Expectations for submarine combat

RoflcopterV22RoflcopterV22 Arizona Join Date: 2013-04-03 Member: 184616Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester
Maybe something like this:
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Comments

  • NazoNazo Such Is Life in The Zone Join Date: 2010-12-16 Member: 75720Members, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold
    I was actually just going to wrestle (Lazer) Sharks with my bare hands
  • current1ycurrent1y Join Date: 2003-12-08 Member: 24150Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester
    I guess the scientists are having sub battles for the rights to study a particular fish?
  • KoruyoKoruyo AUT Join Date: 2009-06-06 Member: 67724Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited November 2013
    Not sure about the idea of submarine vs submarine combat, but i could see seamonsters.

    Dunno i kinda imagine the game in some kind of universe similar to stargate atlantis (the waterplanet, with cool artefacts ships ancient ruines space seacreatures from tiny to gigantic/seamonster etc. )
    So you get to this new unexplored world and you need to figure out wtf is going on etc.
  • FrankerZFrankerZ Join Date: 2012-05-06 Member: 151627Members
    tentacles monsters vs anime girls
  • SolarisSolaris Join Date: 2003-05-11 Member: 16213Members
    I don't really need sub-vs-sub combat, but some way to defend yourself while exploring, gathering resources, etc. would only be sensible. When exploring the unknown, even if you have no intentions to harm anything, you will disturb the inhabitants. And it's only natural for creatures to defend their dwellings.

    From what I've read so far, Subnautica seems to take quite a few hints from minecraft - minecraft is not a combat focused game, but it still is a part of the overall experience. Exploring is fun, but there needs to be a bit of danger to it. And if you want to get the really valuable resources, items, etc. be prepared for whatever it is that guards those treasures. You built some awesome stuff, great, but the danger of wild creatures coming to reclaim their territory is always present.

    I can see different ship systems that would fit a non-agressive aproach to dangerous situations, like
    force/shock fields (similar to what electic eels use to defend themselves),
    acoustic defense (a high pitches "shriek" designed to repel attacking creatures),
    decoys (small bouys emitting food-scented mist to lure creatures away).
    And for the occasional kraken that just won't stop hugging your sub, there could be a variety of tools which primarily have a different use, but can be used to poke creatures (plasma torch, drill, etc.)

    As human, in an underwater world, you are the intruder (even if you see yourself as explorer) - so be prepared for some its inhabitants to treat you as such.
  • AurOn2AurOn2 COOKIES! FREEDOM, AND BISCUITS! Australia Join Date: 2012-01-13 Member: 140224Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Forum staff
    Submarine vs seaonos combat pls.
    @Squeal_Like_A_Pig pls confirm.
  • VetinariVetinari Join Date: 2013-07-23 Member: 186325Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver
    I still have high hopes for that C4-choppers from a certain flipchart.
  • willow512willow512 Netherlands Join Date: 2013-12-17 Member: 190203Members
    @Solaris yes, what you described is very much along our way of thinking. There will definitely be dangerous creatures in the game, and there will be means for defending yourself, just mainly non lethal methods. Forcefields, decoys, as per your examples, just not weapons such as missile launchers that you use to blow creatures up.

    How about tagging the large predators and making sure to not be where they are? A bit like the crocodile from Peter Pan. When you hear the ticking it's time to split!
  • SolarisSolaris Join Date: 2003-05-11 Member: 16213Members
    willow512 wrote: »
    How about tagging the large predators and making sure to not be where they are? A bit like the crocodile from Peter Pan. When you hear the ticking it's time to split!
    Yeha, some sort of sensor dart. You would use traditional "shooter" mechanics to tag a creature, but you don't kill or disable it. This could not only give you a way to avoid creatures that could crush your little sub easily, but also be tied to a research missio a la "tag creture X to give our scientists a way to gather information on the size of its territory, etc."

