My goal for this cycle is to learn how to build bases and use the structures provided in the game. No more searching out an NPC station shortly after I log in. I'd actually learn to use the game mechanics and systems. A task made much easier by a player who came up with a relatively comprehensive guide to getting started. At least, comprehensive enough for me to get started.
The game in its current iteration places the player in space in a ship in front of an asteroid. Of course, this is a trap as I haven't figured out a way to return to that starting location. Oh, did I mention one of the differences between EVE Online and Frontier is the lack of bookmarks in Frontier? So I filled up my cargo hold with ore and searched out a place to build my structures.
According to the guide, players should build structures intended for long-term use at either a planet, moon, or some other type of celestial like a star gate. But a very important note is to write down the location where the base is built. The UI does not contain an Excel spreadsheet identifying all the objects located on grid, much less the solar system. Which explains how I lost my first structures. I couldn't see them as I scanned my camera around. So I warped off to another moon and had success. The moon is easy to remember for any EVE veteran, planet 4, moon 4.
I wanted my base to perform three functions before I logged off Sunday: manufacturing, reprocessing, and ship fitting. The first two were addressed in the starting write-up. At least in this cycle, filling up my cargo hold with the ore staring me in the face when I first entered the game provided enough material to construct reprocessing and manufacturing facilities. That was fast!
My next two immediate concerns were fuel and mining crystals. Unlike in Online where ships operate on energy generated using advanced technology indistinguishable from magic, ships in Frontier operate on fuel. Thankfully my little starter ship runs on fuel produced by water. And, water is a plentiful side-product of the reprocessing process.
Mining, well at least the basics, work the same for brand new players. Take ship, fly up to a rock, and start up the mining laser. The differences end there. For one, new players in EVE have civilian-grade mining lasers. The brand new player in Frontier gets a laser with 5 mining crystals. And if everything works correctly a new player doesn't have to suicide in order to get to an NPC station to get a new rookie ship.
A big difference in Frontier is that building a reprocessing and a manufacturing structure near an asteroid is the efficient way to mine quickly. The steps are simple.
- Start mining laser
- Transfer ore into the reprocessing structure
- Reprocess the ore
- Move the water created into the manufacturing structure
- Make fuel if needed
That's right, a brand new player can reprocess and manufacture things in a belt. And reprocessing the ore and removing the water is effectively the same as using an industrial command ship in EVE to compress the ore to make it easier to transport.
After filling up my cargohold, I wound up warping back to my moon base. Unlike in EVE, I had to use the in-game map. I zoomed down to the planet my moon orbited, selected the moon, and warped to my base. Landing 7-10km away is a bit tedious, but my starter ship is pretty zippy and doesn't handle too badly. I think the handling is partially due to Frontier utilizing a 1/4 second server tick compared to EVE's 1 second server tick.
The manufacturing structure I could build as a 5-minute old player only can produce one object at a time, but after a couple of minutes I had more mining crystals and enough fuel to avoid having to worry about running out.
I needed two different types of ore to do my base building, so I travelled to another belt and set up the process again. Well, not immediately. Seems the beginner ore I used isn't found in the second belt. So I wound up warping back to the first belt, filling my cargohold with the required ore, then travelled back to the new belt.
The end of completing this first objective of building a base at a moon was rather anti-climatic, to be honest. I misread something and instead of mining enough for 8 steel plates, I mined enough for 800. I wound up chuckling in real life and built the refuge, the object that allows ship fitting in space.
I should add that learning how to effectively mine, locate bases, build ship, etc., isn't just a good idea. Players basically need to learn how to do all these tasks to escape the starter constellations. The starter constellations, at least in this cycle, appear rather safe. Perhaps all the experienced people are already out in the wider galaxy leaving me a constellation all to myself. But while I didn't see another player in my few hours time playing on Sunday, I did see the remains of a base someone had built.
I think for now I'm just going to stay in my nice little relatively safe location and learn the mechanics of the game. After all, the game is still in early alpha and the universe will wipe regularly. Why go out and build up material possessions that CCP can take away when I can build up knowledge that the developers can't.
