Module changes in DARK NEBULA

Equipping ships with Modules is the most important gameplay system in Hades' Star. All combat and economic activities on all star types heavily depend on Modules. The exact same activities can range from mind numbingly boring to extremely fun, depending on how well tweaked the involved Modules are. Without properly designed Modules, there's no progression, no strategy, no gameplay, and no Hades' Star. 

Given the importance of Modules, the Dark Nebula update will take the time to carefully review the role and place of every single module in the game. The goal will be to fix the current Module problems described in detail below. 

Before presenting the problems, a reminder on problems and solutions (if you've already read this section from a previous blog post, skip to Problem 1 below). 

The problems described here are set in stone. You may think that these are not problems worth fixing, or that they are not a problem at all. That's ok, but if you want to understand what changes are happening in the game, it's important to also understand what problems the changes are fixing, whether you agree with the problems or not. Being honest with what problems we are fixing up front allows the community to see where we are going and what we deem as valuable. It allows feedback to be focused, as feedback can now be framed towards whether a problem still exists or not, whether it became better than in live Hades' Star or worse. Having the problems we are fixing be non-negotiable also allows you to see early if the new game we are creating is for you, and save you frustration down the road.  

If you see a problem described in this or an upcoming blog post, it means we will be making an effort to fix it in Dark Nebula. That doesn't mean the problem list is complete. By identifying more problems via your feedback, you could allow us to expand the list of problems we are fixing. So if your feedback is "You said X is a problem, I don't think so", it will be ignored. If your feedback is "I also think Y is a big problem too", it will be considered.


The solutions described here are NOT set in stone. The solutions you see here (or the ones implemented so far in the Early Access build) are meant to address the identified problems. Most of them are not final, and will keep getting tweaked throughout Early Access. Your feedback here is extremely important: Are the changes addressing the problem effectively? If not, why not? What is the part of the problem that still remains, or what new problem has been created as a result of these changes? Your feedback will be far more useful if you focus on *problems* you see (ideally by playing the Early Access build), instead of proposing solutions. If you must propose a solution, please mention the exact problem it is fixing as well.


Problem 1. Many Modules break game functionality and/or are inefficient solutions to poorly balanced game systems

When Hades' Star was first released, there were just Yellow Stars and 5 Red Star levels. Over the years, very frequent, quickly made and careless updates introduced both new game systems and new Modules, with little regard for how those new systems interact with the old Modules. Not surprisingly, the end result is the current mess Hades' Star finds itself in. The Dark Nebula update intentionally takes all the time required to properly fix the problems, not just for its initial release, but for many many years of updates down the line. Simply put, until these problems are fixed, Hades' Star can get no more updates. Pushing updates ignoring the problems would compound the issues, making existing modes even more unplayable, and creating a completely nonsensical game that cannot sustain itself. 

A few key examples with problems in current Hades' Star modules: 

Time Warp 

Time Warp has single-handedly destroyed all intended gameplay in two major game modes: White Stars and Blue Stars. In White Stars, it is the biggest reason matches feel synchronous, and competitive players feel like they can't get a full night's sleep when they participate. In Blue Stars, the combination of Time Warp with many modules creates broken dominating techniques that don't give the other player any chance of counter. The ability of Time Warp to also affect Module cooldowns is also breaking a lot of things in Blue Stars, as it was never carefully balanced for all module types. 

In addition to breaking two entire game modes, Time Warp is terrible because it's also *required* for all ships, to make unbearable and badly designed underlying systems more manageable. Some of those badly designed systems include ship movement speed, combat resolution times, and Battleship repair times. To make those times more bearable, players naturally turn to installing Time Warp on all their ships, and also naturally freak out when they hear Time Warp is being removed. But the correct fix to a badly designed game system is to fix the game system itself, not introduce a module that is mandatory for all ships to make the game system slightly more bearable. This is exactly the approach Dark Nebula will be taking with this and other similar modules. When you see a Module being removed, it's always because the underlying system is being fixed so the module is no longer needed, or because the module had very limited use, was ignored by most players, and is being replaced by something more useful. 

Red Star Life Extender

This one has single-handedly destroyed a lot of the intended experience in Red Stars, allowing teams of players to easily play as long as they like and turning what was intended to be a 10 minute experience into hours. The fact that it *literally* once also broke the game servers is just bonus. 

