Completed on Hardcore - Thought on making the game better
Scatter
Join Date: 2012-09-02 Member: 157341Members, Squad Five Blue
Join Date: 2012-09-02 Member: 157341Members, Squad Five Blue
I recently completed the game on hardcore mode and wanted to share my thoughts. I generally enjoyed the game but think I would've enjoyed it more were things implemented or designed differently. I see so much potential for this game to become something even greater than it currently is and will discuss the various aspects of that separately.
Creatures
Creatures generally are not that much of a threat due to having a limited spawn location and patrol radius, and often you can just charge past with a Sea Glide or Seamoth. High threat creatures such as Reapers can either be avoided entirely due to known spawn locations (that you do not need to go to) or passed with rudimentary timing skills. I never had a sense of dread while playing the game unless I willingly went into a location where I knew there was a Reaper.
Exploration and Environment
I generally enjoyed exploring the world (although I found it a bit small) and found the environments to be very nice. I also enjoyed looking for technology/fragments in the broken ship parts and on the ocean floor. Unfortunately due to previous attempts at the game I knew where a lot of the important fragments were and had hoped there was some random aspect to this to increase replay-ability. It's also very easy to reach a lot of the important tech due to it not being that deep or getting access to technology that reduces this problem such as the re-breather and the portable air refill stations (Seamoth) allowing you to too easily dive to 500m or more. Simply put you get environmental challenge negating tech too easily, too early, and it reduces the challenge too much.
Vehicles and items
There is some redundant tech in the game that you will rarely if ever use due to there being zero need. For example in my recent play through on hardcore didn't or rarely used the lightweight high capacity tank, ultra glide fins (the Sea Glide and Ultra High Capacity Tank are simply better), the floating air pump, Propulsion Cannon, Stasis Rifle, Pathfinder Tool and numerous other. I simply never had a situation where I needed it and this isn't simply due to my play style. I suspect much of it would be more useful with my comments on bases, exploration and creatures.
Base Building
Building a base is generally not that necessary other than getting a moon pool for upgrades or in my case a multipurpose room with thermal power plants and a water filtration unit in the lava zone. I built a base purely because I could, not because I needed to. Below is a list of ideas that would make the base building aspect more interesting and more necessary:
I am sure there are other things that will come to mind at a later date.
Creatures
Creatures generally are not that much of a threat due to having a limited spawn location and patrol radius, and often you can just charge past with a Sea Glide or Seamoth. High threat creatures such as Reapers can either be avoided entirely due to known spawn locations (that you do not need to go to) or passed with rudimentary timing skills. I never had a sense of dread while playing the game unless I willingly went into a location where I knew there was a Reaper.
- Multiple spawn locations for Leviathans with a bigger patrol radius.
- Creatures can patrol the world more (and randomly) so that you always have to look out.
- Packs of creatures that move together and pose a greater threat to the player.
- Creatures a bigger threat to vehicles and bases.
Exploration and Environment
I generally enjoyed exploring the world (although I found it a bit small) and found the environments to be very nice. I also enjoyed looking for technology/fragments in the broken ship parts and on the ocean floor. Unfortunately due to previous attempts at the game I knew where a lot of the important fragments were and had hoped there was some random aspect to this to increase replay-ability. It's also very easy to reach a lot of the important tech due to it not being that deep or getting access to technology that reduces this problem such as the re-breather and the portable air refill stations (Seamoth) allowing you to too easily dive to 500m or more. Simply put you get environmental challenge negating tech too easily, too early, and it reduces the challenge too much.
- Make Seamoth and Prawn suit less of an instant mobile air refill station
- Environmental challenges require you to play differently, but can later be mitigated with progressively better equipment (rather than for example zero challenge depth due to early game re-breather)
- More environmental challenges such as heat, cold, radiation (not just from the Aurora)
- Changing environmental challenges due to story (like fixing the radiation leak)
Vehicles and items
There is some redundant tech in the game that you will rarely if ever use due to there being zero need. For example in my recent play through on hardcore didn't or rarely used the lightweight high capacity tank, ultra glide fins (the Sea Glide and Ultra High Capacity Tank are simply better), the floating air pump, Propulsion Cannon, Stasis Rifle, Pathfinder Tool and numerous other. I simply never had a situation where I needed it and this isn't simply due to my play style. I suspect much of it would be more useful with my comments on bases, exploration and creatures.
