The Foundation update, which Hello Games is presenting as the "foundation" for things to come, has been released.
This "foundation" provides a lot of content. Most people that I had seen discussing it weren't expecting anywhere near this much, and I definitely wasn't. A Foundation sounds like something that allows them to add more content in the future, but this is a game-changer. In fact, in terms of things to actually do in the game while planet hopping, this update adds more content than the game even started with. No Man's Sky was a wife and vast galaxy that was unfortunately a bit shallow, but this looks like the start to some major depth.
In brief:
* new creative and survival modes
* build your own bases
* buy freighters
* summon your freighter from anywhere
* travel to your base planet from any space station
* leave messages for other players with beacons
* massive fleets in space
* better planet scanning
* new items and tech
* like hundreds of tweaks and fixes
I was going to post the full patch notes but there's no way the site will let me. There are just that many changes. So check those out here: http://www.no-mans-sky.com/foundation-update/
This "foundation" provides a lot of content. Most people that I had seen discussing it weren't expecting anywhere near this much, and I definitely wasn't. A Foundation sounds like something that allows them to add more content in the future, but this is a game-changer. In fact, in terms of things to actually do in the game while planet hopping, this update adds more content than the game even started with. No Man's Sky was a wife and vast galaxy that was unfortunately a bit shallow, but this looks like the start to some major depth.
In brief:
* new creative and survival modes
* build your own bases
* buy freighters
* summon your freighter from anywhere
* travel to your base planet from any space station
* leave messages for other players with beacons
* massive fleets in space
* better planet scanning
* new items and tech
* like hundreds of tweaks and fixes
I was going to post the full patch notes but there's no way the site will let me. There are just that many changes. So check those out here: http://www.no-mans-sky.com/foundation-update/
If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.
Sign Up / Log In
Wow that looks pretty cool, much more than I was expecting from what I read about recently. It kind of baffled me how base building would be relevant, because this game is or was about exploring a vast universe. I figured they'd find a way to make it fit in and it looks like they nailed it.
Time will tell. I haven't played it yet. This is very similar to how Starbound does it. But then the focus of Starbound is very different. You aren't on a trek to the center in Starbound.
But. Being able to hop back and forth means you can keep going on your path to the center without setbacks, but you have a place to call home along the way.
Ultimately it just supports more play styles, which is always good.
Popped in for a hour or so. Base building is deeper than I thought it would be based on everything else in the game. It's pretty fun.
The space stations and trading posts are livelier. There are always a few people. You can hire some of them to work at your base.
I bought a freighter. Haven't figured out how to upgrade that and put people to work. It doesn't look like you can have multiple ships on your freighter unless I'm missing something.
Everything feels way smoother. There's a motion blur effect that I usually hate but it works well here. It's not overdone. Overall the game seems to perform better.
Cool. Funny, before I went to bed I was thinking about the similarities and differences between NMS, Starbound, Terraria, and Minecraft.
I wasn't quite sure how this base building would work, especially since there's that remote possibility that some other player could visit your planet. Would they destroy your base and plunder your resources? Can you build in the normal game mode, or creative only? Is creative mode more like Minecraft in that there are no enemies or perhaps it's your own universe which others can't discover? I guess we'll figure out the answers eventually. I'm not sure when I'll check out the update, maybe when I'm done with Skyrim SE.
> I wasn't quite sure how this base building would work, especially since there's that remote possibility that some other player could visit your planet.
Apparently you missed the hate train. That's literally impossible. There was some indication from Sean in the lead-up that you had a rare chance of seeing each other, but that didn't make it to the final cut. You can't interact with each other at all. At least before this update-- with this update, you can leave each other messages with beacons. But there's no seeing each other in-game at all. Perhaps in the future they'll add the netcode so that you can interact with people but as of now your base and its contents are safe in your own save file.
You can build in any mode, thankfully. I'm going to try out creative mode and see what's up with it.
Well yeah, I remember that he said there was a remote chance of seeing another player, but it turned out that you couldn't. Still, could another player find your base? Perhaps the buildings are on the client side and the server just notes discoveries made, that seems to make sense.
Please continue to post your thoughts on the update.
Yep, it's all client side. Except the beacons where you can leave messages.
Though finding someone else's base would be a good next step if they are gradually adding multiplayer features.
If they ever make it so people can steal all your shit though, I'm totally out.
