Confusion about oxygen
WastelandJoe
USAUSAUSA Join Date: 2016-07-05 Member: 219591Members
I find myself suffering from some confusion about some of the game mechanics
Why does an oxygen tank (I'm assuming that it is equivalent to a modern 12 liter 200 bar scuba tank with about 1 hr capacity at 10 meters) have less capacity than the player holding their breath and freediving?
(45 second player lung capacity vs 30 seconds in a tank) keep in mind the human lung holds about 6 liters of air and the standard scuba tank I mentioned holds 2400 liters.
I understand that some realism has to be sacrificed for better gameplay and the game doesn't have to be completely accurate... but the concept of a human being having more lung capacity than a scuba tank... I just cant wrap my head around that. That implies that the in-game o2 tank only contains 4 liters of air, enough for 2/3 of a breath.
Why does an oxygen tank (I'm assuming that it is equivalent to a modern 12 liter 200 bar scuba tank with about 1 hr capacity at 10 meters) have less capacity than the player holding their breath and freediving?
(45 second player lung capacity vs 30 seconds in a tank) keep in mind the human lung holds about 6 liters of air and the standard scuba tank I mentioned holds 2400 liters.
I understand that some realism has to be sacrificed for better gameplay and the game doesn't have to be completely accurate... but the concept of a human being having more lung capacity than a scuba tank... I just cant wrap my head around that. That implies that the in-game o2 tank only contains 4 liters of air, enough for 2/3 of a breath.
Comments
The 45 second base time is not free-diving, it's the standard air supply built into the survival mask itself. The additional air tanks are to augment this. (You're breathing normally via the mask underwater, not holding your breath.)
Yes, the actual durations are shorter than they should realistically be, but this is for gameplay purposes to limit your initial diving ability. You also don't get the bends or similar complaints despite deep diving, because that's no fun either. (And if you're nitpicking realism, you might wonder why the O2 goes down at the same speed regardless of whether you're exerting yourself or not.)
Day/Night cycle is actually different on every stellar body. The rotation speed of planets is different from each other. Its the same for length of a year. If a planet orbits closer to the sun the years go by faster.
You could, however, argue that the appetite of our charcter grows too fast to be normal time
For the air tanks, i tell myself most of the space in it is taken by a compressor to refill fast at the surface.
Or maybe the atmospheric pressure of the planet is much higher than on earth. Wouldnt that explain the faster depletion?
It is, however, SciFi, so the tank capacity of Titanium-Tanks is probably higher than our steeltanks aswell.
Theres so many arguments, the only good answer is game design everytime...
Which brings me to the idea of a "Realistic Mode" running parallel to hardcore, in which the nitrogen/bends effects are turned on automatically, air is measured in minutes instead of seconds, and air tanks have to be refilled on machines like batteries.
Uh... what?