally, as the posts above pointed out, don’t be afraid to COLIQ. After all, it’s a learning experience. One that we think will be quite rewarding if you push through and we hope will manage to hold your interest for a long time to come!
The start is difficult and quite slow, as the others have said.
I’ve been playing for about 3 months, and fuel is currently the most expensive it has been the entire time I’ve been playing. As my core business is fuel refining, this makes me happy, but I can see where it would be brutal on a new player with no cash reserves.
I will add that the biggest mistake I made was parking my ships for the first couple of weeks I played. What I have since learned is that keeping your ships moving is well over half of your income when you only have a single base. And the new shipping contracts should make that an easier source of income since you don’t need to front the cash anymore.
Fellow newbie here. I had a similar story. Started on a system without an exchange, fuel costs ate me alive and I COLIQed. For my second go I started on an exchange planet and it’s much easier. No fuel costs or shipping to deal with. At some point I’ll get back into the inter-system trade game, but for now I don’t have to worry about that.
Luckily I won’t have to liquidate (COLIQ) as I made careful and smart decisions, plus the community was helpful with any questions I asked. For more information I started on Promitor CR-409e as a Victualler, which was recommended. At the time of this post I have 2xHB1, 1xRIG, 2xFRM, and 1xFP.
The first two weeks of the game are key. Set the expectations to players right away on the slower pace, and the possibility of having to COLIQ if they make a major mistake in the beginning - if the starting difficulty is intentional. The tutorials don’t touch on how to make profit at all. It’s kind of just assumed but this should be part of the tutorial.
I think an in-game tutorial would be best. Understandable this would take some time to implement. Guide the player through the start, hold their hand. Help them make their first market purchase. Help them complete a shipping contract, etc, etc. Simple in-game quests that act as a tutorial, but is not required yet could provide rewards for completing. Like a checklist UI of things you should do and try for new players to learn. Earn basic rewards for completing the tutorial tasks (cash, DW, RAT, etc).
It would be a shame to have people turned away in the beginning of the game. Ideally we want to convert new players to returning, long-term players. Right now I can see the current new player experience being a bit of a turn off for some.
Again thanks for the welcoming response to the feedback, I was not expecting that. I should be around for a while. See you in game.
I think most of the issues facing new players could be solved by really forcing them towards the starter cx planets. I don’t remember the new base screen too well but nothing really sticks out about prom/montem/katoa that says “if you dont know what you’re doing and don’t pick one of these three life is gonna suck for 3 months in this game”
Starting on a CX, and then perhaps selling to the MM as the basic “here’s how you make profit” lesson, per @Zenjith’s idea (which I like).
Part of the challenge with baking into a tutorial how to make profit is the market changes sometimes very dramatically. But the devs control the MM’s on the exchanges, and so there is a guaranteed bottom price. If the MM affords some trivial amount of profit, the lesson is guaranteed to always work, and part of the lesson should of course be to emphasize that it is just a lesson, and ideally they should look for better opportunities.
Should prolly ensure there’s an MM that would fit this for every starter package (assuming those are staying).
It’s certainly a good idea for what we currently have and if we were thinking of the current early game as the “definitive one”, we’d probably implement something just like that. However, we have some mid-term plans to move away from CXs on (starting) planets and also from these mega planets such as Prom, Montem and (yeah, I know) Katoa in general. This will change the game quite drastically and would force us to re-do any kind of really specific tutorial we could create right now. That’s why I think it makes more sense to add some more general new-player support measures right now and do the more specific things once we’re happy with the overall gameplay.
Just started playing and have purchased the pro licence but I have a major problem. Commands don’t work either from the command list or by typing them in. The command list just behaves as if they are text fields that don’t do anything and a new buffer command line just gives me illegal command whatever command I type in. Help!
this is normally because you are missing a part of the command.
say the LM command, will only work if you pass it a planet identifier. I.E. lm xk-745a
If you think you have the right command and it’s still not working try jumping in the help chan via the com option on the left hand side.
Let me first sync up with the topic of this thread -> “New Player Feedback”
Is it for new players to give feedback?
I am assuming that is the case and hence I am posting here.
First Impression
game and UI:
A combination of base/chain/industry building with the economic side of EVE Online. Good combination.
The UI is well thought out and easy to use.Players who do this level of thinking needs flexibility and customization and these features are there.
game mechanics:
early days and it depends of number of players.
Not much new here but the combination looks good.Main thing is it gives the players a lot of freedom to do what they want. I am new - so this section will definitely change and be more concrete later on.
F2P vs P2W:
I like F2P models and will always be F2P. Sorry about that but am playing a lot of games which have successfully implemented the model and are thriving by giving cosmetic/ego-boosting benefits to paying members.They have the bragging rights and are supporting the game.We, the free players increase the player base.
At present this game is not F2P. FX and Contracts make this highly disadvantageous for free players.A model where free players can get the same benefits , maybe, with a little bit more grinding in some way needs to be devised. It is exactly like the "alpha"s in EVE online - a model that was/is not working.
Community:
Community with loyal players make a game successful.At present the community is great.
note.If the F2P bottleneck continues for long will leave and play other games.
API:
A feature to pull data by APIs and create dashboard etc will boost the game.For example EVE Online has lots of private sites and are basically an addendum for the market mechanics of the game. An option that needs to be considered - not mandatory and more like good-to-have.
