A fast forward button is really needed here. Basically, I really like the game, but it needs a few QoL touches. Considering that they’ve got a long-term development roadmap I’m hopeful that some of this stuff will be forthcoming.
I’m only 4 or so maps in, but I got to wave 60 with just Duos, Arcs and anti-air guns on the desert map. I stopped mostly because I was bored waiting at that point :P
Maybe that’s too early to tell, but I desperately need a fast-forward button and so can’t be bothered to stick around for me :)
(Also, on the face of it, I don’t feel that it’s a hard problem to solve: all generation is in terms of X/second. Just give me a ballpark figure and I’ll probably accept it, even at 20% loss due to poor calculations!)
I think it’s just a single developer. Biggest QoL upgrade for me would be: don’t require a modifier key to zoom with the mousewheel. Also, the resource shading on the minimap needs to be clearer. And water should show up as a tooltip when I hover my mouse over it.
The desert map is deliberately scarce of resources. There’s nothing else you can build there. Later maps have tougher enemies that will easily chew through your walls before an array of copper-firing duos can take them out. The progression in the game is pretty well-tuned.
You can skip to the next wave at any time. It’s often really not worth waiting around to gather another 1k of copper.
Yeah, I just don’t get that. I mean, when you’re placing a tile, mouse wheel is rotate. When you’re not placing a tile, it should just be zoom.
FWIW, the desert map is (in my experience) kind of singular that way, partly (as Matt rightly points out) because of the resource scarcity. The turrets you mention are virtually the only ones its possible to build/fuel/power on that map. Basically, get your silicon, get past wave 60 for the unlocks, and move on. Things get a lot more interesting very quickly after that, I found. Stained Mountains is kind of kicking my ass.
Stained Mountains was significantly harder than the desert for me too. It also introduces mechanics that I hadn’t seen before. Conveyors BURN?!? and it SPREADS??!?
I fled after 30 waves with my defense array in tatters. Pretty sure I wasn’t going to make it further that run.
I finally had a chance to dive into this over the weekend, and it definitely scratches that Factorio-light itch. I just got past the desert, and I suspect I’ll need to start applying proper tower-defense tactics instead of just relying entirely on the standard walled-chokepoint setup. I mean, it’s still pretty effective if set up correctly, but I suspect I’ll want more control over enemy pathing as the difficulty increases.
5.0 released! Some major QoL upgrades including improved placement, automatic rebuild, and an awesome looking schematic tool:
Nice!
FINE. I’ll give it another go!
You didn’t have to release 5.0 just to convince me, however.
Not sure I like the new circular tech tree. I think I preferred the old linear one. But I’m still having fun with this game. Just beat the Fungal Pass (ironically, without gathering any fungus.) But now, I’m low on silicon and can’t pay the launch fee for any of the end-game campaign scenarios/ Time to head back to the Tar Fields to gather resources.
I kind of feel like the campaign is a wasted opportunity. The levels don’t, for the most part, provide the kind of puzzle challenge that would be interesting: bootstrap into production with very limited resources or whatever. That said, I really enjoy playing this.
I’m not a fan of the circular tech tree–it needs to have an indicator of which sections of the tree contain which sorts of upgrades.
I do wish that the game took a page from other Tower Defense games and gave you some idea of what to expect in the next wave.
I’ve gone through all of the campaign content, and the bosses aren’t fun to deal with. This includes during base-attack missions (because enemies spawn instead of being “constructed” as you might expect). Dealing with the boss(es) is unlike the other of the attacking waves; the top-tier turrets can compete, but turrets are stationary and expensive. I can sort of harden my infrastructure, but that has its limitations.
Anyhow, game is fun, and there’s a risk-reward tradeoff, but the bosses serve as a timer and they’re often a bit of a surprise.
Thanks for this. Mindustry has been sitting in my backlog for a while and after reading this I fired it up and did the first few levels.
I got a C!!
But I was avoiding it until I read what you wrote, so thanks because I am enjoying it.
So for those of you who have played this, I’m not having a great deal of success in trying to path the creeps. If I use a 2 or 3 layer big wall, that seems to get the point across, but then I try some other pathing closer to my chokepoint and they invariably ball up and attack the closest corner.
These maps are really “islandy” in that there are lots of avenues to route creeps, and I was initially excited, but now I’m just build a choke point, arm it to the teeth with multiple layers and let it be.
I haven’t hit any of the maps with bosses yet. I’ve done all the 3rd level maps and just got one with Titanium, so I’m able to unlock some more things.
If you want to path, or at least control, creep movement the trick is to only leave them one opening. Close off the other paths completely but leave a 2-square path through one avenue and they’ll invariably go that way.
2 caveats:
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Fliers do their own thing, obviously, and seem to actively try to find the path of least resistance. Flying bosses even moreso.
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Creeps will fire at anything in range regardless of their path, so they’ll try to destroy walls that are in gun range even if they’re not headed that way themselves.
On a lot of maps (especially early ones) a single, fortified choke point near the spawn will get the job done. Later this gets trickier, at least most places, and especially once they have their own base to launch from…
It’s still not enough. You can get them to go one way only so much. I tried to make a simple small maze in front of my wall of guns, and they just go to the nearest corner.
I grew curious and looked up the developer - turns out that this game is actually free if you get it from his github, and he is actively maintaining and updating it. (I did pay the nominal $5.99 price on Steam which is a STEAL IMO).
So I submitted a suggestion and he’s incorporating the fix for next release.
I’m pretty jazzed. Both by the fact that I could offer a suggestion and more so that he’s still making this an even better game.
For anyone sitting on the fence, this is a really cool game!
Nicely done, Tman!
-Tom
Yeah, the developer has been very active and very responsive, from what I’ve seen, and the asking price on Steam is highway robbery - I’ve been buying copies for everyone I know that might be interested.
Sounds to me like, thanks to your suggestion, it’s about to get even better. Certainly, more understandable pathing logic would be a good thing.
It should be noted, however, that small copper blocks are supposed to be flimsy as hell. That’s what other materials are for.
I’ve been toodling along, doing all the campaign maps, and all the early bosses come up they are really a non-event and I really didn’t think these were that tough.
Then I got to this one map and I’m finally getting some new minerals that I’ve been looking for to get further in the tech tree, I’ve got tons of titanium so I’m upgrading all my conveyors to even be faster than before and not sure if the map was random seed or not, but a few fortuitous lakes were forcing the creeps into this tight space between a few rocks and I was having a 300 moment where my guys were just decimating the creep waves.
Then a boss that I have never encountered before - it reminded me of the Soul Ripper from Supreme Commander - and it is just laying waste to everything and I mean everything. None of my weapons were doing much. Only anti-air seemed to do anything, so I just start spamming anti-air everywhere because you can’t control where this boss goes - it just randomly goes whereever it wants and lays waste.
I was about to give up & restart the map so I could better prepare, but I finally whittled him down and he came down. It took me a good 3-4 turns to get my infrastructure back up & running and when the next opportunity to launch happened, I took it because I really didn’t want to tackle another instance of that.
So the real question of the day is, and reading on the forums, it seems there’s no real pattern of when to expect these, other than it’s “sometime after wave 30”, so I guess from here on out I’m going to be building tons of anti-air. But then I stumbled upon another boss name (something like “lich” I think?) and I’m wondering if it’s the same boss or there are different types of bosses?
And just another huge vote for those who have not played this to play it because hot-damn this game is pushing a lot of my endorphin receptors for gaming. Really such a well done game and even thought it’s released, I can’t wait for future upgrades the developer is working on.
There are several different kinds of bosses. Be aware that they often show up in larger numbers in higher waves, too.