The problem with the new system right now (tested it: 31606) is that tanks inside the paper doll slot count towards slowing down the player, while the same tank inside the inventory doesn't slow the player down so much. That's counterintuitive, stupid, unreal and doesn't play well. You'd suspect that a tank streamlined to your back would be less speed reducing than a big inventory sack pulled behind you to gather all things you find. It's also negative in encouraging player equipment behaviour.
Right now the devs decided to force you switching the tanks, creating a micromanagement hazzle for the players that use more than the old 2 tanks.
My 2 simple suggestions:
Inventory should decrease speed more than doll slot equipment. Preferred usage should be paper doll slots to speed the player.
To avoid micromanagement hazzle with tanks, full inventory tanks should autoreplace empty tanks from doll.
Then we could all be happy. Pros like me would dive with a single plasteel on his back and his ultraglide fins, jetting around sharks, or using no tanks at all with the help of brain corals, while others that like tons of tanks could enjoy the same gamestyle as ever. As soon as a tank gets empty it gets autoreplaced from inventory, relieving from the pain of going through the PDA. And the disadvantages of lots of tanks simply means less speed as it should be.
EDIT:
Forgot that stupid, useless glove slot for the only gloves in game. That should be replaced with being able to put one big (2x2) tool or weapon into a hand/tool slot. Thus relieving you of one big tool from the inventory.
I don't have time to play at this time, what do you, players, think about an upgrade for the swinsuit, wich allow you to handle more airtanks ? This could be a progressive mechanic ; plunge further, find materials , improve, plunging even further to find better materials , improve again and so on
I don't have time to play at this time, what do you, players, think about an upgrade for the swinsuit, wich allow you to handle more airtanks ? This could be a progressive mechanic ; plunge further, find materials , improve, plunging even further to find better materials , improve again and so on
I think you should read my autoswitch idea: Empty tanks just need to be automatically replaced with full tanks from the inventory.
And you should play with handling tanks now [31606], because the solution only lacks autoswitch and inventory slowing you down more than doll usage now.
I'd say you don't even need any upgrades with autoswitch and ... it's almost the same as the earlier doll-less system.
The only difference would be the increased player decision between being speedy and having more O2.
I'm sorry if the answer to this is obvious, but I think there's something I'm missing here. A lot of people in this thread say that they want to essentially stay underwater indefinitely. Is there some reason this desire can't be fulfilled using a Seamoth?
KlinnLost in a caveJoin Date: 2016-03-09Member: 214022Members
edited April 2016
That's certainly one of the reasons why I normally try to find Seamoth fragments ASAP. As I mentioned in the other thread, it's not quite the same feeling as diving on your own, but it has the added benefit of protecting you from those #%$* biters.
But my point previously in this thread is not about staying underwater indefinitely, but just having the choice to easily increase my total oxygen for diving. I'm sure everyone is getting tired of me making this point over and over, so I'll shut up now.
That's certainly one of the reasons why I normally try to find Seamoth fragments ASAP. As I mentioned in the other thread, it's not quite the same feeling as diving on your own, but it has the added benefit of protecting you from those #%$* biters.
But my point previously in this thread is not about staying underwater indefinitely, but just having the choice to easily increase my total oxygen for diving. I'm sure everyone is getting tired of me making this point over and over, so I'll shut up now.
If you just shut up, where will I get words of wisdom from ?
I'm sorry if the answer to this is obvious, but I think there's something I'm missing here. A lot of people in this thread say that they want to essentially stay underwater indefinitely. Is there some reason this desire can't be fulfilled using a Seamoth?
I think if that was the goal we'd all be calling for tanks and oxygen to be removed from the game completely. That isn't the case, I promise you. XD
For me, it's about being able to extend my dives in a manner that doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the game. Quality of life tweaks and such. I don't mind the change as much as others do. I usually swim with three tanks. Sometimes two, and sometimes even just one. I decide this ahead of time depending on what I want to be doing.
With the new system I can still bring multiple tanks, but now its a hassle to switch them out and refill them one by one. It's why I suggested the glove spot be replaced by a second tank spot. You can still choose one or two tanks, for either more air or more maneuverability. Two HC tanks is a reasonable amount of air that would satisfy me as a compromise. In that scenario I wouldn't feel the need to bring anymore tanks in my inventory.