*If* there is a proper place for a module like Red Star Extender in Hades' Star, it needs to be in a completely new environment where a relatively short life increase gives a clear, well-designed and balanced benefit. Its use also needs to be properly limited - simply jumping in as many ships as you want and activating the module repeatedly from the gate, seeing the time going up with each click, could fit well in an clicker game but it does not belong in Hades' Star.

Sanctuary 

The addition of Sanctuary has eliminated a very promising (if balanced correctly) mechanic of risk/reward in Red Stars, but only for the players who need it the least (it's not available in the early game). Like many other crutch solutions, it was the wrong fix to early players complaining about a problem (in this case, ship replacement costs being too high). 

Genesis / Enrich

The Genesis/Enrich combo had a big part in breaking the Hydrogen economy, making it impossible to properly balance between casual and dedicated players. These Modules were created as a result of the early player community complaining there's not enough Hydrogen. Instead of taking the time to properly understand the problem and available solutions, these two unbalanced Modules allowed players to create almost unlimited Hydrogen over time, something that was never an intentional design decision. Dark Nebula takes extra time to address the monumental task of fixing the Hydrogen economy.


Problem 2. Most Modules are poorly balanced, making players avoid them completely

Many Modules in Hades' Star are so broken, that quite a few players think this is a puzzle game where you somehow have to guess the useless modules and avoid them. The symptoms of this very serious problem are clearly visible whenever a new player asks "Should I upgrade X?" and the community can usually answer correctly with an unconditional "Yes" or "No". If Modules were properly balanced, the correct answer would be "It depends (on your play style, on your tactics, on what star types you play most, on what other modules you can upgrade at that stage, etc)". The longevity and sustainability of Hades' Star depends on *all* modules being desirable by all players, and this is why we're putting a lot of effort in this area.

The wasted opportunity to make Hades' Star a game about creating interesting Module Loadouts is another symptom of this problem. The current live version of Hades' Star has found success *despite* its failure to offer compelling gameplay and interesting choices in module loadouts. Every Red Star level, especially high levels, has at most 3-4 viable loadouts (and even those are not really unique as they share many modules). The vast majority of players only uses those modules, because they are simply better than the alternatives. This makes for extremely boring and repetitive matches - both to play and to watch. 

The goal with the Dark Nebula update, and all updates after it, will be to introduce compelling gameplay and meaningful choices in module loadouts for all star types, in a careful way that does not interfere with the other elements of Hades' Star that make players come back daily. In practice, this means that regular Red Stars will still be quite repetitive and therefore accessible to players who do not like or want to bother with tactical choices and with giving too much thought to their loadouts. (For those players, an adjustment period where they learn the changes to their preferred modules will still be required). All other star types, including the new Dark Red Stars, will encourage and reward experimentation with different module loadouts. 


Problem 3. The early game Module experience is terrible 

The first hour, day and week in a player's experience in the game is obviously very important. Those timeframes are the game's opportunity to show a new player what lies ahead if they stick around for months and years. 

As far as Modules are concerned, Hades' Star does a very bad job of showing early players any potential. The tutorial encourages players to equip a new Weapon, which would be exciting if it wasn't the exact same weapon the Battleship already had, but with barely bigger numbers. It also asks them to equip a shield that becomes obsolete in exactly 3 days, basically telling players that this is a puzzle game where you have to somehow guess the useless Modules and avoid them. In early Red Star levels, a lot of new Modules become available, but most of them are completely useless at that stage (nobody needs Red Star Extender or Teleport in RS2). One of the early modules disables your own ship when activated (among other things), and that's actually one of the useful ones. For some reason, you are allowed to equip that module on your Miner. 

What a hugely wasted opportunity to show new players what the game can become, and encourage them to stay and find out. 


Module Tweaks during Early Access


A big focus of the ongoing Dark Nebula Early Access is to fix the above problems, and make Modules feel more powerful and rewarding. There are many changes already in the Early Access build. The thing to keep in mind is that these changes are not final - we are experimenting with a lot of new modules and not all of these new modules will make it into the game. The Module tweaks will take a lot of time, and will happen in parallel with major game modes also being redesigned and tweaked. 

Here are some changes we will be doing in Early Access that are more likely to make it into the final game: 

Time Warp deleted

As described above, the removal of Time Warp will allow us to properly re-design all game modes and have complete control of player experience. For example, ship speeds are greatly increased on many game modes for all players, without the need to have a separate module installed. 

