Marsbase Alpha

[XSI]

Anyone have this?
We can build a base and stuff

http://store.steampowered.com/app/244030/Take_On_Mars/

Need to organize a time and people for it

[DemonFiren]

the reviews speak volumes, don't they

[XSI]

I was going to review it, but I wanted to get some multiplayer in before I do it so I can give a full review instead of just for the unmanned campaign
Spoiler- Unmanned campaign is slow as fuck and there are no tutorials. Plenty of bugs too, how am I even supposed to take microscope pictures of the atmosphere that doesn't even make sense

[DemonFiren]

I was going to review it, but I wanted to get some multiplayer in before I do it so I can give a full review instead of just for the unmanned campaign
Spoiler- Unmanned campaign is slow as fuck and there are no tutorials. Plenty of bugs too, how am I even supposed to take microscope pictures of the atmosphere that doesn't even make sense

just
like
take the microscope outside
look through it

[tedward1337]

I've had this for a while, I could never get the building figured. I enjoyed the rover builder tho, and then getting to drive is neat

[XSI]

I was going to review it, but I wanted to get some multiplayer in before I do it so I can give a full review instead of just for the unmanned campaign
Spoiler- Unmanned campaign is slow as fuck and there are no tutorials. Plenty of bugs too, how am I even supposed to take microscope pictures of the atmosphere that doesn't even make sense

just
like
take the microscope outside
look through it

Doesn't work
You need to be looking at something for the microscope to work.
On that note- Mission to take microscope pictures of the 'sub-surface' area showed up. I cant get that because I cant burrow my microscope in places

[Takeguru]

Building is pretty easy once you get the hang of it

Making a decent 3d printer is the hardest part


Also fuck beds they have killed me so many times

I have fallen through floors and have been catapulted into the ceiling several times now, and that's a bad thing when outside that floor or ceiling is something that instantly incaps you

[DemonFiren]

I was going to review it, but I wanted to get some multiplayer in before I do it so I can give a full review instead of just for the unmanned campaign
Spoiler- Unmanned campaign is slow as fuck and there are no tutorials. Plenty of bugs too, how am I even supposed to take microscope pictures of the atmosphere that doesn't even make sense

just
like
take the microscope outside
look through it

Doesn't work
You need to be looking at something for the microscope to work.
On that note- Mission to take microscope pictures of the 'sub-surface' area showed up. I cant get that because I cant burrow my microscope in places

i know
that was german humour

[lntigracy]

There's a tutorial on the main menu what are you people talking about

[XSI]

It doesn't explain shit

[Anonmare]

I was going to review it, but I wanted to get some multiplayer in before I do it so I can give a full review instead of just for the unmanned campaign
Spoiler- Unmanned campaign is slow as fuck and there are no tutorials. Plenty of bugs too, how am I even supposed to take microscope pictures of the atmosphere that doesn't even make sense

just
like
take the microscope outside
look through it

Doesn't work
You need to be looking at something for the microscope to work.
On that note- Mission to take microscope pictures of the 'sub-surface' area showed up. I cant get that because I cant burrow my microscope in places

i know
that was german humour

I've been warned about German humour.

It's no laughing matter

[Malkevin]

I was going to review it, but I wanted to get some multiplayer in before I do it so I can give a full review instead of just for the unmanned campaign
Spoiler- Unmanned campaign is slow as fuck and there are no tutorials. Plenty of bugs too, how am I even supposed to take microscope pictures of the atmosphere that doesn't even make sense

just
like
take the microscope outside
look through it

Doesn't work
You need to be looking at something for the microscope to work.
On that note- Mission to take microscope pictures of the 'sub-surface' area showed up. I cant get that because I cant burrow my microscope in places

Huh? Are you playing some weird dutch translation or have their changed the campaign since i last played?

If you're at the bit I think you're at, the escape shuttle, in the equipment room you've got all the shit you need.
The drill to take rock samples
A vacuum cleaner to take soil samples
And another vacuum cleaner to take air samples.