But that's just me. Everyone plays differently. Finding a compromise that fits the devs vision /and/ satisfies the majority of players isn't exactly easy. All we can really do is spin ideas and hope something sticks. Maybe they keep it the same. Maybe they change it. Maybe I hate that change with burning passion. That's the thrill and danger of early access. 83
I'm sorry if the answer to this is obvious, but I think there's something I'm missing here. A lot of people in this thread say that they want to essentially stay underwater indefinitely. Is there some reason this desire can't be fulfilled using a Seamoth?
I think if that was the goal we'd all be calling for tanks and oxygen to be removed from the game completely. That isn't the case, I promise you. XD
For me, it's about being able to extend my dives in a manner that doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the game. Quality of life tweaks and such. I don't mind the change as much as others do. I usually swim with three tanks. Sometimes two, and sometimes even just one. I decide this ahead of time depending on what I want to be doing.
With the new system I can still bring multiple tanks, but now its a hassle to switch them out and refill them one by one. It's why I suggested the glove spot be replaced by a second tank spot. You can still choose one or two tanks, for either more air or more maneuverability. Two HC tanks is a reasonable amount of air that would satisfy me as a compromise. In that scenario I wouldn't feel the need to bring anymore tanks in my inventory.
But that's just me. Everyone plays differently. Finding a compromise that fits the devs vision /and/ satisfies the majority of players isn't exactly easy. All we can really do is spin ideas and hope something sticks. Maybe they keep it the same. Maybe they change it. Maybe I hate that change with burning passion. That's the thrill and danger of early access. 83
Amen to that! I feel like the devs already know how some of us feel about the air tank change, but in order to have the game fit their vision and make us happy at the same time, it would help them more to know WHY we feel the way that we do. Perhaps they'll compensate in future updates by giving us more end-game tiers of tank sizes?
I always feel like Hardcore mode should be renamed as Realism mode while the easier the difficulty becomes, the less realistic it is. So for Hardcore mode with a VR system, switching tanks would require physically disconnecting the air supply, remove the air tank, insert the new tank from your inventory, and finally connecting the air supply. Survival would be using a switch air tanks hotkey while Freedom would be what we have now on the Stable version.
I'm sorry if the answer to this is obvious, but I think there's something I'm missing here. A lot of people in this thread say that they want to essentially stay underwater indefinitely. Is there some reason this desire can't be fulfilled using a Seamoth?
Its not realistic. Deep divers in real life as well as cave divers that stay under for days, carry multiple tanks that are connected to each other. There is no reason to have only 1 active tank at a time.
I'm sorry if the answer to this is obvious, but I think there's something I'm missing here. A lot of people in this thread say that they want to essentially stay underwater indefinitely. Is there some reason this desire can't be fulfilled using a Seamoth?
Its not realistic. Deep divers in real life as well as cave divers that stay under for days, carry multiple tanks that are connected to each other. There is no reason to have only 1 active tank at a time.
Hence why I started talking about the possibility of a "dive suit." The suit that we are wearing seems to be one of those multi-function crew uniforms that can work a limited survival suits that sometimes appear in speculative fiction. As such, having it limited to a single tank doesn't bother me, nor does the cumbersome method needed to switch tanks. The suit wasn't designed with this convenience in mind. But it does make sense to have this convenience become something that can be unlocked in game via a new suit schematic.
On a related note, I've been thinking that maybe a glove version of the charging fins could be conceived of that instead of charging an item, uses that charge to derive O2 from the surrounding water via electrolysis/CO2 scrubbing.
I'm sorry if the answer to this is obvious, but I think there's something I'm missing here. A lot of people in this thread say that they want to essentially stay underwater indefinitely. Is there some reason this desire can't be fulfilled using a Seamoth?
Its not realistic. Deep divers in real life as well as cave divers that stay under for days, carry multiple tanks that are connected to each other. There is no reason to have only 1 active tank at a time.
I think it is a bit more elaborate than that. Standard tanks handle about an hour of air. So if you want to stay underwater for a day, then you need 24 tanks. Carrying that many tanks is just not reasonable. Although since Subnautica is set hundreds of years in the future, then they could use Liquid Air SCUBA tanks or some other high tech apparatus to stay longer underwater with a single tank of gas. Liquid Air SCUBA tanks use cryogenics to compress air into a liquid. Some of the liquid air would travel to a chamber to warm it up to room temperature to create breathable air. Of course, Liquid Air SCUBA tanks would only be viable near the surface and would require stranger methods for deep sea diving.
