Plasma and fusion
Nautical_Nick
Australia Join Date: 2016-06-12 Member: 218444Members
Australia Join Date: 2016-06-12 Member: 218444Members
Plasma and fusion are two things that I love. For those of you who don't know what plasma is, it is a metal heated up so high that it turns int a gas/liquid that melts almost anything. Fusion is basically a sci-fi power source. I'll start with fusion, for some reason I never thought that there were enough power sources. I always thought that there was going to be one more. Well I think fusion is a good option. A fusion reactor would need fusion cores to work. While having fusion cores, it would also need to take in power. Of course it would put out more power than it takes in, you can come up with that.
With plasma, you would first need a device that would super heat a metal to form plasma and possibly some thermal energy too. With the plasma you could make other metals to semi deal with resource problems. You could also use it to make weapons like plasma bladed swords that would use magnets to contain the plasma on the blade or a possible modifier for the rifle, a plasma type gun. The modification station would have a modification for the rifle or cannon to make a plasma based weapon. Or it could be a completely different weapon entirely. To power the weapon you would have to make plasma cores that would contain plasma for later use. These would be like the ammo of the plasma weapon
With plasma, you would first need a device that would super heat a metal to form plasma and possibly some thermal energy too. With the plasma you could make other metals to semi deal with resource problems. You could also use it to make weapons like plasma bladed swords that would use magnets to contain the plasma on the blade or a possible modifier for the rifle, a plasma type gun. The modification station would have a modification for the rifle or cannon to make a plasma based weapon. Or it could be a completely different weapon entirely. To power the weapon you would have to make plasma cores that would contain plasma for later use. These would be like the ammo of the plasma weapon
Comments
We've got Solar, Bio, Thermal, and Nuclear. Each fills a specific role just fine and I don't really think the development time - and the cost that goes into said development - would be worth it.
Solar is the best power source for early and shallow bases. It's cheap to make, and draws in a good amount of power fairly quickly. It's main drawback is that it's limited to relatively shallow waters, and you need a lot of them. It wouldn't be effective in the abyssal biomes or the undersea caves.
Bioreactors work anywhere, but I feel they're best used as a supplement to Solar Panels. They accept any form of biologic matter, and power for a good long time if you stick a few fish inside, but they power very slowly. However, they'll power regardless of day or night and at any depth.
Thermal Reactors only work in heated places, like the vents in the Grand Reef and I'll assume the lava flows in the ILZ/AZ.
And for everything else, there's Nuclear.
Other than sounding cool, what would adding a fusion power source really accomplish? Would it honestly be worth the time and money adding in a new reactor, when Solar and Bio cover early and midgame bases adequately, and Thermal and Nuclear covers the endgame?
Not that I don't approve of the idea of a new reactor and power source, I just don't think it's really needed within the current scope of Subnautica's gameplay.
That aside, I don't really have anything to say about the weapon idea itself. I highly doubt a plasma gun would even be considered, but an energy-based knife possibly? We already have the thermoblade so I'm not sure. Myself, my own personal opinion, I'm happy with the selection of defensive/offensive tools we have right now so out of the two ideas of yours, I'd say I approve of the fusion power source more than the plasma weaponry idea
Fusion though, I'd think would have to be a late late late game thing, and definitely not a mid-game thing. Fusion power on itself is supposed to be immensely powerful, it'd dwarf everything in-game but Nuclear so it wouldn't and shouldn't be available right away, barring Creative mode that is.
So, NN's proposal for two energy sources is sort of actually just one. Another type of nuclear reactor. I'm principally positive towards the idea, firstly because I like having lots of power options. Even if they aren't "necessary", as someone who likes building bases, the part where I have to decide what energy I will run the base on is one of my fav moments. Secondly, the idea the nuclear reactor would have to be renamed "(nuclear) fission reactor" to accommodate a "(nuclear) fusion reactor" pleases my science side. How it is to be fit into gameplay is something I wouldn't know, though. Hydrogen seems to me the logical material to be worked with and I think a fission reactor would have the con of being an entire separate room, but how the reactor is to be managed balanced against other energy sources I wouldn't know.
I reckon because it would maintain itself, it would have a slower output than the fission reactor.