(Spoilers) The Sunbeam
Rezca
United States Join Date: 2016-04-28 Member: 216078Members
United States Join Date: 2016-04-28 Member: 216078Members
I've brought this up a few times in a few posts, but I feel it's time an actual Suggestion Thread gets made.
Some might know that you get a message from the Sunbeam, but they more or less say "Sorry, we can't help." The original message went as thus:
Some time later, this gets swapped out for them deciding to take a closer look and then get vaporized by the same thing that brought you and the Degasi down.
There's been some suggestions about the Sunbeam being explorable, or dropping new pieces of wreckage to explore, or seeding the map with more Scrap and stuff to scan.... I want to suggest something different. I want to actually be able to save the Sunbeam, where we couldn't with the survivors of our own ship. They survived, but then were killed off by one means or another. Even if we were around for their landing, that would mean more work for Unknown Worlds in the form of having to implement other characters and their AI and interactions with them and so forth. We never had the chance to help out there, we could only listen to the PDA's they left behind. We do have a chance to make a difference with the Sunbeam though, there is a possibility there.
In my current game I had managed to make it down to the Lost River using just a network of pipes before the Sunbeam met its end. The game gives us time to explore and prepare for this, so I'm thinking that you should have time - if you're quick - to make it inside the precursor array and find out that it's not just some glorified telescope or unusual looking monument. After that, what then? Speed to the Aurora perhaps, find some terminal and repair it, then have your AI broadcast not a distress signal but a warning signal. It won't be easy. Chances are, unless you're a somewhat seasoned Subnautica diver, you'll still have the Sunbeam meet its premature end in the atmosphere of this planet. But you'd still have the chance to actually do something.
The Sunbeam will leave, give a farewell and wish you luck, and then you're back to being alone. Eventually you'll disable the array but by then the Sunbeam will have been long gone, likely not even in the same system anymore. A player unaware of the planned endgame might even think that they're stuck here forever now. If the Sunbeam being shot down was only there to reinforce the fact you're stranded, then this alternative would provide that same feeling. If it's to awe the player with the precursor's power, it's wasted on the Sunbeam when you consider that it took down your own massive ship with ease and the Sunbeam's only a tiny trading vessel. If it's there as just a way to show you the array and mountain, you could probably do so by looking through Aurora terminals as a possible alternative.
Several of my friends recently began playing Subnautica, and only one of them actually feared the game was going to end in just an hour of play when he hadn't even begun to stray far from the Safe Shallows and Kelp Forest. The others, who similarly didn't know about the array yet, didn't believe for a second that the Sunbeam was actually going to get you off the planet. There's just no way the game would end that quickly when things are just starting.
That's my suggestion for the Sunbeam. Give us an alternative path here, one where we can save lives for once rather than simply read about the aftermath (The Degasi), know that we were too late to make any difference (The Aurora), or just be forced to stand back and watch (The Sunbeam). It could be a difficult race against time, and to be honest it should be a difficult race against time. This would make an excellent achievement to earn when the game is near or reaches the big 1.0 release. Please give us this chance, even if it's only a small window of opportunity that's easily missed, at least let us have that small possibility of preventing more deaths. Let us save the Sunbeam.
Given there's a 40-min timer attached to the final message and their arrival, there's that chance that just maybe... There may be a chance that later on, something like this can be implemented.
Some might know that you get a message from the Sunbeam, but they more or less say "Sorry, we can't help." The original message went as thus:
"This is trade vessel Sunbeam. Aurora, we've recieved your emergency transmission and your co-ordinates have been recorded. Wish we had better news for you, but we just aren't equipped to assist you at this time. We're anticipating arrival at the nearest starbase in approximately 461 earth days, that's four, six, one days. We will at that time pass on your emergency message to the appropriate corporate authority. You hold on in there, alright? Sunbeam out."
Some time later, this gets swapped out for them deciding to take a closer look and then get vaporized by the same thing that brought you and the Degasi down.
There's been some suggestions about the Sunbeam being explorable, or dropping new pieces of wreckage to explore, or seeding the map with more Scrap and stuff to scan.... I want to suggest something different. I want to actually be able to save the Sunbeam, where we couldn't with the survivors of our own ship. They survived, but then were killed off by one means or another. Even if we were around for their landing, that would mean more work for Unknown Worlds in the form of having to implement other characters and their AI and interactions with them and so forth. We never had the chance to help out there, we could only listen to the PDA's they left behind. We do have a chance to make a difference with the Sunbeam though, there is a possibility there.