So Subnautica could use the route of acquiring more advanced technology like Exosuits and Liquid Breathing (breath in a liquid instead of gas) for us to stay longer and deeper on a single tank of air. There is also the Transfuser that supposedly allows us to inject alien DNA into our characters to give certain unique traits. So one of the traits could be using alien DNA to give gills and another could be to give pressure compensation DNA. With the right DNA, there would be no need to worry about Seamoths, Cyclops, or air tanks.
We also have to take into account the accelerated time scale. And before you get your flamethrowers out, I understand that days are different lengths on different planets, I actually paid attention in high school. But given our water consumption rates, has anyone tested how long it takes to go from fully hydrated to dead? Think about that for a moment. If someone could do the math (I'm honestly too busy to research and then number-crunch) to establish a rough time-scale, we can get a better idea on how long our 02 tanks are actually lasting. If you want realism.
Or, we can accept some basic nods to realism such as needing specialized equipment to go deeper without problems and a few other elements and leave it at that.
I'm sorry if the answer to this is obvious, but I think there's something I'm missing here. A lot of people in this thread say that they want to essentially stay underwater indefinitely. Is there some reason this desire can't be fulfilled using a Seamoth?
Its not realistic. Deep divers in real life as well as cave divers that stay under for days, carry multiple tanks that are connected to each other. There is no reason to have only 1 active tank at a time.
I think it is a bit more elaborate than that. Standard tanks handle about an hour of air. So if you want to stay underwater for a day, then you need 24 tanks. Carrying that many tanks is just not reasonable. Although since Subnautica is set hundreds of years in the future, then they could use Liquid Air SCUBA tanks or some other high tech apparatus to stay longer underwater with a single tank of gas. Liquid Air SCUBA tanks use cryogenics to compress air into a liquid. Some of the liquid air would travel to a chamber to warm it up to room temperature to create breathable air. Of course, Liquid Air SCUBA tanks would only be viable near the surface and would require stranger methods for deep sea diving.
So Subnautica could use the route of acquiring more advanced technology like Exosuits and Liquid Breathing (breath in a liquid instead of gas) for us to stay longer and deeper on a single tank of air. There is also the Transfuser that supposedly allows us to inject alien DNA into our characters to give certain unique traits. So one of the traits could be using alien DNA to give gills and another could be to give pressure compensation DNA. With the right DNA, there would be no need to worry about Seamoths, Cyclops, or air tanks.
I'm sorry if the answer to this is obvious, but I think there's something I'm missing here. A lot of people in this thread say that they want to essentially stay underwater indefinitely. Is there some reason this desire can't be fulfilled using a Seamoth?
Its not realistic. Deep divers in real life as well as cave divers that stay under for days, carry multiple tanks that are connected to each other. There is no reason to have only 1 active tank at a time.
I think it is a bit more elaborate than that. Standard tanks handle about an hour of air. So if you want to stay underwater for a day, then you need 24 tanks. Carrying that many tanks is just not reasonable. Although since Subnautica is set hundreds of years in the future, then they could use Liquid Air SCUBA tanks or some other high tech apparatus to stay longer underwater with a single tank of gas. Liquid Air SCUBA tanks use cryogenics to compress air into a liquid. Some of the liquid air would travel to a chamber to warm it up to room temperature to create breathable air. Of course, Liquid Air SCUBA tanks would only be viable near the surface and would require stranger methods for deep sea diving.
So Subnautica could use the route of acquiring more advanced technology like Exosuits and Liquid Breathing (breath in a liquid instead of gas) for us to stay longer and deeper on a single tank of air. There is also the Transfuser that supposedly allows us to inject alien DNA into our characters to give certain unique traits. So one of the traits could be using alien DNA to give gills and another could be to give pressure compensation DNA. With the right DNA, there would be no need to worry about Seamoths, Cyclops, or air tanks.
Standard equipment for me now on all dives inside wreaks and gathering. see pic.
I gathered this pic on one HC tank in the lava zone, it is loaded with a good balance of metals. Used the Cyclops to get in the lava zone.
and did recon with the moth as needed but fully load with 4 Pressure Compensator she can only go so deep.
