Let's make bases even cooler !
Osydius
France Join Date: 2015-09-19 Member: 208031Members
France Join Date: 2015-09-19 Member: 208031Members
Base building is a great part if this game. I think it’s safe to say that we have all gone wild base building-wise (who hasn’t tried to build as far above water as possible, as deep as possible or within caves of all sorts, including artificial caves thanks to the terraformer?). But as cool as it is making a big base, all we’re really building are endless empty corridors. The MoonPool, the Room and the Observatory have somewhat changed that a bit (in particular the Moonpool which is just fantastic) but it still lacks a lot in terms of modules to actually make it feel like a real base. Here are a few ideas which could be implemented and would add a lot to the game I think:
Ok so that's all I can think of for now as far as the base are concerned.
Cheers.
- Square Rooms: ok this is just for variety’s sake and also because I like square things… it’s neater… moving on!
- Control Room: This should be the heart of the base. You should basically have a room with a big computer and several screens from which you could control everything. By that I mean things like energy distribution in your base, feedback on your video cameras (which would be a cool addition to the game), feedback from sensors you may have left in the Biomes (maybe to trace any residual form of that energy pulse which took down the Aurora), maybe even access to a remote controlled mini sub-marines later on or a link with the Aurora’s CPU and, of course, control over the bases’ defense systems in case you’re attacked by something… anyway, we can imagine quite a few things but the point is every base needs a heart, and in all Sci Fi, the heart of a base is always a control room, so let’s stick to the genre!
- Sleeping Quarters: by this I mean some sort of simple bedroom with a bed in which you go (if possible) before quitting the game. The purpose here is more cosmetic than practical, although it would be nice to see your health gradually go up as you sleep on the bed, so that if you disconnect for a certain amount of time (say 8 hours), you will be at full health when you reconnect.
- Laboratory / engineering bay: This whole room would start small and grow over time as you add more equipment. It would start with a simple analyzer (like the one in game for fragments… the model should be changed though). You would bring specimens from the outside and analyze their properties inside the analyzer. Now, to be coherent, you should not be able to craft most objects in the Fabricator before the components have been analyzed in the Laboratory. So maybe when you start, you can only craft a simple machine which only requires basic components like Titanium and Quartz. This will allow you to analyze the Mushrooms for instance which will reveal their acidity and thus open a new branch of inventions in the Fabricator, and so on. You would analyze everything. This would make the progression of the game more rational as your Fabricator should not already know what components you can use on an alien planet to make your First Aid kits for instance. And as time passes, your laboratory would further develop and you would for instance add the technology required to analyze and splice DNA, and even run tests on subject (imagine some form of tank in which you keep a creature and inject it with a serum you just made up and watch the effect on the creature, under the supervision of the base’s CPU of course). The Laboratory should also allow you to discover certain blueprints derived from known technologies. So for instance we have a blueprint for a GravSphere. Maybe building this GravSphere could unlock a tech tree in the Laboratory which would take the form of a mini-game. If you defeat the mini-game, you get a message saying you successfully reverse engineered the GraveSphere and are now able to create, for exemple, a “Repulsion Belt” which continuously emits a reverse gravity field which pushes small fishes away (Bleeders, Crash, Biters). Or your Flashlight, if you reverse engineer it, surely you can build huge floodlights for your base (which would take energy, hence the ability to affect energy distribution on your control room computer… it’s all connected, baby!).