Our goal with deleted modules such as Time Warp will be to have a replacement Module in similar category/functionality, so that player progress in the old module can be directly transferred to the new one. 


Sanctuary deleted

The Dark Nebula update will remove Sanctuary completely, without replacing it with any other module, since the cost to unlock and equip it was minimal, and its functionality is largely replaced with other gameplay features (i.e. ships jump away before being destroyed in most star types, not counting Supernovas). 

Support Modules Renamed to Combat, can only be equipped on Battleships

The Support Module slot is being removed from Miners and Transports. Those ship types will only be able to equip modules specifically designed for them. Support Modules will be renamed to Combat, and can only be installed on Battleships.

Many of the Support Modules didn't make sense to ever be on a Transport or Miner anyway. This is a serious problem. The game is tricking players into wasting mental and actual resources to see i.e. if Fortify could ever make sense on a Miner for tricking Cerberus ships, when in fact such a scenario was never properly designed, tested or balanced. This change instantly fixes this, and clearly communicates to players what Modules are truly useful for creating loadouts for each particular ship.

Players relied on the Support slot on Miners/Transports for very specific modules. Some of them (like Time Warp/Sanctuary) are no longer applicable in Dark Nebula. Other previously useful support Modules such as Teleport, Stealth, Rockets/Drones etc. are either not needed (because the environment in which they are operating is changing), not suitable (because certain combat modules will only be balanced for Battleship use), or will be replaced with similar functionality Transport/Miner-specific modules. This will allow us to better control the experience in all star types, and properly balance desirable loadouts per ship type. 

Many modules will be changing the Red Star level they are awarded at

This is to ensure a consistent module experience, especially in the early Red Star levels. Every Module should be exciting to unlock and provide some value in at least one game mode immediately, even at level 1.


New modules being added 

We will be experimenting with a lot of new Modules in Dark Nebula, some of which will make it into the final version. The high level goals for these Modules are the following: 

- To better support diverse loadouts and interesting gameplay in all star types. Especially for PvP modes, having more Weapon/Shield/Combat loadout options would make those star types far more exciting to play. We want to make Modules that are fun both to play with, and against other players (i.e. powerful Modules that also have powerful counters). 

- To provide a more exciting progression through all the available Red Star levels. We want to avoid the current situation where certain Red Star levels unlock mostly useless modules, or even no modules at all. Reaching a new Red Star level should always be an exciting time, and the new Modules at that level should be a big part of this. 

- To support the evolving economy, including Hydrogen (there will be a lot of experimentation with Yellow and Red star mining modules) and Credits (base shipment payouts and different shipment bonus modules will be re-evaluated, with potential for new modules as well). 


Providing Module Feedback

The simplest and most useful feedback you can give while playing Dark Nebula, for any available module, is this: Would you want to upgrade this Module to the maximum level? If not, why? 

After you identify that module, the best thing to do is move on and test the next module, assuming you want to give the best feedback possible. The vast majority of players are stuck in the "single loadout" mindset and never change modules or really test anything. Extremely valuable modules such as Alpha Shield were never touched in the first week of Early Access, until the values came up artificially to force people to notice the module. Increasing the values to unreasonable levels to force people to test a module is one way to get the module noticed and tested, but it's also very time consuming and will invalidate a lot of the testing when values come back to reasonable values. So if you can, try to take initiative in testing modules nobody else is testing. It will help the update and is your best chance to personally affect the update. 


Comments

  1. Mining in rs11s under TW12 was exciting and fun, dodging the ghost swarms. DN made mining as tedious as manual shipments and it killed the testing phase for me.

    According to your blog, none of this should really matter since active mining is RS will be a thing of the past and ship movement (module cooldowns too?) will be adjusted following the removal of TW.

    The game severely drops the ball in many areas you highlight, which I by-pass by relaying shipments 24/7 and not touching white stars at all anymore. However, it's also fun to play in other aspects - such as Sanctuary-less RS or BLS. The overhaul looks promising, but my concern is will the game still be fun to actually play. Early on it seemed like you played your own game, is this still the case?

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  2. What u think funny for player is no other than annoying, frustrating and irritating right now.
    We see fun at clearing stars with ease and a little risk(such as operation mistakes), not with only risk and time consuming, which is so much frustrating.
    You are deleting nice module as it is breaking the game, but it is no differ from destroying our happy gameplay.
    We don't understand how did u come up with an idea that delete strong module, while don't strengthen unused module.