And I am finding I use the sea glide a lot more then I use to making up the lost tanks.
Standard equipment for me now on all dives inside wreaks and gathering. see pic.
I gathered this pic on one HC tank in the lava zone, it is loaded with a good balance of metals. Used the Cyclops to get in the lava zone.
and did recon with the moth as needed but fully load with 4 Pressure Compensator she can only go so deep.
And I am finding I use the sea glide a lot more then I use to making up the lost tanks.
Achievement - Winning the game without tanks:
For the lava zone I suggest you plant a network of farming beds with brain corals to allow you recharging yourself at infinite depths. For orientation in the dark the bubbles help too and if you additionally plant a few bases with glass windows acting like lighttowers in the deep, you'll have no trouble to stay down there for hours. It takes some time to set up the network though.
Standard equipment for me now on all dives inside wreaks and gathering. see pic.
I gathered this pic on one HC tank in the lava zone, it is loaded with a good balance of metals. Used the Cyclops to get in the lava zone.
and did recon with the moth as needed but fully load with 4 Pressure Compensator she can only go so deep.
And I am finding I use the sea glide a lot more then I use to making up the lost tanks.
Achievement - Winning the game without tanks:
For the lava zone I suggest you plant a network of farming beds with brain corals to allow you recharging yourself at infinite depths. For orientation in the dark the bubbles help too and if you additionally plant a few bases with glass windows acting like lighttowers in the deep, you'll have no trouble to stay down there for hours. It takes some time to set up the network though.
Building lighttowers was a lot easier to do when Oxygen didn't need power, but it is extremely inefficient for setting up a farming bed network. Farming beds with Brain Coral and Creepvine would be better since you just need 2 titanium per station. How long does it take for one of these farming bed station to grow?
Standard equipment for me now on all dives inside wreaks and gathering. see pic.
I gathered this pic on one HC tank in the lava zone, it is loaded with a good balance of metals. Used the Cyclops to get in the lava zone.
and did recon with the moth as needed but fully load with 4 Pressure Compensator she can only go so deep.
And I am finding I use the sea glide a lot more then I use to making up the lost tanks.
Achievement - Winning the game without tanks:
For the lava zone I suggest you plant a network of farming beds with brain corals to allow you recharging yourself at infinite depths. For orientation in the dark the bubbles help too and if you additionally plant a few bases with glass windows acting like lighttowers in the deep, you'll have no trouble to stay down there for hours. It takes some time to set up the network though.
Good ideas Zetachron on my next start ill try the network.
I have been starting a new game every few days/updates, around the time I get the Cyclops and Nuclear Reactor I have found all the available blueprints. And by then there is new updates to check out.
I used 4 beacons in a chain to the lava castle. One at cave entrance, one at a lava lake, one at a lava fork that's deep, and the last at the castle.
Sounds like a good place to put the network anchor points and build to connect them in between.
Unless they rework the far distance mapping, the windows itself will be enough at this time. Later you might need a simple bioreactor, because internal light itself migh need power as O2, but not consume power passively. So you'll never have to refill the reactor if you misuse the base as lighttowers.
It takes about an ingame day (didn't measure it) to grow the brains, so place first and come back to advance:
Place the first bed in the deep with a few brain corals.
Return next day or journey, then you have a working bed with many seeds for lots of new beds nearby.
Repeat
[Unfortunately the game sometimes seems to forget beds placed into the world (I hope this will be fixed), so at this time don't use more than a 6 bed line to a deep goal]
This already allows you to travel to the end game area from your last moonpool station with only your UGfins, rebreather and 1 plasteel tank. Also keep in mind that the corals are best used to travel downwards (like 500m down from the floating isle to the deep reef bottom with a single well placed brain coral bed). So it helps if you get as close to your goal horizontally before placing coral brain beds. They are also perfect for deepest wreck exploration before you have a seamoth if you dare to visit the wreck a day before, placing your brain coral bed and coming back for harvesting a day later. In case of disturbing creatures the O2 bubbles can be catched high above the bed, so only placing the bed in creature territory is dangerous.
I am not having any trouble exploring wreaks with the new tank system, with no tanks stored in the inventory .
