Ark: Survival Evolved
Discussion
Foliage said:
Jezz172 said:
Pin code your house 
If other player aren't in your tribe they need the code to open the house or storage boxes
People have explosive and some dinos can smash through wooden houses.If other player aren't in your tribe they need the code to open the house or storage boxes
Tried a PvE server and it was ok but a private server would be good. How much are they to rent, I'd be happy to throw some money at one for a while.
Got playing for 2 hours tonight. Crafted a few bits and built a camp. No one seems to have a mic that I might so they either run away or kill me. Struggling to stay sated too, the smallest things I can find are huge and any fishing trip ends up being megaladon lunch.
Nearly had a turtle thing tamed but it woke up as I was foraging for narcoberries and ran off
I'm up for putting a few £ into a private server if someone is organising it.
Nearly had a turtle thing tamed but it woke up as I was foraging for narcoberries and ran off
I'm up for putting a few £ into a private server if someone is organising it.
Jezz172 said:
What Mac do you have?
I have the new 27" iMac and it REALLY struggles to run it - I had to upgrade my PC so I could play it
Sad I know lol
Don't tell me that :-(I have the new 27" iMac and it REALLY struggles to run it - I had to upgrade my PC so I could play it
Sad I know lol
It's a 27 inch one with the i7 processor and upgraded graphics card (GTX 680mx 2GB) whatever that is.
How did you get it on the Mac, it's not out until end of this week?
Edited by Rew on Tuesday 23 June 22:19
This sums up the experience for me at the moment.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/06/24/ark-sur...
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/06/24/ark-sur...
Tycho said:
This sums up the experience for me at the moment.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/06/24/ark-sur...
It's already fallen into the same trap as Rust, Minecraft (and DayZ to a lesser extent). You either play on a public server and suffer griefing when you're offline (a la Rust) or you have a private server and grind up til you have your T-Rex and then stand there wondering "what now?" (a la Minecraft after killing dragon).http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/06/24/ark-sur...
This post in the comments is spot on :
TheRaptorFence said:
I’ll say this about most survival games: they fail to have a compelling gameplay arc.
Let me explain. Survival games should have three “Acts” to go through in its gameplay. The first is the loot and gather aspect. The difficulty involved comes from staving off ambient conditions such as food/drink/sleep/temp as well as ambient AI such as zombies/animals/robots/etc.
The second aspect is the building part. At this point ambient conditions have been taken care of temporarily and loot/supplies have been gathered enough to produce a more permanent settlement or structure. It’s simply the claiming of permanent ownership of something, and the will to fight for that ownership.
The third is self-actualization. After permanence has been set and ambient conditions are rarely a threat the question becomes “What now?” Basically, a purpose apart from survival is now necessary to, well, survive! It’s part of the human condition.
Now, here’s the rub: I’d argue almost all survival sims have the first two parts down, but almost all of them also trip up on the third part. Mechanics are rarely in place for self-actualization: you could build more, or gather more, or destroy someone else’s stuff, but really all you’ve said is “My purpose is to be more powerful than X.” When people complain about the constant KoS and griefing has become, this is part of that complaint: that the only purpose developers seem to have put into play has been for the express purpose of ruining other people’s stuff or protecting your own stuff. IMO, anthropological research has always indicated that only a small portion of society falls into this mode in survival situations: most try to get civilization up and running again. Since most survival sims don’t even address the creation of a civilized society with in-game mechanics, you could even argue that a survival sim isn’t simulating the most crucial aspect of survival sims.The complaint that most multiplayer survival sims are just FFAs or circle-jerk griefing is tied to the fact that the endgame of most multiplayer survival sims is simply repeating Act 1 and Act 2. At that point, you’re not playing a survival sim: you’re playing a rouge-like shooter with some survival mechanics thrown in.
Let me explain. Survival games should have three “Acts” to go through in its gameplay. The first is the loot and gather aspect. The difficulty involved comes from staving off ambient conditions such as food/drink/sleep/temp as well as ambient AI such as zombies/animals/robots/etc.
The second aspect is the building part. At this point ambient conditions have been taken care of temporarily and loot/supplies have been gathered enough to produce a more permanent settlement or structure. It’s simply the claiming of permanent ownership of something, and the will to fight for that ownership.
The third is self-actualization. After permanence has been set and ambient conditions are rarely a threat the question becomes “What now?” Basically, a purpose apart from survival is now necessary to, well, survive! It’s part of the human condition.