  • willow512willow512 Netherlands Join Date: 2013-12-17 Member: 190203Members
    Precisely.
    But combat does not necessarily exclude killing animals does it? After all, we might want to kill a species to have one of our lab guys have a look at it.... I'm not quite sure if that'll work for good old leviathan.

    Ooh that reminds me. I'd like to be able to name individual creatures, not just species. :)
  • abYsssabYsss Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72433Members
    If your going for no direct combat (which I find to be intriguing), I sure hope you manage to make it somewhat scary.

    I'm imagining being hunted by a giant predator and having to hide inside an underwater cave.
  • willow512willow512 Netherlands Join Date: 2013-12-17 Member: 190203Members
    A planet can have more dangers of course. If we're speaking enormous humongous oceans reaching down into the mantle of the planet. Then you might have geological events that usually don't reach the surface get ejected into the water.

    http://www.livescience.com/75-natural-nuclear-reaction-powered-ancient-geyser.html

    This one was a natural nuclear geyser, so pretty stable. But imagine if natural uranium just caused nuclear explosions in the core depths. Causing amazon sized rivers of nuclear tainted boiling water to rise up for miles before cooling down sufficiently and falling back down. The surface waters would not be severely affected by the relatively heavy nuclear materials but the depths could become extremely treacherous nuclear wastes.
  • SteveRockSteveRock Join Date: 2012-10-01 Member: 161215Members, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
    All good thoughts that are quite in line with the direction we're going :)
  • Racer1Racer1 Join Date: 2002-11-22 Member: 9615Members
    edited December 2013
    I'd like to see some type of moral dilemma/choice, adding a bit of strategy to the game. It wouldn't be combat per-se.

    If you choose the "friendly" approach, certain sea creatures may become less hostile and perhaps even helpful...at the expense of not having certain technology available. So, you have to find alternative methods to accomplish your goals, such as enlisting the help of the sea creatures.

    If you choose the "brute" approach, you will get certain upgrades that are not otherwise available, making certain tasks easier...at the expense of being considered more hostile by some sea life.

    Hopefully, the line between these can be more subtle...not some black/white choice that, once made, cannot be reversed. So, many missions would have two or more possible solutions. (Perhaps even to the point that making the "friendly" choice in one situation turns out to be bad for another situation (e.g. it helps one species but hurts another).
  • GISPGISP Battle Gorge Denmark Join Date: 2004-03-20 Member: 27460Members, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Gold, Subnautica Playtester, Forum staff
  • NarfwakNarfwak Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 5258Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica PT Lead, NS2 Community Developer
    I like the idea of the dangers as being too scary or strong to actually "defeat" as you would in a combat scenario, but rather that you can develop escape tools and counter-measures to simply survive to explore another day.
  • TzudroTzudro Miami, FL Join Date: 2013-12-31 Member: 191181Members
    edited December 2013
    I agree that there should be some nerve wracking or frightening times in the game. But why not take a more creative approach to this thought?

    Instead of "giant monster chases you, attacks you, etc (not that there's anything wrong with that), how about:

    You're quietly prowling the depths at night, seeing only what your floodlights show you, when you notice you've been hearing singing. It's wordless, but it's very faint singing. As you cruise along, you begin to hear whispering. The rest of your crew starts to look as perplexed as you are. Suddenly, the shadows deepen. The whispering increases in volume until you can almost make out words. You reduce your speed, not sure what you're about to run into.

    Then you see it. The tree line from the kelp forest. You've been in the kelp forests before, but always during the day when you were gathering samples and materials from the bioluminescent "fruit" that hangs in clusters near the bottom branches. You slow to a stop just before you blunder into the nearest tree. The current your vessel created washes over the almost completely dark tree.

    Your lights flicker, then cut out as you notice a small cluster of faint lights ahead. The fruit have begun to glow. Then the glow spreads to the nearest tree. Like a nova the glow spreads to the trees around it. The bright yellow glow of the day has changed to a ghostly pale blue at night. As you slowly drift between the trees, your lights falling to turn on for some reason, suddenly one of the glowing clusters winks out, then back on.