I do what I did with more tanks, and make lots on short dives into the wreak building a mental map and layout after each dive, until it is fully explored. It takes more time to complete a wreak without a working dive reel.
@eastofdeath Just a reminder before you try a complete network:
Unfortunately the game sometimes seems to forget beds placed into the world (I hope this will be fixed), so at this time don't use more than a 6 bed line to a deep goal. (read my spoiler above)
Unless they rework the far distance mapping, the windows itself will be enough at this time. Later you might need a simple bioreactor, because internal light itself migh need power as O2, but not consume power passively. So you'll never have to refill the reactor if you misuse the base as lighttowers.
It takes about an ingame day (didn't measure it) to grow the brains, so place first and come back to advance:
Place the first bed in the deep with a few brain corals.
Return next day or journey, then you have a working bed with many seeds for lots of new beds nearby.
Repeat
[Unfortunately the game sometimes seems to forget beds placed into the world (I hope this will be fixed), so at this time don't use more than a 6 bed line to a deep goal]
This already allows you to travel to the end game area from your last moonpool station with only your UGfins, rebreather and 1 plasteel tank. Also keep in mind that the corals are best used to travel downwards (like 500m down from the floating isle to the deep reef bottom with a single well placed brain coral bed). So it helps if you get as close to your goal horizontally before placing coral brain beds. They are also perfect for deepest wreck exploration before you have a seamoth if you dare to visit the wreck a day before, placing your brain coral bed and coming back for harvesting a day later. In case of disturbing creatures the O2 bubbles can be catched high above the bed, so only placing the bed in creature territory is dangerous.
But that is just too much work for setting up a network. Lay down an Exterior Growbed, plant some Purple Brain Coral Samples and Creepvine Seed Clusters, and harvest the grown plants for the next station is a lot easier and cheaper than creating a corridor with windows and a Growbed. It is just 2 titanium per station vs. 4 titanium and 4 or more quartz per station. Going with a glass corridor would reduce the price to 2 titanium and 4 quartz per station.
Of course, these stations will be meaningless past a certain depth if we have to use Exosuits to explore places like the Inactive Lava Zone. It is possible that there will be DNA samples and craftable diving suits that would let us dive deeper since it is just a matter of time before the depth warning for our characters actually mean something.
But that is just too much work for setting up a network. Lay down an Exterior Growbed, plant some Purple Brain Coral Samples and Creepvine Seed Clusters, and harvest the grown plants for the next station is a lot easier and cheaper than creating a corridor with windows and a Growbed. It is just 2 titanium per station vs. 4 titanium and 4 or more quartz per station. Going with a glass corridor would reduce the price to 2 titanium and 4 quartz per station.
Of course, these stations will be meaningless past a certain depth if we have to use Exosuits to explore places like the Inactive Lava Zone. It is possible that there will be DNA samples and craftable diving suits that would let us dive deeper since it is just a matter of time before the depth warning for our characters actually mean something.
Yes, it's only until depth gating will force to use the exosuit. But beware, the exosuit might have limited O2. Then the beds will be still good for O2 range extension.
You might have misunderstood the lighttower:
Already the beds can be seen from afar by their bubbles. But the base with windows has a real far distance that's incredible and almost as good as beacons, so we don't need many such lighttowers. Right now the non existing clipping lets them even shine trough far solid walls in the deep. Especially the moonpool is a long range visible lighttower. This structure can be seen through deepest rock in deepest dark in the ILZ up to the Deep Reef. So placing an expensive moonpool has its price but is worth every penny until the devs get this fixed. Some kind of exploit to see that far and through rock. But it shows you that the lighthouse is more a far distant network.
And then there's always the power transmitter lines through the ILZ darkness showing you where to go. Tons of gold in the game with nothing else to do.
So it's a mix. A power line from the Deep Reef down to the Lava Sea. Every 5-10 nodes you place a bed. And at locations of interest a moonpool shining from very far (forget the seamoth after 900m, it's the light we need). Those things help greatly navigating forbidden depths.
I don't know how far the creepvine clusters light will go so far, but some time ago the moonpool had a far better viewing range.
Additionally, as the flood status of a base has a far range display too, you could artificially breach and flood your powerless base and misuse the flood status display as a cheap lighttower. That would be a flooded tube for 2 glass until the devs cut this feature.
