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Under review

HELP needs to give clues about what to do next

Stoutman 7 years ago updated by Tyler Owen (Lead Developer) 7 years ago 12

I've run out of oxygen twice now while trying to get the systems online. I restore the power and things are on inside, then they are off for no reason, with no way to repair? Not sure what needs to be done. Need to add directions or clues of some type. I don't think you want this streamed with how it is right now.

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Under review

I appreciate the feedback. There are many different ways to find out what components are failing. If I had to guess however, I think you may have repaired the Electrical module, but not properly repaired some of the other modules. This would cause the other modules to drain reserve battery from the Electrical module and eventually you will run out of power.


To prevent this the most high-level check would be to access the Habitat Status screen by clicking on one of the consoles in the airlock. This should tell you which of the four exterior modules is offline and how much oxygen, water, and battery charge you have stored up. Once you determine which of the modules is offline you can approach it and select the Run Diagnostics option from its console. This will tell you which of the components needs to be replaced or repaired. You can also download user manuals from the exterior module consoles which can tell you what components are necessary to run each modules and how you might want to optimize them. Part of the game is to try and put you in the shoes (or boots) of a real astronaut so that you can try to problem solve and figure out where the fault is with any of your equipment. I want to avoid just telling the player what to do next because then there wouldn't be much of a challenge to it. All the information you need to repair your equipment is there. I can add in more tutorial elements that teach you how to access that information though.

Thanks for the quick reply. Oxygen should be refilled when I go inside so we can have time to figure things out. Osiris comes to mind for an example of this working well. Also, as an astronaut, I would of had training on all of this. But I understand your wanting the game to be harder. Perhaps the option to get help when stuck? Not everyone enjoys fumbling around for hours trying to figure things out. Especially when the game is killing you and making you start over.


Why did power go from almost full to nothing? Was there some system failure to explain this? It was not obvious.


If you want to make the game hard to 'figure out' then ok, at least let us refill oxygen so we have time!


Your suggestion of adding more tutorial elements to help steer us in the right direction sounds good!

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If you ran out of oxygen when you were inside the habitat that means you must not have had the reoxygenator turned on or repaired. If it was operational then you would have automatically removed your EVA suit when you entered the hab and would not have needed to worry about oxygen at all while inside. For the first habitat you find, this should just be a simple matter of flipping the power switch near the reoxygenator. Sometimes there may be a fuse or other component that is broken however, but if that's the case there will always be a replacement component already in your inventory.


I really do appreciate the feedback. I will definitely be revisiting the difficulty based on how people feel about it.

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If the power went from almost full to nothing that might be another issue I need to investigate however. There will be an update in the next 24 hours that will allow you to select how much power and oxygen you want to withdraw when you leave on an EVA. Right now it automatically tries to fill you up to 100%, which may have been why your power dropped. If you left it may have automatically transferred the power to your suit.

I can get the lights on inside, did it the first 2 games. Just died on the third try while out repairing stuff. No visual or audio warnings about low on oxygen or power. Again, not enough time to figure out which parts need to be repaired or replaced. I was making progress, repairing all the slots takes a long time!


Having more time is a must. If I was streaming and talking to people then I would never be able to get this done. LOL


The oxygen runs out too fast. I would say increase the length it lasts at least three times, if not four. I have had it refill when going inside so that works, when the power is on and that system is operational. I have gotten this to work, but then everything turned off and I ran out of oxygen before I could figure out what needed to be fixed. Perhaps adding a difficulty setting would help. You could still have a super hard game, but allow it to be playable by more casual players who just want to play the game without having to stress about having to do things super quickly.


How about adding several of each part as spares inside the habitat? I found one part, but more would be better it seems.

Totally fair points. I think something else may have been at play here though because there absolutely should have been warnings for low oxygen or battery if you were out on an EVA. So I'm not really sure what might have happened. I'm definitely looking to balance and change difficulty so I will continue gathering feedback and think of how I might apply your suggestions. Thanks again.

Hmmmm.  Probably should have the hab be able to store more than 1 suits worth of energy... Especially since it is a had designed for 4. 

I have added a screen to choose how much power and oxygen you want to withdraw before leaving on an EVA. It should be available in 0.55 soon. Also, a full suit battery now only requires 50% from the reserve battery.

I see the power and O2 bars at the bottom of the screen, perhaps have them turn red when they are getting low. Or fad to red, something like that. They should give enough warning time to get to the hab to power back up. The hab should still refill these when it is turned off. Emergency supply or something like that. An additional warning light with a beep or other sound would be helpful. Think of the low fuel warning light in a car.


Also, there seems to be stamina in the game, as I slow down on speed after a while when I am holding shift down. Some type of stamina bar should be added so we can know where we stand with it.


I may stream this tomorrow night, I believe that is when the cone of silence lifts.

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There are blinking red warnings for both oxygen and battery if either falls below 25%. There are also blinking red health warnings when your overall vital signs drop to dangerous levels.


I've been considering the addition of some kind of Stamina indicator, but it's the hardest one to do in a way that stays "in-fiction". I'll definitely keep thinking about how I could do that in a tasteful way.

Under review

I've also changed the category of this to Bug so hopefully we can get more people reporting the issue of the power going out for unknown reasons. I've experienced one instance where it seemed like the power went out, but it was actually just an improper loading of the lightmaps for the hab interior. If this is what you are experiencing then you will notice that the doors inside the hab seem fully lit, but everything else looks quite dark. If everything is dark, including the doors, then the power has actually gone out and it is likely due to an electrical failure. These failures should be easier to understand with an update to the Habitat Status screen that is available in 0.55 soon.

What I recall happening was I got the inside lights up, terminals working etc. Then it all went dark and the stuff didn't work anymore. I did not test the airlock panels so I dunno if they were working or not.