- Infirmary module: The point here would be to create a room with a machine that can cure all ailments, which would first, of course, require to add a few ailments in the game. Radiation poisoning, fauna poisoning or some alien diseases which would affect you one way or another. The easy way would be slowly losing health, or shortness of breath which would decrease your dive time, or seizures which incapacitate you for 10 seconds at a time (for all those who go up with a barely a couple of seconds to spare when diving, this would be hell), etc. We can easily imagine a full range of diseases, including one for instance where your body makes a pheromone which attracts predators.. that would be quite funny if you don’t notice it immediately. These would all need to be treated before they kill you (one way or another). This would need (i) body scan in the infirmary, (ii) research on the results of the scan in the Laboratory, (iii) gathering components for a cure, (iv) loading the cure in the Healing Machine and (v) curing the condition. I would also think that once a cure has been found, the machine can cure it anytime without needing to reload components. I think it would make the game more challenging, which in my opinion is always good. You could even produce vaccines or immunities with the help of the Laboratories (it’s all connected!).
- Docking bay for the Cyclops: I love the MoonPool, but you can’t have the same thing for the Cyclops. It’s too big. So what we need is actually a docking room in which you enter face first (Cyclop’s face I mean) into the wall. So imagine a square room where you have the shape of the Cyclop’s front embedded in the wall (as if you had pushed the Cyclop’s face into a soft surface, leaving a print). You would slowly attach yourself to the wall which would close around the nose of the Cyclops. Then, the eye of the Cyclop (the round glass panel) would simply open forwards and you would step out of the Cyclops inside your base. Once docked, this means that most of the Cyclop’s body would still be out in the water. Only the first few meters would be embedded in the wall of the room. Later on we can make something much cooler like a full room which slowly fills up with water when you want to get out but for now, this should be easier to implement.
Ok so that's all I can think of for now as far as the base are concerned.
Cheers.
Comments
>Ctrl C
>Ctrl V
Mess Hall
~Counter Tops - Wall/floor mounted surfaces that you can place items on for display. Put your extra diamonds or quartz on display to snazz up your room. Put your Fragment Analyzer on top to get it off the floor. Countertops would automatically snap to adjacent counters for a solid, consistent row of counters.
~Refrigerator - Wall mounted storage for food and water to keep it fresh for longer. Same storage as a Small Locker. Automatically turns on when food is put in, and constantly drains a tiny amount of power. Automatically turns off when there's no more food inside. Must be researched from a fragment found in the Safe Shallows.
~Cooker - Floor or Countertop mounted machine, about the size of a Fragment Analyzer, that can cook and prepare meals from raw food. replaces the Fabricator as the producer of cooked and cured food. Uses power similar to the Fabricator. Must be researched from a fragment found in the Safe Shallows.
~Hydroponics Farm - Round tube like tank to grow edible plants.
~Mess Hall Table - Flat surface with two benches to sit down and eat at. Provides small bonuses to Food when eating at a Table.
~Desalinator - Wall mounted Desalinator that makes seawater drinkable. Requires Empty Bottles, which must be found in the world, such as on the Aurora. (Drinking water from bottles would leave the player with an empty or dirty bottle. Dirty bottles would need to be cleaned with bleach before becoming usable.)
Storage/Factory
~Defabricator - Can break down components and items into raw materials. Would be great for Titanium Ingots, allowing them act as compact storage for Titanium. The Defabricator would have a built in 2x5 storage unit below it that would hold excess materials if the player couldn't hold all the broken down bits.
~Foreman Interface - Wall mounted terminal that keeps a list of all nearby storage containers and their inventories.
~Advanced Locker - Locker that connects to nearby lockers to pool inventory.
~Advanced Fabricator - Larger Fabricator that can queue multiple items to construct, as well as take inventory from nearby Advanced Lockers.
Sleeping Quarters/Sick Bay
~Bed - Large comfy bed to pass time from night to day and vice versa. Would not use power.
~Medi-Bed - Large high tech bed that can also restore your health as you sleep. Uses power relative to amount of HP restored. Must be researched from a fragment found in Kelp Forests.
~First Aid Cabinet - Small, wall mounted 3x3 cabinet for holding Medkits. Same as the one in the Lifepod.
Laboratory
~Database Terminal - Catalogues discovered species and blueprints in an encyclopedia type format.
~Wall Charger - Small, 4x4 locker for tools, recharging them quickly from the Base's power.