Great news. The devs have decided to remove the issue with switching air tanks according to Trello. Of course, this is on the To Do list and not live yet.
As per latest discussion with Charlie and Obraxis: The oxygen tanks in the inventory should still add to the total oxygen available to the player. So both the tank in the equipment slot AND the "passive" tanks in the inventory should count.
The reason is simple: we want to make the life easier for those players who, for whatever reason, don't want to worry about oxygen so much.
The "excuse" why something passive in the inventory comes with some active effect is that there would be automatic swapping of tanks going on when the equipped tank is empty. Technically we don't really swap the tanks though. We just count the total oxygen and be done with it.
Although, there should be some type of slow down effect for carrying more air tanks. Maybe adding a weight to each item with weight affecting speed. So carrying bulky, but light items would fill up your inventory, but not affect your speed too much while carrying heavy and small items would seriously slow down your speed.
@starkaos +1, and yes, the speed disadvantage would be the next important step. I want to feel encouraged to only use 1 tank.
Latest lighthouse tests: A flooded, powerless moonpool. Expensive to build, but can be seen from a mile through deepest black without using beacons. Next best is a flooded, powerless, glass tube, which is very cheap, but doesn't reach so far. Cheapest is the powerline.
Funny this is brought up now... considering you can only have 1 air tank. In experimental there has been a change so now you have to equip the airtanks, and there is only one slot.
@starkaos +1, and yes, the speed disadvantage would be the next important step. I want to feel encouraged to only use 1 tank.
Latest lighthouse tests: A flooded, powerless moonpool. Expensive to build, but can be seen from a mile through deepest black without using beacons. Next best is a flooded, powerless, glass tube, which is very cheap, but doesn't reach so far. Cheapest is the powerline.
I think we have different purposes for our lighttowers. A path from the main base to some cave that doesn't need a Seamoth or Cyclops would be better served by Creepvine since people have a general idea of where the path is and just need enough light to figure out where the next checkpoint is. So it is not necessary to use a Moonpool or glass tube. Although, using the power transmitters would certainly help remove the need for Creepvine. Just too bad that there are no underwater fruits and vegetables so each growbed provides food, air, and water.
A temporary base in the middle of nowhere that provides all the necessities would be better for being as bright as possible. If I am low on energy, food, and water, then I need to know where the closest base is to stock up.
Great news. The devs have decided to remove the issue with switching air tanks according to Trello.
That is great news, and I guess it's a good example of the value of community feedback to the devs as they experiment with changes.
Having a penalty for extra tanks, beyond occupying valuable inventory space, is a good idea but it may be tricky to balance. You wouldn't want to slow the player down so much that they end up using all that extra oxygen just to get where they going anyway!
Comments
Right now the devs decided to force you switching the tanks, creating a micromanagement hazzle for the players that use more than the old 2 tanks.
My 2 simple suggestions:
Then we could all be happy. Pros like me would dive with a single plasteel on his back and his ultraglide fins, jetting around sharks, or using no tanks at all with the help of brain corals, while others that like tons of tanks could enjoy the same gamestyle as ever. As soon as a tank gets empty it gets autoreplaced from inventory, relieving from the pain of going through the PDA. And the disadvantages of lots of tanks simply means less speed as it should be.
EDIT:
Forgot that stupid, useless glove slot for the only gloves in game. That should be replaced with being able to put one big (2x2) tool or weapon into a hand/tool slot. Thus relieving you of one big tool from the inventory.
I think you should read my autoswitch idea: Empty tanks just need to be automatically replaced with full tanks from the inventory.
And you should play with handling tanks now [31606], because the solution only lacks autoswitch and inventory slowing you down more than doll usage now.
I'd say you don't even need any upgrades with autoswitch and ... it's almost the same as the earlier doll-less system.
The only difference would be the increased player decision between being speedy and having more O2.
But my point previously in this thread is not about staying underwater indefinitely, but just having the choice to easily increase my total oxygen for diving. I'm sure everyone is getting tired of me making this point over and over, so I'll shut up now.
If you just shut up, where will I get words of wisdom from ?
I think if that was the goal we'd all be calling for tanks and oxygen to be removed from the game completely. That isn't the case, I promise you. XD
For me, it's about being able to extend my dives in a manner that doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the game. Quality of life tweaks and such. I don't mind the change as much as others do. I usually swim with three tanks. Sometimes two, and sometimes even just one. I decide this ahead of time depending on what I want to be doing.
