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dsh3

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 30, 2012
556
276
Denmark
ark-survival-evolved-screenshot_1920.0.0.jpg


(Steam link)

Has anyone else noticed this game, or maybe even tried it? It reminds me a lot of the old Carnivores games, of course just more modern and up to date.

I know it's still very early alpha and only available via pre-order on Steam, although at a very low and limited promotion period. I'm very tempted to try it out. :D

Trailer for droolz:

 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
I'm also looking for some good feedback to jump on this.

Anyone who is playing, I'd like to know more about the server setup you are playing on. Are you playing solo or multiplayer? Are there official servers? Are you hosting a server with friend invites? The problem with private servers hosted by a stranger is that you can devote a lot of time just to have it, (the server) disappear on you.

What kind of death penalty?

This tips video shows what you'll be doing early in the game. I have concerns with the community nature of belonging to a tribe when it comes to personal possessions.


ARK Server Setup:


Something tells me that taming animals (megalodon) in this game is on the unrealistic side. :p

maxresdefault.jpg
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
I have played it a lot the past two weeks. You die a lot until you understand the mechanics. I have not gotten into older servers, where people tend to have a big technological advantage that perhaps makes it easy for them to kill you a lot. I play mainly on my office server (lan play is almost like single player as you don't have the threat of evil players lurking) and on a new multiplayer server.

Optimisation wise, i get around 20 fps on my 2013 Retina MBP, but I tend to put the graphics on low-medium. As I said before, it could be a lot better, but every patch makes it run faster. We have an older 2011 iMac on the office that really struggled in the game, but with one of the later patches (185.0 I think it was) it became a lot more responsive, and is now playable on the lowest of settings.
If you play on an old PvP server yes, it would be quite easy to steal all of you possessions and destroy all of your structures if the other tribe is better than yours, but I imagine that is what you are looking for if you choose those servers (you can always choose PvE).

I am actually looking forward to a tribe war a couple of weeks from now, risking my base on the server I'm on. When I want to build and explore, I just play on my office server with friends.



I find it a great game, I've enjoyed it way more than I thought I would, and it seems like it has endless possibilities. It is for certain the best Early Access game I have played, and I am a sucker for buying anything that Steam throws at me (and I hardly play any of them for more than 20 minutes).

Highly recommended!

Since this is about ARK, I replied to it in this thread. Thanks for the info. Does a PVE server respect private property any better than PVP? How severe is the death penalty in this game? Thanks!
 

colocolo

macrumors 6502
Jan 17, 2002
479
132
Santiago, Chile
Since this is about ARK, I replied to it in this thread. Thanks for the info. Does a PVE server respect private property any better than PVP? How severe is the death penalty in this game? Thanks!

Private Property

PvE servers
- you cannot destroy other people's structures
- you cannot kill other people's dinos
- you cannot loot unconscious people (you can be unconscious because of some game mechanics, or when you disconnect - you never actually disappear from the world)

PvP servers
- you cannot destroy other people's structures
- you cannot kill other people's dinos
- you can loot unconscious people


Both servers
You can steal stuff from campfires, mortars, or any other item that doesn't have a lock. You can put a passcode to your storage boxes to secure them as well. By default, they can be opened by anyone.
Your house door is by default locked, so if you put your stuff inside, no one can loot you (unless you leave it open... it happens!) in PvE. In PvP they can destroy your door/walls and loot you, so you'd better lock your boxes.

Tribes are another matter. You can set your tribe so that structures and dinos are tribe-owned or personal. If they are tribe-owned, you can select if when you leave the tribe, your dinos/structures leave with you or they stay loyal to the tribe.
I think all boxes are shared, so you would have to make a town with separate housing for each member in order to keep your privates, well, private.


Death Penalty
Two server modes, hardcore and normal (officially called non-hardcore). Almost all servers are non-hardcore.
In hardcore, when you die you are born again level 1.
In normal, you keep your level and all your engrams.

In both cases, when you die, your corpse stays on the spot where you were killed. You can run there and recover all the stuff you were carrying (and eat your corpse!). If someone else gets there first, they can loot you.
Most of the time the stuff you carry around is not that critical and you can get it back fairly easily (cloth, basic weapons/tools, etc) so it is not that critical. Maybe there are some advanced weapons you have to invest a lot of mats to recover, I don't know.
You generally get more upset for losing your house and the stuff locked inside it than losing the stuff you carry around.


EDIT: I just read the full title of the thread. This game is no longer Windows - only. As a matter of fact, I've only played it in OS X!
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
Private Property

PvE servers
- you cannot destroy other people's structures
- you cannot kill other people's dinos
- you cannot loot unconscious people (you can be unconscious because of some game mechanics, or when you disconnect - you never actually disappear from the world)

PvP servers
- you cannot destroy other people's structures
- you cannot kill other people's dinos
- you can loot unconscious people


Both servers
You can steal stuff from campfires, mortars, or any other item that doesn't have a lock. You can put a passcode to your storage boxes to secure them as well. By default, they can be opened by anyone.
Your house door is by default locked, so if you put your stuff inside, no one can loot you (unless you leave it open... it happens!) in PvE. In PvP they can destroy your door/walls and loot you, so you'd better lock your boxes.

Tribes are another matter. You can set your tribe so that structures and dinos are tribe-owned or personal. If they are tribe-owned, you can select if when you leave the tribe, your dinos/structures leave with you or they stay loyal to the tribe.
I think all boxes are shared, so you would have to make a town with separate housing for each member in order to keep your privates, well, private.


Death Penalty
Two server modes, hardcore and normal (officially called non-hardcore). Almost all servers are non-hardcore.
In hardcore, when you die you are born again level 1.
In normal, you keep your level and all your engrams.

In both cases, when you die, your corpse stays on the spot where you were killed. You can run there and recover all the stuff you were carrying (and eat your corpse!). If someone else gets there first, they can loot you.
Most of the time the stuff you carry around is not that critical and you can get it back fairly easily (cloth, basic weapons/tools, etc) so it is not that critical. Maybe there are some advanced weapons you have to invest a lot of mats to recover, I don't know.
You generally get more upset for losing your house and the stuff locked inside it than losing the stuff you carry around.


EDIT: I just read the full title of the thread. This game is no longer Windows - only. As a matter of fact, I've only played it in OS X!

Thanks for the info and sorry for the delay in responding. I went to Steam today and looked at the videos, I might just have to jump on this. It's looks incredible. One of the big complaints was crappy performance. Has that been improved?

I'm interested in PVE. Can you (or anyone tell me) if there are servers that are better than others? And how many people will you see on a typical server? And what happens to performance if a group of people gathers? How big is the world, really big or like a MMORPG zone? I could imagine issues where you do alot of progress on a server and then... it's no longer there. What's why I would consider setting up my own server, but then I might be lonely. Are there official servers? ;)

If I get it, I'll definitely be reading/looking at a guide like one of the links I posted before jumping into this.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
I just jumped into this game today. What a steep learning curve.
icon_eek.gif
I'm starting out solo getting my feet wet.

After I get familiar with the game, I might try an official server, if I don't pull my hair out first. One thing that really can kill the wonder of a new world to explore is if it's packed with people... :p

The good thing in solo is that I can dial some of the difficulty back like hunger.

Is a dilo a dilopasaurus? I've watched some videos and heard references to it. I've been killed by these at least 3 times. First thing that happens is my world turns green. I start swinging my axe wildly, but I'm dead in a less than 10 sec. I saw one message that said, killed by a level 15 diloposaurus. Last I looked I was level 8 or so. Are the little spitters hard to kill?

Is there a way to tell the level of a dino?

Is there fog? At one point, it was day time, but everything was enveloped in a haze of what looked like fog. When I tried to quit out of the game, it hung up on the main menu and I had to force quit it. Is that common?

Thanks! I'm sure I'll have more questions.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
Newb Tips:
First off, prepare yourself for DEATH, it's a certainty. Fortunately besides the dying, the game penalty is not great as long as you can find your body. You do keep all of your skills. You body will have all of your equipment until you can get a storage container built, but you'll still want your hard earned clothes back.

For anyone who has not played this yet, I died about 6 times my first day of play and depending on the circumstances of my death, the really aggravating thing was, 1) re-spawning in a strange place and not knowing where which way up the coast I needed to head to find my body and 2) not able to find or get to my body. Note that after a time, your body will disappear, but a backpack of stuff will remain. How long does it remain? I don't know.

Hint: Soon as you log in, pull up map (M), select position (P), type in your lat/long and a name for the point. You might have to zoom in to be able to see what's on the map. In Options/Settings: choose Southern Coast as the location of your respawns. In one of the guides I read, as a newb you don't want to be spawning up North, nasty critters up there.
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
I guess I'm beating a dead horse around here, but this games is a compelling sandbox. :p I've been playing solo, but I may go visit my guild presence and check out the group atmosphere on an official server.

ShooterGame%202015-08-25%2014-09-31-45.png
 
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MacAlien

macrumors 6502
Oct 17, 2012
499
171
Boston
I've been pretty interested in this game since it first showed up on the scene. Glad you're enjoying it, though I'm unsure if I really want to get dragged into another grindy game a la EQ, WoW, FFXIV, etc
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
I've been pretty interested in this game since it first showed up on the scene. Glad you're enjoying it, though I'm unsure if I really want to get dragged into another grindy game a la EQ, WoW, FFXIV, etc

There are no quests, you do and research what you want, guided by what is available in the research tree. You build, tame animals that will act as your tanks. Unfortunately you'll die a lot, but if you play in solo mode or are part of a trustworthy tribe, death can be mitigated in different ways. There is a vibrance in this game that I've not seen in other sandboxes, but I won't guarantee it will strike you that way. :)
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
@dsh3, I don't know how often you visit Mac rumors but since this game is both Mac and PC if the thread tools will allow you, could you change the category to OS neutral? Otherwise, would a mod like @SandboxGeneral :):) consider doing this as to better illustrate this is not a PC only game? We are in a primarily Mac forum after all :):). Thanks

I can't believe you guys are not all over this game. Come on dudes, it's incredible! :D

I'm working on a beginner's oriented guide, which if editing time for older posts still expires at MacRumors, and there are no wiki post abilities in this forum, I'll stick it somewhere like Google Docs and link to it.
 

dsh3

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 30, 2012
556
276
Denmark
@dsh3, I don't know how often you visit Mac rumors but since this game is both Mac and PC if the thread tools will allow you, could you change the category to OS neutral? Otherwise, would a mod like @SandboxGeneral :):) consider doing this as to better illustrate this is not a PC only game? We are in a primarily Mac forum after all :):). Thanks

I can't believe you guys are not all over this game. Come on dudes, it's incredible! :D

I'm working on a beginner's oriented guide, which if editing time for older posts still expires at MacRumors, and there are no wiki post abilities in this forum, I'll stick it somewhere like Google Docs and link to it.

Not possible to change, unfortunately. :(

I like(d) the game the first couple of days I tried it, but it got pretty boring rather quickly. Haven't been ingame for the past month nor followed their updates, so can't say if it has gotten interesting again. :)
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
Not possible to change, unfortunately. :(

I like(d) the game the first couple of days I tried it, but it got pretty boring rather quickly. Haven't been ingame for the past month nor followed their updates, so can't say if it has gotten interesting again. :)

Do you mind if I ask the mods to change it?

How do you feel about sandbox games in general? Did you play mostly solo or on a server? The reason I ask is because at one time the game's performance was reported to be horrendous, but they have improved that. On a standard server the grind is pretty bad, and I don't like grind. I always play Minecraft in Creative mode just cause I don't like grind. That issue can be mitigated in ARK a lot in the solo game and for a server, by finding one with relaxed rules.
 

dsh3

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 30, 2012
556
276
Denmark
Do you mind if I ask the mods to change it?

How do you feel about sandbox games in general? Did you play mostly solo or on a server? The reason I ask is because at one time the game's performance was reported to be horrendous, but they have improved that. On a standard server the grind is pretty bad, and I don't like grind. I always play Minecraft in Creative mode just cause I don't like grind. That issue can be mitigated in ARK a lot in the solo game and for a server, by finding one with relaxed rules.

Feel free to do so. :) When I created the thread, there was only a Windows client for the game.

Generally I like sandbox games, but Minecraft never really got to me. I'm a big fan of being "free" and being able to play without a straight storyline or specific objectives. I played Ultima Online for many, many years, and that was pretty much as sandbox as it could get. You could spend days just talking, walking or painting your furniture if you wanted.

When I played ARK I played online on the official servers, the offline singleplayer performance was really horrid even on my i5-4670k, 16GB RAM and a GTX 770. It had improved a little bit from start to when I last played.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
Feel free to do so. :) When I created the thread, there was only a Windows client for the game.

Generally I like sandbox games, but Minecraft never really got to me. I'm a big fan of being "free" and being able to play without a straight storyline or specific objectives. I played Ultima Online for many, many years, and that was pretty much as sandbox as it could get. You could spend days just talking, walking or painting your furniture if you wanted.

When I played ARK I played online on the official servers, the offline singleplayer performance was really horrid even on my i5-4670k, 16GB RAM and a GTX 770. It had improved a little bit from start to when I last played.

