Some negative feedback
Halios
Oz Join Date: 2015-11-27 Member: 209514Members
Oz Join Date: 2015-11-27 Member: 209514Members
I've loved this game for a long time but managed not to have fun playing it today. Some of that is probably just early access teething problems. Some of it maybe not.
Following the PDA signal, I set out for the thermal plant - minus the cyclops sonar or thermal reactor modules. Oddly the lack of sonar wasn't a problem. The annoying leg of that journey was getting stuck on the huge branch-like coral things before the research facility. After that it was fairly easy. I just had to use the cameras occasionally. Then I made it to the inactive lava zone and things got weird.
Lava larva...yay! They sucked the cyclops dry of energy and wouldn't detach. So I got out and knifed them off. That left me with no power though. I used the console to give myself a thermal reactor. That didn't seem to do anything. Energy sat at 1%. I checked both the internal display and got out and looked. No larvae.
The sea dragon leviathan had also developed an obsession with the cyclops. It stopped moving right next to it and just kept moving its head a bit.
So I abandoned the cyclops and headed into the lava castle in my prawn suit. It kept getting damaged - I assume by some kind of environmental something. Seemed to be spots which were a problem but it wasn't obvious why. It felt very odd to be exiting the suit to repair it.
I made it through to the thermal plant. Found the blue artifact and warp gate. Not the other door which the wiki mentions supposed to contain the ion battery and power cell blueprints or the generator room. I jumped outside in my prawn suit to see if there was another entrance besides the two I'd found, and another which seemed to open into an empty void in the middle. Then I fell down and got stuck, and eventually fell through the floor.
So these are my thoughts.
Obviously long-term it would be ideal for the PDA to at least suggest that you have certain tech before attempting that journey. Either that or withhold the signal location until you have them.
I'll be blunt. It feels like this leg of the game has been designed to justify the cyclops' existence rather than to be enjoyed. I'd been down there twice before in the prawn suit and seamoth to visit the research facility. It's a stunning area of the game which you barely see from the cyclops. You're mostly looking at rock ceiling and occasionally at the floor through the cameras. But those beautiful views go unseen. You pass through each area oblivious to everything except the terrain and the occasional angry fish.
To be crystal clear, I'm obviously not saying that it was too difficult. I made it through without even having the sonar. I'm saying it feels like an attempt to justify the cyclops' existence. Though since you provide the option to warp out via the gate from the thermal plant, I'd guess that many people would abandon the cyclops and build a replacement. Or build a disposable one just for that journey with the minimal upgrades necessary.
Also, while I've never thought it a problem to have to go outside and repair a vehicle in other areas, at that depth and in that environment it feels silly. Maybe an auto-repair upgrade module for both the cyclops and prawn suit would be a good idea. And change the larva larvae to not to be energy suckers.
Following the PDA signal, I set out for the thermal plant - minus the cyclops sonar or thermal reactor modules. Oddly the lack of sonar wasn't a problem. The annoying leg of that journey was getting stuck on the huge branch-like coral things before the research facility. After that it was fairly easy. I just had to use the cameras occasionally. Then I made it to the inactive lava zone and things got weird.
Lava larva...yay! They sucked the cyclops dry of energy and wouldn't detach. So I got out and knifed them off. That left me with no power though. I used the console to give myself a thermal reactor. That didn't seem to do anything. Energy sat at 1%. I checked both the internal display and got out and looked. No larvae.
The sea dragon leviathan had also developed an obsession with the cyclops. It stopped moving right next to it and just kept moving its head a bit.
So I abandoned the cyclops and headed into the lava castle in my prawn suit. It kept getting damaged - I assume by some kind of environmental something. Seemed to be spots which were a problem but it wasn't obvious why. It felt very odd to be exiting the suit to repair it.
I made it through to the thermal plant. Found the blue artifact and warp gate. Not the other door which the wiki mentions supposed to contain the ion battery and power cell blueprints or the generator room. I jumped outside in my prawn suit to see if there was another entrance besides the two I'd found, and another which seemed to open into an empty void in the middle. Then I fell down and got stuck, and eventually fell through the floor.
So these are my thoughts.
Obviously long-term it would be ideal for the PDA to at least suggest that you have certain tech before attempting that journey. Either that or withhold the signal location until you have them.
