I knew drifting was going to a problem in the long run, but so long as the lifepod stayed near my base long enough for me to gather what I needed, I figured I'd be fine. Eventually, I was able to build my Seamoth, which prioritized finding the Moon Pool for recharging it. After crafting a Rebreather, I made my way to the Grand Reef.
My search for the Moon Pool fragments came up virtually empty. With only one fragment over the entire biome, trying to stay just above the Seamoth's crush depth, my sub dinged up from running over two Spadefish and grazing the crush depth multiple times, and my belly and H20 levels running on empty, I had no choice but to abort my sortie and head back. But following the Lifepod's beacon back to base, I discovered to my horror that it had already drifted out into the middle of the Grassy Plateaus, hundreds of meters away from my base!
It was a clear sign that my priorities were dictated. I couldn't push it back; doing so would expend more time and energy than I could spare. But no functioning fabricator meant no food or water; it was a death sentence. I had no choice but to abandon it, which made searching for generator fragments even more critical. So I took the dead fish in my hand and cooked them both before bidding the Lifepod a tearful farewell.
Heading back to base, I took some water out of my remaining rations and headed off to one of the Kelp Forests where a Solar Panel fragment was located; I couldn't find them in mine. With night fallen, the sortie proved more difficult. After suffering several bites from Stalkers, I finally got my Solar Panel and high-tailed it back to base where I plugged it in.
Close call...
Moral of the story: establish your base and power source as soon as possible; everything else is secondary to that. You never know when your lifepod will drift beyond your reach.
I think this issue is fixed in the latest update (the march build)
So far under my new save I've been building a mansion/base and the life pod has remained nice and steady where it is even after aurora exploded.
the only glitch now is that sometimes the lifepod beacon won't show up as if its dead, but then if you swim away for a bit, or go in and out of a base, the beacon magically shows up
Here's to hoping. One thing I noticed is some times I'd load my game and the life pod didn;'t drift at all, then the next day I load the same save to play and my character does this strange ultra slow 'sliding' thing when inside the pod, opposite the direction the pod is going. It might drift 20 feet, it might not drift at all. But over the course of a few save and loads while I play eventually it bugged out hard and went some unknown thousands of km away.
Sorry to go off-topic but there's one other thing... When I load a save, the pod's Comm Relay disappears and the exposed wires have stopped smoldering. Anyone else aware of that?
And back on topic... does the pod ever drift before you save and restart the game? Or does it always occur after opening the save?
Sorry to go off-topic but there's one other thing... When I load a save, the pod's Comm Relay disappears and the exposed wires have stopped smoldering. Anyone else aware of that?
And back on topic... does the pod ever drift before you save and restart the game? Or does it always occur after opening the save?
Just curious...
In my last game where it happened, it drifted small amounts during the game. On a save/load is when it did its big bad thousand km teleport though.
In my current game I still have my lifepod. It appears to have lodged up against my mobile vehicle bay and that seemed to stop it drifting. I noticed in my game no matter how much I push it around, and no matter which direction I push it, it always drifts the exact same direction. Almost like there is something in the code that gives it a perm tiny percentage of constant drift regardless of outside forces, but its hard coded to go the exact same direction always.
let it go xD Personaly i found the idea of a drifting lifepod exciting ! Now you have to manage your way to get the good resources faster, establish your base and think about what to do NOW.
My only issue with it really is how buggy it is. If it floats off or worse, does a thousands of km teleport on a load game, at the very start of a gaming session you are pretty much boned. You *NEED* that fabricator to get started, without it, it would be all hell if not impossible to get a basic base started.
I just moved my mobile vehicle bay away from my drifting lifepod in order to make my cyclops and in just the time it took for the cyclops to be generated by the flying bots, my pod had drifed about 100m. Now, I'm at a point currently that I really dont need it or anything, but the drifting seems to vary so greatly on how fast it moves if at all and seems to start the second you start a new game. They need to either add a tether/anchor to it, or at least put in some form of software temporary anchor so you at least get like 10 game days of time before the drifting starts or something. Some way to give you a chance to find the blueprints for solar in addition to the time to make basic gear and stuff.
At the start if you manage to explore the shallows and the kelp, grassy plateus soon as you have oxygen tanks you can build a simple base with a fabricator and some stuff before the second day end.