I found an article that contains the video posted here and the patch notes. However, there's a very cool feature on this one, an image that helps you see the new visual changes. You can drag the center bar to cover or uncover parts of the picture to see the changes. You can also right-click on one side and open it in a new tab to get a bigger, better view. I'm not really a fan of motion blur and I haven't tried it in this game yet, but it does make a lot of sense for this kind of game. It makes me think of those space movies where you would see it. The TAA difference is quite stunning and it looks so much better!
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/huge-no-mans-sky-update-arrives-adds-base-building/1100-6445743/
Yeah the official announcement had those slide images as well.
The TAA is truly great. Everything looks so crisp. And I usually agree with you about motion blur but it's subtle enough in this that it's a good effect without being annoying.
Ah, I didn't look at the official announcement.
I was agreeing with you about motion blur and how it is in this game because I saw those before and after pictures.
Yeah I know, I was just reiterating since you brought it up :D
The real test comes from seeing it in action, though, you can't tell much about how motion blur affects the experience from a still image.
Looks really cool!
It seems a buggy may be coming: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/no-mans-sky-update-files-hint-at-new-vehicle/1100-6445772/
Because of something @scrypt mentioned in the new Roundtable, I thought that maybe discoveries were reset with the planet redesigns and realized the better way to answer a question regarding my curiosity was to find out for myself. So, I loaded up the game and found that all my discoveries are still there. Like @scrypt mentioned, I believe I exited the game on a planet, but when I loaded it, I found myself on the space station. I went back to a nearby planet I had already visited, but not completely discovered the fauna.
What I noticed right away when loading the game was the musical change in the loading screen. I like it!
I also thought it was funny that I ended up landing in a cave. There is a beacon nearby and a medium-sized hole above it. I thought that was cool. I like being able to scan a planet from space and tell what resources it has. I like the new icons on resources. I also like that there are new resources I never saw before. I also like that I found 3 Geks in the space station instead of one (by the terminal).
They put you on the nearest space station because they've changed some planet generation algorithms. If they left you where you were, you might be deep underground or floating way in the air. Popping you into the space station gets around that problem.
New patch "coming soon!" http://www.gamespot.com/articles/no-mans-skys-next-pc-patch-detailed-makes-small-bu/1100-6445868/
That patch has been out for a couple days on PC's experimental branch. I didn't have any of the bugs it fixes but others who did have them seem to be in better shape now.
Even more fixes to experimental: https://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/discussions/0/154642447914068500/
And those fixes are now live!
Travis, I see you've been playing NMS lately. Are you going to give us an updated perspective on this update? I hope so! :)
Oh I like this update! At the start of it, I found myself in a space station, due to how planets were redesigned. So, I went back to the planet I was on to continue searching for undiscovered creatures. After a while, I found myself walking endlessly, not finding what I was looking for, then I gave up. I went to another star system and found myself on a mostly barren planet. I was looking for zinc and couldn't find any. There was no fauna to be found and flora was almost non-existent. So, I decided to try another planet. I found one that had something new to me, a "habitable base," so I thought I'd check it out. However, a distress signal came upon my screen above the planet and I fought off the pirates attacking the freighters. Once I defeated them, a new message popped up for me to land in the freighter and speak to the captain. It offered an award, one of which was to purchase the freighter. However, it was had 13 slots and cost over 7 million units. I only have over 6 million, so I took the supply reward instead, which was helpful.
I got to the habitable base and started to build a little bit. I got confused on how to select a color scheme, but a quick search on Google let me know that the Q and E keys were what I needed to switch between them. I didn't see this on the screen and I think it should have been stated. After a tiny bit of building, I had to go hire someone. I thought this would cost units, but it didn't. After that, the Gek I hired pointed me towards further upgrades, which required a scientist, so I hired a Korvax at the same space station. Now they're both giving me more to do and helpful blueprints.
I like all of this as it adds a bit of depth to the game. At first, I couldn't really understand why you'd want to build a base, when the point of the game was to explore, but I think this is definitely good for the game and I'm enjoying it. It certainly removes a bit of the same old routine that gets old a bit too quickly.
I like how there are new elements and certain things that give them. Even old things give new elements, so they have a new purpose. I think this is good for the game and makes it more interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing what else the devs add to the game. So far, I think they've done a good job. I hope others agree and the negative backlash fades away.
I built a storage container, but I couldn't seem to fit one in my base, so I had to place it outside. It's huge. At first I was disappointed that it only has 5 slots. Then I quickly realized it can hold stacks of 1000. I also found freighter info on the wiki, which stated that they have increased stacks, too. They can have a max of 48 slots. For more details check out the link: http://nomanssky.wikia.com/wiki/Freighters