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  3. why not just disable/change this module in bls and ws where it breaks a gameplay and leave it in rs as it is?

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    1. (it's about time warp)

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    2. 100% agree. How the fuck do i reset modules in red star? It is the only way to survive in rs10. After a battle reset modules. Help my miners get to and from planets and reset their tp. Now i can’t jump to help other guys or we all work together to clear a planet because i can’t put tp or miners and transports. These are the dumbest changes ever. You have single handle killed this game. Congrats andreas

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    3. Mining = Boring
      Timewarp speeds it up.

      Dont kill the timewarp on miners.

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  4. This post is detailed, specific and thoughtful. The comments section so far has shown exactly the mindset described by Andreas, which is that modules could never be removed or changed to make things better.

    Hades has survived for years because it was well built, innovative, and accessible to obsessive and casual players alike. It is not pay to win, PvP is optional, and the endgame is incredibly engaging.

    With the view that Hades (in the form of Dark Nebula) will be supported for many years more rather than being abandoned, these changes sound exciting. Thank you for sharing your thoughts Andreas, looking forward to the next post.

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  5. I agree that some modules where too powerfull and altered gameplay balance. However, in current Dark Nebula, I find most modules not usefull AT ALL. A this point, I'm playing RS without using them, as they have little or no usefull effect. In fact I find DN much less fun than the old version, despite it's flaws

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    1. I tend to agree with you Dark Nebula currently has a lot of flaws that need to be fixed before we're all forced to convert our main accounts.
      As it stands at the moment the Dark Nebula update punishes players for progressing which is one way to get rid of long term players.
      And the early game is too slow paced. Nothing to do for hours. I'm not sure who the dev is trying to aim this updated version at because currently I cannot see it landing with anyone.
      It's now neither captivating or engaging. Usng modules offers no real benefit and it's apparent that red stars are an annoyance at over red star 5.
      I just cannot see where the fun has gone.
      Was Hades Star perfect... No. Does it need changing... Yes.
      But the current changes are not working either and have made the overall game play and enjoyment take a massive dive.

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  6. Regarding the removal of Timewarp. I have no issue with the module being removed, but removing it won't stop people having to set alarms. The main reason I have to set alarms or wake up in the middle of the night is to jump a ship back in because my refresh ends at 4am.

    It would be great if there was a way to handle refreshes in time machine, but that would be a huge amount of extra work. I did think of one way that a lot of the problems could be addressed with minimal changes:

    Allow players to jump their ship into the white star before cooldown ends, however the ship doesn't appear in the game until the cooldown has finished (in the team time machine it would appear like a ghost ship for a jumped out ship presently does in time machine)

    Once cooldown ends, the ship would unghost and you can assign orders.

    That way, you can jump your ship in before you go to bed, then set orders at 4am for when it is allowed back in the game (and would appear to jump in at that moment to the enemy)

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    1. I agree and like this idea. Jumping ships in has become the most fixed-time task in white stars that requires alarm setting.

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    2. Also why is the 2 hour timer set when you jump a ship in, not when you jump a ship out? It's your choice to jump a ship out of the ws, not one to jump it in, surely that change would stop some ridiculous leap plays, as there is no refresh to them, as it has already burnt off... It means they get a new ship with no penalty....

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  7. leave the sanctuary, as for me , I didn 't like the new update of the game , I don 't need to control the player , there are a lot of modules that you remove or shorten the ones you need in the game

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  8. Agree with TW, it causes more problems than it solves. Bit baffled by the objection to sanctuary though. For me, you don't equip it in BS or WS due to the cost of losing an essential combat slot, but it takes all the stress out of doing red stars on a daily basis; I do just make a stupid misclick occasionally, or lose connection at critical moments, and sanctuary means that doesn't destroy my economy. The safety Sanctuary provides also encourages you to try your luck with other modules and strategies, and see how far you can push yourself, which surely is a good thing?

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    1. Have you played DN with the removal of Santuary? It works well IMO.

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    2. Sanctuary is removed because it's effects are now built into all ships with the exception of ws and the new dark red star.

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  9. hey devs, please fix screen flickering when we bring the camera closer, it disturbs my gaming experience

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  10. I think it would be interesting to (in complementing the support module change) a change to the sheild slot or something of the ilk that would allow for 2 weapons to be equipped on a ship, but with no sheild, would be interesting to see a ship with mass batt and laser together as a bit of a glass cannon/flagship that the player or team with the right modules equipped could defend to dish out a lot of damage. Maybe almost something like a COD style attachment system for bs would be an interesting way to go. Primary module is laser, secondary could be a sheild or another weapon, and other modules could be like equipment? As a thought?

