Removing the Terraformer
AlphaBlueArx
Join Date: 2015-05-11 Member: 204402Members
Join Date: 2015-05-11 Member: 204402Members
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Noooooo! I hope this is not true. I've not seen this mentioned anywhere.
I love the terraformer tool - it's great! Why remove it? It *does* cause some framerate stuttering if you use it 'excessively' (Do NOT unleash your 6 year old with one.... mass destruction ensues!)
https://trello.com/c/VGGb7PyK/20-remove-terraformer
Edit: Another reason could be the game engine itself. Don't know how much the luxury of a totally transformable terrain might cost, but it seems that we're getting performance issues already.
But a player can already 'cheat' pretty much anything they need via console commands so I don't see how the terraformer makes any difference to a player's choice to play legit or not.
Don't forget though that the console will probably be going away at some point. Its really only there for testing purposes so that playtesters can load anything immediately.
Ah I did not know that.
In my mind, a single-player sandbox game is not really a 'cheating' type of game because who are you competing against? Yourself. If one can't just play the game as it was intended and has to find cheats - well - I just don't know what would force them to do so as they choose to cheat. Removing a tool that does that is like telling someone they can only play in the sandbox with their hands and not a shovel. It's all fun and games until someone gets sand in their eyes.
This so much, rooms are the big offenders of this and I use the terrafomer to cover my base back up. Also to unstick the Cyclops in its many many foul modes lol
Before I created an artificial lagoon reef, this was the main reason I used the terraformer. I noticed that the 'legs' of base platforms often did not extend properly on all sides if placed on incline/decline type surfaces so it was nice to build up a little earth underneath to make it appear more realistic.
I also used the terraformer to make a power conduit tunnel from the geo-thermal vent (and my platform of generators) through the hill to my main base. I was careful not to disturb the surface flora/fauna and closed the tunnel off when I was done connecting the two sides. This was great fun and I'll be sad if these sorts of modified ideas are no longer possible. I honestly don't care if someone wants to use the terraformer to 'cheat' their way down into a cavern ... it's their game and their world - do with it as you will you have only yourself to blame if you wreck it.
Now if it's being removed because of performance issues on console game platforms, then remove it from platform console gaming OS only. Leave it for those who can handle it on PC.
I agree with this completely
I would like to see this.
Another reason to beg UWE to keep the terraforming option available ? This seems clear for me, because I felt very impatient to encounter such a creature ...
They could just rename him and repurpose his Punching as way to attack his prey like the mantis shrimp on earth.... and could still destroy bases... So no need to put it on the choping block devs!
true enough but remember if or when the development team decides or gets around to it, they have those extra assets for later in case they decide to make another game (possibly one that has co-op or multiplayer) or a DLC/expansion. Assets made for one game can be used in another if it isn't used for the game it was originally intended for, of course this is assuming it's specifically designed to be used in a certain game engine or not.
Anyways as for the investment return the development team could and in my opinion should only make use of these assets they cut from the game after they've released the game fully from Alpha into the post early access phase. Developers for games don't just stop making games after one product is done. They will still be doing patches every once and a while to address bugs and other strangeness, no game is bug free completely. Besides that they'll be able to focus their attention on a new game or if they so wish to do it an addition to the game through a DLC or Expansion.
you could make it so that the only thing the terraformer does is allow base modules to excavate space around themselves (instead of you needing to manually evacuate space, or perhaps it allows you to 'dig' rock round them as well as sand?)
but if someone's willing to 'cheat' on a single player game - what do they win? a reduced sense of accomplishment
perhaps have it in an options menu with a warning 'the use of this item to access otherwise inaccessible areas is considered as good as cheating by many'?
but for the (comparatively) legitimate uses I've been putting it to (building a platform up near the surface for my solar panels, and a ledge to put foundations on) it's not game breaking, it's game MAKING
1.) Fixed terrain has fixed precalculated or hand-crafted LODs. At the moment terrain seems to be calculated when you enter an area. The game will stutter while the voxels are loaded and made into a mash that is displayed. This could be avoided with predefinied unalterable terrain, which only has to be loaded. There also are visible seams between terrain at different detail levels, this could also be adressed. (I must admit, I am guessing here, but it does make sense to me)
2.) The terraformer allows us to bypass terrain constraints and go to places where we "should not". Maybe there will be areas that should be off limits, but we could cheat our way past those barriers with the Terraformer.
actually, thinking about your reason #1 - what happens when you level a mountain top with base units/corridors etc?
I saw it from an "accessability" point of view: You have to get somewhere where you cannot. I do not know why, maybe the crack is not wide enough or whatever. Now the seasoned player would just think: "hey thats a use for the Terraformer" and whip it out and go in. Maybe that is not the intended way to solve this problem. Maybe you "should" craft a tiny remote controlled drone or something... I have absolutely no idea why this is suddenly such a big deal, but it seems to be a big deal, soe Trello cards indicate that. Using the Terraformer in this situation wouldn't be cheating - even if I used the word, it would be using a legit toll available to the player that made him (or her) a little too powerful. Or one that he wasn't to have.
But... if #2 was the only reason, well a Terraformer-proof material could still be implemented... So it must be something else or a combination if things.
As for leveling mountaintops with bases... I don't know. Maybe this will not be possible in the future?
I do not know anything for sure, I am speculating, but I wanted to look at this situation from a game developers point of view and not from a gamer-gets-taken-his-favorite-toy point of view. Because, there are always more than one point of view.
You'd need a lot of titanium to do so.
Personally I hope they don't remove this capacity or placing the modules will become very difficult, especially the rooms and the moonpool.
I was hoping that they would put in terrain that can't be removed that way we still can have fun and not cause problems.
Though it could become a doozie for my base construction style ^^
I like to built long sections encased in the rocks. ^^