~Periscope - Telescope that can extend 10 meters above the top of the corridor it's mounted to, and can zoom in on distant objects or creatures.
~Sensor Module - Long range sensors that mount to the top of the room or corridor and can scan for nearby predators, or places/objects of interest like the entrance to the Inactive Lava Zone, or the Floater Island. Sensors detect creatures passively, but scanning for land forms takes a bit of energy.
~Map Table - 3D hologram map table that maps out the general area of where you've been, with different biomes in different colors. Player can click and zoom in on areas similar to using the color panel on the Cyclops or Seamoth.
Maintenance/Engineering
~Maintenance Interface - Wall mounted terminal that provides a 3D map of the Base, power supply, hull integrity, with damaged or flooded sections highlighted.
~Wall Light - Lights that the player can change the color, brightness, and strobe of to provide mood lighting to the interior of bases.
~Pump Station - Increases speed of pumping out water in the event of a hull breach.
Base Construction
~Y Corridor - Standard Corridor that splits into two adjacent corridors facing the same direction.
~Square Rooms - Large rooms about the size of the Moonpool.
~Stair/Ramp Corridors - Diagonal Corridors that go up 1 Corridor's height.
~Exosuit Bay - Special hangar for storing and customizing the Exosuit.
~Glass Dome - Transparent roof for round Rooms to view ocean above the room
~Combinable Rooms - Modular rooms that combine with adjacent Combinable Rooms to make larger structures.
External Modules
~Straight/Center/L/T/X Catwalk - Flat catwalk for surface bases that attaches to the tops of Corridors or Foundations.
~External Ladder - Ladder that attaches to the edges of catwalks or foundations to allow the player to climb up onto the platform.
~Turret Mount - Stand for a Stasis Rifle, Repulsion Cannon, Torpedo Launcher, Harpoon etc that uses the SeaBase's energy. Attaches to the tops of Corridors and onto catwalks and Foundations.
~Structure Support Beam - Solid Titanium Beams for reinforcing a Seabase. Click once on a part of a base to start the support beam, then click on another part of the base, or on the terrain to create a support beam between the two points. Use the mouse wheel to cycle through beam thickness. Thickness and length of the beam affects Titanium cost.
Like, we first make the Builder, it starts at Tier-1, which is all the base parts we have now, corridors, rooms, vertical passages etc.
Then we unlock the Workstation and can upgrade the Builder it to Tier-2, which adds Square Rooms, Catwalks, Advanced Lockers and Fabricators, etc.
Then once we build like an Research Interface, we can upgrade the Builder to Tier-3 which would have access to all building schematics, and also construct them faster.
Hydroponics farm- I see this as a dedicated room, perhaps moonpool size, with numerous plots for growing various things.
Desalinator- Process described seems like a more complex system to what we have now, how about a unit that completely refills hydration for more efficient use of bleach, (I think that it should use bleach and power.) Downside, it is a fixed unit and does not create storable water sources.
Adv fabricator- it has storage built in, and is fitted to a wall like a bulkhead, and can draw only from itself or from adv storage lockers if fitted to adjacent walls. (adv lockers having similar build restrictions.) Typical storage for fabricator wall = 2 full size lockers, adv storage locker = 3 full lockers. = Maybe more. This set-up in a standard room could fit an adv fabricator, drawing from its own storage and 6 adv lockers in the room.
---- Reasoning is that this implies some means of tranferring materials between lockers and fab, instead of magically drawing from stores elsewhere in base. ----
Sensor module- structure version of seamoth sonar module.
Map Table- combines all taken sonar maps, structural and Seamoth.
These are just alternate ideas,
Finally, I'm all for a cyclops berth as well, I see this as a set of arms that clamp to the bow of the cyclops, moving it over the docking hatch. It'd by the player's responsibility to ensure the berth area is clear of obstructions.
Same idea for stairs, ramps, escalators.