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  11. I agree with your sentiments and desire to change the game core mechanics to make it better, but I am worried about your statement:
    "...will invalidate a lot of the testing when values come back to reasonable values"
    Sorry, but a lvl 6 Alpha lasts 20 sec with a 4 min cooldown - currently. I might think about it in BLS, but not a RS7. I do not have enough healing from Salvage or Repair to last long enough against general attacks to use it in those RS with current stats, let alone if you 'adjust' it down to what you think it should be. People do not use it because it does not provide enough general use against the alternatives (Omega plus Blast). Yes, it may have a nich for 20s in RS's in certain scenarios - but not enough for me to consider it generally instead of Omega (or Blast). Now that we have 10 min with no pre-assessment time, I am going to equip what I know will generally work.
    I am fine to test it if I think it will help me, but not those numbers in RS7. Cooldown of 2 min with 25 sec use, now I wiould consider it. This applies to test environment as well as general release. You may have to start with values even better - 90 sec cooldown and 15-20 sec use. But if you then drop them back to 4 min and 10 sec - it will not be used by the general public on release (or by us in test). We equip something, test, and then never go back to it because it didn't work 'generally enough', or I cannot see the next level making me think, 'yes, I would try that again at that level'.
    Boost it to the point where it gets used, not the reverse (until it stops getting used). As a test environment you will naturally go a little over so may have to dial it back slightly, but those should be in very small increments.
    Tell us the values you are thinking (choose 1 mod to debate in Discord chat), let the community tell you what they think it should be, then shave some off that and try it.Maybe a sub chat for each section, then mods of that section.

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  12. Please fix "joining an Red Star". I did join twice now, and my gate was full of cerbs the 1st time, and the 2nd time my gate was on a planet....?

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  13. And i could not jump back. I lost 2 bs. I dont know why the 3rd bs came back. I had them all parked at the planet where my gate was too.
    This is crab guys

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  14. Make a right update,

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  15. Hi there!
    What's the goal of having hydrogen asteroids in the rich asteroid sector, when you can't bring the hydrogen you mined for back to your ys? I mined 500+ hydro after getting my rich asteroid, moved my miner ship back to the jump gate and back to my yes and... 0 hydro onboard 🥴
    Also, I noticed a Red Star now lasts 10 minutes, compared to the 15 minutes we got used to. Is this something you intended for?
    Thanks anyway for your efforts 🙂

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    1. It's intentional, hydrogen in red stars is designed for ONLY mining module use- Many mining modules for use in RS now consume hydrogen to do so- e.g. using hydrogen to make artifacts more valuable, or RSE. This incentivises the usage of mining modules in RS as it's 'use it or lose it'. You can't bring back hydrogen from RS, so you aren't 'losing' hydrogen by adding +20% to an artifact instead of using it for shipments.

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  16. *yes = ys 👆

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  17. Just because you see interesting all this confusing stuff doesn't mean the others do. Bring back the old mechanics, don't be stubborn. It's a great game with a great community just to be destroyed and abandoned like that

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  18. There's an issue with the hydrogen of the Red Stars, it dissappear when the miners return to the Prime System

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  19. You broke rs gameplay

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  20. What about resources (time, credits) spent on upgrades which are no longer available?
    Having an option to spend these resources to make a normal progress in an new game looks very fair to me.

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  21. Make alpha shield more longer on ys/rs

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  22. why don't you leave Time Warp there, but remove it for Bls/Ws because, I don't think your idea is good to get rid of Time Warp

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  23. Appreciate the experimentation. So far, 10 minutes does not seem like enough for RS. I jump all my ships in immediately to save time (at least BS), but then see that all the juicy planets are 4 hexes away or the croid won't be accessible, so I abandon it and the H is wasted. Also too few hexes have mineable asteroids, which take so long to clear for a meager artifact boost. Then maybe I lose the opportunity to clear a planet. Already not worth it before factoring in 100H to bring a miner.