In my current game I had managed to make it down to the Lost River using just a network of pipes before the Sunbeam met its end. The game gives us time to explore and prepare for this, so I'm thinking that you should have time - if you're quick - to make it inside the precursor array and find out that it's not just some glorified telescope or unusual looking monument. After that, what then? Speed to the Aurora perhaps, find some terminal and repair it, then have your AI broadcast not a distress signal but a warning signal. It won't be easy. Chances are, unless you're a somewhat seasoned Subnautica diver, you'll still have the Sunbeam meet its premature end in the atmosphere of this planet. But you'd still have the chance to actually do something.
The Sunbeam will leave, give a farewell and wish you luck, and then you're back to being alone. Eventually you'll disable the array but by then the Sunbeam will have been long gone, likely not even in the same system anymore. A player unaware of the planned endgame might even think that they're stuck here forever now. If the Sunbeam being shot down was only there to reinforce the fact you're stranded, then this alternative would provide that same feeling. If it's to awe the player with the precursor's power, it's wasted on the Sunbeam when you consider that it took down your own massive ship with ease and the Sunbeam's only a tiny trading vessel. If it's there as just a way to show you the array and mountain, you could probably do so by looking through Aurora terminals as a possible alternative.
Several of my friends recently began playing Subnautica, and only one of them actually feared the game was going to end in just an hour of play when he hadn't even begun to stray far from the Safe Shallows and Kelp Forest. The others, who similarly didn't know about the array yet, didn't believe for a second that the Sunbeam was actually going to get you off the planet. There's just no way the game would end that quickly when things are just starting.
That's my suggestion for the Sunbeam. Give us an alternative path here, one where we can save lives for once rather than simply read about the aftermath (The Degasi), know that we were too late to make any difference (The Aurora), or just be forced to stand back and watch (The Sunbeam). It could be a difficult race against time, and to be honest it should be a difficult race against time. This would make an excellent achievement to earn when the game is near or reaches the big 1.0 release. Please give us this chance, even if it's only a small window of opportunity that's easily missed, at least let us have that small possibility of preventing more deaths. Let us save the Sunbeam.
Given there's a 40-min timer attached to the final message and their arrival, there's that chance that just maybe... There may be a chance that later on, something like this can be implemented.
Comments
hears a link to a few of the other discussions:
http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/146671/chasing-the-countdown#latest
Yeah I've seen those, for the most part people just wanted to see more wrecks or scrapmetal come from it, the countdown one was the first where some asked if something could be done about it. I think that shows that there is some desire to change things here; UNW doesn't even need to cut anything - just add a little bit of script and that's it.
I really hate when games refuse to give you a choice in things... Like the Seregios auto-fail quest in MH4G, or the emperor's death in Oblivion.... When you really could influence things - If the game wasn’t scripted to make you just sit and watch things fall apart.
I mean, the original Sunbeam message literally had them just fly on by. What was the need to change that? Just to point the player to the island? The energy signature messages did that just fine on their own.
True, but on a second or third (Or fifty-sixth for those like me xD) playthrough.... The effect the Sunbeam's "sacrifice" was meant to have will be entirely lost. At that point, it might be a good idea to give the player an alternative - leave them to their fate, or rush to try and change things. You know how it's going to end after a playthrough or two, that the timer and all that's just for flavor and not to imply that you can do anything about it. As it is, you're not rushing for anything other than to see a brief fireworks display. If the timer had actual urgency to it, and meant that if you don't hurry it means the end of the Sunbeam.
The signals that are leading to the lifepods would be a way to encourage looking deeper too. As it is, you go to the mountains and see the ship get shot down. Then what? How does that encourage you to go into the deep? You'll probably get some more signals from something else eventually, like the one that leads / leaded to the Jellyshroom base but..... Would you really need to lose the Sunbeam just to be directed to those?
In all honesty, I still don't see the need to have changed the original Sunbeam message. You could still be directed to the mountain, you could still be directed to the deeper areas and hinted along your way, and you're still left with a sense of isolation. That being said, the only thing it really does is what you pointed out: It's telling you that you literally can't leave the planet. But, you could also find that out yourself if your'e fast enough. You can get to the array, get inside, and access the info within well before the Sunbeam starts on its collision course.
A new player wouldn't know that, but for future replays, and a possible achievement.... It'd be possible. I still feel we should be given that chance to affect things, even if there's only a small window to do so.