Oxygen Generator
DRxShockz
US Join Date: 2015-08-07 Member: 206879Members
US Join Date: 2015-08-07 Member: 206879Members
Comments
Helpful? Helpful for what? The bases already get oxygen from water, via artificial gills or electrolysis or something.
Fuel cells would be possible, I suppose, but we already have rechargeable power cells (that might be fuel cells anyway...) I can't think of too many other things that a tank of hydrogen would be good for
The hull strength and energy systems have made me wonder for a while if there shouldn't be more base considerations, like oxygen and temperature. So I vote yes on an oxygen generator. It seems to me a logical (and entertainingly challenging) limitation on base building.
that is exactly what's being suggested - only difference would be that there would be specific device that would perform electrolysis. If you do not put storage tanks for H2 it will be vented but if you do it would get stored.
As @przybysz86 said there would be a specific device to perfrom electrolysis. Also we have no idea how bases in subnautica get O2.
Very much this! That's certainly the way I've always looked at it. There are just certain functions like breathable air and lighting that are so basic -- it would only add tedium to have to create them manually, not any depth of gameplay.
Sure we know. Power goes in, air appears in the base. Electrolysis, or a membrane to remove dissolved O2 from water. Fish do it all the time, all you need is a pump and a barrier between the water and another medium that moves O2 from the water to the other medium. Fish gulp or move through water, a base would need a fair-sized pump, which might be less efficient than just using electrolysis.
You didn't answer the question, though. Why would we need tanks of hydrogen?
OP is suggesting adding items and a new mechanic, but has failed to suggest a reason for that new mechanic.
Ideally each consumable in base should have something storing.
For example batteries/power cells plugged into chargers should work as power storage for base with option to switch this off (if you want them to go to 100% and stay there.
Pressurized O2 bottles should work to expand O2 storage for base (in case of power loss) and should also have option to switch them to "charge only"mode and that's where O2 generator/compressor comes into picture.
As long as we do not have defined consumable storage in base it do not make sense. Right now you can have huge base but as soon as power runs out player's character switch to O2 bottles he have. It's far from realistic. Big bases should have enough oxygen for as much as few hours of use. Of course if we want to be perfectly realistic there should be finite speed of O2 flow between base compartments and CO2 introduced in game so mechanism is much more complex.
I'm not sure what the current planned design situation is, but I know at one point Purple Brain Coral was imagined to help in oxygen supply if you had it growing in a an alien containment unit. So there is precedent for oxygen-adding systems.
Like I said, I feel the base management system could do with being extended for a better gameplay experience & understanding. This would firstly require integration of the hull strength and energy systems into one coherent experience, and then temperature and oxygen could be added to have four qualities to keep in mind when building a base.
I do not suggest (all) base components can't produce oxygen themselves. That would be too taxing on early gameplay. But I do suggest that glass cannot produce oxygen, thereby putting an additional tax on people who want luxurious bases. I think that is a worthwhile addition, giving just a little more to fancy bases than how much lithium and quartz you can collect. Oxygen-generators might also play a role beyond a certain depth as pressure regulators. Bases with above-water components need no gens and PBCs also help. Probably best calculated in % "perfect" air, with something like anything below 80% causing a gradual loss of oxygen and above slowing oxygen collection.
More detailed base systems would make sense in a base-management game. SN has never really billed itself as that, though. I don't think it makes sense as long as SN is more about exploration than base management. Gameplay-wise, bases are currently big, safe, and fuzzy. I don't mind.