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Topic: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

Hi, I am posting this understanding from the start that I'm new to the game and there's lots to learn.  No, I am not from Eve online.  My game experience is primarily DAOC and WOW, so this is a completely new thing for me.  I love Mech games though, played just about every one that's ever been released.  So I want this to succeed.  Here though are my impressions:

a) I understand skills are important but in the extensions game I feel a bit overwhelmed.  Some of the skill extensions demand secondary qualifications like "Tactics" or "Heavy Industry" but there's nowhere to train for those.  Frustrating, yet I know there's something I'm missing here so more to learn. :/

b) Missions.  Wow.  When I take a mining mission and go to the area bots have already cleared it out.  Titan ore that you have to get you can't mine anywhere else but at the target area, so those missions are worthless to do and you end up failing them.  Combat missions are problematic too because when you get to the area there are already people in much bigger bot's farming the NPC robots.  It takes forever to get lucky and get a hit in to claim a NPC because it takes so long for my target lock to cycle in and during those times someone else nails it.  I try to get target lock on several, but the people who have already been here in PO awhile have the skills already to lock whatever they want.  So, *sigh* combat missions are a pain.  So to with the scan ones for the same reasons.  NPC hunting is in season it appears.  The only missions that seem to give return are courier missions.

c) Mining.  In mining you travel hither and yon to try to find titan ore doing area searches.  Takes a long time to find a spot and there's no visual clues or terrain clues to indicate better places than others.   I mean, you see the plants.  But finding ore deposits are hit and miss.   And then the time sitting there watching the red beam is ... well.. boring.   Again, I figure that perhaps if I just keep plugging away I figure out some tricks to it but starting out, well, I hope I don't have to do this to get ahead. :D

d)  Manufacturing and the Market.   Well, I really wish they had a tutorial on this because I don't understand the steps of making things like ammo and the like.  I plan to explore this out more, but learning about it is hit and miss because at least in game there's no pattern to follow that I can find.   I hit the HELP chat a lot and listen to what others share.  I figure I'll ask the right questions eventually!

e) Making money.  Slllloooooooowwwww. :mad: It will be a very very long time till I get money enough to upgrade my robots.  Again, I figure that this is because I don't know the ropes yet and there has to be ways to actively get ahead that I'm currently unaware off.

Overall, I feel like I'm climbing a small mountain trying to learn how PO works but it has promise.  The frustrating aspects of the game are high and it's very unforgiving to new players but I'm still optimistic about it.   Time will tell if this will work for me, I do want to get into it.   I've been taking notes about my newbie experiences and perhaps will write something up for other newbies to profit from in the future.  Just my 2 NIC... ;)

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Re: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

Why on earth are you in an NPC corp?

Unlike almost every other MMO out there, sandbox MMOs are not designed to be played solo.

Oh sure you can do it. And if you've got the skills, the experience and the cash it could even be fun! Eve had plenty of solo players. But for the bog standard newbie with no idea what on earth is going on? You should be in a corp. NEX is a good starter corp, because NEX is huge and full of fellow newbies to help you get your feet on the ground. There are also older and richer corps that can help you move forward, but there you'll be more of a burden and less of a vital part of moving forward; after all, you're poor, inexperienced and without skills, it's inevitable you'll be consuming more than you produce to start.

Why is it no fun without other players to play with? In a sandbox, the developers only generate a basic framework with the bare minimum of environmental actions. The real joy and content is generated by interactions between players, either anonymously in markets or face to face in pvp or in the shared experience of taking down mobs too strong for either to handle alone. Then there's the hauling you'll never have when working alone, and the ability to chat with like minded fools who want to support your endeavor and have you support theirs, the politics of corps large and small, and the general joy of being part of something greater than your own person.


None of that comes from being in an NPC corp. You should be in a player corp if you want the full joyous experience of creating something new in a virgin world.

