Some of my thoughts are already voiced, some opinions I disagree with, but I won’t reply to specific comments as it would be too much flood as those are opinions in the first place.
- PvE Resource deposits should be much larger but fewer in number. Now faction planets favor those who got there first and managed to place their autominers before the ores are mined out.
- Overall ore balance is good. Silicon, cobalt and copper are plentiful, but I don’t think that can be considered a bad thing. Those are basic resources and should probably not be deficient. Iron is used a lot for combat steel, so that evens out it’s hight availability. Sathium is mined quickly by hand, so that somewhat satisfies the need for it. Maybe there should be more of it in the starter systems so that new players can make money on it more easily. Neodimiun is not an issue since it’s use is very limited. Zascossium and Erestrum are hard to mine, but it doesn’t look like anybody actually mines them at all (see below).
- NPC packages are disruptive to the balance, because there is practically no limit on what is in the package. Guideline-style rule of “thematic” packages is not useful in economic terms and is not really followed (ores, food and weapons in one package - easy!) I’m not against their owners making money, but more than 90% of promethium, zascossium and erestrium (by my estimate) is not mined but instead appears from unlimited-depth NPC pockets. The same (though to a lesser extent) goes for gatherables (fiber, alien plasmas, egg plant parts, etc.) and sathium. There was a discussion about this issue here.
- I mostly like the universe, especially a few hiden gems, which I wouldn’t point at to avoid spoiling them for other explorers. The warp point collisions though are an issue. I had a couple warp-point encounters, which were not intended by either side. Considering the present bugs when player can be disconnected during warp and/or left behind, it is needed to make warp-exits safer (I specifically find warp-camping aliens a bad desicion). I do not understand why the warp exit point should be fixed at all. If it could be made a random point within 30kmx30kmx30km cube or so, camping would no longer be an issue and warped ships without a pilot would be harder to find to marauders.
- Alliens are still underpowered and pose no real challenge. I don’t know what can be done to power them up, especially in terms of a specific server, but they do need an upgrade to pose a threat beyond the level of spiders.