Scanner Room Resource Sampling

Quiet_Blowfish

I really like this room for its 3D mapping function and its spunky little drones. It does seem a bit recalcitrant about making the exact resource searches I want though.
I gather the short selection menu stems from the early days, when there weren't many resources in the game. So, I had a browse on the Subnautica wiki and it reckons a scroll-bar is in the works (yay!).
But I was thinking it might be nice to make it a just a smidgeon less user-friendly than that.

Anyway my idea is you have to give it a resource sample each time you want a new search done - so it knows what to look for. You would put the sample on its fabricator tray. The lasers would then 'de-fabricate' the sample as they analyse it (see no free lunch). The scanner room can then upload the sample's structural data it needs to initiate the new search. (There'd be no long list scrolling though resources you've never heard of - you'd have to discover them first up).

I 'm not sure exactly why, but this might make the Scanner Room feel a little more valuable to players.

0x6A7232

You might be right, but you also might get a bit of hate for that idea. xD

Quiet_Blowfish

Yeah, I'm counting on this thing not going to multiplayer!

Maalteromm

I love this idea, but I don't feel the need to destroy the sample. Nor to provide it again later.
Maybe this list could be updated by the samples you present to it. Or, better still, it could be updated by samples you scan. So no "undiscovered" materials in the list and kinda prompt players to examine their surroundings.

Quiet_Blowfish

I read some early posts by players who were disappointed with the Scanner Room. So I thought if you started giving it presents you might learn to love it a little

Maalteromm

I don't play since the end of the Bones Update. And I was woefully disappointed by the Scanner Room. It was very expensive, even with upgrades it lacked operational range and was just some kind of "fluffy" for the game.
But it was a nice room filled with potential, so when I decided to stop playing I knew (hoped) there would be something nice when I came back.
I'm hyped waiting for v1.0 right now.

Quiet_Blowfish

I'm kind of impressed with it really, especially the 3D map. I started playing only a couple of months ago - I believe the holo-map was much smaller then. Nowadays it pretty much fills the whole room. @Maalteromm

ZeddIsDead

I don't think that would make sense at all. Both your fabricator and hab builder have blueprints for dozens of advanced items using those resources, so it obviously already knows all their properties.

For Fragments, your idea would work though. You'd have to find the first piece yourself, then the scanner would be able to find similar patterns nearby.

Quiet_Blowfish

It seems the Devs are going for the scrollbar option.

In a General Discussion thread @Morph_guy posted a pic of the set-up he found on Trello (which doesn't seem to want to link here for me right now).

https://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/152901/important-scanner-room-list-scroll#latest

Maalteromm

ZeddIsDead wrote: »

I don't think that would make sense at all. Both your fabricator and hab builder have blueprints for dozens of advanced items using those resources, so it obviously already knows all their properties.

Following that logic you shouldn't need to scan almost nothing related to the Aurora in the game, since most of the technology should already be accessible in such an advanced escape pod computer.
It's not about making sense, but about making the game design more interesting and user friendly.

If you want to make excuses to make things work, that usually comes easily.

Quiet_Blowfish

Anyway, this is what we're getting:



...according to Trello

Tarkannen

I like the concept where you have to feed into the machine to 'train' it so to speak, but with this logic you'd end up with a Catch-22: You need to scan for Diamonds because you're out, but since you're out you can't scan for Diamonds... so you end up having to just rummage with the Exosuit while your Scanner Room is having pizza and watching YouTube videos (basically doing nothing). And you might say "Oh, just be sure to keep an extra to scan!" but then you're always having to store excess materials that you can't use immediately. And by having to feed items into the unit to bring it up, you're exhausting your supply of resources in an area; and now that nodes don't respawn anymore, it means having to move the Scanner Room and/or Seabase to areas more often than it needs to be.

Like I said, I like the concept on paper but in practice I don't think it works very well... just my two cents.

Quiet_Blowfish

Tarkannen wrote: »

I like the concept where you have to feed into the machine to 'train' it so to speak, but with this logic you'd end up with a Catch-22: You need to scan for Diamonds because you're out, but since you're out you can't scan for Diamonds... so you end up having to just rummage with the Exosuit while your Scanner Room is having pizza and watching YouTube videos (basically doing nothing). And you might say "Oh, just be sure to keep an extra to scan!" but then you're always having to store excess materials that you can't use immediately. And by having to feed items into the unit to bring it up, you're exhausting your supply of resources in an area; and now that nodes don't respawn anymore, it means having to move the Scanner Room and/or Seabase to areas more often than it needs to be.

Like I said, I like the concept on paper but in practice I don't think it works very well... just my two cents.

Certainly, if I were I game designer I'd need to develop a proper evil laugh