Yesterday saw a couple of two-hour tests added to the Stars Reach pre-alpha test schedule at somewhat short notice. I had said in my last post that there weren't supposed to be any more until the new build arrives at the start of December but on Tuesday I got an email saying there were going to be two on Wednesday. One was due to begin for me at 2 AM so that was out but the other, as usual, was a teatime test starting at six in the evening.
On paper that ought to be prefect. Unfortunately, in practice the two-hour early evening slot coincides neatly with Beryl's Big Playtime. She's not wholly a slave to routine but she has a tendency to sleep all afternoon and come to life in the evening. Obviously, she's in charge, so if she says it's playtime for her then it's playtime for everyone and she's not that keen on video games so I can't fob her off with an hour watching me play Stars Reach.
This time she didn't come to life until a quarter to seven so I was able to get a clean forty-five minutes in before I had to log out and go play football in the hallway. I wasn't best pleased to have to stop because I was just four Survey Points short of a completed map but that's the way it goes, when you live with a Princess dog.
Apart from the early finish, I had a great test. Probably the most fun so far. The game felt very stable. I had no problems getting in or staying in. There were no crashes and no lag worth mentioning.
I also followed Wilhelm's example and kept Discord voice chat off for the first time. Boy, did that make a difference! Without the constant chatter in the background I became completely immersed in what I was doing, much more so than in any of the previous tests. I would never normally have voice on in a game so I had been finding it quite distracting.
When I logged in I found that not only had there been no wipe, I was still in the same place I'd logged out last time. I'm not sure that's happened before. I think previously I'd always come back at the main spawn-in point.
It meant I was still in those deep, confusing caverns I got lost in last time so my first thought was how to get out. Before I could do much about that, though, I noticed the floor, walls and ceiling of the cave I was in seemed to have a lot of variation in color and texture. It made me wonder if there were ores or minerals I could mine. I'd heard you could find them on planets, not just in space.
Having figured out the basics now, I popped up a camp and swapped in the Terraformer to find out and something odd happened. When I switched it on, instead of one violet energy beam there were two.
I thought at first the second might be automatically dumping the tailings but after a while I got the usual "Hopper Full" message so that wasn't it. Other than slightly getting on my nerves, I couldn't see that the second beam was doing anything so I ignored it and carried on.
I realize now that I should have reported it as a bug but honestly it's only as I write it down that it even occurs to me it might have been one. The downside of the tests getting smoother and me getting more immersed in what I'm doing is I forget I'm in a test at all.
I spent a good while blasting everything that looked different to see what it might be. From memory, there was sand, chert, limestone, zinc, something beginning with "M" (Manganese?), chalk and... chalky. What "chalky" might be and what the difference between it and chalk is, I have no idea. Anyway, it proves it is possible to mine metals without going into space.
Once I'd sorted that out it was time to escape. Easier said than done. I managed to find a tunnel but it split several times and I couldn't find one that went upwards. After a few minutes looking, it occured to me I could make my own tunnel and get out that way.
It kind of worked. I had no trouble blasting a huge hole through the ceiling, heading up to where I assumed the surface had to be and with the aid of my trusty Gravity Mesh and parkour abilities (There's climbing in the game already.) I was able to scramble up the jagged shaft I'd made. The problems came when it was time to empty the hopper.
Tailings appear where you point the cursor. The first time, I pointed it back down the shaft and almost sealed myself in. Not that it mattered. I wasn't planning on going back down. The second time I wasn't so lucky. I hit "Q" without thinking about it and all the tailings appeared right next to me, crushing me against the side of the shaft.
I died. It's very easy to kill yourself in Stars Reach. Back when I had Discord on, I heard people talking about how they'd managed to kill themselves all the time. This was the first time I've done it but I'm sure it won't be the last.
At least it got me out of the caves. If I'd had any sense, I'd have cut my losses and left it at that but I could see my red gravemarker half a kilometer away so I thought I'd go back for it.
I was curious to see if I'd be able to find it from above ground and, if I could, whether I'd be able to dig down and get to it. The answer to both questions is yes, although it took a bit of triangulating and trial and error. It was very satisfying when I broke through the roof of the tunnel to where I'd died and found my remains, fortunately in the neat form of a glowing cube, not a smear of blood and flesh stuck to the walls.
After that I stayed on the surface. I swapped to the Pathfinder and set about finding the two dozen or so Survey Points I hadn't found last time. As I jet-hopped around I got the distinct impression there were either fewer mobs than last time or if not, that they'd calmed down a bit. I was able to avoid most of the packs and even when they spotted me and gave chase they seemed to give up a lot faster.
Some of the remaining Survey points were on the very edge of the map or high up on crags. I climbed a lot of rock spires. I also found a field of prickly pears but I didn't have the Harvester on my toolbelt so I couldn't check if they were pickable. I also noticed a lot of patches of color on the ground, none of which I remembered seeing in previous tests.
I gave those an experimental blast with the purple ray to see what might pop out. (I was back to a single ray at this point. Not sure when it changed.) The greenish patches seemed to be either gneiss or glass, occasionally with a smattering of quartz.
If I'd been able to stay longer I'd have tried to find out what all the various materials I'd gathered were good for. I did a lot of mining. I must have earned plenty of points to spend on recipes and upgrades. Sadly, Beryl put a stop to all that and by the time the next test arrives I'm pretty sure all progress will have been wiped, along with my character. Pity. I'm starting to become fond of her.
Even so, I may roll a different race next time. Mrs Bhagpuss followed Beryl in to see what all the fuss was about and as she looked over my shoulder to see what game I was playing she saw my character from behind (It's always from behind in this game - I have trouble getting the camera to turn for a selfie.) and said "Nice bottom! Are you a boy or a girl?"
I think I'll make one of the cat people for the next test.
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