Questions regarding planned exposition/development.
Kodasa
New Zealand Join Date: 2015-04-17 Member: 203545Members
New Zealand Join Date: 2015-04-17 Member: 203545Members
I have a couple of questions for anyone capable of answering them, if the devs could weigh in that would be fantastic too. I'll just get right onto them then.
With the recent introduction of the "Crash Site" and Mothership explosion a trailer was released showing the Aurora in it's death throes and finally, exploding, in this trailer the explosion generates a MASSIVE wave that rocks the escape pod and knocks the character into the water. Currently the explosion in game is far less dramatic. I have a couple of questions based around this first of all.
1. Are there plans to add this wave or indeed any waves into the game at all as currently the surface is very calm and flat all the time?
If so that raises another question in regards to weather and gravity but I'll put those in at the bottom.
2. According to the flavor text delivered by our personal helper, we are informed the Aurora has dark matter drives that are reaching critical containment, so the explosion would be comparable to that of a nuclear bomb detonating given the drives on a ship that size. Are their plans to make this explosion a mechanic that could potentially harm the player? This could be avoided by hiding in the escape pod or sitting inside a submarine, or even simply taking shelter behind a large rock, anything that can absorb the shockwave and keep you out of the initial flash of heat.
The next question revolves around death within the game. Currently when you die, you suffer an inventory reset (I've not done my research but I believe it removes any item gained since "Inventory Secured" was last flashed on your screen.) and then your character respawns inside of the last hatch they went through, be it cyclops or escape pod or base. Is there a plan, even if it's just flavor lore and not added to the actual game. To discuss how your character makes it back to the pod? I'd be happy with an interesting explanation of say, emergency med bots built into the pods and such that home in on your wounded beacon, which activates automatically when you lose all health or oxygen and pass out. They then drag you back to the pod and take you inside, but they have to empty your pockets to do it or something like that.
Finally, about gravity and weather. How strong is the gravity of the planet the Aurora crashed on? I ask because I was having a discussion with a friend of mine about the hyper-metabolic rate of our character, and he mentioned that under higher gravity it would require more energy to move and swim, and therefore drain more hunger. So I'm curious to know what the gravity of the planet is and how that would affect waves if they're implemented. The other thing with waves is weather, naturally waves require wind to occur, combining wind with evaporation of water into the atmosphere would provide the basis for some pretty hefty storms. Are there any plans to add weather into the game? including things like large cyclones and massive storms. The big smooth ocean surfaces would allow for some MASSIVE storms to form, including water spouts not to mention the ocean currents could play a huge role in the movement of these storms.
TL;DR
1. Will there ever be waves at all?
2. Will you make it so the explosion of the Aurora can kill unsheltered players?
3. Will you explain the death mechanic in a creative and interesting way even if you don't add it to the game?
4. How strong is gravity on this planet?
5. Will you add weather and naturally occurring currents to the game?
With the recent introduction of the "Crash Site" and Mothership explosion a trailer was released showing the Aurora in it's death throes and finally, exploding, in this trailer the explosion generates a MASSIVE wave that rocks the escape pod and knocks the character into the water. Currently the explosion in game is far less dramatic. I have a couple of questions based around this first of all.
1. Are there plans to add this wave or indeed any waves into the game at all as currently the surface is very calm and flat all the time?
If so that raises another question in regards to weather and gravity but I'll put those in at the bottom.
2. According to the flavor text delivered by our personal helper, we are informed the Aurora has dark matter drives that are reaching critical containment, so the explosion would be comparable to that of a nuclear bomb detonating given the drives on a ship that size. Are their plans to make this explosion a mechanic that could potentially harm the player? This could be avoided by hiding in the escape pod or sitting inside a submarine, or even simply taking shelter behind a large rock, anything that can absorb the shockwave and keep you out of the initial flash of heat.
The next question revolves around death within the game. Currently when you die, you suffer an inventory reset (I've not done my research but I believe it removes any item gained since "Inventory Secured" was last flashed on your screen.) and then your character respawns inside of the last hatch they went through, be it cyclops or escape pod or base. Is there a plan, even if it's just flavor lore and not added to the actual game. To discuss how your character makes it back to the pod? I'd be happy with an interesting explanation of say, emergency med bots built into the pods and such that home in on your wounded beacon, which activates automatically when you lose all health or oxygen and pass out. They then drag you back to the pod and take you inside, but they have to empty your pockets to do it or something like that.