Now, here’s the rub: I’d argue almost all survival sims have the first two parts down, but almost all of them also trip up on the third part. Mechanics are rarely in place for self-actualization: you could build more, or gather more, or destroy someone else’s stuff, but really all you’ve said is “My purpose is to be more powerful than X.” When people complain about the constant KoS and griefing has become, this is part of that complaint: that the only purpose developers seem to have put into play has been for the express purpose of ruining other people’s stuff or protecting your own stuff. IMO, anthropological research has always indicated that only a small portion of society falls into this mode in survival situations: most try to get civilization up and running again. Since most survival sims don’t even address the creation of a civilized society with in-game mechanics, you could even argue that a survival sim isn’t simulating the most crucial aspect of survival sims.The complaint that most multiplayer survival sims are just FFAs or circle-jerk griefing is tied to the fact that the endgame of most multiplayer survival sims is simply repeating Act 1 and Act 2. At that point, you’re not playing a survival sim: you’re playing a rouge-like shooter with some survival mechanics thrown in.
Its extremely fun for what it is, its also updated more than any game I've ever owned. Best selling early access game on steam, ever.
End game will be the brood mother etc although thats not really working properly yet. The recent server wipes made it really fun, everyone darting to the best caves
Have you guys used the vaults yet? Bigger than my house
End game will be the brood mother etc although thats not really working properly yet. The recent server wipes made it really fun, everyone darting to the best caves
Have you guys used the vaults yet? Bigger than my house
Just watched Etho's latest ep on this game and I'm really starting to like it. Not actually played it yet though but I could set up a reliable private server and part-fund it if you guys are willing to chip in. I run the current PH Minecraft server and the same host we've used for years can host ARK as well. It is significantly more expensive though because apparently the game is not too well optimised yet and uses a lot of resources. The current monthly price is $70 for 100 slots (only option) which is about £45 but it's expected to drop and I may be able to sweet talk the host into getting it cheaper. My only condition for running it would be that there is no tomfoolery when players are offline/sleeping, no destroying players' bases/pets etc and just generally not acting like a 
.
but I could set up a reliable private server and part-fund it if you guys are willing to chip in. I run the current PH Minecraft server and the same host we've used for years can host ARK as well. It is significantly more expensive though because apparently the game is not too well optimised yet and uses a lot of resources. The current monthly price is $70 for 100 slots (only option) which is about £45 but it's expected to drop and I may be able to sweet talk the host into getting it cheaper. My only condition for running it would be that there is no tomfoolery when players are offline/sleeping, no destroying players' bases/pets etc and just generally not acting like a . Playing this now, just trying to get the hang of it. Keys are hard work after playing Minecraft, even after re-assigning to something more familiar. First problem I had was I 'lost' 1st person mode and spent about 30 mins looking through the settings trying to figure out how to get it back. It was only purely by accident I rolled the mouse wheel forwards and then..... 
Next problem was that I thought my PC wasn't up to running it. Seemed to play at about 5 FPS and I was like WTF? Then I noticed the 'motion blur on/off' setting so that quickly sorted that out.
I'm at level 8 now and have built a thatch hut at south spawn 1 but I'm struggling to tame a dilo. I have the narco berries but the raw meat from killing those big passive dinos that run away when you prod them is going off before I get chance to use it and dilos are waking up.
Even the low level turtles are quite hard to take out without taking a lot of damage yourself and now I have the slingshots I find they break too quick. Maybe I need to get better prepared.
Is there a way to light your base at night without holding a torch or using a camp fire? I see there's a 'torch on a stick' that can be unlocked but I don't have enough XP for it yet. Is there a way to stop items from spoiling? Seems pointless collecting berries and other stuff.
And is there a quicker way to level up? It seems to take forever now and collecting berries and items doesn't seem to make it go up much like at lower levels. I've crafted some hats already to help but there's only so much of that before you're bored of it.
Overall I'm quite enjoying it but I think the default night cycle should be nerfed a bit. You can't do anything at night because you can't see more than a few yards.
Next problem was that I thought my PC wasn't up to running it. Seemed to play at about 5 FPS and I was like WTF? Then I noticed the 'motion blur on/off' setting so that quickly sorted that out.
I'm at level 8 now and have built a thatch hut at south spawn 1 but I'm struggling to tame a dilo. I have the narco berries but the raw meat from killing those big passive dinos that run away when you prod them is going off before I get chance to use it and dilos are waking up.
