In-game map of some sort would be nice
FearlessWolf
United States Join Date: 2015-08-29 Member: 207573Members
So I've been thinking about how easy it is to get lost in the world of Subnautica if you are out looking for something. I then thought that a map item or HUD module would be nice. If it was a HUD module it would require something like the compass HUD module and an advanced wiring kit. If it was an item, probably something like 1x Glass, 1x Advanced Wiring Kit, and 1x Battery and would look something similar to the PDA that shows the inventory and blueprints.
Comments
However, if we are to have an in game map I think it needs to have areas where the player has not been, fogged out.
Good idea!
Well we wouldn't have a GPS per say, but you can have something pretty much the exact same thing. Which would involve a few transmitters in your base/s which your device would automatically triangulate. Resulting in a position it can give you based on how it measured the the distance from each transmitter.
But downside there a problem we are underwater most of the time, and water is really really good at stopping radiation. Thus why uranium rods go into pools and submarines can't transmit data very well if at all under tactical depth (about 50 meters).
But you can have a device that would track and measure movement, also maybe use sonar mapping. Pretty much it would track your speed, note heading, and use things like accelerometers to map your path. Well using sonar to scan the area around you, this would would give you a map of the areas your been to and also be a more realistic device.
Plus this would one up a GPS because then we could have a fancy 3D map that would show caves and stuff.
1st In your base or on the Cyclops (more likely on the Cyclops but have a backup on your base) you build a map table.
2nd Using the mobile vehicle bay (Constructor) you build and launch a solar/power cell run flying drone (after launching you never interact with it again).
3rd You go out in the Sea Moth and/or the Cyclops and use sonar (has to be added to the Cyclops upgrades) to map the world.
For the map system to work it will show nothing but an empty "hollow ball" until you start mapping (if you have all the parts). If your missing the sky drone then it will show a slowly turning hollow sign that says "No Map Relay Signal". Then as you do the mapping (by use of sonar) it will slowly fill in the map. If you skip using sonar in one area and use it in the next then the map would show an empty gap between the 2 areas (for more realism). The map table at your base is the main unit while the one on the Cyclops is a remote unit. The one at the base would require the sky drone but the one on the Cyclops does not so long as your using the Cyclops to do the mapping. Then once you get back to base and park within 15m of the base you can go to the map table in the base and tell it to download the data from the Cyclops.
That said, Paradine's 3d map room suggestion is awesome and would be even better. I particularly like the multiple suggestions for mapping to be based on sonar. That would take a while to do and so require a lot of investment by the player, which I think makes it balanced.
Edit: This will be the balancing part of the map system.
Leaving aside that it would be extremely interesting to see them move around and possibly interact once their A.I. has been completed, it'd be extremely useful when it would come to avoiding them.
I think that is very cool, but should be a late game feature and you should have to tag them (risking your life) first.
This coïncides with the idea I had. Might even be launchable from that "portable torpedo-launcher" that people were asking for.
If he/they could be tracked from a safe distance, that would make long-term survival just a little bit less stressful.
Besides involving us in the process in a realistic manner, it adds interactivity to the game that I think it would benefit from.
Addendum to that: A type of automated base unit that allows us to observe areas from afar, but has to be actually built there (hence exploration to get there) that we can sync to nav comp and 3d map so we get a live update of what hostiles are in the area.
If you read any of my thread then you know we're thinking along the same lines. It would be great to have a module that lists all our vehicles and nav beacons, and allows us to select the ones we want to activate or deactivate. An "All Off" and "All On" option would be good too. Work this into a console you can build into a base and on the Cyclops and we're set. You can have all the beacons you want, but only activate the one you want to travel too.
A headquarters type module that we could add to our bases would also be useful. It could contain the 3D map console I mentioned. Our beacon locations could be over-layed onto the map and managed from it. If we could make notations on it too, all the better. If some sort of scanning were added to the game (see previously mentioned thread) then resource data could also be a sideline to the map, display what resources each discovered Biome is rich in.