Precursor update (loot) thoughts
DrownedOut
Habitat Join Date: 2016-05-26 Member: 217559Members
Habitat Join Date: 2016-05-26 Member: 217559Members
Having played the Precursor update as far as I set out to do (was originally going to skip it entirely, but hype happened), I have some thoughts about the new (loot) situation I'd like to write down.
When the news came in about the reworked gold/silver distribution of sandstone, I was confused because 75/25 was the opposite of my experiences, thereby making 50/50 a step back rather than an improvement. Playing has confirmed that it is a step back and I get the impression I'm not alone in this.
The new situation is for three reasons a negative for me: lack of silver, over-abundance of gold, and the effect on shale. Counting every item once but excluding power transmitters and drone cameras, there's a need for 17 pieces of gold and 45 pieces of silver. Yet gold is for 50% or more available in three nodes and silver for 50% or less in two. I do not understand why blueprints are made more accessible when the game ends up hitching repeatedly on one single resource anyway. One could argue the PRAWN is the key to more silver, but the PRAWN is pretty much tied to one blueprint location itself and it's not like there's silver heaps everywhere to make up for the scarcity early on. And gold I can technically let lie where I find it or throw it away/delete it, but that's sort of... not fun? It's like for all the work trying to get other material (silver & diamond) you've only got gold to show for it. Which brings me to shale. Shale gets you either gold or lithium, which makes it only interesting for the lithium, and unless I'm mistaken the number of lithium crystals in the Mushroom Forests have doubled. Cool, but between easily found crystals that give me the resource I want and nodes that might disappoint me with even more gold, I'm not touching shale.
I'm inclined to think a new resource is in order to replace gold in shale and as low percentage third resource in either sandstone or basalt. Platinum comes to mind; it's used as an oxygen indicator (helmet module pointing you to the nearest oxygen source?) and catalyst to restructure molecules in oils. For the silver problem, at least revert to the old distribution numbers in sandstone and up the chances of finding it in barnacles. As it is, I personally find barnacles not ideal to search for. Reefbacks don't seem like fast swimmers until you try to harvest from their backs and tiger plants go easily unseen until pain happens. Like, I hope one day sandsharks can have the same node spawning trait as sea treaders. Would there be silver as loot, I'd probably prefer swimming with a sandshark that already has targeted something else than getting stealthed by a tiger plant.
The blueprint distribution needs some tweaking still, but in general I like it. I was afraid it'd be too easy for me now, but it works (I presume in the future we'll have to find module blueprints separately rather than get them with the VMS?). Stillsuits are a bit overdone. I think it was in wreck (-390, -120, 648) that I opened the door only to see a legion of stillsuit safes as if it was an intervention about my drinking problem (get it? stillsuit? drinking problem?
). Quickly scanned them all and opened the second door just to face even more stillsuit safes. Definitely one for the unintentional creepy moments list along with the giant spinning reefback and every time I've gotten jumpscared by my own hands (don't judge me). I'm very glad the seaglide is now much more easy to find. I used to struggle to complete the blueprint, but the fragments are now more numerous and easier to see due to the boxes. Admittedly, it got a little repetitive finding only boxes with seaglide fragments but adding any other kind of fragment could solve that (why did solar panels become default blueprints anyway?).
I am pleasantly surprised to find the outside Degasi PDAs can now be picked up. I had hopes for the FI because you'd been redesigning the island (magnificent job, btw!), but I didn't expect the JSC ones to be good too. Nor did I expect the gun to have such a vast interior or the cache to be so pretty. And I feel like my memory is playing tricks on me, but I don't recall looted floodlights turned off before? Thrilled to see that implemented (well, 2 out of 3, but the third one was in a bugged wreck, so... It didn't hold upon reload either, but details). Curious what the plans for vehicles are what with the energy changes being reverted. I do miss the steps forward you could make by getting the right modules, but I never was a fan of having to wait to get my oxygen reserve back up and the lights weren't fair. At least without the necessary balancing, this is the better situation.
When the news came in about the reworked gold/silver distribution of sandstone, I was confused because 75/25 was the opposite of my experiences, thereby making 50/50 a step back rather than an improvement. Playing has confirmed that it is a step back and I get the impression I'm not alone in this.
The new situation is for three reasons a negative for me: lack of silver, over-abundance of gold, and the effect on shale. Counting every item once but excluding power transmitters and drone cameras, there's a need for 17 pieces of gold and 45 pieces of silver. Yet gold is for 50% or more available in three nodes and silver for 50% or less in two. I do not understand why blueprints are made more accessible when the game ends up hitching repeatedly on one single resource anyway. One could argue the PRAWN is the key to more silver, but the PRAWN is pretty much tied to one blueprint location itself and it's not like there's silver heaps everywhere to make up for the scarcity early on. And gold I can technically let lie where I find it or throw it away/delete it, but that's sort of... not fun? It's like for all the work trying to get other material (silver & diamond) you've only got gold to show for it. Which brings me to shale. Shale gets you either gold or lithium, which makes it only interesting for the lithium, and unless I'm mistaken the number of lithium crystals in the Mushroom Forests have doubled. Cool, but between easily found crystals that give me the resource I want and nodes that might disappoint me with even more gold, I'm not touching shale.
I'm inclined to think a new resource is in order to replace gold in shale and as low percentage third resource in either sandstone or basalt. Platinum comes to mind; it's used as an oxygen indicator (helmet module pointing you to the nearest oxygen source?) and catalyst to restructure molecules in oils. For the silver problem, at least revert to the old distribution numbers in sandstone and up the chances of finding it in barnacles. As it is, I personally find barnacles not ideal to search for. Reefbacks don't seem like fast swimmers until you try to harvest from their backs and tiger plants go easily unseen until pain happens. Like, I hope one day sandsharks can have the same node spawning trait as sea treaders. Would there be silver as loot, I'd probably prefer swimming with a sandshark that already has targeted something else than getting stealthed by a tiger plant.
The blueprint distribution needs some tweaking still, but in general I like it. I was afraid it'd be too easy for me now, but it works (I presume in the future we'll have to find module blueprints separately rather than get them with the VMS?). Stillsuits are a bit overdone. I think it was in wreck (-390, -120, 648) that I opened the door only to see a legion of stillsuit safes as if it was an intervention about my drinking problem (get it? stillsuit? drinking problem?
). Quickly scanned them all and opened the second door just to face even more stillsuit safes. Definitely one for the unintentional creepy moments list along with the giant spinning reefback and every time I've gotten jumpscared by my own hands (don't judge me). I'm very glad the seaglide is now much more easy to find. I used to struggle to complete the blueprint, but the fragments are now more numerous and easier to see due to the boxes. Admittedly, it got a little repetitive finding only boxes with seaglide fragments but adding any other kind of fragment could solve that (why did solar panels become default blueprints anyway?).I am pleasantly surprised to find the outside Degasi PDAs can now be picked up. I had hopes for the FI because you'd been redesigning the island (magnificent job, btw!), but I didn't expect the JSC ones to be good too. Nor did I expect the gun to have such a vast interior or the cache to be so pretty. And I feel like my memory is playing tricks on me, but I don't recall looted floodlights turned off before? Thrilled to see that implemented (well, 2 out of 3, but the third one was in a bugged wreck, so... It didn't hold upon reload either, but details). Curious what the plans for vehicles are what with the energy changes being reverted. I do miss the steps forward you could make by getting the right modules, but I never was a fan of having to wait to get my oxygen reserve back up and the lights weren't fair. At least without the necessary balancing, this is the better situation.
Comments
I was also rather surprised to find Kyanite in the blood kelp, and not needing to drill it at that.