- Reconsider Sea Glide ignoring weight (so that there is a point to Lightweight tank and Ultraglide Fins)
- Make some of the higher end tech more difficult to get rather than just being available straight away with the modification station (this ties in to some of my base research ideas below)
- Cyclops ability to pitch to make it more easy to get through the world
- Make the Seamoth more difficult to get (currently too early and too cheap)
Base Building
Building a base is generally not that necessary other than getting a moon pool for upgrades or in my case a multipurpose room with thermal power plants and a water filtration unit in the lava zone. I built a base purely because I could, not because I needed to. Below is a list of ideas that would make the base building aspect more interesting and more necessary:
- Neptune Rocket requires you to stock it up with food, water and fuel for the trip, requiring you to set up water, food and fuel production. This requires space, power and time
- Higher end materials require production facilities such as refining or chemical reactions rather than just everything being produced from the replicator. This requires space, power and time
- Higher end technologies require research (not to take away the fun of exploring for fragments btw!) which takes power, space and time
- Manufacturing of components is in a factory style unit and requires power, space and time.
- Base occasionally under attack by leviathans or the environment (this could increase as you get more advanced) which requires the player to defend the base with shield, silent modes, decoys etc. The player would have to make damage control choices such as putting out a fire that would ravage expensive systems, flooding of compartments and their repair, toxic gases from production making compartments unusable until degassed.
I am sure there are other things that will come to mind at a later date.
Comments
Creatures: If there was something the player could do between run from and Rambo a Leviathan, bring on the increased difficulty. Creature behaviors such as leading a predator towards a Reaper, the Reaper focuses on the known food source, etc.
Vehicles and Items: Again, on point. Especially with the more valuable tech more difficult to obtain.
Exploration and Environment: Cold would be great, radiation from Uranium deposits (and carried Uranium, for added fun); yes, I know it's only mildly radioactive to humans.
What he's suggesting will only make your experience of the game even better even on lower difficulties, I'm getting close to finishing the game, I will write a big review once I'm done because i really like the game so far. But I can already tell that I sorta agree with what he's saying.
I don't think what I am suggesting would introduce micromanagement and that certainly is not my goal. My goal is to make the game satisfying to play by making choices matter and challenges actually challenging.
Pack-hunting lesser enemies, though, would be great, and a more even scaling of tech upgrades could also be an improvement.
Generally, though, I'd say that I really just want more Subnautica. I wasn't dissatisfied with the game, just hungry for more.
Agreed, you can almost always swim/drive past them.
Exploration and Environment:
Vehicles and items
Bases:
Now I can see the true 'survival game' fans not liking this much, since it does offer a lessor challenge. Personally though, I can't think of any other game that models sea life in a way that might actually at least try to mirror true life - and for me at least, it makes the game a lot more interesting. I've actually wasted long periods of time teasing my aquarium tamed
Stalker by taking just one of his titanium shards and moving it 10 feet away.
MY SHARD GOT MOVED! MUST PUT BACK IN PILE!
It may not be hardcore survival, but it's sure fun!
This game to me is less a 'survival game' anyway, and more an exploration/factfinding/science game. Creating a world that's just out to get a player is easy - making one that makes you think it could be real is not.
1. dont let evrythink grow in exterir growbeds. for ex. kelp needs sunligths. if you want to grow them in darkes bioms like lost river you have to use alian con.
2. make alian con. biom slecteby so you can grow spiceses for curtain bioms. means you cant grow acid mushroom and deep mushroom side by side and make them that they need energy to work .
3. make viecles recipes more hard. for example for building cyclops you will need more resorce and plus 6 energy cells. 6 energy cells coming nowhere when you build it.
4. o2 producer for bases and vehicles or modules which are use energy to produce.
5. recalculate energy production rates of solar, termal and bio reactors so we have a reason to build nuclear reactor.
well game is very good.tnx devolopers . its worth its money.
also sory for my bad english.
There is. Someplace to store things, and replenish food and water. I place several mini bases along the route between the safe shallows and the inactive lava area, each with one Multipurpose Room, a Moon Pool, a Thermal Plant located to a heat source, two plant pots of arbitrary style with 4 marble melons each, a water filtration machine, a fabricator and whatever else I decide I want in each location.
No more need to take a Cyclops out of Safe Shallows or even build one at all, thus no navigating that whale through the caves.
Due to careful placement I can travel between them with just a seaglide; no seamoth, prawn suit or cyclops necessary, though I prefer to use a moth.
While it may be a matter of opinion, I find beacons to already be very cheap. How much cheaper do you want than one titanium and one copper? I have these all over the place, so much that I have to turn them on and off frequently with the beacon manager.
I don't know how you find the topographical map on the seaglide useful at all, much less "way too strong". Completely worthless and gets in your face all the time. I'd rather have the map toggle removed and put on a different hotkey so I can just switch the light on and off with the RMB.
Seriously, you find infinite oxygen unbelievable in a high tech, galaxy spanning civilization? Electrolysis is a simple technology in real life, just not practical at our level of technology for use in diving. It's just built into every base and vehicle into the game due to its absolute necessity for human habitation, and the power has to be on for it to work. This is a no-brainer. If it wouldn't mess up the survival aspect of the game, requiring you to seek an o2 source periodically, I'd say build it into the suit or diving mask, run off the body heat of the player.