Halo in Subnatica, an idea that needs a new name
Kellise
UK Join Date: 2016-07-23 Member: 220582Members
So anyone who's ever played Halo, you remember the rings and how they kill all life with certain critera, in the case of Halo sentient beings? What if we had a similar base module, that actually sent out electrical pulses that kills all life of X species in range? It would have to be very, very expensive and a large base power draw, depending on the range it works at and what creature you are configuring it for (want to keep stalkers off? Not that hard. Reapers? Bye bye pockets)
This could actually allow an end game where big nasty's can't get near you, perhapes using tech that cannot be accessed till you have the Lava Castle unlocked. Can you imagine how epic it would be to be running from a Reaper and reach the bubble of one of your bases, as the pulse makes it cry out in pain and run before it dies? Because at the moment if you have a base and a reaper gets near it, they can just kind of sit on you like "Hey, looking good Gary. You're dead when you come out, in the mean time clipping though your walls."
Would need a new name and some lore, obviously, but it could be done via electric pulses like perimeter defence or tailored toxins released into the water.
This could actually allow an end game where big nasty's can't get near you, perhapes using tech that cannot be accessed till you have the Lava Castle unlocked. Can you imagine how epic it would be to be running from a Reaper and reach the bubble of one of your bases, as the pulse makes it cry out in pain and run before it dies? Because at the moment if you have a base and a reaper gets near it, they can just kind of sit on you like "Hey, looking good Gary. You're dead when you come out, in the mean time clipping though your walls."
Would need a new name and some lore, obviously, but it could be done via electric pulses like perimeter defence or tailored toxins released into the water.
Comments
Yet we have a taser field.
Those aren't quite the same thing. What you're describing in the OP is an offensive weapon. The Seamoth Perimeter Defense System (I'm assuming this is the taser field you're referring to) is a defense field designed to scare off predators. Yes it can kill things when used repeatedly or on small fish that it's total overkill for, but that's not it's primary purpose (just like a taser IRL).
The devs stance, near as I can tell, is that the player is allowed to kill things, but they will not provide weapons expressly designed to kill.
Even after you've been all the way down the Lava Castle, done the entire story, yada yada? Because at the moment the only time I ever see Reapers is when I'm titanium farming, and to be honest they're more annoying and jump scary then truly scary. Likely not helped by the fact I play xbox, so they're near impossible to avoid at this time as they tend to render within 3 seconds attack range of your sub.
I get that, but lets face it our character isn't dumb. If we had an electro-shock field like the PDS we could over charge it. The PDS can kill a reaper with enough charges...now power that with a nuclear/ion power generator and discharge all at once. Blamite. As for the Alterra no weapons lore... that's why have it as an end game alien base thing. Or even have warpers that we can get that hunt those life forms down and protect our bases. Imagine a reaper wandering near a base and being attacked by a dozen warpers.
Rather than being manually operated, I can see it providing a constant low-level field that keeps smaller creatures away, and then with an upgrade it could have the ability to send out a much stronger pulse to deter larger predators.
I can see something like that fitting into the game without any lore changes or alien blueprints.
As far as using trained warpers, I think there's already limited ability in-game to tame creatures (predators hatched in an aquarium won't be hostile to the player). I could see that at some point after being cured the player would be regarded by the warpers as a friend (since they've cured the disease, and the whole point of the warpers was to hunt down infected life) and would fight to defend the player.
Not to be a pain, but the Precursors weren't dumb, either. If they'd had either of the abilities described...they'd've used them and been able to avoid the whole set of circumstances that led to their abandoning the planet.
Still, I don't see why our survivor wouldn't mess with the PDS and try to improve its effect. After all, most of us are at least familiar with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, so we know electricity and angry sea monsters don't mix well. (I know that in this situation, I'd try wiring the thing to the reactor to see if it'd work.) So, at the cost of massively increased energy consumption, I could definitely see it as a worthwhile addition to the game - it solves a problem without breaking the non-lethality ethos. Works for me.
Honestly...I don't think they're that smart. Decision making and strategy seems to be something they don't do, otherwise they would've mounted coordinated attacks all the time against large-scale threats - like you! Once cured, I would certainly expect them to ignore the player, but I really can't see any evidence of intelligence sufficient to lead to gratitude. (Not that I wouldn't want some warper allies, especially after all the grief they've caused me.)
Perhaps he is simply not a very tech-savvy person. Messing with something like the PDS is very likely to kill you if you don't know what you're doing.
I get that yeah, that's why I put the idea out there I really like this idea atm:
I'm totally with you on that, @Elavion. (Frankly, I'm pretty sure our character was a janitor.) But desperate times do often lead to stupid risks.
(And, if we're being honest, not-so-desperate times; YouTube is littered with examples of "I've never done this and know nothing about it, but I saw it once in a movie so I'm sure I can do it." Typically, you can tell it's that kind of video when someone says "Hold my beer and watch this.)