Base building ideas

SairusSairus Join Date: 2016-09-28 Member: 222672Members
Since the farming update, the base building aspect of this game has really taken off. I'm really enjoying it! I'm not sure what's planned for the "polish" and "quality of life" stuff prior to 1.0, so maybe some of these suggestions are already being considered.

So here are some little ideas that would give me more creative control over my base, and add a bit of functionality to some of the decorative objects.

1) The beds are neat. Now, maybe make them do something useful! My suggestions - let the player skip the night time, and heal a bit (though not as much as a medkit). I find the night time too dark to get anything done, even with the various light sources in the game, so I'd love a way to just skip it when given the chance.

2) Turn the desk into a note-taking device with the notes stored in the saved game. When the player interacts with it, give them a text field they can type into for making simple to-do lists and such. Not everybody would bother using it, but I definitely would!

3) Consider adding a drawer to the desk with a small storage area - nowhere near as big as a locker, but enough to store about as much as you can imagine fitting in a desk drawer.

4) Consider adding a compost. For placing things like old/bad food and rotten samples. It actually makes compost which becomes an ingredient necessary for making planters and grow beds.

5) Add a fridge/freezer for prolonging food life, and think more about the "meals" idea I see on Trello. All good things.

6) Consider making plants grow more slowly (or at least the fruit and potatoes on them). Right now they are sort of OP... once you discover the floating island, that's it. No more food survival concerns. Plants should eventually allow you to get to that point, but only after some hard work.

7) Add a new type of small indoor storage item. Like a small chest to put on the floor, at the foot of the bed, etc. With perhaps half as much storage as a wall locker.

8) Allow the light color to be changed for rooms. It would be nice to have rooms with mood lighting instead of the sterile white. Consider adding a light switch object, as well, that can be crafted onto a wall. Perhaps this is not only for turning lights on/off, but also changing their color.

9) Consider making room lights turn on automatically when the player enters a room, then turn off if the player hasn't been insider for a few moments (can be an option on the above mentioned light switch). I was playing Alien: Isolation the other day, and this effect really adds a lot of atmosphere to an area. Walking into a room and having the lights flicker on with a bit of a buzz... it's really quite enjoyable.

10) Area rugs, more posters to put on walls (I love the ones you have so far), and just more decorative objects in general. I'm loving that stuff.

11) So I found a stuffy in the Aurora. Not sure if there are more but this could be a good start for some sort of collectible items, possibly even tied to an achievement. My thoughts on this front is that the player might be able to craft more after scanning critters in the world, with the end product resembling a somewhat derpy stuffed version of whatever... I'm sure the reaper leviathan would look particularly hilarious immortalized in kelp fibers.

12) Consider adding a "battery bank" module that increases the total power storage capacity of a base by some moderate amount, but doesn't change the rate at which power is accumulated. I have a base near the surface with a bunch of solar panels that fully charge the base fairly quickly, and then sit around for most of the day doing very little, and yet I can lose power at night time. Solar installations normally use batteries to solve this problem (for an example in a game, see rimworld) by storing excess power for later. It would even help, perhaps, for the other generator types that use consumable resources.

13) Consider adding a light switch object, as well, that can be crafted onto a wall. Perhaps this is not only for turning lights on/off, but also changing their color.

14) Consider adding a square room about the same size as a multipurpose room. Basically just a differently shaped multipurpose room for a bit of variety.

15) I've always wonder how the hatch works without flooding the base... given any thought to a proper airlock?

16) I read a PDA entry talking about how it rains all the time on this world. I don't think I've seen it rain ever... is weather on the to-do list? Rain and stormy weather would be pretty good for a game with this setting... they practically go hand in hand.

Keep up the good work, the game is really turning into something great!

Comments

  • Yargish89Yargish89 new mexico usa Join Date: 2016-05-27 Member: 217575Members
  • ArtoriusArtorius Indiana USA Join Date: 2016-09-02 Member: 221998Members
    Agree on all counts.
    I had the same idea for the air-lock. My idea was to have a second door inside and make the player wait 2 seconds before the inner door unlocks. In the process the room drains of water with air hissing in. Reverse the process to get out.

    I also think it would be cool if floor hatches would show water like the moon pool does.
    You open the hatch and see water as you drop through the hatch. It closes automatically behind you.
    Maybe the base airlocks could be pointed down too. Rather than filling with water and draining. Just pressure up, open hatch, water stays out, close hatch, release pressure, open inner door.

    I also would like a square room for the base. The moon-pool with a solid floor would work perfectly.

    I also think it would be cool to have deep water base components that are all spheres that connect. You could use corridors and spheres below 500m without reinforcement.
  • Yargish89Yargish89 new mexico usa Join Date: 2016-05-27 Member: 217575Members
    Moonpool sized multipurpose room that sounds beautiful man
  • MrAerospaceMrAerospace Join Date: 2016-08-22 Member: 221576Members
    My suggestion as to why the game doesn't need an airlock:
    The hatch is more complex than just a sealed door. It also contains a force field type thing that only switches on when the seal is opened. The force field allows objects to forcefully pass through, but it retains a seal to ambient external pressure. So, instead of something that many would consider tedious, it instead just consumes a certain amount of power.
  • CAPSHAWCAPSHAW Nevada Join Date: 2016-09-29 Member: 222692Members
    I think it would be cool to see expansions on the multipurpose rooms. Like a small rectangular extrusion from the side where a single window would normally go, but just the right size for a bed, or a desk, or a bar table and some stools. Just the right height for some lockers.