I'll be blunt. It feels like this leg of the game has been designed to justify the cyclops' existence rather than to be enjoyed. I'd been down there twice before in the prawn suit and seamoth to visit the research facility. It's a stunning area of the game which you barely see from the cyclops. You're mostly looking at rock ceiling and occasionally at the floor through the cameras. But those beautiful views go unseen. You pass through each area oblivious to everything except the terrain and the occasional angry fish.
To be crystal clear, I'm obviously not saying that it was too difficult. I made it through without even having the sonar. I'm saying it feels like an attempt to justify the cyclops' existence. Though since you provide the option to warp out via the gate from the thermal plant, I'd guess that many people would abandon the cyclops and build a replacement. Or build a disposable one just for that journey with the minimal upgrades necessary.
Also, while I've never thought it a problem to have to go outside and repair a vehicle in other areas, at that depth and in that environment it feels silly. Maybe an auto-repair upgrade module for both the cyclops and prawn suit would be a good idea. And change the larva larvae to not to be energy suckers.
Comments
Honestly every problem you had bar the leeches sounds like a bug.
a) I was playing on PC.
b) I wasn't constantly saving and reloading.
It was taking damage only in specific locations. Move away. Damage stops. Return. It starts again. Consistently.
It's just like you haven't even played the game.
The cyclops can't fit inside the lava castle caves.
http://subnautica.wikia.com/wiki/Lava_Castle
Yeah I'd read and expected that. But this was in multiple spots throughout the caves which definitely weren't in the lava, eg. right at the entrance where you first drop down into the tunnel.
Of course for people new to the game, they might not have either one due to it requiring Kyanite, which you only get when you're already in the lava zone. Not to mention a single nickel, which you have to swim into the brine of the Lost River to get, due to not being able to collect drilled materials without exiting the prawn. With the brine continuing to damage you until you rise above the surface of it even inside the prawn (due to an unfixed bug), this is a royal pain. It's especially annoying because there is also silver ore there, and you can't identify it without exiting the prawn first.
To charge with the thermal reactor, I think you need temperatures of at least 50c. You get that down by the prison, but I think unless you are above a vent or smoker, it might not be enough to charge near the lava castle currently.
Although damage needs more balancing: The reinforced diver is almost tougher than the vehicles. Ironically due to "balancing" - he must be tough for outside repairs, but if the vehicle would be 100x tough it would laugh at leviathans. I think leviathans should deal more damage to instantly kill the diver in any case, but the vehicles should be made tougher too.
I also once made the same mistake to get the Cyclops sucked out of power and trying to dock back with my Prawn before the Sea Dragon could come ... ouch. On the other side the Prawn has replacement power cells for the Cyclops, which I didn't realize then. I agree with you that some PDA should warn you of power losses before going to the lava zone.
There might also be the possibility that you used a pre-ghostupdate savegame, playing with the ghostupdate, giving you some weird effects. Start a new game, use the console to replay it faster and check again.
I was not at any point standing in lava when I was taking damage. I know what lava looks like. I already knew that it would damage me and wouldn't have been even remotely surprised by that anyway. It would make sense.
But that's not what happened.
There was no apparent reason for the damage. It was definitely only occurring in specific locations but those locations appeared to be completely safe, except for the fact the prawn suit taking damage.
Personally one of the reasons I love this game is that I don't have to knife or shoot anything.
I think I read that they can also be removed with the prawn suit repulsion cannon. So I'd take one of those next time.
That's a good potential solution to the complete power drain but I still also had the dragon obsessed with the cyclops and floating within spitting distance.
Yeah that one felt odd too. I saw kyanite from the cyclops on the way down but I would have to have to returned to a base with a moonpool to craft those upgrades. And I couldn't see any obviously good spots to park the cyclops, i.e. where I could easily jump the prawn suit back into it. So I just drove on by.
I'm playing on stable and didn't have that problem.
I had previously taken the prawn suit and seamoth into the lost river. I exited to pick up a loose nickel and sulfurs off the 'ground'. If I was taking damage from the area it must have been really slow.
That explains why it wasn't recharging then. I'd just assumed the whole area would have been rather hot.
This was a completely fresh game started from scratch with this update.
The only 100% safe way is to traverse the ceiling using grappling hook and enhanced jump jet (it takes a little practice!).
I can understand the bright floor spots being hot, but even the black parts of the floor damage the Prawn, and you even take damage when hanging from the walls.
I suppose it is the final hurdle though, so fair enough that it's a decent challenge.
So I got curious and looked into why. It's a bug. I also was able to fix the bugs and I've left info on how over on the bug reporting forum so now it's just a matter of getting some dev attention to the thread. Now to sleep..