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One minor thing that annoyed me in Subnautica is the inconsistency between the Moonpool and the Cyclops' vehicle bay. The two are functionally almost identical which makes the minor differences all the more jarring. For example, the cyclops allows you to access vehicle storage and upgrades from a panel, whereas the MP requires the player to undock a PRAWN suit beforehand. IMO it'd make sense for both MP and Cyclops to provide this panel alongside a third button to access the power cells of the docked vehicle. Adding these features to the Moonpool would make emptying out and re-equipping a PRAWN at your base a lot more convenient.

Secondly there's the autorepair module that I'd like to see implemented for the moonpool, either as a mod or as a default feature. This wouldn't change the game much in terms of balance or gameplay but it feels like an oversight/inconsistency not to have it.

Finally, I wouldn't mind the option to rename/recolour docked vehicles in the Cyclops bay, but this is obviously the most frivolous of the three points.

zeuskabob wrote: »

Second, the issue of clipping. (...) I don't know how to fix the issue, but my dream would be for leviathans to interact with walls intelligently, for example the Sea Emperor, when it gets too close to a wall, could turn its body and grip the wall with its tentacles to turn and push off. This tech would likely require some hybrid animations, which I'm not sure are implemented yet and therefore would be a low priority.

There are procedural animation systems that allow animation bones to interact with the world. Overgrowth is a game that's best known for that, but there are other games that use them too, and you can find plenty of indie YouTube videos with testing walking animations on various surfaces. I bet Subnautica could use something like this as a first step, just to reduce the amount of obvious clipping, but this alone won't do everything you; large fish will still swim into walls and just sort of crunch up until they decide to turn around, but at least it will look like their body is solid and is interacting with the wall.

I'm learning animation, but I have yet to actually use these systems myself, so I can't tell the devs how easy it should be for them to implement, but I bet it is possible.

Anyway, I agree that it's probably a low priority, but maybe not so low as you might think. Subnautica is all about immersion, and I wouldn't mind seeing more realistic animal behaviors take priority over some small new gameplay feature.

Third, the narrative. The game comes off very strong at the beginning with a negative view of megacorps (...)

Maybe it's just me, but I didn't really get that impression. It makes fun of them, but in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way, I thought. Nothing wrong with your suggestion, though.

Less importantly than these three, I have a couple of suggestions. First, I'd love if weather were made up of dynamic weather systems. For example, if you could sit on top of an ice sheet and watch as a rain cloud rolls over the map from a distance. This would occlude some map features, and if the weather is sufficiently chaotic it could really give the map a larger, more intense look. This could also give the player a chance to see a blizzard coming, instead of getting no more than a few seconds' notice. I love the idea of dynamic weather, and think it could help with immersion.

Agreed, and I bet you can cheat to make it less expensive. Rather than having the game track where on the map the foul weather is, weather could be map-wide like it is now, but the onset of a snowstorm could be delayed following a purely aesthetic animation of clouds rolling in from the distance. Once the clouds reach the player's position (or cover the entire playable area), the snow can be triggered.

In my original Subnautica playthrough, I completely ignored the option of building a second main base (...) The main reason for that was that I didn't want to have to move all of my many materials over from my main base, and so left them in the shallows. A cargo system would be very nice, made up of a cargo hold base module (a bunch of boxes with some robotic arms to carry them) and a cargo loading bay for the Cyclops. (...)

I think the planned "sea truck" will be able to do some of this.

Above-ground bases need some love I think. I don't know if I just found the wrong place for it, but I wasn't able to place modules above-ground without placing a foundation, and the foundation was a good 5 feet above the surface. This clearly doesn't work well for base building, so I'd like it if the foundation could be placed underground.

Yes. But more importantly, a way to control the placement distance and rotation of an object before placing it.

Weapons and combat are in dire need of something, but I'm not sure exactly what.

I doubt you'll get anywhere with this suggestion. The devs have made it clear that they do not want Subnautica to be combat-focused, going so far as to reject the idea of being able to have any interactions with a dead creature's body because that might encourage people to kill them.

Personally, I'm with them on this one. I could see some sort of electro-stun grenade or an entangling net, maybe, but I don't think combat needs to be expanded upon in any significant way.

Hi guys, I just played through Subnautica: Below Zero. I really enjoyed the first game, and played through nearly to the end, while building some bases and enjoying the atmosphere. I really think Subnautica: Below Zero has a better potential for excellent gameplay and story than Subnautica had, but would like to give some advice about the things that matter most to me in that regard, as well as some suggestions for less important but still great features. Spoilers, obviously.

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First and foremost is the issue of pop-in. Texture pop-in is very noticeable, but worse than that is environment and creature pop-in. The most egregious examples are the Rock Breakers and the Glow Whales, where the rock breaker crabs will spawn in above the ground, floating slowly to the bottom in a very conspicuous way. Glow whales pop in in full pods, all swimming in the same direction, and it completely breaks immersion. Extending the pop-in cutoff, improving pop-in spawn behavior, and reducing visibility at long distances would help with the issue.

