Maximum depth on subs reduces as damage increases

scubamatt

I think that if your vehicle takes damage, the 'crush depth' should reduce by the same percentage.

So if your Seamoth has 900m max safe depth, and you take 50% damage, the crush depth is now 450m. This would make taking damage at the lower end of your safe depth rating a very serious concern. Rather liek real world submersibles. A little crack at 30m is no big deal. That same crack at 300m is a serious issue.

ThePassionateGamer

I'm a little bit torn on this one. On one side this idea is cool and seems only realistic but on the other side I see the fact that we talk about high-tech-sci-fi-submarines here that are not really comparable with todays submarines on Earth.

I mean maybe Subnauticas Submarines have a kind of emergency sealing nano-coating on them or whatever tech gizmo may explain that they do not suffer any serious consequences untill they get to the 0% point and get destroyed. At least we get some optical feedback the lower we get which is nice even if it makes no difference in the subs performance so far.

If you really want to see damage actually impacting the submarines performance then I would suggest other things then outright reducing it's maximum depth. Because that would almost always lead to destroyed subs where before that change "almost everything" was fine (when close to max depth of course).

Sure you'd have no problem if you always keep a kind of depth buffer to compensate eventually incoming damage as soon as you explore the deeper parts of the map but that would feel more as an exploring restriction then a good gameplay element to me.

You could implement things like fading/stuttering lights, reduced top speed, random movements when you just want to go straight ahead. That together with some nice sound effects of the engine making strange noises when damaged or something like that would be slightly anoying but not a subkiller. Or maybe even some leaking in the Seamoth (Cyclops actually already suffers from leakage as soon as it takes damage) which will slowly let it sink if you don't compensate or repair increasing the sink rate as you take more damage.

Not like. "Ok I am close to my maximum depth. Whoa an Ampeel hit me! Oh my subs is rapidly falling apart from the pressure it can't take anymore!? Damn emergency surface NOW! Oh too late...hope I make it to the surface before I run out of air. *sigh*"

You already take way bigger "hits" when you are below your safe depth anyway why make that even more punishing?

joni65

I also am not all that in to real world comparisons in video games. Games are not real world and would suck if they were. This is a different planet with different gravity, physics and what not, (yes, what not is a very scientific term)