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  24. I'd love to be able to queue planet/module upgrades. People will always want to maximize, and it's harmful when a game pressures people into waking up at odd hours to click a button. Or if it pulls people from real life even momentarily to avoid the feeling of falling behind. It is partly silly, but also psychologically very difficult to resist. I want to be able to pre-pay credits and not have to worry about timers while I'm not playing. Also many of us just don't have flexible enough schedules to be clicking buttons at exact times, and so we are penalized by slower progress.

    Final thought, module upgrades take too long for an early access game. Hard to give feedback when my module upgrade backlog is months.

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  25. Come on man, I can't protect my own transports because of those interceptors. Were they really necessary? Stop destroying your game

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  26. Are you fucking serious?

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  27. Ok, I've been supportive so far, but the new interceptors are bullshit, and they're so obviously bullshit that I cannot fathom how this change got pushed to production even in an early access build. Impossible to farm RS5+ at all. That's not even one of the problems you're trying to fix?

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  28. You basically told us about OUR game not YOUR game Papa that you're going to change the whole freaking thing. And that the only opinions about our game you're going to listen to are ones that pertain to modules and upgrades.give is a break I have personally invested nearly 3 years into Hades Star. Please don't throw away all the time this game has taken out of my life and the sacrifices of time especially in WS...like setting alarms. This game has seriously affected my life and I see HS community on discord as a sourt of second family. We ARE Hades Star. All of us have given you huge amounts of time out of our lives. Don't throw that away by making HS basically obsolete. And wtf. You tell us to basically shut up and deal with it?!?! Not cool Andreas.

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  29. Why not just let us keep our favorite toys, get rid of the ones we don't play with, and give us even bigger and better toys twice a year. You'd be like a parent in a way Papa. Birthdays an Christmas newer bigger badder toys.

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  30. Solve your game, Andreas. It's fucking frustrating

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  31. I've played Hades Star for about 3 months and progression has been good for me. There has always been something to do when I log in so I'm happy my account will transfer.
    So I thought I'd try Dark Nebula to see what to expect.
    In my first few days I've actually been bored!
    I fear this will put new players off.
    The problem I've encountered is although Battleships no longer use hydro Transports definitely do as do jump gates to red stars.
    The issue I encountered is that hydro production is so low that I'm forced to choose between delivering a few goods or doing a red star occassionally.
    Early Artifacts are not rewarding hydro so I'm spending literally 8 or more hours waiting for hydro to spawn so I can move my transports.
    This won't be an issue mid game as a lot more sectors are opened and so hydro production increases.
    Yet early game it's definitely boring waiting hours to do not much.
    I'll keep playing because I know it's worth getting through. But those not in the know will drop out pretty quickly.

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  32. Extra feed back with potential solution and monitisation options.
    I realise the hydro limits have been put in place to make players learn to balance hydro between tasks.
    As a casual player of the game though all it's done is force me to give up on transporting shipments from my planets and only use hydro to do red stars. Because at least red star arts give arts and mods. Although most mods I won't unlock as there's no benefit to many of the mods with such short timers.
    My experience so far in your early game is that I won't be able to do everything without spending a fortune in crystals, and I've already spent a heap in the main game to advance quicker.
    This knowing I'll be forced to spend rather than choose to spend in order to complete transporting of goods from planets and do red stars and to be able to play more than 20 minutes per day is most likely what will have me quit playing.
    If your aim is to have a game that gives 10-20 minutes of play time per day then great job.
    If your aim is to have a game that's exciting, engaging and gives players a feeling of achievement because they're completing everything then it needs more work.
    How to fix this?
    Possibly consider using hydro as purely for mod activation AND for jumping ships into Red Stars yet not for transport, battleship or miner movement.
    You could then alter mod activation costs and jump gate to meet your goals, while allowing players the ability to deliver all their goods AND enter 1-3 red stars per day.
    This would take engagement time in your game from 10 to 20 minutes per day to up to an hour or so.
    Players who engage are then more likely not to quit the game and are also more likely to spend real money to advance a bit faster.
    In your shop you could also Sell "Red Star Keys" (Which would open a red star at no hydro cost but would be limited to 1 or two purchases per day)
    And/or you could sell "Gate Keys" (Which would allow players to jump X ships to the current Red Star at no hydrogen cost but would be limited to one Gate key per red star)
    Small money transactions to increase play time a little per day yet for engaged players something worth considering.
    This could be expanded to purchase a premium subscription for $5AU per month a player gets 1 free red star activation per day and the X number of ships warped through the jump gate of all red stars during the month is also free.
    The X might be 1 ship or up to 5 ships.