You then throw the samples into your lab, which is either in the main ship or you can use the one in the mobile lab vehicle.
When I played this though the map was bugged and didn't actually show the area you were in.


Also you can cheat a little on gathering fuel and oxygen, instead of gathering it from the rock and soil, which would take an age, you can decompose the methane and water on the lander and you vehicles to massively bootstrap your production of the stuff you need.



I keep looking at this from time to time but it looks like the MP is mostly dead, which isn't a surprise really.
Clunky building system (which is even worse now it takes you hours to assemble a full sized 3d printer), clunky resource system, clunky movement.
And the only things you can do are build more clunky buildings, trip over the tentacles of death that make up your ever increasing power/resource net, and grow potatoes.

I wouldn't mind giving MP another try though.

[XSI]

I'm playing the unmanned campaign, where you have to slowly drive a rover around at 1.5m/s at most over 3+km distances. It also features randomly generated missions at times which can be literally impossible like microscope pictures of the atmosphere. Luckily the non-random missions are the only ones you need to do, and those are always possible.

You're talking about the manned campaign, which you can skip to or just do multiplayer. No building shit in the unmanned campaign either

[XSI]

Review for the unmanned campaign. Still looking for people to play multi with sometime

Take on Mars
http://tocopinion.blogspot.nl/2017/06/t ... -than.html
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7656 ... ed/244030/

Spoiler:

Take on Mars is more simulation than game, and clearly showing that the goal was a simulation first, and a game second. That said, it remains very interesting and works quite well as a game, when you can figure out how to do things and get it to work.

And that is one of the problems. The biggest problem however is the complete lack of time acceleration and slow speeds. I understand wanting realistic speeds in your simulation game, but this is not an experience that any but the most patient people are willing to go through. For reference, to complete the unmanned campaign you will need to travel ~50,000m at speeds between 1.5m/s and 2m/s, or in more understandable terms, your rovers go at the speed of an old man with a walking aid and you need to travel roughly a small country's length. The game does helpfully offer you a realistic wheel speeds option, which will bring your speed down to around 0.6m/s, or roughly the speed of that old man if he had to stop to take a breather after every step. I firmly believe that I am one of the most patient people in the world and submit this game as proof for that.

With the biggest problem out of the way, the smaller problems are still noticable. It essentially does not tell you how to do or use most things. When starting a campaign, the first thing I had to do was push every button on my keyboard in the hopes that it would move along the interactive first landing of an historical Russian lander. It worked eventually, and I could play the game after that. After that, you are never told how to use specific instruments, and you aren't told what technologies actually do for you as a player. But that is something you can figure out as well with a lot of looking for things, so eventually it will work out.
There also still appear to be a fair amount of bugs in the game, including random missions asking you to take microscope pictures of the atmosphere, and one that makes it so missions do not spawn when they should so the game literally becomes unfinishable. With the last one in mind, I had to stop my playthrough before I could get to the manned stage, as the missions I needed to complete did not ever show up. The physics at times become a large problem in that your science instruments need to be held still to do science, but the physics tries to make your rovers almost dance, which makes it nearly impossible to use your instruments unless you forcibly jam them against the rock or sand you are trying to perform experiments on.

Even then, Mars is a nice and often varied place, with a lot of interesting terrain and good looking locations, with missions placed so that they show you to all the good places with almost scenic tours. The economic part of the game- Getting your funding, is very rough early on and practically doesn't exist in the later stages. This may be to save up money for the manned missions, but I never actually reached that part, so I wouldn't know.

All things said, Take on Mars needs work. It is not an unpleasant experience for one with a lot of patience, but I struggle to see what would draw in anyone other than the most scientific minded people who at the same time don't mind gameplay. For anyone else, it is a nice novelty, but very repetitive and slow. There does not seem to be that much here, at least not in the unmanned campaign.

There is also a multiplayer mode, but I've yet to be able to motivate anyone into playing it with me. I will update this review whenever I get people into a server with it.