Friday, January 16, 2015

Taikodom (Part Three)

Gameplay (Continued)
Combat

Taikodom - Pre v3.20 CombatTaikodom - Post v3.20 Combat
Before version 3.20 got implemented, combat within the game seemed "arcadish". As the player is able to control and move the ship from side to side, it felt like those old "scrolling" shooters that you will typically find in the arcades (but in 3D).

After version 3.20, this feel got alleviated as the players lost the ability to strafe with the ship (can only roll instead) and "leading" the target (in order to hit it) became even more necessary.
Taikodom - Post v3.20 Combat
However, everything else about it is pretty much just the same.

There's still the usual cannon fire and missiles flying about when you engage in combat, the familiar "Shields" (HP in typical MMOs) that you need to keep above 0 to avoid dying as well as the "Energy" (MP in typical MMOs) bar that is needed for when you fire your weapons and "switch on" your "toggle skills".
Still, I have to warn you again...that the population seems to be very low and so battles do appear to be quite "rare" to me. Not to mention that you will have to "build" everything yourself, which takes time, unless they implement some kind of "auction hall" to facilitate "trading" between the players.

Mining
Taikodom - Pre v3.20 MiningTaikodom - Post v3.20 Mining
There isn't too much of a difference in mining between pre and post v3.20. Its still the same move in close to the asteroid, wait for the bar to enter the optimal zone and then extract to obtain your resources.
Taikodom - Post v3.20 Mining Ship
However, the major changes here would be that you can no longer mine these asteroids in just "any" ship (like in pre v3.20). Instead, one can only do so, post v3.20, in "Extrator" class mining ships.
And sadly, these ships appear to be defenseless "sitting ducks" as they do not come armed with any weapon or missile slots. At least for now...as far as I can see.
Furthermore, resources mined post v3.20 cannot be used directly and has to be "refined" first.
Taikodom - Refinery FacilityTaikodom - Acquired Refining Blueprints
However, to refine them, you will need to visit a "Refinery Facility" and purchase all of the "refining" blueprints that they have for sale. You can then "refine" them like your "crafting" something.

Crafting
Crafting in Taikodom remains more or less unchanged in concept, both pre and post v3.20.
Taikodom - Ship BlueprintsTaikodom - Component Blueprints
To craft anything, you will first need to acquire the necessary blueprints for the job.
Taikodom - Adding Blueprint
Upon doing so, visit the production terminal, add the blueprint to your list of existing ones like as shown (right click, "Adicionar Projeto"), gather the materials and then build the item.
Note that once you've added the blueprints, they can be accessed and used anywhere...regardless of sectors...so long as your docked at one with an "industrial facility" (eg. "Fabrica" stations).
However, I'ld have to say that crafting, post v3.20, became somewhat harder and more time-consuming though.
Taikodom - Post v3.20 Quest
In order to make some usable "end-product", like a ship for instance, you would not only have to gather materials from mining asteroids, turn these mined (and refined) resources into some "intermediate components" (via crafting), but also perform some sort of "repeatable quests"...so that you can get the more "critical parts" which cannot be obtained from anywhere else (like "Nucleo de Dados - Tecnologia Militar" and "Protocolo de Producao (BHI)").



Previous: Taikodom (Part Two)