Actually, the article linked is pretty much making the point that the player numbers don't matter that much. Or at least that all the trolls using those numbers as evidence are at the very least, premature.

Fucking Bethesda, what happened?

Speculating, I'm guessing this is a side effect from adopting The Forge for rendering and animation. I'll bet those missing formids are now stored somewhere else, possibly outside the esp itself. Apparently something similar happens in the NIF format.

I don't believe the formids are missing or the game wouldn't run. They're just stored somewhere a little counter-intuitive.

First time through, it was a bloodbath and I got told off back at Ryujin HQ.

Second time I did it, I sniped the turret and took the guards down with EM weapons. No problem after that and no complaints at HQ.

What? Shocker!

Next thing you'll be telling me Starfield isn't Real Life at all, but just some elaborate computer game.

Yeah, the whole thing seems like they ran it past some focus group at the last minute, and someone said "ewww, I don't like fuel. ewww." and so they scrambled to rip out the offending code in an effort to appease the lowest common denominator.

Then again, the fact that so much supporting code was left in makes me think maybe they were leaving the foundations to replace the missing systems once the game was established/ I have hope :)

• Survival mode - fuel and hazardous environments
• Star Atlas - list of systems with
  • distance
  • whether visited
  • Any outposts
  • a shortcut to bring up the map
• Use the outpost builder to decorate ship interiors. Auto-scrap anything built or store it as the shipyard so we can place it again.
• A way to cancel the blue magnifying glass search tags from the inventory list.

150 hours and still playing. Having a lot of fun. But it took a while.

I think, like a lot of Bethesda games, learning how to play the game is a big part of the game, it's taken me a while, but I'm finally at the point where I can look at a a fight, ground side or space, and think "this is going to be fun". Would have probably been there sooner, but I hit the bug where you sell a ship on a station and all the ground disappears in New Atlantis and ended up restarting.

It's not without it's flaws. Bugs aside (and there are a few of those) I think my biggest gripe is the lack of a fuel economy. They gave us a space exploration game, and then removed the one mechanism that made exploration at all challenging. We don't have to work to visit a new system, and so we don't value the discoveries we make. I have high hopes for a survival mode.

That said, the number of things there are to do in the game is astonishing, even by Skyrim standards. I'm not even close to having done everything in New Atlantis, much less been everywhere. I can see this keeping me going for a while yet.

She really needs to get her head in the game.

I've been surprised by how much of a good guy I've been in my gameplay so far. Generally I tend towards the antihero, but my diplomat character is turning out pretty much heroic, albeit with occasional moments of pragmatism.

I'm intrigued by the NG+ setup. It closely mirrors the way many people to play the game anyway: finish the game and then play it again with more or less the same character, but leveraging foreknowledge of how events will play out. It's as if the reality of the game reflected the structure of the game and the Starborn had learned to exploit that. (I also think they did something similar with Septimus Signus' description of Elder Scrolls in TESV, but I nearly got burned at the stake for suggesting that on /r/teslore :) )

Not so keen on Constellation. For an eclectic mix of backgrounds and viewpoints, they are a preachy, self righteous bunch. Spare some poor sap who was set up to take the fall in some corporate power-play? Sarah doesn't like that. He did the crime so he should do the time. And Heaven forbid you should fire at a pirate and accidentally tag a UC or FC ship. You'll get the whole of them shouting at you to get out of the pilot ship and talk to them RIGHT NOW and never mind that you're busy fighting for your life. I tell you, next time I spec a new character, I'm taking introvert and leaving Constellation at home.

Not mad keen on the companion quests either, which is odd since that's one of the few things in Fallout 4 that I thought they did really well. Sarah is a clingy drip, at least when she's not channeling the Daily Mail editorial staff; I'm not interested in hearing about Barret and his dead husband; and Sam Coe's cute softy cowboy with adorable daughter show ... I'll pass, thanks. Andreja is at least interesting, but for all her tough talk, she's just as straight laced and judgemental as Sarah, the minute you do anything that smacks of coloring outside the lines.

Then again, I'm generally happiest as a solo act anyway, so it's no big deal.

I do like most of the moral dilemmas posed so far. The opportunities for corruption have been lucrative enough that I'd at least consider them, and laced with enough justification that you could take them and tell yourself you're doing the right thing. (Not that I have, admittedly). One NG+ it might be fun to take all the morally questionable choices and see just how mad can Barret can get. Will Sarah chuck me out of Constellation if I continue to abuse my power? Or will it all work out just the same anyway in classic Bethesda style. In any case, if I'm going to keep getting lectured, I might as well do something to deserve the lectures.

Ha! Yes!

Something that looks like it's been welded together in space from bits of random derelicts. Sort of a Watchmaker's City aesthetic :)

I was thinking I might do some custom modules and cowling, maybe some variants with different furnishings. A whole company sounds like a lot of work though.

Rhymes with "gone"