Even the low level turtles are quite hard to take out without taking a lot of damage yourself and now I have the slingshots I find they break too quick. Maybe I need to get better prepared.Is there a way to light your base at night without holding a torch or using a camp fire? I see there's a 'torch on a stick' that can be unlocked but I don't have enough XP for it yet. Is there a way to stop items from spoiling? Seems pointless collecting berries and other stuff.
And is there a quicker way to level up? It seems to take forever now and collecting berries and items doesn't seem to make it go up much like at lower levels. I've crafted some hats already to help but there's only so much of that before you're bored of it.
Overall I'm quite enjoying it but I think the default night cycle should be nerfed a bit. You can't do anything at night because you can't see more than a few yards.
All that jazz said:
Playing this now, just trying to get the hang of it. Keys are hard work after playing Minecraft, even after re-assigning to something more familiar. First problem I had was I 'lost' 1st person mode and spent about 30 mins looking through the settings trying to figure out how to get it back. It was only purely by accident I rolled the mouse wheel forwards and then.....
Next problem was that I thought my PC wasn't up to running it. Seemed to play at about 5 FPS and I was like WTF? Then I noticed the 'motion blur on/off' setting so that quickly sorted that out.
I'm at level 8 now and have built a thatch hut at south spawn 1 but I'm struggling to tame a dilo. I have the narco berries but the raw meat from killing those big passive dinos that run away when you prod them is going off before I get chance to use it and dilos are waking up. Even the low level turtles are quite hard to take out without taking a lot of damage yourself and now I have the slingshots I find they break too quick. Maybe I need to get better prepared.
Is there a way to light your base at night without holding a torch or using a camp fire? I see there's a 'torch on a stick' that can be unlocked but I don't have enough XP for it yet. Is there a way to stop items from spoiling? Seems pointless collecting berries and other stuff.
And is there a quicker way to level up? It seems to take forever now and collecting berries and items doesn't seem to make it go up much like at lower levels. I've crafted some hats already to help but there's only so much of that before you're bored of it.
Overall I'm quite enjoying it but I think the default night cycle should be nerfed a bit. You can't do anything at night because you can't see more than a few yards.
Taming - Tranc' arrows are what you need they knock the dinos out, that or use the slingshot and rocksNext problem was that I thought my PC wasn't up to running it. Seemed to play at about 5 FPS and I was like WTF? Then I noticed the 'motion blur on/off' setting so that quickly sorted that out.
I'm at level 8 now and have built a thatch hut at south spawn 1 but I'm struggling to tame a dilo. I have the narco berries but the raw meat from killing those big passive dinos that run away when you prod them is going off before I get chance to use it and dilos are waking up.
Even the low level turtles are quite hard to take out without taking a lot of damage yourself and now I have the slingshots I find they break too quick. Maybe I need to get better prepared.Is there a way to light your base at night without holding a torch or using a camp fire? I see there's a 'torch on a stick' that can be unlocked but I don't have enough XP for it yet. Is there a way to stop items from spoiling? Seems pointless collecting berries and other stuff.
And is there a quicker way to level up? It seems to take forever now and collecting berries and items doesn't seem to make it go up much like at lower levels. I've crafted some hats already to help but there's only so much of that before you're bored of it.
Overall I'm quite enjoying it but I think the default night cycle should be nerfed a bit. You can't do anything at night because you can't see more than a few yards.
Lighting - torches or you can build lights at a higher level but requires a generator and fuel
Level up - craft craft craft - making sparkpower / gunpowder levels quickest
Food - Preserving chest or a fridge.
OK, early days yet then. I've got a new problem. I knocked out a level 27 trike with my slingshot (and a level 10 one which got angered too). I killed the level 10 one for its meat to tame the level 27 one, and then wondered why nothing was happening.... Anyway, I digress.. I'm at level 9 now but don't have the narcotics or mortar n pestle unlocked. I've got enough mejo berries to tame the trike, but I only have nacro berries and the unconsciousness is rapidly depleting. She's about 25% tamed but what do I do now? Am I doomed and gonna have to kill her when she awakes?
Anyway, I digress.. I'm at level 9 now but don't have the narcotics or mortar n pestle unlocked. I've got enough mejo berries to tame the trike, but I only have nacro berries and the unconsciousness is rapidly depleting. She's about 25% tamed but what do I do now? Am I doomed and gonna have to kill her when she awakes?Gassing Station | Video Games | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff