Overgrowing objects.

sayerulz

In the game currently, vehicles and bases will stay pristine even after weeks sitting unattended. I think that a good idea would be to make it so that, over time, various plants could grow on them. What I am thinking is that bases and the cyclops will undergo a sort of progressive ecology. When you build a cyclops or seabase, there will soon be some algae growing in some spots on it, which would be harmless. If you left the algae for a while, however, barnacles might start to grow, which, while they would have no effect on seabases, would slow down the cyclops a bit due to the increased drag. Now, after a while longer, acid mushrooms would start to grow, although only if the object is stationary. These would be a problem, as the acid they secrete would damage the hulls of the cyclops and seabases. If you left the thing for long enough, it would become covered with all sorts of biome-specific growths, including the interior, if it is flooded. The hulls could even take on a corroded appearance. All of the things that would grow would be removable with a knife. I feel like this would not only help make vehicles look cooler and more real, it would also add a bit more of a challenge, as one would have to make sure to keep track of their vehicles and bases. I also feel that it would be really cool to have wrecked cyclopses and abandoned seabases actually LOOK wrecked and abandoned. I don't know how hard this would be to implement, but I feel like it would really add a lot to the game.

Hexaphobia

I love this idea as long as cleaning your ship/seabase doesn't become tedious and repetitive. I'm thinking along the lines of a very slow growth that could be easily be cleaned away with some sort of tool. That way you are not out there every single day with your knife shipping off barnacles which sounds terribly dull. But I do love the idea of an abandoned cyclops wreck slowly succumbing to the ocean. I dont see why you would have abandoned bases however. Seamoth and cyclops makes sense, the get wrecked, they no longer work so you abandon them. But a sea base? why would you abandon the valuable materials if you can just suck em up and build another base? Now that Im thinking about it I like this idea only when applied to destroyed craft.

sayerulz

I don't know, I feel like having barnacles growing on my seabase would be cool. And what I'm thinking in terms of growth time is one day for a bit of algae, maby three for barnacles, and a week or so for acid mushrooms. So not constant upkeep, just some occasional work to keep things in shape. Also, I at least tend to just take the glass from seabases that I am no longer using, as titanium is really common, and the only thing that I am not always running out of.