Boundless Resources
TotallyLemon
Atlanta Georgia Join Date: 2015-05-22 Member: 204764Members
Atlanta Georgia Join Date: 2015-05-22 Member: 204764Members
Renewable (regenerating) resources are a conundrum, especially in sandbox games like Subnautica. Procedurally generated games like Minecraft shrug this off by having limitless space, but fixed map games like Subnautica tend to be trumped by the limits of "resources not growing on trees".
The natural re-population of plants and animals is to be expected. Unfortunately, geology tends to be stagnant. Non-living (abiotic) factors do not repopulate areas once they are depleted and there are finite amounts of them in the environment, so how does one get around this problem without some stupidly convoluted solution? Here's what I think...
These technologies would only be available to players whom have done significant amounts of exploration and research of fragments (around the time regular resources are being depleted by the player, and they will be seeking new methods of extraction).
What do you guys think?
The natural re-population of plants and animals is to be expected. Unfortunately, geology tends to be stagnant. Non-living (abiotic) factors do not repopulate areas once they are depleted and there are finite amounts of them in the environment, so how does one get around this problem without some stupidly convoluted solution? Here's what I think...
- Borehole drills: Stationary rigs that allow the player to drill for water and petroleum. Depending on the purity of the water (Contaminated, Turbid, Mineral Rich, Pure) the player can use it directly for drinking water, or can filter filthier flows for drinkable water using a Filtration Plant. Petroleum can be processed to make plastics like silicon and lubricant. This is a late game mechanic; players can use plastic to create Laminated Glass as a substitute material for Enameled Glass. Boring is energy intensive (players will need a nuclear reactor, or many smaller reactors), but once a resource is hit the pumping doesn't take much energy. Also, water should be necessary for farming.
- Desalinization Machines: Suggested by other posters before - this energy intensive process creates unlimited fresh water.
- Volcanic Glass Mining: Submarine volcanoes and thermal vents pour out magma that rapidly cools. The resulting cooled rock can be mined for volcanic glass and other minerals. These minerals are processed in a energy intensive Refinery... essentially providing late game players with a more efficient and long lasting method of collecting resources.
These technologies would only be available to players whom have done significant amounts of exploration and research of fragments (around the time regular resources are being depleted by the player, and they will be seeking new methods of extraction).
What do you guys think?
Comments
>Compress water
>Force through membrane
>Water is clean
I get that you think that would make it "balanced", but it makes little sense.
This thing right here can produce 6 gallons in 1 day just by a person operating a hand pump.
Something along those lines would take less energy than a regularly used fabricator.
Unless we suddenly have a MIGHTY NEED for vast amounts of clean water quickly, we probably won't need more than 6 gallons a day.
I imagine some kind of cargo container which will be filled by the resource producing plants and that can be picked up by a Cyclops (in the same way a Seamoth docks but lifted by a crane into the cargo hold). Then you can bring it to your main base and dock it on a special module (maybe four cargo containers per module) from where the resources are automatically available to all manufacturing devices in the same base (no need to go through your inventory).
I know this would change some things, but all the inventory juggling and building of lockers for high quantity items is the only annoying thing to me after 24 hours of playtime.