Personaly i've noticed the pod has moved when i've come to take the last resources in. Just found my floating storage but the pod has moved above the grassy plateus. No problems with that and assuming the devs want to make the early game more challenging and less about starvating on the shallows.
But now I know the radio disapearing and that drifting pod has a link. In a wreck I've found the same radio, but unfortunatly it's impossible to scan it now.. I think the radio will head you to the scenario later..
I only got the game yesterday, and had saved a load of items in it (including two storage cubes, which I didnt know floated...)
I was happily catching some fish and trying not to let Stalkers catch me, and I pop up and it was gone... vanished haha.
I wonder what exactly is the concern that some have over their lifepod drifting away.... It's obviously meant to be a mere starting point and building spot right at the beginning, but with the massive potential of base-building the lifepod should be quickly forgotten. Take that unique fire extinguisher though, which might someday help with the fires on the Aurora (???) In several minutes a player can easily collect enough titanium and quartz (and thus glass as well), cuz they're both everywhere, to build a one room base, a hatch, a locker (for hoarding) and a fabricator. The harder part is acquiring Solar Panel fragments so you can actually power your new base and USE that sweet new fabricator. I and others have found Solar Panel fragments (I believe 2 are required to obtain the blueprint) in the Kelp Forest biomes which virtually surround the Safe Shallows biome that a new player starts in.
That's it. You have a functional base and the ability to begin crafting all things in the game, and the lifepod is now pointless, EXCEPT as a piece of history, a bit of nostalgia, an invaluable friend passing away.... Ok, that sounded worse than I intended.
But seriously...why do so many seem to worry about the lifepod drifting. It's an OCEAN, did you expect anything else?
I wonder what exactly is the concern that some have over their lifepod drifting away.... It's obviously meant to be a mere starting point and building spot right at the beginning, but with the massive potential of base-building the lifepod should be quickly forgotten. Take that unique fire extinguisher though, which might someday help with the fires on the Aurora (???) In several minutes a player can easily collect enough titanium and quartz (and thus glass as well), cuz they're both everywhere, to build a one room base, a hatch, a locker (for hoarding) and a fabricator. The harder part is acquiring Solar Panel fragments so you can actually power your new base and USE that sweet new fabricator. I and others have found Solar Panel fragments (I believe 2 are required to obtain the blueprint) in the Kelp Forest biomes which virtually surround the Safe Shallows biome that a new player starts in.
That's it. You have a functional base and the ability to begin crafting all things in the game, and the lifepod is now pointless, EXCEPT as a piece of history, a bit of nostalgia, an invaluable friend passing away.... Ok, that sounded worse than I intended.
But seriously...why do so many seem to worry about the lifepod drifting. It's an OCEAN, did you expect anything else?
It is due to the simple fact that the Lifepod is a free beacon. Also since the beacon signal has a unique symbol, then it stands out over any other base that is made. If you build a base by a secure Lifepod, then you will never lose it, but it is very easy to lose your base if you don't put a beacon nearby.
Of course, the Communications Array should allow communication between each base, resulting in knowing the location of each base while the beacon should only be used for points of interest like important cave entrances.
But seriously...why do so many seem to worry about the lifepod drifting. It's an OCEAN, did you expect anything else?
There have been times when, due to differences in various experimental builds, finding a power source for your first base was extremely difficult. One time I went 26 in-game days before finally finding the last solar panel fragment I desperately needed so I could power up the fabricator and communicator. And I knew where to look.
But beyond that, if I've crash landed on a strange world, I don't want to give up ANY resources if I can help it. Who knows if it might come in handy in the future.
Currently I'm back to fencing in my Lifepod with air pipes right at the start of a new game. Works so far.
I was playing the latest experimental build as of @ 11pm EST 5 April and I didn't notice any life pod drift.
Once you have the life pod repaired using the welder, one of the items on the status display inside the pod says "Gravity Anchor OK" - which suggests to me it isn't supposed to move once repaired.
Mind you I had awful lag and crash issues until they released that 11pm build, so maybe the pod drift was corrected too.
KlinnLost in a caveJoin Date: 2016-03-09Member: 214022Members
I think you're right, that gravity anchor is *supposed* to work in that fashion. However, in some experimental builds it has moved despite that message. I'm doing the belts & suspenders approach for now.
In stable, I repaired it fairly quickly and it didn't seem to drift at all after that -- apart from one time when I came back and found it tilted 90 degrees. Turned out a floater had latched onto one side. Even after removing that it stayed on its side until I saved and reloaded.
