Line #16 VideoGame/ShoresOfHazeron


1	[[quoteright:335:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zapsized_1.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:335:In space, no one can hear you dream.]]
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4	->''"Welcome, traveller!"''
5	-->-- '''Haxus'''
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7	A veteran space sim and GenreMashup, ''Shores of Hazeron'' sends you out upon a galaxy of [[TheManyDeathsOfYou hazards]], where you can expect to experience not only death by [[SpacePirates pirate]], death by [[ThrownOutTheAirlock decompression]], death by [[SwirlyEnergyThingy black hole]] and death by parasitic [[ChestBurster chest-burster]] (implanted by another player), but also death by walking too quickly into a sailboat, all in [[UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective delicious first person]].
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9	Core gameplay involves nurturing a city from [[SurvivalSandbox nothingness]] into the Space Age, designing, improving and battling [[DesignItYourselfEquipment unique spacecraft]], and spreading your civilization [[FourX throughout the stars]], whether alone or as part of a great, massively multiplayer nation. From rooms to buildings, buildings to cities, cities to planets and planets to star systems, the transition is [[DynamicLoading fluid and seamless]].
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11	Though the game shares ideas with the late 2010s space sim generation, such as ''VideoGame/StarCitizen'', ''VideoGame/EliteDangerous'', ''VideoGame/StarMade'' or ''VideoGame/DualUniverse'', it is actually of the same vintage as ''{{VideoGame/Noctis}}'', displaying both the high ambition and the low gloss of that era. Developed by Software Engineering and overseen by the mysterious architect [[CriticalStaffingShortage Haxus]].
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13	The game entered open beta around 2010. It used to be free-to-play; then it died and was resurrected by [[SavedByTheFans popular protest]] in February 2015 on a pay-to-play model. In August 2020 it returned to the free-to-play model for a short time with a voluntary Patreon for funding, before it was eventually shut down for good in January 2021. An identical single-player version was released on December 1, 2023, renamed ''Hazeron Starship''.
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15	!! ''Shores of Hazeron'' contains examples of the following tropes:
16	* ArbitraryWeaponRange: Your three weapon types rely on energy, ballistic projectiles and missiles. Energy weapons can ''hit'' any target within sensor range, but their focusing lenses cannot keep the beam cohesive beyond a certain distance. Shells can be evaded[[note]]this is abstracted[[/note]] with enough reaction time and missiles run out of fuel, essentially becoming supser-slow projectiles. So far, so good, but the c.65km max effective range for every type seems an arbitrary number - though a high one, when [[SpaceCompression planets are seldom more than 20km across]].
17	* ArtificialGravity: You need special technology to give your ships artificial gravity. With it, you can orient your gravity fields in whatever size, shape and direction you like. Can be abused for fun and profit, often to the dismay of boarding parties. You can also tie the field to a door switch, producing complex and possibly deadly interactions.
18	* ArtificialStupidity: AI crews used to have ''huge'' problems avoiding stellar bodies like planets, gas giants and even suns. Patches have increased the AI so far that such "dives" have become rare, even if they still happen occasionally. Then collision damage was added and now the AI crews end up bumping into each other on a regular basis instead.
19	* AwesomeButImpractical: Ships crewed entirely by players. It is a great source of hilarity to have all roles on a ship filled by players, but with the exception of the commander and possibly the helmsman all roles are more effective when assigned to the AI crew.
20	* BigDumbObject: Ringworlds
21	* BeamSpam: It is possible to equip starships with a lot of small cannons or lasers instead of the usual single huge one. This makes it more likely to destroy enemy equipment while sacrificing weight efficiency and range.
22	* {{BFG}}: The way most players design their warships main weaponry. A single huge cannon/laser that offers high range and damage per shot.
23	* BoardingParty: easily employed against a stationary target. Against a moving one...good luck. Downing the shields allows you to board using the transporter, which makes this much easier.
24	* BreakableWeapons: All handheld equipment has gradual wear-and-tear from repeated use or damage. Rifles, for example, will fall apart after a few dozen to a few hundred magazines depending on the tech level. Armor will degrade from damage. However, all handheld equipment can be repaired if you have the right tools; glue guns repair plastic, wrenches can fix moving components, ''et cetera''.
25	* ACommanderIsYou
26	* DeflectorShields
27	* DesignItYourselfEquipment: The game carries an integrated CAD modelling suite, for the player to create anything from milk bottles and rifles to palaces and battleships. Perhaps mercifully, a public design library comes with the game.
28	* EarlyGameHell: Sometimes when forming a new empire, you'll get placed in the middle of nowhere with a low amount of resources. Wild animals will kill you left and right when you make your town.
29	** GoddamnedBats: Aggressive flying animals. Interrupting your building process, kill you slowly with [[DeathByAThousandCuts many low damage attacks]], and worst of all they are nearly impossible to hit with the basic starter melee weapons.