    Something very large just swam by, obscuring the lights for a moment. You remember being terrified of the shadowy creature that swam in the deep shadows when you were collecting samples last time.

    Is it afraid of the light? Will it attack? Will it destroy the fruit, stranding you in this almost absolute darkness and maddening, endless whispering? Or did you really see it at all? How long have you REALLY been in the kelp forest?
  • SeldkamSeldkam Join Date: 2014-01-01 Member: 191213Members
    I like that ^ Hopefully there will be truly massive creatures that dwarf the player if not the larger submarine, one of the best ways to get a sense of awe from a lot of people is to put something large and majestic/elegant in front of them.
  • ResRes Join Date: 2003-08-27 Member: 20245Members
    Honestly.... this "game" is sounding more like a fictional virtual explorable ocean than an actual game....
  • SeldkamSeldkam Join Date: 2014-01-01 Member: 191213Members
    Depends how one defines "game" really. But I wouldn't judge so soon, they've released barely ANYTHING about real gameplay mechanics.
  • ResRes Join Date: 2003-08-27 Member: 20245Members
    edited January 2014
    Seldkam wrote: »
    Depends how one defines "game" really. But I wouldn't judge so soon, they've released barely ANYTHING about real gameplay mechanics.

    true enough , but so far they have said that the crafting mechanics will be light and there will be no combat or weapons. Just non lethals ways of protecting yourself. They also said the game will also either be light or none at all in the way of quests or npc's and the game is singleplayer.

    It sounds to me like it's more of a virtual simulated explorable ocean than an actual game.

    However, like you said, maybe things will evolve and more information will come out and there will be gameplay mechanics announced that will make it sound more like a game.


    edit: Just saw this quote
    Out of all my questions, the one Im mostly curious about is what the goal of the game will be? (.......) Is it a game or an explorable virtual aquarium.
    SteveRock wrote: »
    I don't think we know for sure yet. But it won't be a purely aesthetic experience.
  • SteveRockSteveRock Join Date: 2012-10-01 Member: 161215Members, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
    "Game" has become a pretty useless word, as people have pretty different ideas about what is a game. Let's talk specifics instead: we don't intend to make a purely aesthetic, virtual aquarium type of experience. We intend to focus more on non-violent challenges and gameplay, such as stealth, AI manipulation, and environmental hazards. There is way more to underwater than just shooting fish.
  • ResRes Join Date: 2003-08-27 Member: 20245Members
    edited January 2014
    I'd argue there still needs to be some sort of overarching goal(s) for it to be considered a game. To crossover from being considered a virtual experience/simulation to a game.
  • cooliticcoolitic Right behind you Join Date: 2013-04-02 Member: 184609Members
    edited January 2014
    SteveRock wrote: »
    We also want to make some environments dangerous to explore, requiring you to be careful and resourceful with how you navigate them. We've been taking some inspiration from spelunky and super metroid in this regard.


    Metroid you say?

    EXCITEMENT LEVELS OVERLOADING!!!!!!!!!!

    On a more serious note, making this game that good would be very challenging. Then again, you did say super metroid not metroid prime so maybe it wont be that hard.
  • cooliticcoolitic Right behind you Join Date: 2013-04-02 Member: 184609Members
    edited January 2014
    SteveRock wrote: »
    "Game" has become a pretty useless word, as people have pretty different ideas about what is a game. Let's talk specifics instead: we don't intend to make a purely aesthetic, virtual aquarium type of experience. We intend to focus more on non-violent challenges and gameplay, such as stealth, AI manipulation, and environmental hazards. There is way more to underwater than just shooting fish.

    So, there wont be violence. What kind of action should we expect? Also, would you think that this game would be considered casual?

    Also how are you feeling about mod support, in comparison to NS2?
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