Bethesda's Starfield

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 3:05 pm

Just spent an hour on what looked to be a pretty trivia Misc mission in Cydonia (which every time I see it I start singing the national anthem for Freedonia from "Duck Soup"

) but ended up taking me to the Deimos Shipyard, which is yet another awesome place to fly around. Inside it isn't that big but I did find some things to do and also I spent some time playing around with modifying my ship. Heavens there are a lot of options! I have plenty of credits but I'm not sure which things I need to get so I'm going to hold on to them for now.

Kurth · Post by **Kurth** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 6:07 pm

Thanks for the surveying help. That did the trick!

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 7:04 pm

Ran into a possible early mission bug.
It's for the brownout mission on new atlantis. Probably the 1st mission I received when landing.

Spoiler:

I still haven't finished the above because again due to lack of maps, got turned around and accidentally entered that building with the museum in the basement. I started going through the history but had to stop because my frustration was through the roof at this point.
I do realize that most of my issue is due to my current limitations but it's frustrating anyway. Even more so because it used to take a LOT for me to get frustrated and lose my patience, especially with a game.

On a related note, thank god I at least found a way to only show me waypoints for active missions. Multiple waypoints were SUPER confusing. Again no map makes it a lot worse.

I really don't know what they were thinking with no map. IIRC the other games they made all had decent maps. This is in the future where people should have portable hi tech maps.
Also I really don't like that their floor guides only seem to work with the scanner put so you also can't use anything AND they won't even stay on! They keep disappering so it's not helping.
I'm gonna keep plugging away but the game isn't helping me like it.
Not sure it's possible but hopefully someone makes a map mod and a mod to keep that guide on even without the scanner.
Sorry for the rant.

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 7:05 pm

For all those complaining about the lack of space flight, you actually can do it:

It just realistically takes a long time.

But there are limitations:

https://www.dexerto.com/starfield/starf ... o-2276939/

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 7:05 pm

Mods are out to make it look better and improve the UI. I like that UI one.

Yes this is MXR...the guy known for his sexy naughty mods love in games like Skyrim and such. There is one sorta at the end of the vid. So I warned ya. Otherwise a nice little list of starting mods.

Spoiler:

EDIT: Ya know what Im just gonna spoiler the video due to his thumbnail. Its pixelated but anyone walking by is going to wonder about it

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 8:09 pm

I'm somewhere in the middle(?) of a mission that has a bit of everything. I've done some mining, hacked into a computer when the user was at happy hour, killed a bunch of pirates, blew up a ship, blackmailed a high government official, etc. The mission still isn't over

. And this is just one of the miscellaneous missions

Eighteen hours in and I'm still doing missions other than the main ones. And I'm still having fun

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 9:22 pm

You shouldn't sleep on the story missions. Things get interesting if you do them until things get... more interesting. You also get new companions that open up even more stuff to do.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 9:36 pm

coopasonic wrote: Sun Sep 03, 2023 9:22 pm You shouldn't sleep on the story missions. Things get interesting if you do them until things get... more interesting. You also get new companions that open up even more stuff to do.

Huh, I was wondering about the sleep mechanic. I used it once to kill some time because the next objective was available only at a certain time and everything worked okay. But then I wasn't on a story mission.

I did set up an outpost marker to satisfy a mission objective, but doing any more seemed too much like the settlement mechanics in Fallout 4 and I wasn't interested.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 9:47 pm

Space Donairs!

Including a Halifax donair in the game has got to mean there are some Canadians on the dev team.

naednek · Post by **naednek** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 10:47 pm

I guess they build differently in Mars

Victoria Raverna · Post by **Victoria Raverna** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 10:53 pm

Anyone using Microsoft Store/gamepass version? Can you use the DLSS mod with it?

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 11:37 pm

Welcome to Neon!

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 11:58 pm

I spent the night exploring and surveying the wilds of Jemison, outside New Atlantis, because apparently everyone assumed that someone else had already taken care of it.