If you look at my signature for my PC hardware, I've got setting low to med, which btw don't hurt the looks of the game and I'm getting about 30-60 fps. In the realm of sandbox and worlds to explore, I'm finding it very compelling. The building is not as robust as compared to Everquest Next Landmark, but the dinos are great along with the danger. I've died more in this game than any other, I think. :)
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
If there is anyone playing this game Mac native, please report in! I'd like to know how it performs. On my PC gaming box, I'm getting 30-50 FPS with many settings on low.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
ARK Survival Evolved 2011 MBP (see signature) Performance On Mac and Windows.

The verdict is.... unlikely on either OS with this hardware. I installed ARK on both Mac and Windows 7 via Bootcamp and with settings on low, I pulled in about 10-20 FPS, although on Windows at some moments it showed 30 fps, but this was stagnant, nothing going on. Windows gets the slightest of edges if any.

Now the question is how well would it do on a new iMac or MBP? Hmmm.
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
ARKservers.net: There are currently 19352 people surviving on 16708 online ARK islands!

It's sounding like they got something right especially if they are charging $40 per month per server. The question is if the 16708 servers are servers charged at $40/month ($668k per month) or if these include non-dedicated personal servers?
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
https://www.reddit.com/r/playark/comments/3j5vxp/raptor_vs_saber_vs_ape_damage_speed_testing/

ARK gamepedia Base Damage Link.

Outstanding info! There is both health vs damage. My question (for anyone participating) is what does the game do when it spawns a Level 50 critter as far as it's melee damage? This would be important to know when making these comparisons if you are thinking of siccing your pet on a wild dino. The comparison would be a player developed critter where it's the players option to decide how best to apply health vs damage. What is the idea ratio?

Two carnos, if we can believe base damage stats (published at ARK gamepedia) would a L25 Carno at 500% damage be equal to a L50 Carno at 250% damage?

Then there is the armor aspect- Is health dilo health 1000 equal to Rex health 1000? If accurate, this is very unrealistic. As far as I know the only armor values we know about are ones attributed to saddles. The big surprise below is that a wolf is the number one damage dealer and a Raptor out damages a Carno. Damage high to low descending.

Animal, Base Damage, L10, L30, L50 DPS
Wolf 40, 433, 889, 1345
Ape 40, 359-410, 736-841, 1114-1273
Rex 60, 268, 550, 833
Spino 50, 266, 554, 824
Stag 19, 246, 504, 763
Saber 30, 242, 497, 751
Raptor 15, 204, 418, 632
Carno 37 179, 372 562
Toad 12, 88-146, 181-301, 272- 454
 

MacAlien

macrumors 6502
Oct 17, 2012
499
171
Boston
Sale on this game atm. 33% off. Figured, why not. Tried it and after continually being spawned in spots where I'd instantly die, I finally quit last night. Tried again this AM and spent about an hour completely clueless what to do except being told I'm cold nonstop. Would be swell to have some sort of tutorial in game for folks who try it and cannot figure anything out. Will try again later tonight but so far it's a bit meh. This isn't a game one tries getting into lightly. >.<

Also, graphic-wise my MBP hates this game. While dying nonstop last night, the game defaulted to the highest setting. Lag, disappearing mouse, etc. Headache mania! Finally got it down to low settings this AM, which is a bit ugly.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,502
The Misty Mountains
Sale on this game atm. 33% off. Figured, why not. Tried it and after continually being spawned in spots where I'd instantly die, I finally quit last night. Tried again this AM and spent about an hour completely clueless what to do except being told I'm cold nonstop. Would be swell to have some sort of tutorial in game for folks who try it and cannot figure anything out. Will try again later tonight but so far it's a bit meh. This isn't a game one tries getting into lightly. >.<

Also, graphic-wise my MBP hates this game. While dying nonstop last night, the game defaulted to the highest setting. Lag, disappearing mouse, etc. Headache mania! Finally got it down to low settings this AM, which is a bit ugly.

Depending on the Mac, it could be quite ugly. ;) My 2011 MBP will barely play it on low settings.

Read my starter guide, a thread in this forum. This island is very dangerous when you first start out, expect death, possibly frequently, as part of the package. When you have trained at least one Dilo, preferably 3 Dilos, if you play cautiously, your death rate will drop dramatically. I have not died in a long time, because I never go anywhere without my Dino brute squad.

Look at my guide. If you think the game is too tough, there are setting that can lower difficulty to suit you (for solo play). And if you are playing solo, game saves can be created so you should not loose too much if the worst happens. If you die, the ideal is run back to the spot of your demise and fetch your stuff within 15 minutes (before it dissapears) and hook up with your pets if you had some with you, and they are still alive.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ark-survival-evolved-q-d-guide.1912168/

This is a tremendous game! :)


This article claims that game performance will be improved by the time it hit retails. Maybe then my MBP will play it better.
 
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