It should drift away slowly until you weld it and get the gravity anchor fixed, but if it is moving too fast, that might be an issue especially early on.
My first lifepod decided it had enough of my shit after a week or so. Luckily I had a base mostly built by then. It ended up somewhere far off to the horizon.
My second lifepod I penned in with air pipes. It nearly tilted up onto its side trying to escape, but a tilted lifepod was better than none. And yes, I don't use it for the fabricator or medkit anymore. But it was really nice for use as a beacon. Plus the nostalgia value.
I tried trapping mine in pipes, but then I went somewhere. When I came back I found that it had made its way outside the pipes and drifted off towards the horizon...
@ChimpX whenever I start a new survival world my very first objective is to get a welder to fix up the Lifepod so the gravity anchors will turn on and keep it from drifting away. When you first start the game, the gravity anchor is offline because of the damage done to the escape pod in the intro. This was added in awhile back. So yeah, unless you already fixed it and it is still drifting it's just a bug sorry can't help you with that one.
Mine drifted away after turning on the so called gravity anchor. I made copy of my save and took my Seamoth with a full inventory of food and water, I ran out of supplies and died before reaching it. So tried again, used the console commands to switch to Creative mode and headed out again, also set the game speed to 10X normal, wedged the W key down and away I went. I got to the pod about 26 km out. It wasn't drifting anymore and while I could manually push it around I couldn't get it to drift of its own accord, my plan was to nudge it back towards my base and retrieve it in a few weeks time when it made it back. Also the whole screen was shaky and juddery that far out, a bit glitchy. I've resigned myself that the pod will remain gone. Restored my save game and continued on as normal, just wish there was someway to turn its beacon off.
I don't thing it's a bug, because if it was, devs would've already fixed it. A life pod without an gravity anchor would drift in real-life, so it makes sense. Just make something solid around the pod, that's it. The easiest solution is pipes, as said before.
Btw mine had drifted right above a Reaper, so I was going near it and noticed the reaper: then I immediately went back to my base, took the Cyclops (which protects you from the Reaper) and pushed the pod with my Cyclops until its original place. Took like 5 days (in-game).
narfblatUtah, USAJoin Date: 2016-05-15Member: 216799Members, Forum Moderators, Forum staff
The problem isn't drifting, it's drifting *fast*. One time I saw it moving at almost my swimming speed. The most recent time it drifted, I followed it a ways, found some wrecks while I was at it, then gave up and went back to base. At some point, possibly the next save/load, it reset to its original position and hasn't moved since. Then again, I haven't used it since.
I've been wondering if using the fabricator somehow "pushes" the lifepod, as I have often noticed myself being pushed a little sideways when using it (only the lifepod fabricator does this).
So I didn't read through all the posts, but I do hope people have repaired the Lifepod? I know when it's not the wall says the anchor is offline. Maybe they really implemented it since last I checked.
I haven't had this problem as of yet.
Though I didn't start playing till this past Aug. 30, but I have played about 11 different iterations since then.
(all in Freedom mode and deleting each previous one before starting anew)
Comments
I knew drifting was going to a problem in the long run, but so long as the lifepod stayed near my base long enough for me to gather what I needed, I figured I'd be fine. Eventually, I was able to build my Seamoth, which prioritized finding the Moon Pool for recharging it. After crafting a Rebreather, I made my way to the Grand Reef.
My search for the Moon Pool fragments came up virtually empty. With only one fragment over the entire biome, trying to stay just above the Seamoth's crush depth, my sub dinged up from running over two Spadefish and grazing the crush depth multiple times, and my belly and H20 levels running on empty, I had no choice but to abort my sortie and head back. But following the Lifepod's beacon back to base, I discovered to my horror that it had already drifted out into the middle of the Grassy Plateaus, hundreds of meters away from my base!
It was a clear sign that my priorities were dictated. I couldn't push it back; doing so would expend more time and energy than I could spare. But no functioning fabricator meant no food or water; it was a death sentence. I had no choice but to abandon it, which made searching for generator fragments even more critical. So I took the dead fish in my hand and cooked them both before bidding the Lifepod a tearful farewell.