    I definitely thought it'd be interesting to make a room dedicated to the handheld scanner. Maybe it would take a good amount of wiring kits and computer chips to build, and be a place for the scanner to be docked, and information to be analyzed. A player can scan something, and not receive one hundred percent of the information on something until the scanner has ben docked at the computer for awhile. It can have a few screens that flash between different PDA pages, and information on the Aurora.
  • DracoCretelDracoCretel Join Date: 2016-09-25 Member: 222607Members
    Weather effects would be amazing to see in this game. Rain storms, massive storms, maybe hurricanes with large wave swells, plenty of other neat things can be done.
  • badgerfrothbadgerfroth Darlington UK Join Date: 2016-04-10 Member: 215599Members
    I like the ideas -
    A capacitor (no:12) would be a very hand piece of kit to have. Even if it held just a small amount of charge (50/75) it would assist you to work through the night using only solar panels.
    And a notepad would be great.

    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
  • CAPSHAWCAPSHAW Nevada Join Date: 2016-09-29 Member: 222692Members
    I like the ideas -
    A capacitor (no:12) would be a very hand piece of kit to have. Even if it held just a small amount of charge (50/75) it would assist you to work through the night using only solar panels.
    And a notepad would be great.

    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

    How about a console like on the Lifepod that has a dock for three or four power cells? A console that allows you to turn different devices/lights off within the base.
  • kiltmankiltman Texas USA Join Date: 2016-08-30 Member: 221884Members
    1 2 3 4 great ideas #3 gets 6 slots. you can make growbeds, but require #4 to plant anything. #6 plants give very little food as they are. #14 modular rooms (foundation pieces, square and triangle... walls, glass and titanium.... roof pieces, square and triangle..... accessories)
  • EvilSmooEvilSmoo Join Date: 2008-02-16 Member: 63662Members
    I noticed that if you turn it, you can fit a growbed in a T-intersection corridor.
  • tickeratickera Australia Join Date: 2016-05-06 Member: 216399Members
    1) I'm surprised the devs didn't do that from the start lol

    2) Thats genuinely very cool; it could also have like a PDA inside so its kind of like a computer.

    3) Cool, but a bit pointless. Subnautica isn't really one of those 'attention to detail' games where everything opens and everything does what you think it would.

    4) rather than necessary, it could enhance plants and make them grow faster.

    5) That's genuinely brilliant

    6) Its interesting, nobody would like it though unless it was implemented alongside with the fourth one where it enhances them, so using compost would be a regular thing.

    7) Toy cupboard lol

    8) I'd rather change the intensity of the light, but i guess you could have different coloured LED's / futuristic light source to place around.

    9) Good idea, would fit nicely with the futuristic theme; should be able to be opted on/off

    10) Again, noice

    11) They could be like easter eggs and references to things; and you can collect them all; would make use of the currently useless shelves.

    12) I see, seems pretty useful, but your base power almost never cuts out and would only be useful for very early game.

    13) I'd rather it be like a pad or something, but it conflicts with the auto lights in the room.

    14) That seems like a necessary, current room is stupid.

    15) That sounds pretty good.

    16) Nice, should also have sort of 'alien' events where it rains fire or large clouds of caustic gas proud the surface.

    Nice list, i hope the devs c this!
  • tickeratickera Australia Join Date: 2016-05-06 Member: 216399Members
    CAPSHAW wrote: »
    I like the ideas -
    A capacitor (no:12) would be a very hand piece of kit to have. Even if it held just a small amount of charge (50/75) it would assist you to work through the night using only solar panels.
    And a notepad would be great.

    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

    How about a console like on the Lifepod that has a dock for three or four power cells? A console that allows you to turn different devices/lights off within the base.

    Could also control 'placeable cameras'. PDA linkable, although if i indulge more into it it'll just be a comment with the idea of these special cameras.
  • MrAerospaceMrAerospace Join Date: 2016-08-22 Member: 221576Members
    7) I was thinking about this a fair bit too. What about overhead lockers or foot lockers that could fit neatly in the corridor sections.
  • MrAerospaceMrAerospace Join Date: 2016-08-22 Member: 221576Members
    12) What if players could add cell holders similar to the cyclops engine (or the old power generator) onto either the inside or outside wall of a base?
  • randomstrangerrandomstranger somewhere Join Date: 2016-10-10 Member: 223020Members
    a camera on the outside of the bases would be nice, also a protective netting barrier so you could live in the deep blood kelp biome and farm crops and be protected by predators
  • SidchickenSidchicken Plumbing the subnautican depths Join Date: 2016-02-16 Member: 213125Members
    Nice ideas. #13 is unnecessary, since you covered it in #8 though.
  • ReefseekerReefseeker Finland Join Date: 2015-05-21 Member: 204740Members
    These are all good ideas. If implemented they would polish the game nicely. I hope the devs have time for the little details such as these.
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