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The best ship is friendship

The best ship is friendship

The Emperor
August 03, 2023

Welcome back citizens to the Nero Gaming newsletter.

We’re like a new toga at a bathhouse party—we’ve got what everyone else is looking for.

Here’s what we have for you today:

Planet Crafter is just the right kind of challenging 🧑‍🚀
The key to having fun with friends in sandbox gaming 🎮️ 🤝
Companion army FTW in Mount and Blade: Bannerlord ⚔️ 🛡️

Planet Crafter Lets Players Find the Fun Quickly

There’s three things the Emperor loves:

A game where players understand the core loop quickly 🎮️✅
A game that delivers exactly on what it promises 🎮️✅
Dipping a Taco Bell quesarito in avocado ranch 🥑 👌

New(ish) sandbox sim “Planet Crafter” perfectly checks the box on 2 out of 3.

It would be easy for this game to be overly complex, but instead it builds the entire gameplay experience around one easy to understand mechanic: Terraform Index.

Basically, the things you build in this game make permanent changes to the planet you’re on. There are also just enough survival elements to prevent you from doing the ultimate cheese: leaving your PC on all night.

It’s very intuitive and implemented in a way such that players have a lot of freedom. (One clear example here is allowing players to see nearly the entire tech tree right from the beginning).

In a world where we all have thousands of games that look interesting, Planet Crafter really respects its players time investment well. It’s not too easy as to feel unrewarding but also not frustratingly complex—you can have the fun you came here for.

Perhaps it’s why the indie game has received the coveted “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating on steam.

Multiplayer Sandbox Fun Is Hard To Come By (Here’s Why)

We all know sandbox and survival games are more fun with a buddy. It’s harder than it sounds, though, to recruit a friend to join us in these games—and even when you succeed, there’s no guarantee the two of you will have a great time.

Here are a few things to look for in a sandbox game that will level up your chances of having a great time in multiplayer (with a few examples).

First… Can a friend join you mid game and still have a good time?

Good example: In Astroneer, new players can utilize the “oxygen line” network… benefitting from the work that came ahead of them and allowing them to explore the world for themselves.
Bad example: In Ark, your friends are very likely to be eaten for dinner if they follow you into the jungle without leveling up their speed, health and torpidity (items aren’t much help here).

“I don’t like our chances, brother!”

Second… Can a friend actually add value to your work?

Good example: In Minecraft, new players can help harvest farms, breed animals, build fences or any other number of things that will help the team overall.
Bad example: In Satisfactory, it would literally take hours of getting up to speed on your configuration before your friend knew how they can help. (That’s if they aren’t new to the game!)

“Mi factory es su factory”

Lastly… Does the game support multiple play styles or activities?

Good example: In Dinkum, there are many things players can do to help your village—gathering food, catching animals, searching for treasure, buying from vendors or just prettifying everything.
Bad example: In Valheim, there’s really no way for players to get away from the big boss fights—if they want to progress, they have to do it.

A bro never forgets to water another bros plants

Let’s end with what I think is a near perfect example of great multiplayer in a sandbox: Space Engineers.

The new player experience in Space Engineers isn’t easy or straight forward by any means—but the “friend” new player experience can be!

When you step into a friend’s game in SE, you can expect to dive right into the best parts of what the game has to offer: Designing ships, building bases and fighting NPCs for extra loot.

There’s no danger of “doing this wrong” because—unlike many games—there is not a lot of scarcity when it comes to building materials.

(By contrast, in Ark, I once had a friend use all my stone to build a dumb little house. I had been saving it up for days to make sparkpowder … 👿👿👿👿!!)

Even if the core tasks aren’t for you, you can still explore the solar system, find and gather the rarer materials by hand or find NPC stations to trade at.

Triumphs from the Citizenry

It’s time to take a look at incredible feats from the citizens. Today we have something as creative as it is impressive from a Mount and Blade: Bannerlord player.

A redditor shared a video of their incredible “companion army” and it has the Emperor rethinking his entire military strategy.

🥰🥰 Friends who kill together are still together 🥰🥰

If you aren’t familiar, in the Mount and Blade games you usually populate your army with generic troops which can be leveled up at scale somewhat easily.

A more standard army configuration, heavy on Khuzait Lancers

Alongside these troops, you have the option to recruit “companions” which are more prominent, individually named NPCs. Most players have 5 - 10 of them.

From both a gold and time perspective, getting a large army of these companions is incredibly difficult. They are difficult to find, have a high upfront cost, and you must individually purchase armor and weapons for each of them.

According to one player, though, it’s well worth it. In the post he shares the following:

“My army is almost invincible, they rarely die and constantly level up, growing stronger by the day. I can customize their armor as I see fit, I have complete control over them. Moreover, they are incredibly cost-effective once recruited. I recommend everyone to build a companion army.”

From one aspiring conqueror to another, the Emperor salutes you sir.