Of thermal plants and beacons and power transmitters

Alrekr_Ironhand

So, thermal plants. Once you get one built and placed, on a foundation, it powers ... the foundation. Great. I have a foundation in the middle of empty ocean, but it has power.
So how do I get that power to my base?
Power transmitters. Right. 100m range per transmitter.
OK, start laying out power transmitters towards my base. How many will I need?
<shrug> I dunno.
Well, how far am I from my base?
<shrug> I dunno.
OK, let's try placing a transmitter here. Am I within 100m?
<shrug> I dunno.
Is it working?
<shrug> I dunno.
Let's try placing one right next to the thermal plant. ...OK, I can see this one is working. OK, so I'll swim about twenty meters away ... try placing one here ... is it working?
<shrug> I dunno.
Look, OK, here, I'm going to try placing a beacon next to my thermal plant. So I can find it again. That ought to tell me how far away from it I am, right?
<shrug> Maybe.
OK, beacon placed ... can't label it, it's just "B1". Now let's swim away a bit ... surely the beacon ought to tell me how far it is, right?
<shrug> I dunno.


And so it goes.
Seriously, how are you supposed to string power back to your base with 100m-range power transmitters if you can't tell how far 100m is and can't tell whether any particular transmitter is working?

Subnautica really, REALLY needs to provide some way for you to tell where in blazes you are and how far away marked/beaconed objects are. Otherwise too many things are too much like playing darts over your shoulder while blindfolded and wearing earmuffs.

Aegil

You can change the label on beacons by targeting a very specific spot and hoping that you don't bob the wrong way when you click. Other than that though, yeah. Trying to place a thermal generator without a foundation is an exercise in frustration and I've even lost generators to the vent itself with no warning. And as for the power transmitter, it would be nice if the template was a little further from your FOV, just so you can actually see if it's still got the transmission line.

ADM_Ntek

i don´t know what version you use but in experimental it shows a blue beam when there is a connection if you are to far away it goes away.

Aegil

ADM_Ntek wrote: »

i don´t know what version you use but in experimental it shows a blue beam when there is a connection if you are to far away it goes away.

That's the transmission line I'm referring to. But I often can't see it with some of the angles that I end up having to swim. If the red/green template was just a little further away, it wouldn't be such a problem.

Alrekr_Ironhand

OK, I'm not on experimental mode yet.

ElCabong

You don't need to be in experimental mode. You get the blue beacon regardless. I don't play experimental and I've used them to get power to my base. I had to use two.