Submarine customisation

NotAnNSASpy

Here are my ideas for Subnautica, feel free to add your own.

I think that having one or two customisable submarines would be better that having many submarines. Here's why. 1. It would allow freedom for the people everyone would be happy as they could pick and choose what they wanted. Because of this everyone would be happy and there should be no complaints. 2. From a development point of view it would quench the thirst for updates that the community want. Every so often they could release a few upgrades instead of another massive ship.

I have spilt my ideas for potential upgrades up into 2 categories with 3 sub-categories each.

Mobility

Speed. Better engines or power conservative engines for longer, more efficient journeys.
Depth. Having reinforced glass or internal support struts would be better for deeper adventures.
Manoeuvring. Rudders or fins to assist in sharp all direction movement would be interesting.

Utility
Transport. Having docking bays for transportation of the seamoth, exosuit and (if you dare to make a vessel this big) cyclops.
Defence. Having a stronger hull would be nice and (like the seamoth) having torpedos or electro-fields would be useful.
Exploring. Having the seamoth sonar was a great addition and having something like that would be great. Having robotic arms to harvest resources without getting wet would be useful. Having an infrared display for locating life forms or lava zone. Having a scanner that warns you if danger is near.

The different upgrades should visibility affect the vessel too, so a better engine should change the look of the engine. Or adding fins should actually add fins to the side and so one. Not everything should be so extreme though so the sonar could just add a small reader thing on the top of the sub.

Aesthetically speaking, upgrades could be used too. Don't like the semicircle cockpit? Change it to look downward or to be multi-tiered.
What is important though is that when the upgrade is applied it actually makes the changes to the in-game vessel.That is IMPERATIVE. Just to make it clear . For internal aesthetics like windows a snap-to system would be much welcome for those with OCD or just for people who like it organised.

Certain upgrades should also have negative effects. So if you want a stronger hull the speed would be compromised due to the weight. Or, if a bigger cockpit is wanted then depth limit would be decreased to due to increase in glass. Also not all upgrades should be used at once, you would have to pick and choose what you want.

No two subs would be the same. You could have a large open-ocean cruiser that couldn't go above the safe shallows but would be the king above the grassy plains or grand reef that could make the longest journeys imagined. Or a small, nippy cave explorer that could be able to map out its surroundings and gather rare resources. Or even a medium sized, slow vessel that can withstand great pressure and can go down to visit the ocean floor without buckling under the weight of the water.

I know that this is a rather large ask of the developers (okay absolutely massive) but in the long run it would pay off as people would be able to play with and experiment with the different versions of submarine for a long, long time while the devs take a well earned rest.

Having, say, 15 vehicles in your menu would be daunting and would feel cluttered and because some would be better than others many vehicles would likely not be used. If customisation was an option it would ensure cleanliness and would allow for all upgrades to be used meaning nothing the dev's design would go to waste.

Here are some links to various concept art that matches the ideas.

Downward facing cockpit: http://unknownworlds.com/subnautica/files/2013/12/ExteriorSketchSmall-618x341.jpg

Multi-tier cockpit: http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/subnautica/images/6/69/Subnautica-Cyclops_Sub_Concept_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150416034625

If the devs implement any of this I would be absolutely ecstatic. Feel free to add to or suggest your own ideas.

NotAnNSASpy

The recipes for these upgrades should vary in size and difficulty depending on what the upgrade is and what it does.

R2T9

These are cool ideas, but the logistics to implement them would be very hard. Especially since UWE has already created the Cyclops, I doubt they would restructure it that much. The most likely result would be that they would add that as a separate feature rather than redo the Cyclops, and they probably wouldn't do that for a while...too much other content they want to add. But yes, I totally agree with you that this would enhance the game.

NotAnNSASpy

I meant for this to be implemented alongside the cyclops. I feel the cyclops is pretty early-mid game and we needed a reward in the mid-late game.