With the new system I can still bring multiple tanks, but now its a hassle to switch them out and refill them one by one. It's why I suggested the glove spot be replaced by a second tank spot. You can still choose one or two tanks, for either more air or more maneuverability. Two HC tanks is a reasonable amount of air that would satisfy me as a compromise. In that scenario I wouldn't feel the need to bring anymore tanks in my inventory.
But that's just me. Everyone plays differently. Finding a compromise that fits the devs vision /and/ satisfies the majority of players isn't exactly easy. All we can really do is spin ideas and hope something sticks. Maybe they keep it the same. Maybe they change it. Maybe I hate that change with burning passion. That's the thrill and danger of early access. 83
Amen to that! I feel like the devs already know how some of us feel about the air tank change, but in order to have the game fit their vision and make us happy at the same time, it would help them more to know WHY we feel the way that we do. Perhaps they'll compensate in future updates by giving us more end-game tiers of tank sizes?
Its not realistic. Deep divers in real life as well as cave divers that stay under for days, carry multiple tanks that are connected to each other. There is no reason to have only 1 active tank at a time.
Hence why I started talking about the possibility of a "dive suit." The suit that we are wearing seems to be one of those multi-function crew uniforms that can work a limited survival suits that sometimes appear in speculative fiction. As such, having it limited to a single tank doesn't bother me, nor does the cumbersome method needed to switch tanks. The suit wasn't designed with this convenience in mind. But it does make sense to have this convenience become something that can be unlocked in game via a new suit schematic.
On a related note, I've been thinking that maybe a glove version of the charging fins could be conceived of that instead of charging an item, uses that charge to derive O2 from the surrounding water via electrolysis/CO2 scrubbing.
I think it is a bit more elaborate than that. Standard tanks handle about an hour of air. So if you want to stay underwater for a day, then you need 24 tanks. Carrying that many tanks is just not reasonable. Although since Subnautica is set hundreds of years in the future, then they could use Liquid Air SCUBA tanks or some other high tech apparatus to stay longer underwater with a single tank of gas. Liquid Air SCUBA tanks use cryogenics to compress air into a liquid. Some of the liquid air would travel to a chamber to warm it up to room temperature to create breathable air. Of course, Liquid Air SCUBA tanks would only be viable near the surface and would require stranger methods for deep sea diving.
So Subnautica could use the route of acquiring more advanced technology like Exosuits and Liquid Breathing (breath in a liquid instead of gas) for us to stay longer and deeper on a single tank of air. There is also the Transfuser that supposedly allows us to inject alien DNA into our characters to give certain unique traits. So one of the traits could be using alien DNA to give gills and another could be to give pressure compensation DNA. With the right DNA, there would be no need to worry about Seamoths, Cyclops, or air tanks.
Or, we can accept some basic nods to realism such as needing specialized equipment to go deeper without problems and a few other elements and leave it at that.
Multiday expeditions use advanced re-breathers, and (normally3-4 tanks) 2 tanks of different gasses that are mixed depending on depth.
http://www.mexicobluedream.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/dsc_004711-copy.jpg
Wow, sounds like something that would require a bit more than titanium, glass, and silicon rubber, eh? Perhaps some advanced, exotic, rare materials?
I gathered this pic on one HC tank in the lava zone, it is loaded with a good balance of metals. Used the Cyclops to get in the lava zone.
and did recon with the moth as needed but fully load with 4 Pressure Compensator she can only go so deep.
And I am finding I use the sea glide a lot more then I use to making up the lost tanks.
Achievement - Winning the game without tanks:
Building lighttowers was a lot easier to do when Oxygen didn't need power, but it is extremely inefficient for setting up a farming bed network. Farming beds with Brain Coral and Creepvine would be better since you just need 2 titanium per station. How long does it take for one of these farming bed station to grow?
Good ideas Zetachron on my next start ill try the network.
I have been starting a new game every few days/updates, around the time I get the Cyclops and Nuclear Reactor I have found all the available blueprints. And by then there is new updates to check out.
I used 4 beacons in a chain to the lava castle. One at cave entrance, one at a lava lake, one at a lava fork that's deep, and the last at the castle.