Finally, about gravity and weather. How strong is the gravity of the planet the Aurora crashed on? I ask because I was having a discussion with a friend of mine about the hyper-metabolic rate of our character, and he mentioned that under higher gravity it would require more energy to move and swim, and therefore drain more hunger. So I'm curious to know what the gravity of the planet is and how that would affect waves if they're implemented. The other thing with waves is weather, naturally waves require wind to occur, combining wind with evaporation of water into the atmosphere would provide the basis for some pretty hefty storms. Are there any plans to add weather into the game? including things like large cyclones and massive storms. The big smooth ocean surfaces would allow for some MASSIVE storms to form, including water spouts not to mention the ocean currents could play a huge role in the movement of these storms.
TL;DR
1. Will there ever be waves at all?
2. Will you make it so the explosion of the Aurora can kill unsheltered players?
3. Will you explain the death mechanic in a creative and interesting way even if you don't add it to the game?
4. How strong is gravity on this planet?
5. Will you add weather and naturally occurring currents to the game?
Comments
Just imagine if you tether a weather monitoring satellite to the monitors inside the cyclops. Or even to your personal suit. Then the voice of one of them could be like.
"Warning, category 5 cyclone approaching, recommend immediate descent to safe depth. Impact in T minus 5 minutes"
"Danger! Category 5 cyclone has merged with category 3 cyclone, evaluating new threat level. Category 7 cyclone imminent, recalculating safe depth, recommend immediate descent."
Or from inside your seabase if you could construct a monitor like that on the cyclops.
"Danger, category 7 cyclone approaching, calculating hull strength and position. Shelter insufficient, hull strength insufficient, recommend immediate reinforcement."
"Danger, category 4 waterspout approaching, calculating hull strength and position. Shelter sufficient, hull strength sufficient, see you on the other side captain."
I am aware 5 + 3 is 8 but you have to account for some of the potential energy lost or consumed due to the merging of storms. Shelter as I called it on the sea base, would refer to be being constructed in a cave, it would also use depth as a calculation. Hull strength would refer to the current integrity of the hull, therefore if you were insufficiently prepared and didn't reinforce the hull, the storm would have the power to start tearing holes into your base etc. This would only really be common place in the shallows however.
I'd like to see how the ecosystem reacts to storms. Like, for example, floaters could use storms to propagate themselves and the aftermath of a storm would result in lot's of floaters on the surface.
At a certain depth, or in caves, storms would be irrelevant, but there should be some effect in the 3 biomes closest to the surface, to varying degrees.
Furthermore, storms would be a great excuse to kick players out of the lifepod and force them to build a base. Far better than the radiation from the explosion, which I feel occurs too early and doesn't have enough buildup.
No, but we're not discussing that in this thread hence why it hasn't been mentioned. There are plenty of other threads related to exactly that.
I'm with you on this, I would enjoy seeing how the ecosystem reacts. Rain has a tendency to not only tear up silt from the seafloor but also to draw a lot of creatures to the surface as they think food is landing in the water. So perhaps it could draw some creatures out. I'd also imagine some of the bigger creatures, such as the leviathans and the bigger, tougher creatures, would use the storms as competition to prove themselves as their mating ritual, much like goats clash heads and lions fight for the alpha male position. I know fish don't quite breed in the same way mammals do but I'd love to see a pack/school mechanic added to some species, where they fight over territory, leadership and power etc and I could just imagine the big creatures using it as a test of strength. So being on the surface might let you see a Leviathan attempting to leap into the sky or something.
You're right about depth rendering them irrelevant at some point, but that is the point. One would be recommended to descend to a safe depth or seek immediate shelter. This way the storm would be incentive to hide.
I don't think that anything should kick you out of the escape pod or FORCE you away if you don't want to leave, however I think making it take structural damage like a sea base or cyclops and allowing it to float like an entity would work. This way it would be possible to ride out a storm inside the escape pod, however it will rock and you'll be thrown about inside of it, if you don't keep a welder handy you may find yourself drowning due to holes in the walls and possibly, the inflatable ring could puncture, requiring you to repair it, but in the meantime the escape pod sinks to the bottom of the ocean. I think there should be incentive to leave the safety of the pod, incentive to explore caves, build bases and generally dive deeper, but I don't think leaving the pod should be a forced thing.