30	* FasterThanLightTravel: Usually ships are limited to light speed and [[PortalNetwork wormholes]], but high-tech empires can gain access to warp drives that allow ships to reach between 10 to 90 times the speed of light.
31	* HyperspeedAmbush: a skilled player with fast reflexes can pull this off, allowing ships with a range disadvantage to close the gap. Add a big enough capacitor, and both the [[HitAndRunTactics hit-and-run]] and TeleportSpam variants become possible. For the less skilled [[TeleFrag tele-fragging]] is a likely outcome.
32	* InventoryManagementPuzzle: Players have a fairly large inventory for carrying goods. It is not, however, very voluminous, requiring players to craft backpacks or crates in order to lug around high-volume goods (such as fuel canisters for ships or land vehicles). Micromanaging a crate-laden inventory allows a player to carry around a ridiculous amount of high-volume, low-weight goods.
33	* LoopholeAbuse: The game normally requires a ship to have thrusters in order to move, making "gun platforms" (a box ''covered'' in weapon systems) pretty useless. However, the [[Videogame/GarrysMod Facepunch]] / [=NeoCAS=] empire found out that one can simply stuff the gun platforms inside a large ship's hangar - and still fire the ridiculously power cannons - with no reduction to the large ship's speed or capacitors. [[ObviousRulePatch It was quickly fixed]].
34	* MadeOfExplodium: Unarmored [[TechnologyLevels low tech]] space ships and stations will violently explode at the slightest provocation, including ''if you walk into them too fast''.
35	* MoreDakka: Sea BeamSpam, above.
36	* OlderIsBetter: After the disappearance of the Toucans (the largest player faction by far), their ships became extremely sought-after for their durability, speed, and firepower. A salvaged Toucan ship is far more valuable than most modern player ships.
37	* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Averted. No matter how advanced a civilization is, their worlds need churches or the population gets angry.
38	* PointDefenseless: Averted. Assuming roughly equal tech levels defensive turrets mounted on starships and stations offer protection from infantry assaults, boarding parties and hostile [[SpaceFighter small craft]].
39	** Used to be played straight. Before the march 2014 combat overhaul infantry armor used to absorb truly ridiculous amounts of damage, making infantry almost immune to any weapon that can be used against them.
40	* PortalNetwork: Naturally formed wormholes create shortcuts between star systems, usually with a range under 4 parsecs. Any ship with a wormhole drive (and enough capacitor) can use the wormholes to travel quickly between systems. The other alternative is to slowboat with standard engines - taking something like 8 hours to get 4 light years - or to build a ship advanced enough to use the warp drive.
41	* PowerArmor: The aptly named Power Armors. Offering high defense values and the ability to survive in space.
42	* RammingAlwaysWorks: Played straight. Collision damage ignores all shields and deals damage depending on the armor levels and velocities of the involved ships. Accelerating a small ship with heavy armor directly into an enemy ship is an effective, if wasteful, way to destroy them.
43	* RingWorldPlanet: Systems have a 2% chance of having a Ringworld in them. Ringworlds are extremely valuable for their massive potential population. Ringworlds come with 5, 10, 15 or 20 arcs, the total amount is depending on their diameter, and each arc counts as a separate planet offering 2 ressource zones with up to 1000 population and one potential officer per arc.
44	* SceneryPorn: While the game has graphics reminiscent of 1998, it definitely has its moments, especially while exploring planets on foot at night, when the stars and nebula are burning in the sky.
45	** Early 2013 an update overhauled the planets and created much smoother terrain with better textures. Subsequent patches over the next few months added more terrain features, diversity and changed the way clouds are rendered. The engine, while still simple in presentation and low-poly, is now capable of creating quite beautiful planets, especially when viewed from space.
46	* SchizoTech: Your empire may have warp drives and an interstellar empire, but apparently the telephone hasn't been invented yet as you need to physically walk to a building to change what in produces.
47	** Telephones have finally been invented. Since the start of Universe 5 the capitol building has gained the ability to access the production lines of every building in the city.
48	* SpaceFighter: The imaginatively titled Space Fighter F1 and F2. They're small, cannot be targeted by the main weapons of starships, and their weapons penetrate shields. The downsides to them being that they have no sensors (making them useless until you get visual on the enemy ship), and the manned turrets on starships ''will'' shoot at them.
49	* SpaceFriction: If you use Eludium in your engines, your velocity is always conserved ''relative to the facing of the ship'', which takes some getting used to. Thrust is therefore required to slow down, but you can turn instantly and even spin in a tight circle. Rocket engines, however, provide a straight aversion. All ships will drift realistically when power is lost.
50	* SpacePirates: Pirates starships will randomly spawn near ships that have a player on board and as part of their command roster. They take their designs from the published ship libraries, making it rare to see the same ship twice. Pirates will order any ship they find to open their doors (to steal their cargo) or be destroyed.
51	* WideOpenSandbox

Context VideoGame / ShoresOfHazeron