The downside of boarding and looting a grounded Ecliptic ship is that I now need to figure out how to unload a bunch of very pricey contraband. For now, I'm just storing it in my room at the Lodge.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Sun Sep 03, 2023 11:59 pm

Just under 20 hours per Steam and 17 hours per the save game info, meaning I've be in pause three hours total... seems a lot, but whatever. I have done very little save scumming and only once did I even go back a few minutes in time. Maybe I'm doing it more than I realize

Anyway, I just hit level ten, which means it's been a slow process to unlock skills. At this rate I'll never hit most of the trees. Unless I get skill points from other sources other than XP?

I only spent a few minutes in Neon to do one activity. I'm back on Mars doing some things here now. I have over 60K credits but don't know what to upgrade on the ship first

.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 12:25 am

Max Peck wrote: Sun Sep 03, 2023 9:47 pm Space Donairs!

Including a Halifax donair in the game has got to mean there are some Canadians on the dev team.

It's... a moose gyro?

naednek · Post by **naednek** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 12:51 am

just like with every RPG, I freaking hate the inventory system. I spend too much time unloading shit I should never pick up, and then eventually, I'll just stop caring.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 1:11 am

naednek wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 12:51 am just like with every RPG, I freaking hate the inventory system. I spend too much time unloading shit I should never pick up, and then eventually, I'll just stop caring.

Yeah, after a few hours I figured out that grabbing stuff for the intent of selling it was worthless as they don't bring in very much money compared to actually doing missions or looting credit card thingees

. If it's not worth at least three figures it's not worth the trouble. And as you say, like every RPG, I'm avoiding doing recipes until I really need to as collecting stuff is a pain when you are looking for something specific.

And in regards to that, I set up my first outpost which mines lead and puts it into a storage container. And I've figured out that lead is pretty much worthless as a cash item

. So now I have chunks of it sitting on the floor of my ship as I don't want to fill up the cargo hold with the stuff. Anyone know who might buy lead at a price of better than "1", which is what I'm being offered right now?

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 2:48 am

jztemple2 wrote: Sun Sep 03, 2023 11:59 pm Just under 20 hours per Steam and 17 hours per the save game info, meaning I've be in pause three hours total... seems a lot, but whatever. I have done very little save scumming and only once did I even go back a few minutes in time. Maybe I'm doing it more than I realize

Anyway, I just hit level ten, which means it's been a slow process to unlock skills. At this rate I'll never hit most of the trees. Unless I get skill points from other sources other than XP?

I only spent a few minutes in Neon to do one activity. I'm back on Mars doing some things here now. I have over 60K credits but don't know what to upgrade on the ship first .

Levels is the only way to get skill points beyond the three you get for your background from character creation, at least so far.

39.5 hours and level 30 here. I have bought zero ships, but I have five of them now. I also have 750k cash. I've done a couple super long faction quests. The payoffs are pretty good in both xp and loot terms. "Funny" thing is I don't use any of the legendaries I am getting. IT has been a bit of a disappointment. My best gun is a blue that I picked up like 10 levels ago. OF course I hardly need an upgrade for it as it wrecks pretty much everything.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 5:45 am

Blackhawk wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 12:25 am
Max Peck wrote: Sun Sep 03, 2023 9:47 pm Space Donairs!

Including a Halifax donair in the game has got to mean there are some Canadians on the dev team.
It's... a moose gyro?

The Delicious History of the Halifax Donair

tl;dr: The donair is a Canadian variant of the doner kebab, originating in Halifax ("Haligonian" is the demonym for Halifax).

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 8:51 am

A story - a guy tried to takeover a grounded pirate ship., but took off before he could get to pilot and kill him. Then the local defense forces came by and blew up the ship, since it was a pirate ship.

True BGS moment.

Kurth · Post by **Kurth** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 11:06 am

Completed the survey mission I had been given (thanks for the tips on surveying) last night. Then, decided to survey the rest of the planets in the system. I’m finding the surveying mechanic strangely satisfying now. It may well get old soon, but I’m really enjoying discovering the different planet traits. The only problem is, I keep getting sidetracked by checking out “unknown” structures. I’m assuming these are procedurally generated, but I’ll spoiler this anyway:

Spoiler:

I do think it’s odd that all these structures on these planets are called “Abandoned” or “Deserted” since every single one I’ve found has been crawling with bad guys. Seems a bit of a misnomer!