  • raeg
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Re: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

I'm new to the game too, but I am an Eve vet so many of the mechanics and memes are already familiar to me.  That helps a lot with preventing things from being too bewildering.  I've been playing less than a week now but here are some thoughts:-

a)  Skills, yes, there's lots of them, and too much to choose from.  This is part of the fun in my book.  Some skills require prerequisites, this is easy to determine if you click on the little "I" information button.  What you might be getting confused with is the primary and secondary attributes that determine how many EPs it takes to raise a skill by one level.  Remember when you created your account and you made all of those choices about which "school" you went to?  Those choices determined your characteristics.  Check you character page.

b)  Missions, they're pretty tedious.  They're not where a game like this will shine (which is in the player driven interactions and content).  One thing to understand though is that all of the game is PVP, whether you are competing for spawns, trying to buy raw materials to produce with, or out in "beta".  All of that having been said yes, those early missions are annoying, particularly if somebody is farming the spawns.  One piece of advice here, start the "triangle route" transport missions (each of the main hubs on each of the three alpha islands).  They're also boring, but they yield reasonable money, reasonable rep, and you're not having to compete with anybody.  They are also going to be nerfed soon so milk them whilst you can.

c)  Yep, mining is boring.  But there are people who love it.  It can be very profitable but it's not without risk (I had an officer overseer spawn on my head yesterday and instajib two mining bots).  The thing about mining is as much finding good spots to mine in, and getting your ore out safely, as it is about actually sucking the stuff out of the ground.  Don't forget to use the different types of charges and scanners appropriately, and don't forget to add waypoints to your map so you remember the spots.  It's not for everybody, but, truth be told, nothing on the market would be there without those who enjoy a bit of mining....

d)  Check the wiki, it explains the basics well.  Ignoring prototyping, essentially you take an item, reverse engineer it with a decoder to get a CT (the higher the level of the decoder the better ME or "Material Efficiency you get).  You then chuck the CT into a factory with the right materials and tell it to produce.  Sounds simple?  It is.  But it's also a lot more complex than that.  The more relevant skills you have the more efficient, quicker, cheaper etc you'll be.  If you go into industry in a big way you'll find yourself competing with other players just as much as you would if you were firing missiles at them.

e)  Yep, though there are some tips above.  Not losing bots (like I seem to have a habbit of doing) is one of the best ways of not losing money.  Truth be told though you don't need a great deal of money to start with.

tldr version, yep, there's a steep learning curve here, but once you get your head around things you'll find a lot of depth.  My hope is that it becomes as deep as Eve, if it does we have a very, very good game on our hands.  You're just dipping your toes in the water at the moment, my advice would be to keep dabbling, try out different things (carefully), and not get too impatient.

  • ASI-YU
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Re: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

For the targeting, buy and fit a syntec signal amp. It is an active mod, so you have to activate it (I had it fit for 2 days before realizing neutral )

Farm NPC spawns yourself, find drones in certain areas. Get used to targeting as soon as you hear it spawn. All you have to do is be the first to deal damage to it, and often times other players won't target a new bot until there current target is dead.

I felt the same frustrations as you, but about 12 hours of in game time, and now I'm just trying to save the NIC to get the better bots. I haven't even messed around with mining, as I'm hearing the deposits are depleted rather quickly. I do combat missions for standings, but mostly travel around the island hitting the spawns and selling the plasma.

Good luck o/

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Re: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

--Browsed forums
--Saw a post " A complete Newbies first week's experience."
--Clicked button to read post
--Saw player was still in starter corp
--Didnt read any further

I cant imagine the OP is very happy with game as he is missing out on the one of the largest aspects of the game. Teamwork.

I remember my first few days in game corp-less. I remember being excited about the prospects of the game but thinking it seemed empty. Then I made some friends. The game came alive and had meaning.

HhYyDdRrAa
tribal warriors

"There must be War . . . "
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Re: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

Phalanx wrote:

--Browsed forums
--Saw a post " A complete Newbies first week's experience."
--Clicked button to read post
--Saw player was still in starter corp
--Didnt read any further

I cant imagine the OP is very happy with game as he is missing out on the one of the largest aspects of the game. Teamwork.

I remember my first few days in game corp-less. I remember being excited about the prospects of the game but thinking it seemed empty. Then I made some friends. The game came alive and had meaning.

Look, I'm also in a noob corp, and I'm doing just fine. No need for lame wannabes to tell me how to play a game I pay for with my own money. So you're wrong my friend, dead wrong. And so is that other goon. If you guys wanna recruit, I believe we have a forum for that as well.

To the OP. Your main problem is your gaming background. PO is easy if you take the easy approach.

  • CIR
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Re: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

There is no denying that PO is not very new player friendly, your right learning can be a steep hill to climb.


The only real way to understand the game quickly is to have other players show you.

But its no RPG, its not polished like Wow or DAOC, the development team are small and dont have multi million dollar studio's so its a game in its very early stages.

Its not going to be a game for everyone, and thats the honest truth.

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Re: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

Brazero wrote:

*snip*

So you're wrong my friend, dead wrong. And so is that other goon. If you guys wanna recruit, I believe we have a forum for that as well.