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    Replies
    1. Main game:
      In game name: AriaSage
      Alliance: Hexacropians

      Dark Nebula:
      In game name: AriaSage 2
      Alliance: Aussie Fringe

      Delete
  33. There is now not enough H for both daily shipments and daily red stars.

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  34. why after the game update it always disconnects and says fatal sync error the game needs to restart

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  35. DN become unplayable after 26 october update please fix it

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  36. fix your game, instead of getting better it's getting worse because there are still so many bugs that you haven't fixed and you're causing problems in Red Stars now where ints can patrol? That is wrong, what's wrong with you?

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  37. So some feedback: if you get rid of sanctuary every player will then be forced to use stealth and blast shields and teleport or barrier / emp just to get back safe. Why not make it a free feature until level you decide. If timewarp goes so does suspend but just make suspend cheaper.

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    Replies
    1. Idiotic comments like this bury good feedback. There's no permadeath. Sanctuary would do nothing except in DRS where the risk is the point and the benefit is non-existent.

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  38. We NEED more H & more blueprints!!! You cut it waaasy too far back even for what youre planning 8 can't do shipments and red stars with the amount given even winning two blue stars a day and with the dumb sun sucker thing. Not ENOUGH BLUEPRINTS OR HYDROGEN.....!!!

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  39. Been playing for about 3 years, and to be honest the stronger I get the more frustrating I find the game. Matchmaking routinely puts me up against people with maxxed builds where I can't compete with my 6.5 mill credit limit. There's no fun in trying to beat all the bondage boys. Tp modules don't work in blue stars because there just isn't time to react, even without tw. In white stars, one maxxed player on the opposition runs amok because the average player can't equip enough modules to stop or even mitigate them. Without counter play, there's just no fun in playing.

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  40. So with all these updates and changes it feels like more interaction between modules should be built in really. For example there are not many mods that counter bond, I think the only 2 I can think of are tp and bond itself, possibly destiny as well, not really tried this. With the new update why not try doing thing like the new fortify with its stop mechanic stop bond attempts that are in action or outright for the duration of fortify. While under the influence of a friendly barrier, you couldn't be bonded, but the ship that is using barrier is susceptible to the effects of it. I think, whilst mentioning fortify, the stop mechanic should be for say 1/3 of its duration, not the whole time it's active, this would give chance for players to counter it but also not leave the fortify player stranded for the duration of the module, which in a Ws is a reasonable duration of the time, could also build this into bond that it can't be bonded for the first 1/3 of the time then afterwards could be bonded.
    It could be a cool idea to have EMP ships, if in motion, drift along its continued path until reactivation, we're in space, no friction XD. Also this could disable all mods for all ships in range for the duration as well, it is an EMP afterall? Something like fortify could reduce the effects duration, the more ships EMPd, then the less time everyone is disabled for? could leave the activating ship disabled longer to allow for counter play, do you really want to disable everyone in range if you're going to be a sitting duck for 1.5-2x the time? Would be a counter to Tp, impulse and bond as well, stopping these modules effects taking place.
    I personally don't mind the minor nerf to barrier with drones being let in as this, again, allows for counter play again a barrier ship without outright neutering its effectiveness
    Would be interesting to see supress being made into almost an AOE mod with the time supressed being split between the ships in range of the module, say 50AU, would make close fights in a 2v1 situation perhaps a bit more interesting or even an escapable situation for the player using it rather than sometimes an outright loss, I don't see this being a welcome change though but would be interesting. Would also be interesting to see, if again, it was a single target, reduce the cooldown for the reactivation on ships it was used on, but supresses mods as well?
    Time warp removal is a bit of a loss, not going to lie, if it was implemented in a better way it would be able to work, like having a hard 1 or 2 day cooldown in ws, whatever the level of the mod, would again add counter play. The amount of time that Tw12 is just a dunk mod in ws is stupid.
    There is great scope for counters being made available, and this would increase the diversity of module that are viable, if this is truly the goal of this DN update rather than just the select few being the meta and never really changing. If the goal of DN is to make all modules be fun/used/effective, then counter play NEEDS to be built in to ALL mods otherwise you're going to end up with the same situation with DN as you seemingly think that there is with HS at the moment. Granted some of the suggestions I have made would make certain mods OP and I accept that some are not going to be viable or looked at and I haven't made suggestions for all mods available, it would be a long post if I did, most of my suggestions being for Ws rather than looking at RS and blues as well, although some of the Ws suggestions would easily carry over to Blues, but if that is truly the aim to make HS into the next 5 years than this needs to be done.