I’ll also echo the frustrations noted above about inventory management. I never really understand why Bethesda insists on allowing a player to pick up and take so much stuff and then saddles the player with such a limiting inventory mechanic. I’m not even a really pack rat, but it’s still frustrating. I think I’m just going to have to get it through my thick skull that it makes no sense to grab every weapon and helmet and space suit I see lying around. Just not worth it.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 11:36 am

To be fair, the companions (Sarah and Garrett for sure, and probably others) repeatedly tell me not to be such a pack rat.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 12:47 pm

Truth

I'm fighting the urge to just do whatever vs actually following the main quest line. I'm a little confused that an early quest in the main story had me

Spoiler:

But after a short conversation I needed to immediately then

Spoiler:

Do we not have the ability to communicate through space time? Feels kinda...dated to be traveling around to do something that could have been accomplished via SpaceZoom.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 12:51 pm

I've made it to the end game. I'm going to do a bit more side stuff before I jump all the way in, but pretty sure I know what it's all about now. No spoilers, but I like it.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 12:57 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 12:47 pm Truth

Every game ever. For decades.

I looked into that one awhile ago. It turns out that there are a couple of reasons. First is that if you're supposed to follow them and they go the same speed as you, it would become impossible to catch up after you stop and pick a space flower/kill a space goblin. If they're faster than you, you can't stay with them. So they have to be slower than you - but not slower than your walk speed or you'd constantly be ahead of them. The middle speed is the awkward compromise. The other reason is that if NPCs moved the same speed as the player, they'd all look like The Flash. Players generally move at a perpetual hard sprint, and having NPCs move at that speed would show how absurd it actually looks.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 2:02 pm

coopasonic wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 12:51 pm I've made it to the end game. I'm going to do a bit more side stuff before I jump all the way in, but pretty sure I know what it's all about now. No spoilers, but I like it.

Have you done much in the way of outposts, farming, etc?

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 2:03 pm

The obvious solution, which I've seen in other games such as LotRO, is to have 3 walking speeds: a slow stroll which matches the NPC walking speed; a brisk trot that is the normal PC walking speed; and a sprint that lets you run at full speed until your endurance gives out. I'm pretty sure that LotRO included the slow walking option to cater to roleplayers, but it may not be reasonable to put extra development resources into a niche feature like that just to make escort missions slightly less annoying in a single-player game.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 2:31 pm

Max Peck wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 2:03 pm The obvious solution, which I've seen in other games such as LotRO, is to have 3 walking speeds: a slow stroll which matches the NPC walking speed; a brisk trot that is the normal PC walking speed; and a sprint that lets you run at full speed until your endurance gives out. I'm pretty sure that LotRO included the slow walking option to cater to roleplayers, but it may not be reasonable to put extra development resources into a niche feature like that just to make escort missions slightly less annoying in a single-player game.

Until someone pointed this out, I didn't even consider this as any kind of an issue. To me it's still just a minor annoyance.

I have a contract with Deimos Shipyards to deliver 4000 chlorine, which is located in the area near the north pole of Mars. While on an excursion up there I did a chlorine vent, but now I can't find it again

. What's worse is that I don't know if I have the technology researched to even extract it if I do. While some folks might find this an issue with the game, I just think that like so many other things in the game I'll figure it out eventually

Update: Do I have to research a chlorine extractor? Hmm.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 2:52 pm

It's very much an edge case, since it only comes up when you're trying to walk with an NPC. It's something I can relate to, since I did just do a mission this morning where I needed to walk with someone and it was annoying to be starting and stopping to avoid getting too far ahead of them. Last night, when I was doing an actual bona fide escort mission out in the boonies, I just cut a bee line for the destination and killed anything that might attack my client, but I let them follow along at their own pace, so in that case the mismatched walking speed wasn't an issue.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 2:53 pm

Just hacked my first expert lock. Not too bad since I'm now at tier 2 of the skill.

Also had a real funny moment. I'm wandering around Mars and I come across a site which turns out to be labeled "Abandoned Hanger". There are some soldiers there with weapons, but they aren't highlighting in red when I aim at them from a distance. I figure they must be friendlies. I walk up to one and am a bit shocked to find he is a pirate! And then he says hello. Another one says it's a good thing I'm a pirate too or else they would have to kill me. Oh, that' right, I'm a pirate!