Not sure how you could read that as recruitment attempt, he simply stated that he found the game to be more fun when joining up with others - when he was new. I think many of the players here can agree with that, I for one have had much more fun in the game after I joined a corp.

To me it seems like the OP would have much to gain by joining a corp. One of the best things I felt I could get from a corp when I started, was access to knowledge from experienced players. I could ask questions, and they answered and could also give good advice. This can take away alot of the frustration that new players can get, because Perpetuum is very different from many of the common MMOs.

It's no problem to do fine playing alone too, and if that is what you enjoy keep doing it. There is also no problem to quit a corporation if you decide to join one, so I don't see how joining a corp could be wrong. If you don't like it, just go back to playing alone. Corps are a big part of the game, don't see a reason to not atleast try it.

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Re: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

*edit: I trust you can make your point without being offensive too. - DEV Zoom

  • GTB
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Re: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

Hawkcircle wrote:

a) I understand skills are important but in the extensions game I feel a bit overwhelmed.  Some of the skill extensions demand secondary qualifications like "Tactics" or "Heavy Industry" but there's nowhere to train for those.  Frustrating, yet I know there's something I'm missing here so more to learn. hmm

Don't be too worried about picking skills yet. Just let your EP accumulate while you're learning the game. When you find a module you want to fit, or you find something is too difficult, look for an appropriate skill, read the info on it to see what it does and what prerequisites it needs, and then learn it up. You mention people target-locking faster than you. There's a skill to cut down targeting time. I think it's also the skill that allows you to fit a sensor amplifier.

b) Missions.  Wow.  When I take a mining mission and go to the area bots have already cleared it out.  Titan ore that you have to get you can't mine anywhere else but at the target area, so those missions are worthless to do and you end up failing them.  Combat missions are problematic too because when you get to the area there are already people in much bigger bot's farming the NPC robots.  It takes forever to get lucky and get a hit in to claim a NPC because it takes so long for my target lock to cycle in and during those times someone else nails it.  I try to get target lock on several, but the people who have already been here in PO awhile have the skills already to lock whatever they want.  So, *sigh* combat missions are a pain.  So to with the scan ones for the same reasons.  NPC hunting is in season it appears.  The only missions that seem to give return are courier missions.

You could try moving to a less busy outpost and see if that helps. You'll need to find one that gives missions for your standings, but if you can find an area that has fewer people around, you should find it easier to do. I don't know if there's a solution the devs could do to fix this problem without creating instances.

c) Mining.  In mining you travel hither and yon to try to find titan ore doing area searches.  Takes a long time to find a spot and there's no visual clues or terrain clues to indicate better places than others.   I mean, you see the plants.  But finding ore deposits are hit and miss.   And then the time sitting there watching the red beam is ... well.. boring.   Again, I figure that perhaps if I just keep plugging away I figure out some tricks to it but starting out, well, I hope I don't have to do this to get ahead. big_smile

I have yet to find a sandbox game that has made mining interesting (even solo lowsec mining in EVE just means staying aligned and warping at the first sign of trouble). I do it as a means to an end. I usually surf my laptop or my iPad while I'm mining.

I do wish there were some sort of visual indicator on the landscape to tell you what is likely to be underneath it. A subtle shift in the dirt color, different plants, whatever.

d)  Manufacturing and the Market.   Well, I really wish they had a tutorial on this because I don't understand the steps of making things like ammo and the like.  I plan to explore this out more, but learning about it is hit and miss because at least in game there's no pattern to follow that I can find.   I hit the HELP chat a lot and listen to what others share.  I figure I'll ask the right questions eventually!

A tutorial on this would definitely be nice. Starting from drone kernels, the knowledge base, making a prototype, making a CT, to manufacturing the final product. It's less complicated than it seems at first, but that doesn't mean it's easy.

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Re: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

I'm new too.  Been playing 1 week, but I did play Eve for 1 year, and some of this stuff has a direct translation; however, it is no where near imperitive that you had played Eve.

There is a steep learning curve, and there was an even bigger one in Eve.  It's not like you can run out and equip a sword and start banging away at stuff, there's a lot of planning and goal seetting that needs to be in place. 

Before you do anything, read the forums a bit and decide what type of bot/player you want to be.   It's crucial to avoiding mistakes.  I don't know what all the skills do, but I learned that I need to plan ahead before I start spending ep on skills that look like they might benefit me.  There is an order to the chaos that is the extension page.  Look around the forums and youll find links to extention planners.

