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Mirraj
Mirraj
Join Date 01/2009
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My first time playing

February 12, 2015 6:34:15 PM from Offworld Trading Company ForumsOffworld Trading Company Forums

After I opened up the game, the window was way bigger than my actual monitor. I'm on OSX and I'm guessing it didn't account for a retina display correctly. I changed the resolution in the settings menu, so now it seems fine.

I began the first part of the tutorial.

1. it took me a while to find the build menu.
2.  I built some water extracting things on the water, I got some food, some fuel, aluminum, and iron.  things seemed to be going well.
3.  Then I realized I need steel, so I tried to build a steel building, but it said "you need more claims"
4. I figured this was some kind of cap on the number of buildings or spaces to build on, so I scrapped some of my buildings in the hope of freeing up a "claim".
5. that didn't work and I got stuck for a while
6. finally realized buildings aren't the only way to get resources, that I could also buy them.

 

anyways, I'm going to go back and keep playing because it looks pretty cool, but I wouldn't really call it a tutorial since it doesn't seem to help you very much. 

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Mirraj
Tigershawk
Join Date 03/2003
+11
Reply #1 February 12, 2015 6:59:05 PM
from Offworld Trading Company ForumsOffworld Trading Company Forums

Scrapping a building should free up a claim.  I had to do that quite a bit on the scientific tutorial.

 

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Mirraj
FlashxGordon
Join Date 07/2012
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Reply #2 February 12, 2015 8:05:16 PM
from Offworld Trading Company ForumsOffworld Trading Company Forums

They really just need a quick basic video explaining the game to people. The tutorials are good for practice and an easy ramp up - but they don't explain how to play at all. I watched several videos from Soren prior to getting my hands on it, and I picked up and got going really quick as I knew what was going on... still a bit learning curve though.

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Mirraj
programcsharp
Join Date 09/2001
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Reply #3 February 13, 2015 12:20:37 AM
from Offworld Trading Company ForumsOffworld Trading Company Forums

Scrapping a building frees up that hex. Once you build on a hex, you "claim" it. You can scrap the building and build something else on the same hex, but you can't build on a different hex unless you upgrade your HQ to get more claims.

I'm sure it's this way to add a scarcity dynamic, but it's rather frustrating to build on the wrong spot, see an open spot right next to it, and not be able to scrap the old building and build on the new location.

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Mirraj
programcsharp
Join Date 09/2001
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Reply #4 February 13, 2015 1:25:19 AM
from Offworld Trading Company ForumsOffworld Trading Company Forums

Oh, or you can also get claims at auction or the black market.

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Mirraj
msmerpo11
Join Date 02/2015
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Reply #5 February 13, 2015 5:49:00 AM
from Offworld Trading Company ForumsOffworld Trading Company Forums

It would be a lot better if the tutorial actual gave tips what to do.

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Mirraj
Auron11022
Join Date 01/2015
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Reply #6 February 13, 2015 7:26:21 AM
from Offworld Trading Company ForumsOffworld Trading Company Forums

I played for the first time last night too, and while the current tutorials make sense for an early access game (most players have a good idea of what the game is about) they are not sufficient for a full game release.  There will eventually need to be a full, step by step hand holding.  

 

I can easily picture new players searching for several minutes to figure out how to build units before realizing this isn't that kind of game. 

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Mirraj
DragonIV
Join Date 05/2005
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Reply #7 February 13, 2015 8:26:16 AM
from Offworld Trading Company ForumsOffworld Trading Company Forums

I don't know that a complete hand holding session would be needed, but the game sorely needs tooltips (that could be toggled on / off) to label what the various parts of the screen mean.  I was well into the second tutorial before I finally figured out things like where quantities are shown.  I spent quite a bit of time just figuring stuff out on my own.

Still, all in all, it was functional.  I think the cursor needs some work--it didn't seem clear to me if my cursor was engaged with a placement or not (could slap something down on the surface or not).  The feedback given to cursor actions is kind of 50/50--good in some areas, but in things like the advanced structures (think offworld trading facility) the "tactile" sense of clicking things there is lacking.

Took me a while to grasp the information being relayed back, but started to get a feel for it by the time I quit.  All in all I spent 45 minutes, and for the most part, was intrigued, but not "yowza, can't wait to play again."  I'll play more this weekend, as it will likely grow on me.

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Mirraj
Tigershawk
Join Date 03/2003
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Reply #8 February 15, 2015 8:54:37 AM
from Offworld Trading Company ForumsOffworld Trading Company Forums

I learned the game from watching the youtube video's of Soren J. playing the tutorials and a single player or two.  He doesn't talk much during the multi-player games where he is playing, so to start out, watch the SP videos and tutorials.

 

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