Second, the issue of clipping. Player clipping is limited to feet clipping below ground textures but creatures, especially leviathans, have had clipping issues for a long time. The Sea Emperor has a big problem with clipping through walls, and in addition his sharp turns look unnatural when he runs into a wall. I don't know how to fix the issue, but my dream would be for leviathans to interact with walls intelligently, for example the Sea Emperor, when it gets too close to a wall, could turn its body and grip the wall with its tentacles to turn and push off. This tech would likely require some hybrid animations, which I'm not sure are implemented yet and therefore would be a low priority.

Third, the narrative. The game comes off very strong at the beginning with a negative view of megacorps, but it's not couched in realism. Alterra's dominance in Subnautica was limited to small views of their galactic superiority, but in this game we get a close up look, and it doesn't show properly. The most striking example of this (to me) is the poster in the arctic base. It boils down to "we own everything you find, and technology is good, culture bad". It doesn't really relate to our current or historical experience of corporations, and I think it could be well altered to something like "Alterra needs results! Your pay is based on your findings. Remember that you're a researcher, not a tourist". This poster would make more sense to me, because it is closer to the gray area, and I could actually believe an imaginary megacorp believing it's a reasonable sign to post in their base. Adding some very positive examples from Alterra would be great as well. They're putting out propaganda for their many employees/indentured servants, so making some really good looking, emotionally affirming posters would be great, and would further drive dissonance between Alterra's image and Robin's distrust of it may drive the player to question if she and her sister are simply paranoid, and whether trusting the alien AI is truly a smart idea or one that could lead to a lot of danger for Robin and Sam. This kind of uncertainty really plays into the Subnautica feel from the first game, where you're always led to wonder whether it's smart to take your seamoth deeper into the grand reef or if you should stick to safer, well explored waters.

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Less importantly than these three, I have a couple of suggestions. First, I'd love if weather were made up of dynamic weather systems. For example, if you could sit on top of an ice sheet and watch as a rain cloud rolls over the map from a distance. This would occlude some map features, and if the weather is sufficiently chaotic it could really give the map a larger, more intense look. This could also give the player a chance to see a blizzard coming, instead of getting no more than a few seconds' notice. I love the idea of dynamic weather, and think it could help with immersion.

In my original Subnautica playthrough, I completely ignored the option of building a second main base, and opted instead to build a tiny outpost with nothing but water and medkit production. The main reason for that was that I didn't want to have to move all of my many materials over from my main base, and so left them in the shallows. A cargo system would be very nice, made up of a cargo hold base module (a bunch of boxes with some robotic arms to carry them) and a cargo loading bay for the Cyclops. This would allow you to store a lot of materials easily, and easily cart them from one base to another if you want to. Possible extension could include cargo bots, which would carry materials but could be damaged by aggressive creatures. This would mark a beacon, which would lead you to the bot and its loot, but could lead you straight to a leviathan-class creature with the bot in its belly.

Above-ground bases need some love I think. I don't know if I just found the wrong place for it, but I wasn't able to place modules above-ground without placing a foundation, and the foundation was a good 5 feet above the surface. This clearly doesn't work well for base building, so I'd like it if the foundation could be placed underground. Bonus points if above-ground bases and sections of underwater bases that breach the surface get covered by snow during a blizzard.

Weapons and combat are in dire need of something, but I'm not sure exactly what. The technique of using the prawn suit to grapple and drill a leviathan class creature is so utterly absurd that it breaks me from the game completely. Essentially leviathans are placed as creatures whose only interaction with you is to eat you. The Stasis Rifle is an interesting concept, but doesn't feel right. If weapon effects were improved, and new weapons were added, then it could be nice to use the weapons to chase away enemies, up to leviathan class. In my mind, most weapons should be reserved for the Cyclops or PRAWN suit, since this would add to the claustrophobia of using that equipment. Bonus points for dynamic damage effects on creatures in the vein of Left 4 Dead 2.

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Thanks for reading! Please let me know what kind of feedback you have on these points. Would you also like to see these things added to the game?

I should point out, @madsauce has been popping in more often recently, and it's very much appreciated. But again, it seems very apparent he's got a lot on his plate and there's sometimes weeks up to a month or so with no meaningful dev interaction on the forums. Like I said, probably would be best (if they can manage it) to have someone whose sole job it is to act as a go-between and keep both camps, dev and fans, in communication. My two cents anyways, like I said earlier.

yeah lack of communication isn't a good thing, a lot of small developers have been brought down low due to not communicating enough with players/fanbase.

Well I can't play the game because of the upgrade bug on the sub's and the base my upgrades keep disappearing after I load up the save game.

I think this would detract from the game and what it stands for, besides that I would think that that itself would be beyond the scope of what the game is achieving.