Heading back to base, I took some water out of my remaining rations and headed off to one of the Kelp Forests where a Solar Panel fragment was located; I couldn't find them in mine. With night fallen, the sortie proved more difficult. After suffering several bites from Stalkers, I finally got my Solar Panel and high-tailed it back to base where I plugged it in.
Close call...
Moral of the story: establish your base and power source as soon as possible; everything else is secondary to that. You never know when your lifepod will drift beyond your reach.
At least it is now pinned against my base lol
So far under my new save I've been building a mansion/base and the life pod has remained nice and steady where it is even after aurora exploded.
the only glitch now is that sometimes the lifepod beacon won't show up as if its dead, but then if you swim away for a bit, or go in and out of a base, the beacon magically shows up
And back on topic... does the pod ever drift before you save and restart the game? Or does it always occur after opening the save?
Just curious...
My answer using the vertical column.
In my last game where it happened, it drifted small amounts during the game. On a save/load is when it did its big bad thousand km teleport though.
In my current game I still have my lifepod. It appears to have lodged up against my mobile vehicle bay and that seemed to stop it drifting. I noticed in my game no matter how much I push it around, and no matter which direction I push it, it always drifts the exact same direction. Almost like there is something in the code that gives it a perm tiny percentage of constant drift regardless of outside forces, but its hard coded to go the exact same direction always.
An inexpensive solution for the early part of the game. Not my idea, I think I saw it on Reddit.
Edit: Here's a pic:
I just moved my mobile vehicle bay away from my drifting lifepod in order to make my cyclops and in just the time it took for the cyclops to be generated by the flying bots, my pod had drifed about 100m. Now, I'm at a point currently that I really dont need it or anything, but the drifting seems to vary so greatly on how fast it moves if at all and seems to start the second you start a new game. They need to either add a tether/anchor to it, or at least put in some form of software temporary anchor so you at least get like 10 game days of time before the drifting starts or something. Some way to give you a chance to find the blueprints for solar in addition to the time to make basic gear and stuff.
Personaly i've noticed the pod has moved when i've come to take the last resources in. Just found my floating storage but the pod has moved above the grassy plateus. No problems with that and assuming the devs want to make the early game more challenging and less about starvating on the shallows.
But now I know the radio disapearing and that drifting pod has a link. In a wreck I've found the same radio, but unfortunatly it's impossible to scan it now.. I think the radio will head you to the scenario later..
I was happily catching some fish and trying not to let Stalkers catch me, and I pop up and it was gone... vanished haha.
That's it. You have a functional base and the ability to begin crafting all things in the game, and the lifepod is now pointless, EXCEPT as a piece of history, a bit of nostalgia, an invaluable friend passing away.... Ok, that sounded worse than I intended.
But seriously...why do so many seem to worry about the lifepod drifting. It's an OCEAN, did you expect anything else?
It is due to the simple fact that the Lifepod is a free beacon. Also since the beacon signal has a unique symbol, then it stands out over any other base that is made. If you build a base by a secure Lifepod, then you will never lose it, but it is very easy to lose your base if you don't put a beacon nearby.
Of course, the Communications Array should allow communication between each base, resulting in knowing the location of each base while the beacon should only be used for points of interest like important cave entrances.
But beyond that, if I've crash landed on a strange world, I don't want to give up ANY resources if I can help it. Who knows if it might come in handy in the future.
Currently I'm back to fencing in my Lifepod with air pipes right at the start of a new game. Works so far.
Once you have the life pod repaired using the welder, one of the items on the status display inside the pod says "Gravity Anchor OK" - which suggests to me it isn't supposed to move once repaired.
Mind you I had awful lag and crash issues until they released that 11pm build, so maybe the pod drift was corrected too.
My second lifepod I penned in with air pipes. It nearly tilted up onto its side trying to escape, but a tilted lifepod was better than none. And yes, I don't use it for the fabricator or medkit anymore. But it was really nice for use as a beacon. Plus the nostalgia value.
Btw mine had drifted right above a Reaper, so I was going near it and noticed the reaper: then I immediately went back to my base, took the Cyclops (which protects you from the Reaper) and pushed the pod with my Cyclops until its original place. Took like 5 days (in-game).
I've been wondering if using the fabricator somehow "pushes" the lifepod, as I have often noticed myself being pushed a little sideways when using it (only the lifepod fabricator does this).
Though I didn't start playing till this past Aug. 30, but I have played about 11 different iterations since then.
(all in Freedom mode and deleting each previous one before starting anew)