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 3:23 pm

jztemple2 wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 2:02 pm
coopasonic wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 12:51 pm I've made it to the end game. I'm going to do a bit more side stuff before I jump all the way in, but pretty sure I know what it's all about now. No spoilers, but I like it.
Have you done much in the way of outposts, farming, etc?

Outposts no. I created one for a story related purpose and have done basically nothing with it. Farming as in for materials? Way too many and hardly ever necessary and also a pain to store.

Pretty much all of my time has been dedicated to questing and fulfilling skill upgrade requirements.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 3:24 pm

jztemple2 wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 2:53 pm Just hacked my first expert lock. Not too bad since I'm now at tier 2 of the skill.

Master locks actually take some forethought. It's... interesting.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 3:50 pm

OK, finally set up a chlorine mining operation and added a transfer container so I could load it directed to the ship... except the ship has to be within a certain distance

. So I build a landing pad nearby and after all that I transferred... nine chlorine

. Extracting is really slow and I'm trying to get 2000 chlorine for a contract. Well, it's going to be a long contract to fulfill.

Now back to some fun stuff.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 4:39 pm

I'm on the moon (suck it Neil Armstrong!

). My question is, why are there wind turbines on the moon?

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 5:18 pm

jztemple2 wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 4:39 pm My question is, why are there wind turbines on the moon?

Fraternity prank.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 6:01 pm

I just commandeered a ship belonging to the Eclipes (or something like that). Anyway, they shot first! Now, I see through the interwebs that it is possible to sell the ship, but it has to be registered first. I guess I can just leave it on the moon and just take the keys with me.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 6:05 pm

jztemple2 wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 4:39 pm I'm on the moon (suck it Neil Armstrong! ). My question is, why are there wind turbines on the moon?

Do they spin? Maybe something similar to a radiometer, running off of IR radiation? That's one thing the moon has plenty of.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 7:14 pm

jztemple2 wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 4:39 pm I'm on the moon (suck it Neil Armstrong! ). My question is, why are there wind turbines on the moon?

The obvious answer is that since the original moon landing was faked they didn't know there was wind.
Good thing Bethesda did their deep research.

Tampa_Gamer · Post by **Tampa_Gamer** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 7:22 pm

Apparently, I have played 36 hours so far. My wife finally came into my home office this morning (after I was noticebly absent all weekend) and asked what new release has me staying up at all hours of the night with mountain dews

Still enjoying it despite the obvious flaws that others have mentioned-

I like the exploration, scanning/surveying and the fighting bits (absolutely hate the UI) - I have wasted so many grenades because "G" is "surface map" when you have a scanner up but "throw grenades" when you don't

and what is the point of having key binds if you are going to force the player to use the same ones for walking and flying the ship (W/S keys!!) hopefully the modding community can separate those.

I like the updated graphics/detail in objects and the much busier cities

I like the updated sounds and retro feel of the spacecraft - the first time I was exploring near a landing pad, I almost fell out of my chair when another ship came screaming in and landed (even with the atmospheric pop).

I really like the starship design results, its really cool to see your own design on the warp cut screens and walk around it (but I hate the UI - reminds me of building in vanilla Ark)

I dislike the usual 1/2 broken companions (glitching, standing in my way and acting as my own personal bullet sponge).

I really dislike the inventory system/transfer ui and cannot wait until we have a defUI equivalent mod. At least if I am overloaded, allow me to have my crew jump the ship the 2km over the hill to me so I don't have to literally crawl back to it.

I am still a helplessly afflicted packrat and have now gotten in the habit of dumping all of my stuff from my personal inventory when I leave the ship so that my cockpit/ship hab module literally looks like the Black family vault at Gringots.

For those of you having trouble looting, I found that using the scanner greatly speeds up the process by highlighting "most" of the lootable items. You still need to turn it off to actually open lockers/safes/containers (annoying).

Question - where are the "bonus" skills we get from magazines listed?

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 7:25 pm

I had my first zero-g gun battle with some spacer squatters in an abandoned orbital hotel/casino. That was fun.