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  41. I find the challenge to get to BS6/RS10 impossible to achieve at normal play rates - the number of planet upgrades required with exponentially increasing costs has meant I see no value in playing rs or doing shipments as the goal seems impossibly far away. I was a very active player and got to RS9 in 9 months. I have since remained there and don’t bother playing anything but ws because it doesn’t make sense to invest literally thousands of hours to reach the next level.

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  42. Sanctuary is important. Not all of us have brilliant connections or can devote a solid 15 min block reliably. Sanc means when I lose connection at a critical moment or have to drop the rs for real life, I don't lose more than hydro. Plus it encourages experimentation in rs.

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  43. but why a tactic good stealth that a bs could have, now moved to a ts?

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  44. Bond is anti-play. Get rid of it.

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  45. I'm a little worried reading some of the comments that hydro has been stripped so far back that those who want to sink some time into the game simply cannot. Pls don't be too aggressive there.

    I'm concerned that a RS is already quite a frantic rush. The combination of reducing it down to 10m, and removing RSE, and then also not allowing support mods on Transports and Miners will make it unplayable. If I cannot put Teleport onto Transports and Miners then the BS's have to clear a path through but in a 15m game those BS's are mega busy trying to clear the planet sectors. I say this having not played DN yet, but removing the ability to put a support module on TS/Miners is really concerning. Evasive mods to recover from mistakes or to handle time shortage (already present in a 15m RS) are very much a value add in the gane.

    I also personally loved that I can join my teammates and do lots of RS together - but that sounds like it simply won't be possible any more due to resource limitations. I think players should be able to play back to back RS's if this is how they enjoy spending time with their friends/teammates. I cannot think how it would be a good thing for the game to take this aspect away?

    Also wrt support modules... being able to put supress (just an example) on a miner in a WS, or teleport it offers more freedom to move your BS's and to go attack - they give you options. If your squishes have no option of a single defence mechanism then they require more BS resources to be further tied up to keep them safe... it feels like this would hinder strategy and gameplay.

    Those are my concerns. What I would say though is that burnout in Hades is a real time. The need to set alarms for numerous things is bad and I love that you're trying to combat that. I love the queueing tech idea, and I love the idea of being able to schedule a jump/move in WS prematurely so that you don't need a 4am alarm because your can jump back in at that time. WS's can be too stressful and I agree and for one am happy you're trying to improve peoples game/life balance. What I would love though is to not feel like I can only play DN/HS for 20m a day... I like to spend my evening sometimes playing and if I cannot do so then I'll find a game which lets me.

    In short. Pls retain some support mod options for TS/Miners. Please don't make RS impossible, and pls don't make it so I cannot burn a whole night enjoying them is I so wished. Pls do address the WS burnout and need to set 4am alarms in order to stay on top of the game. Pls do make mining and shipments less onerous.

    Thank you for your efforts Andreas.

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  46. I'm fine with removing sanctuary, as long as you make replacing destroyed ships cheaper, as currently, a new battleship can cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of credits.

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  47. Thanks for ruining the game. Will stop playing HS after the update.

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  48. Good i did not invest more than 5€ into this game, its gonna die soon

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  49. There are people who like to play the game for fun, not beyond that. Taking away Sanctuary will make the game Hydro expensive (for those of us who leave their battleship to die in RS) and will not allow for a player to enjoy the RS combat of clearing a path to profitable planets. Also, Sanctuary in a Blue Star allows players to enjoy the learning experience of a Blue Star without the risk. If I want to take a risk with BLUE STARS, I will just go near a cop...

    RS Extender is limited to CLEARING the RS system. Not hours. After all, there is ONLY so much to destroy or collect. What do you do beyond that? It is a poor concept to "limit" players in RS, when there is already a limit...enemy and items.

    I play for fun and on a limited time. I do buy your week long crystal package almost eveyr week. You will kill the relaxing nature of the game for me and I will simply delete it. Good luck with your changes, I hope you remember who your core audience is...mainly casual players.

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  50. Why remove RSE? Just lock RS that it cannot last more than 20min, after 20min mark RSE cannot be fired, i dont see reason to remove many modules or make huge changes to them, Enrich was not used too make "infinite amounts of H" by everybody, and you could just lock amount... Really strange changes.

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