Bobucles wrote:And this is why it sucks. Not only do you not have the materials to build the station, you need to build the ENTIRE supply chain to build the station! The catch-22 is that you NEED the entire supply chain already in existence to create the entire supply chain.
There are many ways around this - it's simply a matter of applying the "Think" aspect of all X games to find a solution that works. There are several viable ones, and in fact just about any play style has at least one viable and natural approach - it's simply a matter of not being constrained by one's own expectations and being willing to think through the puzzle. It also serves as a good way of teaching players (especially new players) various subtleties about the game, and to shake them out of their comfort zones. If such thinking is not your speed, then perhaps this game is not for you.
Bobucles wrote:So you require a rare resource that isn't produced locally, is produced by a hostile faction that you are hard locked out of trading with, and is so unbelievably otherwise rare that it can take HOURS to scavenge up enough parts to complete before you check online and find out you have to enter deep in enemy territory and basically spawn camp them as they come off the line
This is part of the game's challenge:
There are many ways around this - it's simply a matter of applying the "Think" aspect of all X games to find a solution that works. There are several viable ones, and in fact just about any play style has at least one viable and natural approach - it's simply a matter of not being constrained by one's own expectations and being willing to think through the puzzle. It also serves as a good way of teaching players (especially new players) various subtleties about the game, and to shake them out of their comfort zones. If such thinking is not your speed, then perhaps this game is not for you.
Bobucles wrote:It took me 6 hours to get enough fusion reactors the first time around, and once it's built you can't even supply it because it devours Nvidium like a space fly colony.
X games have never been intended to be completed in a matter of hours - if this game is too time-consuming for you, then perhaps it's not the game for you.
Bobucles wrote:Here are a few options that would fix the quest and make it reasonable:
1) The quest happens AFTER Omicron Lyrae is opened. The player can finally trade in friendly space. Easy.
2) The construction vessel comes pre loaded with FR. Simple.
3) DeVries has some ability to provide FR. Perhaps a side mission to scavenge some of the dead station husks that are everywhere (and practice using cargo mode) for FR. Or a single FR production factory somewhere.
4) The construction quest happens BEFORE PMC turns hostile. It doesn't matter what happens after that.
Every one of those "options" involve removing the challenge factor of the mission and making it a cake-walk. If this game is too difficult for you, then perhaps it's not the game for you.
Incidentally, I've occasionally seen players complain that they reached the end of the campaign and don't what they're doing - this is usually a direct consequence of rushing through the campaign missions to the end. The RMP and FR sourcing challenges in the Integrative URV Forge construction phase represent a fantastic way to slow down the player and get him/her to use that stuff between the ears.
Bobucles wrote:If you already have pre existing meta knowledge then the best solution is to get the resources ready BEFORE the quest begins. That's no way to design a campaign...
...The first time I tried the quest way back at release there was no reasonable way to finish it.
Funny, I finished the plot on my own without looking up any help (this is a matter of course for me in ANY game - I refuse to use spoilers or read up other players' solutions at least until I've come up with my own - for me, a handheld walkthrough is not a satisfying way to play a game) - and I can assure you I'm far from alone in this. Many players solved this conundrum, and I was blown away, after thinking myself oh-so-clever to have come up with 2 or 3 methods, to find there were other methods out there that hadn't occurred to me, some of them rather elegant. My point: none of us required "meta knowledge" to get through the game on our first time through.
Bobucles wrote:I literally had to cheat resources just to skip it.
That's you. Many others did not. If it weren't dangerously close to violating forum rules, I might suggest that thinking that just because you had to, then that's somehow representative is naively egocentric, at best.
Bobucles wrote:Albion IS enemy territory when every zone is hostile PMC
That's incomplete exploration/scouting - there is a perma-zone with 2 build locations in Albion, specifically Exhaustless Mines in Far Out, conveniently close to the friendly HoA shipyard at Gemstone Manufacture. Furthermore, you don't HAVE to build only in perma-zones, and all "empty space" zones are extra-jurisdictional, so you can build freely without being molested.
Bobucles wrote:NO ONE would automatically bring resources in after a dozen hours.
Chances are, you were doing something wrong - of the half-dozen-plus times I've gone through the
Rebirth plot, my last 2 or 3 involved building in Far Out, and NPC traders (primarily Ledda Industrial) were happy to bring me the necessary resources. After I had a Crystal Supplier and a Construction Shop there, I had no problems getting or making anything I needed thereafter. Oh and the deliveries by LI were impressively fast (though they DO slow down a bit on FRs as the game gets on, as supply falls short of total demand with the player's requirements added.)
Bobucles wrote:The station build quest is still miserable.
This phase is actually pretty much my favourite in the whole plot, because...
Bobucles wrote:because the quest is placed directly into a situation where the player has the fewest options possible.
And discovering that those options turn out to be vastly more abundant than apparent at first blush is most satisfying.
Bobucles wrote:If it existed at literally any other chapter in the campaign then it would have been okay.
In my opinion, replace "okay" with "too easy" - and that's precisely why I think it's perfect where and the way it is.
FINAL NOTE: As ubuntu pointed out, at some point in the version history, the game was patched to provide more than the requisite RMPs to build that station, and that's the only of the construction wares that is "impossible" to get. So, if all you care about is getting through the Integrative URV Forge construction phase in order to continue... then what exactly is the complaint??? The only way you still fall short (of RMP) is if you have the foresight to want to set up your own independent infrastructure - and as explained previously, that's merely moderately challenging (the first time or two - after that it even gets trivially easy). As for Fusion Reactors - again as ubuntu pointed out, those ARE available - sure, they are scarce at the best of times, and it takes a little ingenuity and patience to acquire them. If patience and ingenuity are not your speed, then perhaps this is not the game for you...
ie. they are used along with RMPs and FRs in the construction of stations (as I suspect Sparky's link shows.)
) and by having a trade agent on the station in order to be able to keep an eye on production cycles - and if production IS stalled, it provides an opportunity for the player to make some goal-oriented profit by providing whatever resource is lacking.
