S:BZ Oct 2020 Build Feedback

AzraelWalker

I’m starting a couple of threads today, one with feedback about what is currently in the game and one about my thoughts on the story so far.
Just for some background: I played the original Subnautica beta as well as completing that game fully (it’s the only game in my steam library I have got 100% achievements on as a matter of fact) and I have been playing the BZ beta on and off for a while now. This feedback is based on the current October 2020 build of which I have been playing for about 30 hours according to my fresh save.

• The beginning area feels greatly improved with the addition of more Seatruck fragments to find. It makes getting your first vehicle a much smoother experence.
• Please add in large lead deposits. Between foundations, enameled glass now requiring lead and basically all the Seatruck modules requiring it I am always short, and hunting for the Galena Outcrops is very tedious. Bring in the other missing large deposits that were in the original Subnautica would also be nice as well, but lead is the most important.
• I feel like the Deep Purple Vents needs a TLC pass because at the moment they are very, very boring, both visually and from a gameplay standpoint. There is no unique flora, no interesting fauna (interesting either in the sense of being nice to look at or something I need to avoid) and no resources I can’t get somewhere else. The only reason I would ever come here at the moment is for the Architect Fossil Excavator, the Seatruck docking module fragments and briefly when I am going to the crystal caves and that’s it. Please don’t just shove some Squidsharks down here though, they are everywhere else.
• A small display on the Seatruck to let the pilot know how far above/below horizontal the truck is currently pointing would make parking easier. A number of times I stopped my truck and got out inside the cab only to find I could not access my attached modules as the back of my truck was pointing upwards too far and I could not walk up the slope it created.
• Following on from that some hotkeys to quickly detach Seatruck modules would be a great QoL addition as well. Either detach all hotkey or CTRL+NUM to detached specific modules from the train. It would be nice to be able to detach my PRAWN docking module, move my other modules away, detach them and then reattach to the docking module without having to get in and out of my truck repeatedly. Also, if I’m getting chased by something I don’t want to have to get out of my seat, detach the modules to increase my speed and help me make a quicker getaway, get back in my seat then start driving again as by that time its kind of too late.
• Detaching a PRAWN suit from the back of a truck can be a real pain. The truck eventually gets to be so long that parking it in a way that allows the PRAWN to drop safely can be very tedious. I know the reversing camera didn’t really work, so maybe add the ability to hop into an attached PRAWN without having to drop it off first. This would allow a player to have more control over where the PRAWN ends up as I can start using its boosters right away to reposition.
• You currently can’t get items out of the PRAWN while it is docked in the moonpool. Please either make the back accessible while it is docked, or add a function to the Vehicle Upgrade Console that allows me to access it like how I could access a PRAWN’s inventory through the console in the Cyclops.
• A PDA message when you are passing over the World Edge into the void would be nice, the only reason I realized I was passing into it was when the textures on the glacier walls I was following on the west side of the map started to bug out. The Void Chelicerate didn’t spawn quickly enough to be a warning or deterrent, and by the time they did I had already turned around and headed back to safety.
• Salt is basically useless as of this build despite the fact that it is everywhere. Cured food reduces water, which is undesirable from a survival standpoint due to water being a lot more finicky to get as Bladderfish are its only source in the early game, and I feel no one is going to carry around Water Purification Tablets when the Water Filtration Machine is fairly easy to get. Bringing back the Bleach recipe from the original Subnautica would help with this and allow someone to stockpile water without having to dedicate an alien containment to breeding Bladderfish or constantly hunting them.
• Please let me pet the Seamonkys after they bring me presents. They are good boys.
• After you get AL-AN out of your head and into its own body all of the Architect doors get locked for good. If someone has left something important in one, or they just want to go back for resources they have missed, then beyond this point they are unable to. I feel like being able to build some sort of ID card, maybe in the form of an Alien Tablet, that Robyn can carry around that’s lets her enter them again might be the way to go.
• With the removal of the status rifle from the game getting the scan info from the aggressive Leviathan’s is close to impossible. A possible solution would be to add the scan data as something you can download from a computer console in the various Alterra bases. Adding the data for the Ice Worms to the Phi Robotics Center for example would serve as a way to forewarn the player about their presence and how to counter them.
• Base power was always a massive bugbear of mine in the original Subnautica. Power draining from oldest to most recently placed power producing item was not a great system then and its not a great system now. Rearranging power draw so it uses a fairly simple hierarchy (Solar Panels first then Thermal Reactors as these are the two renewables, then Bioreactors then finally the Nuclear Reactor) or allowing a player to chose what gets drawn from first via a panel in the Control Room would be great.

All of the above is based on stuff that’s currently in the game, below is stuff I personally would love to see added:

• A moonpool for Seatruck modules that lets us store, rearrange, attach and detach modules automatically. I understand time constraints of development so I am aware that a completely new building might not be feasible, but at the very least a module that snaps onto the side of a current moonpool that lifts off all of your modules when you dock and reattaches them when you cast off again would be great.
• Please let us collect more plant seeds to decorate our bases with. There are a lot of really good-looking plants, like the Ancient Ornamental Plant in the lillypads cache, that would look great around a base. Also, all the old plants from the original Subnautica that are in the same cache we can’t interact with.