Resource sinks and building the rocket

JhadarSy · June 2017

I posted about a year ago regarding the game requiring many more resources to build "stuff". There just are not enough uses for items like Blood Oil. And now that I know I can farm seaweed for producing lubricant, even that is very easy to acquire in quantity. Now subnautica is basically a resource collection game, and I like that type of game, but I end up with tons of wall lockers full of resources and nothing to use them on. Just in my main base alone I have an entire wall locker of nothing but titanium ingots (30 x 10 = 300 titanium) and I have at least 20+ lockers of loose titanium ( 30 x 20 = 600 titanium). And my cyclops is filled with wall lockers and even more resources of every type. And most all of that came from collecting just metal scrap - I hadn't even done that much mining yet with the PRAWN.

But the upcoming rocket could be the game's last chance to really require vast resources to get off the planet and make the long voyage home. It could require:

Massive amounts of titanium. Since building the rocket stages will require all items to be in the player's inventory, I suggest fabricator recipes requiring 10 hardened titanium ingots to fashion massive ingots.
Massive boxes built of food stuffs: salted fish, water, etc for the long journey.
Massive amounts of Blood Oil that is fabricated down into rocket fuel. Or maybe copper, hydrocloric acid, fungus samples, and Landstrider poop!
Or maybe its based on nickel and sulfur so that more deep mining in the PRAWN is required.
Massive amounts of glass "ingots" combined together with mercury and ion crystals to make a number of "Dilithium crystals" for the rocket's hyperdrive.
The rocket could require a communications system, and a life support/environmental system. (They could need lots of Magnetite?)
Also a cryogenic sleep station.
Lots of diamonds needed for heat shielding.

As some of these recipes are specific to building just the rocket. Add a special fabricator to the launch pad that has these recipes to avoid confusing new players.

If this is the end-game then it should really make the player work for it.

A side quest could require building a mini-rocket to launch a warning beacon into orbit that would warn other ships away from the planet (after the player turns off the alien space gun, of course.)
Because even if the player finds/creates a cure for the infection, it could take generations to spread across the whole planet, right?

Since resources are not hard to find (for instance you don't have to dig for them) I've never really understood why the scanning room was added to the game. Clearly a lot of work went into it, but there doesn't seem to be any reason for a player to need to build it. Perhaps it should be retooled for locating alien artifacts? Maybe they are camoflaged or cloaked as sea plants so that you NEED the scanner room to find them and they would be a critical component for building the rocket. More resource sinks for the player!

I've never really considered vehicles to be continual resource sinks - you build them once and if you are careful with them, you never have to build them again. In the last year of playing this game off and on, I've NEVER lost a vehicle except in two cases - I got a SeaMoth wedged in a cave against a jellyfish, and the one time I glitched the Cyclops and rode it straight into outer space (stuck in the hull, partially hanging outside, fluttering like a ragdoll. lol)

0x6A7232 · June 2017

You could probably also have a place in the rocket for growbeds, I would imagine. I think it'd be cool if you also had to fabricate a new lifepod for the Rocket (just in case something happens again). Maybe give the option of recycling #5 if it's at 100%.

Wiirlak · June 2017

I can understand that we need ressources from diverses biomes but need massive amout may be boring .. Some people already complain about farming too much.

0x6A7232 · June 2017

Wiirlak wrote: »

I can understand that we need ressources from diverses biomes but need massive amout may be boring .. Some people already complain about farming too much.

It is a survival game, there's always other modes if that's not their cup of tea. Although, more customization would be cool.

tommy21toes · June 2017

If it becomes a resource grind, then I would very much like to see it go up in pieces. Build the launchpad, build a control center, build a propulsion unit, build the shell, build the nose out of something super dense, add fins, etc. Even if it's a super heavy grind for resources you could still get some satisfaction out of making progress and seeing things come together.

scalien · June 2017

I would not really want to see a huge increase in the amount of materials. Having to scrounge 80 titanium per base section (to make is comparable to some other survival games out there) would require a huge over haul of how you collect and store resources.

Adding a few more resources would up the challenge a bit though.

An I section could be 8 titanium, 2 rubber,

a t-section, 8 titanium, 4 rubber

Multipurpose room 1 titanium ingot, 2

hatch 2 titanium, 1 rubber, 1 glass

Then add a new chip. An advanced computer chip for the more advanced modules, scanning room, etc

Advanced chip could use an advanced wiring kit, 1 synthetic fiber, 1 mercury ore.

Just an example. Give a few other creatures then just stalkers usable by products and use one or two in some of the midgame end game recipes. Amp eel chitin for sonar modules, a low energy spot light using jelly ray egg shells or something.

I don't think this would make the game that much more of a chore, but it would add variety in what you are farming for.

Just my 2 cents.

Wiirlak · June 2017

No.

... having to grind qwartz just to have loads of glass corridor is too much for me ..

DragoWhooves · June 2017

there are some items in the game that have little use, also maybe the engine could be powered by the same kind of engine as the Aroura (maybe requiring a second visit to recover needed parts)

Resource sinks and building the rocket

Comments