Bilge Pumps

DagothUr

What if this was something you had to actually build instead of just a free feature of all bases? What if they drained power to use? What if every base had an automatic amount of small leakage based on a ratio of depth to remaining hull integrity, and bilge pumps were needed to counteract that?

Example: Let's say every bilge pump removed 5 units of water ever minute cycle, and leakage was counted in five minute cycles as well. So a shallow base, 20m, hull integrity of 40 would leak in (20/40=0.5) half a point of water every five minutes. Not a big deal, one pump is more than enough. Deep base, 500m, hull integrity of 80, would leak in 6.25 units of water ever five minutes. Now you're going to need two running constantly. Later, you get drunk and think it's a good idea to build a base at 800m with lots of windows and your hull integrity is down to 10. You're now flooding in at 80 points of water per cycle, which would require at least 16 pumps running constantly - and that's before that dumn giant thing over there starts bonking into your hull because it can't figure out how to pathfind around your base.

It would no longer be enough to just say "Hull Integrity > Zero." You'd need exponentially greater amounts of reinforcement at greater depths in order to stop the leaking, or more & more bilge pumps to counteract those leaks.

Naturally I'd consider this to be an optional feature that players should be able to turn off if they don't want the extra difficulty.

ThePassionateGamer

I think that would not fit very well with the Sci-Fi setting. I mean we have like molecular fabricators, stasis rifles, interstellar travel and upgrade modules for the Seamoth that harden the hull just in time for an impact to cause no damage but we can't build bases that are watertight?

That would suit underwater bases build in a Steampunk setting or so but in Subnautica it would not make much sense in my opinion.

Sure we get leaks if we mess up structural integrity or something hits our base but that is ok and somewhat reasonable even for a Sci-Fi setting.

Sigmalx

he has a point Passionate. it would be useful, but only if A) it was on the lowest floor or a series of MP rooms, or B ) used if too much water had leaked in (50% or more)

ZionExpress

Bilge pumps can be handy in the event that your base is actually flooding, buying you precious seconds to weld up hull breaches and build bulkheads, etc. But not as a constant "need" for a base with the current integrity system in place. As it stands, how would this be any different than reinforcing walls to increase hull integrity? Either you a) build pumps to offset your constant "minor" flooding or b) just reinforce the damn wall and never have flooding to begin with.

Instead, I suggest an overhaul of the integrity system to start. As you noted, having an absolute system like "integrity > 0 = good" is pretty boring. The devs should change it up so that there is always a constant possibility of hull breaches and having high integrity helps reduce the odds or frequency of it happening. ie. 10 integrity gives a 10% chance to breach every x minutes, 20 integrity makes that 5% chance instead, 40 is 2.5% chance, etc. Lower integrity has a high chance of springing a leak and thus necessitates having something like a bilge pump for those "oh shit" situations when you can't find the leak. Also, the deeper your base is, the higher the chance of leaks. This could be especially important for those of us who spend significant time away from our bases. Imagine going out to hunt for resources only to come back two days later and find your base completely flooded. Yes, that would be a pain in the ass but it would also be semi-realistic if you don't have any automated systems in place to prevent that from happening. If you're not at your base to repair leaks then a bilge pump might buy you some extra time and you come back to find your base only half flooded instead. Now, that'd be pretty cool!