Sounds like a good place to put the network anchor points and build to connect them in between.
It takes about an ingame day (didn't measure it) to grow the brains, so place first and come back to advance:
[Unfortunately the game sometimes seems to forget beds placed into the world (I hope this will be fixed), so at this time don't use more than a 6 bed line to a deep goal]
This already allows you to travel to the end game area from your last moonpool station with only your UGfins, rebreather and 1 plasteel tank. Also keep in mind that the corals are best used to travel downwards (like 500m down from the floating isle to the deep reef bottom with a single well placed brain coral bed). So it helps if you get as close to your goal horizontally before placing coral brain beds. They are also perfect for deepest wreck exploration before you have a seamoth if you dare to visit the wreck a day before, placing your brain coral bed and coming back for harvesting a day later. In case of disturbing creatures the O2 bubbles can be catched high above the bed, so only placing the bed in creature territory is dangerous.
I do what I did with more tanks, and make lots on short dives into the wreak building a mental map and layout after each dive, until it is fully explored. It takes more time to complete a wreak without a working dive reel.
Unfortunately the game sometimes seems to forget beds placed into the world (I hope this will be fixed), so at this time don't use more than a 6 bed line to a deep goal. (read my spoiler above)
But that is just too much work for setting up a network. Lay down an Exterior Growbed, plant some Purple Brain Coral Samples and Creepvine Seed Clusters, and harvest the grown plants for the next station is a lot easier and cheaper than creating a corridor with windows and a Growbed. It is just 2 titanium per station vs. 4 titanium and 4 or more quartz per station. Going with a glass corridor would reduce the price to 2 titanium and 4 quartz per station.
Of course, these stations will be meaningless past a certain depth if we have to use Exosuits to explore places like the Inactive Lava Zone. It is possible that there will be DNA samples and craftable diving suits that would let us dive deeper since it is just a matter of time before the depth warning for our characters actually mean something.
You might have misunderstood the lighttower:
Already the beds can be seen from afar by their bubbles. But the base with windows has a real far distance that's incredible and almost as good as beacons, so we don't need many such lighttowers. Right now the non existing clipping lets them even shine trough far solid walls in the deep. Especially the moonpool is a long range visible lighttower. This structure can be seen through deepest rock in deepest dark in the ILZ up to the Deep Reef. So placing an expensive moonpool has its price but is worth every penny until the devs get this fixed. Some kind of exploit to see that far and through rock. But it shows you that the lighthouse is more a far distant network.
And then there's always the power transmitter lines through the ILZ darkness showing you where to go. Tons of gold in the game with nothing else to do.
So it's a mix. A power line from the Deep Reef down to the Lava Sea. Every 5-10 nodes you place a bed. And at locations of interest a moonpool shining from very far (forget the seamoth after 900m, it's the light we need). Those things help greatly navigating forbidden depths.
I don't know how far the creepvine clusters light will go so far, but some time ago the moonpool had a far better viewing range.
Additionally, as the flood status of a base has a far range display too, you could artificially breach and flood your powerless base and misuse the flood status display as a cheap lighttower. That would be a flooded tube for 2 glass until the devs cut this feature.
Although, there should be some type of slow down effect for carrying more air tanks. Maybe adding a weight to each item with weight affecting speed. So carrying bulky, but light items would fill up your inventory, but not affect your speed too much while carrying heavy and small items would seriously slow down your speed.
I think we have different purposes for our lighttowers. A path from the main base to some cave that doesn't need a Seamoth or Cyclops would be better served by Creepvine since people have a general idea of where the path is and just need enough light to figure out where the next checkpoint is. So it is not necessary to use a Moonpool or glass tube. Although, using the power transmitters would certainly help remove the need for Creepvine. Just too bad that there are no underwater fruits and vegetables so each growbed provides food, air, and water.
A temporary base in the middle of nowhere that provides all the necessities would be better for being as bright as possible. If I am low on energy, food, and water, then I need to know where the closest base is to stock up.
That is great news, and I guess it's a good example of the value of community feedback to the devs as they experiment with changes.
Having a penalty for extra tanks, beyond occupying valuable inventory space, is a good idea but it may be tricky to balance. You wouldn't want to slow the player down so much that they end up using all that extra oxygen just to get where they going anyway!