Ultimate Freeform

I didn't go to Venus from Grespa, I went from Ida...

but anyway, what are we suppose to do after we get the selker 7 ship sensor, the lev5 mining beam, and the mining truck?

I've got all these things. Is the main goal from there just to get more money....?

Yep. That's the entire point of the mod, to become rich. I have to admit, play time is slightly shorter than many commercial games (of course, its longer than some others because of the stupid recent trend to make short games), but for a mod made in my free time, the game is a pretty good play.

I'll second that with a hearty round of e-applause. Well done EricMan64. I've had loads of fun with my start, and plan to get as rich as I can soon, but I've had to stop my 'trial run' with it, and get back to some other more pressing projects.

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Hot4Darmat

Alright, EricMan64. I've played it and played it, and am now ridiculously rich, so I figure the game is pretty much over. I bought everything I can afford, and have a pretty flush account to boot. Here's my quickie review:

This mod is fabulous! I know how much work went into it, and you did it almost entirely by yourself, so that alone makes you worthy of much praise. You managed to produce a mod that adds dimensions (and hours) to the originals' gameplay, its interesting and fun, its nonviolent (except for those poor asteroids), and it works..really really well. Kudos.

There were a few things I found myself wishing for, as I got more and more immersed in this little world you created (which, in itself, is a good thing to be able to do for the player). For one, why couldn't I trade in my p.o.s. flitter for a small bit of cash when I was ready to upgrade to the Frog? (I know I know...you don't really have to answer...they're just things I observed). The inability to sell off or other wise recycle useless bits of inventory into cash was a little frustrating, but only a little. When I got as rich as I've gotten, I kept wishing I could buy myself a base, and start hiring out other independents to do the mining for me, so's I could sit back, count the money rolling in, and keep a watchful eye on my evil corporate competitors, but then that's a different game, isn't it (Sim CorporateBeltMiner). Ore came in one flavour only, and it would have been interesting to have different kinds of things to mine, requiring different kinds of equipment or techniques, and different markets to haul them to. Nevertheless, I found it challenging enough getting rich with only one kind.

When it came to getting tips from miners, it would have been fun if the names weren't randomly generated, but stable, so that their 'reputation' would start to outweigh their fee when it came to getting tips (a difficult bit of coding that, to be sure). I was sure that that little s.o.b. Bruce Stein was giving me crap tips every time, no matter what I paid him! Selling information on the tip line would have been fun, too, but only once or twice would it have been really helpful (when I was really strapped near the beginning), and ultimately, I know it would be useless because the fields all get culled and remade every time you leave and revisit them. For that reason my next gripe is also useless, but, early in the game, it would have been good to be able to leave markers as waypoints on the good rocks or ore bits I couldn't haul back that trip (thus obviating the need to pull a stupid hauling stunt like the one I described at the ina forum). As I said, if everything vanishes after I leave...it doesn't really matter.

There were a bajillion stations, but only about a dozen or so places that could actually be visited that would allow me to do anything beyond docking and undocking. EoC was even more guilty of this than you, and it's incredibly hard to make a whole star system 'feel real' in that way. This is also an issue of way too much hard work for one person to do, but it would have made the whole system more fun to explore if there were things to do at more stations...even if players could sell the ore at a few more places in the belt (though, as an independent in a corporate world, and for pacing reasons, I can see why we couldn't). Once the hauling drones had fulfilled their contracts, they dutifully thanked me and took off, but when the processor trucks had filfilled theirs, they said they'd leave, but they never did, and just kept tagging along and getting in the way (I finally figured out how to get rid of them by ordering all these 'wingmen' to defend Gaspra). Then I could go out and mine again in peace.

Finally (and I know you've already addressed this one), the whole place seemed eerily lonely. The absence of traffic scripts make it feel like all of Sol system has been abandoned for the outer clusters. This lonely feel would make sense while working in the middle of a bunch of rocks in the belt, but at the main bases, I kept looking for fellow miners and haulers to hail, and say "howdy", or trade parts with. This could also make the game more challenging if there were (hostile) corporate competitors, but as you've already said: this thing was enough work for one, as it was.

In conclusion, despite a few minor miner wishes, this is an excellent mod. It provided me with hours of fun, and some unexpected challenges. It made the whole idea of finding valuable ore in amongst floating rocks seem incredibly fun. If another version comes out, I'll be first in line to download it and play it. Well done. Really well done.

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Hot4Darmat

For one, why couldn't I trade in my p.o.s. flitter for a small bit of cash when I was ready to upgrade to the Frog? (I know I know...you don't really have to answer...they're just things I observed).

I don't have to answer, but I will. The reason you can't sell ships and equipment is because I never really thought of including that.[]

There were a bajillion stations, but only about a dozen or so places that could actually be visited that would allow me to do anything beyond docking and undocking.

The reason the system is so freakin' huge is because I'm hoping to make more Ultimate Freeform Mod: <insert witty name here>. These would all take place in the Sol System. At the moment, I'm leaning towards doing something about the navy next.