Things that  have helped me greatly in my learning of this game:

1.  Learn the 3 different robot factions and their weaknesses.  (Red, yellow, blue) This will save time and ammo and cash.  If your fighting a robot with weaknessess to thermal, use a weapon that gives the most thermal damage.   You can see this witth the little i on the item icon.

http://foom.electric-mayhem.org/wiki/robot_cheat_sheet
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x61/ot0_m0t0/NPC.png
2. Read the forums about skills that are super important.  Navigation I can competently say is something yyou need to max right away.
3. Figure out what drops you should sell/keep.  I sold kernels before I learned that you actually can study them and learn, though this might be only for production.
4. Do not make the  mistake of getting into a newer and bigger bot before you work your skills.  Twice a put my characters into larger bots thinking I would blow away the mobs, but found out that my skills would not let me fight any better.

As far as missions, I kinda like them.  There are enough of diffferent types to mix up your playing a bit, and they offer rewards, loot drops, and faction gains.  I have no problem running missions, though I learned not to jump ahead too quickly.  I have more fun doing level 0 and 1 missions than I do trying to slowly get through a level 2.

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Re: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

AeonThePiglet wrote:

*edit: I trust you can make your point without being offensive too. - DEV Zoom

Zoom, why you gotta be hatin'?

Much love, brosef!

  • CIR
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Re: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

I like reading about new player experiences,  negative or positive...   MOAR PLS! cool cool

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Re: A complete Newbies first week's experience.

My take on the newbie experience.

I joined from Eve and signed up with NeX and so I am in a corp with 500 noobies and a few vets who are helping out.

When I first started the game I think I was deployed in a terminal area and I think I may have closed the tutorial that came up. I went and shot some drones that were nearby and eventually found the missions again and got cracking on them.

The missions.....boy were they frustrating. There are so many new people at that time all working their way through the rookie and tutorial missions that competition for spawns was high. Got them done though and tried to work out what to do next.

Decided that mining/picking probably wouldnt be worth it at low equip and skill levels. Had a look at the price of ammo compared to rewards from missions then started reading the forums for noobie money making tips.

COURIER MISSIONS - yay/puke

So, I read up on forums about these and set to work. The alts and the combat main learned how to drive a sequer and do a few extra missions. I ran the triangle until my eyes bled and made a lot of NIC compared to people doing combat missions from what I'm told.  Used money from this for market buy orders to start building stuff.

Manufacturing
Did some of this on an alt, buying mats off the market and selling finished goods on corp market at nice price for corpies. Te market is pretty erratic though so this is a fairly annoying process due to prices changing a lot.

Mining
Started having a look at this on an alt. Tried in an argano and just put it away after 5 mins. Got a termis, seems a bit better but I wasnt sure on the right thinking for equipping it. Im used to perma tanking rats when mining and was looking for setups that would work like that. Ended up going out with a termis and a castel to guard and then brining in a sequer to empty the can, didnt tank the miner in the end. Need more skill points before i can take a better look at that I think.

My first npc hunt
I got the skills for my waspish last night and went out to see what I could do with my paltry 600 EP in missile skills. I knew it was going to be tough as I spent all my EP on learning to drive a sequer and fitting skills etc so I bought a load of shiny gear to let me shoot further, rep faster and run like a scared little girl. I decided long rang kiting would be best so they would be less likely to web me and *** my noobie ***.

After failing to kill things in any reasonable timeframe on the rookie missions it was a pleasant surprise to see my 5 missiles ripping into enemies from over a hill. I had to do some running away but I survived and everything I shot at died. Some of those bots had webbers and drainers and they chased me really far from where the combat started, at one point I backed up into range of another group of missile slingers and I had to leggit. I need to learn the names/ranks of the rats so i know what to expect from them.


General comments thoughts
I love the skill system, being able to decide where to put the points after you have acquired them is really good.
Missiles own.
Bots are too small. A Heavy mech should be a building sized monsrosity capable of stomping on smaller bots and crushing them flat while laughing in a loud mechanical voice. OK maybe not but please put in some tiny cows that I can stomp to make me feel bigger.
I hear its coming but it needs mentioning AUTOPILOT. I want to be able to make a waypoint path and just set my bot moving along it. I can then monitor him while he moves and most importantly I will be able to spin the camera to look behind or next to me whilst still moving forward.
NEEDS MOAR CAMERA SPINNING!!
Loving it
big_smile