So, we're to do that?
Simking124
Canada Join Date: 2015-05-16 Member: 204542Members
Canada Join Date: 2015-05-16 Member: 204542Members
As we were a terraforming expedition, I'd expect we had a very specific goal in mind about how we were going to change this watery paradise. Now that we are on the planet, I'm unsure about how we could change this planet to be any more hospitable(other than making the leviathans extinct). The terraforming tool allows us to move soils around, so perhaps we are to make arable land? I can't imagine a way of lowering the sea level to expose wide swaths of land. Any ideas?
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everything else around it seems to be patchwork. surviving,exploring,building, Terra-forming,colonization ... what will it be ? wish we knew more about the lore and background story.
Anyone ever see an old movie called 'Flight Of The Phoenix'? The original 1965 Jimmy Stewart version, not the 2004 remake, incidentally.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flight_of_the_Phoenix_(1965_film)
Same basic principle. Scavenge the 'Aurora' for parts, build a spaceworthy vessel, return to Alterra Corp and warn them to stay well clear of the planet in future.
That's one hell of a job already.
This decision (and rather satisfying end-game outcome) would be born of a crucial meeting with the sentient species that shot 'Aurora' down in the first place.
They were fully aware of the Aurora's original (terraforming) purpose, and felt that it was necessary to preserve the planet's unique ecosystems at all costs.
It should be added that while they don't exactly regret this course of action, they are willing to allow the Survivor to return home bearing the Sentients' message:
DO NOT RETURN HERE. YOU WILL BE DESTROYED.
The trigger for this sequence of events occurs when the Survivor discovers the wreckage of an earlier Alterra survey mission in a particularly hazardous area.
A Sea Emperor is guarding the wreckage, attended by several Reaper Leviathans. Somehow, the Survivor must make contact with the Sea Emperor in order to escape.
This is where all previous research on marine exobiology, navigation & mapping, underwater acoustic communication and defensive weapons comes into play.
Things get kind of interesting beyond this point...
However, I get the impression that something on the planet shot the 'Aurora' down for a specific reason.
This implies that they are (a) intelligent, and (b) have access to planetary weapons, either organic like the Plasma Bugs of 'Starship Troopers' or technology-based.
I'm all in favour of the Survivor being entirely, utterly alone. That particular sensation changes the atmosphere of the game into something completely different from most survival games. Some folk might find it a bit too unsettling, though. Guess it depends on how deep they are willing to go (in a manner of speaking) while playing Subnautica.
Constructing an escape vessel from wreckage and harvested resources would be a massive undertaking. I see the project as entirely unlike building a Cyclops.
There would be many sub-systems to build and integrate into a modular hull design that also needs to be researched first.
Conversely, it might be possible that the Survivor is given an opportunity to remain on the planet, provided that his/her actions have minimal impact on the ecosystem.
Just imagine living under the perpetual threat of a species powerful enough to level even the most heavily-armoured structures one could possibly build.
Certainly wouldn't pay to be a bad neighbour.
Maybe there were sentient beings living on the planet, but they are now extinct. However, some of their machines are still functional, which would explain the pulse that destroyed Aurora. The pulse could also have a natural cause.
I would like to have some kind of old ruins and foreign tech somewhere in the game, but meeting another sentient species doesn't fit in so well.
Perhaps an alternative could be repairing sections of the Aurora's hull and systems to make them a habitable base.
This could include leveling it out with buoyancy devices and draining water, or welding holes in the hull shut. Would give something else to do after fixing the radiation leak.
But there is of course the risk of having it feel too safe and impenetrable, so there could be a creature with the intelligence or strength to destroy or enter the Aurora.
The same could apply to the on board systems, as I'm sure the Aurora must have a HUGE terraforming device, given it's original mission. Or industrial size fabricators/water treatment systems. Seeing as the starship's sole purpose was to make the planet habitable it would seem logical that the survivor would attempt to restore and recover some of the systems not destroyed in the explosion.
But this would need to require a hefty amount of resources and be a late-game thing to do, so the initial survival aspect is still there.
@Bugzapper
The Warper is my best bet for a sentient, intelligent species. Visually it looks the most advanced, as it's clearly not built for combat, and in the concept art it is shown evading the player with a portal, showing it's intelligence. If I had to guess, I'd say that Warpers somehow shot down the Aurora.
Why not?
One of the greatest sandbox ever created is "Star Control II" (probably the very first sandbox that inspired them all).
And in that game, the player is free to go to any star in any order he wants, gather materials, speak to aliens and solve mysteries.
But what he doesn't know is that certain events are triggered at certain time, (a fairly good chunk of time, like 1 year in-game) after which cascading events are happening faster and faster and you end up realizing you DON'T have infinite time and the crescendo brings you to the game ending.
You get BOTH the satisfaction of a fully free sandbox and the satisfaction of a tightly knit up story with a real ending - worth hundreds of hours of play before it ends.
No conclusive ending may be nice and all for the first 40 hours of gaming, even the first 100.
But once you have crafted everything and explored everything, then what? You just end up getting bored and you stop playing?