There's plenty of stuff for such a creature to punch without needing to morph terrain. I think it could exist just fine by punching: Fish, shellfish, coral, potential predators, players, hab structures, or just basically anything that may seem edibl…
I love this game. I have wanted a survival game set in an alien environment with a low-combat orientation for as long as I've known it was possible. The focus on observation and cataloging of creatures and their behaviors, and not the wanton slaught…
For some reason, I've felt more like NS2 is a team competitive game than a team cooperative game recently, and it was the other way around for NS1.
While I have an interest in the game design process and try to deconstruct my feelings of games…