Resource sinks and pacing

JhadarSy

I restarted after the April patch and it was nice. Was able to get the SeaGlide first and really enjoyed it. Only much later did I finally manage to get a SeaMoth. This change in blueprint availability was a good idea.

In some ways the SeaMoth really takes the risk out of the game. I ram biters, stalkers, bone sharks to kill them when they annoy me, then jump out and weld up the hull.
I've even gone after the Leviathan with the Perimeter Defense system until he got stuck in the Safe Shallows and fell threw the terrain. (Can still hear him roaring down there. lol)
Suggest you remove ramming damage. Or have a Hard difficulty setting that removes it. I've faced down stalkers and bone sharks with nothing but a knife and it's far scarier and more exciting.

The only critter that's seriously dangerous are those darn jellyfish. They are just evil. I've had one meltdown my SeaMoth in about 20 seconds. I've had them kill me in about 5 secs. No forgiveness with them!
How about a jelly-proof wetsuit? I'd build that! And electro-proof wetsuit for battling with shockers? There the one creature I've never tangled with, because it looks like insta-death. lol.

Perhaps the welder should require crash powder recharges instead of batteries. But right now the powder doesn't seem to regen while the crash critters do. Very annoying.
This would provide a sink for the powder.

Right now I have a base full of resources I've gathered and not much to use them on. Yeah, I could perhaps build more bases, but why? I can get anywhere in the SeaMoth pretty quickly.

I've got Aluminum Oxide, and Mercury and I've nothing to build with it that I can see. The same with HCl acid and Benzene. Yeah the game is Early Access - so I really hope to see more blueprints that will require this stuff.

The modification station is great, but since only knives wear out, I never need to replace any of my other gear.
Really, when my avatar dies he should drop at least some of his stuff at the death point. Give the player a death beacon that will tag the location, so he can perhaps reclaim the stuff.
Replacing gear or keeping spares on hand for emergencies is more resource sinks.

Now if the game required bases in different areas to support some game play element....say as a power base to support a local sensor network...needed for....something.
Ah, maybe to support sonic repellers to drive off nasty biters and such. Or Cleaners that decontaminate areas of radiation. The power transmitters could relay power out from a base to these items.
Maybe some areas can only be worked with the Cyclops. Now I'd have a reason to built it other than using it as a mobile resource storage platform.
Now you've got sinks for Titanium, and Gold for the transmitters.
The last game I played before this one was Thaumcraft addon for Minecraft. Cleansing tainted lands was huge but rewarding task.

SeaMoth and Cyclops could need periodic lubricant changes. Although, I suppose Power Cells with their ingredient of Silicon Rubber currently fits the bill, but if we get a Cyclops recharger, then there really needs to be some other sink.

Exploring cave systems are fun, but when I don't find anything at the "end" it seems a bit of a let down. Maybe some remnant of alien tech that's just cool to look at. Maybe a semi-sentient leprechaun creature with "stalker-ish" behavior that gathers up nearby loot (quartz, scrap metal that only gives one or two titanium, etc) and guards it in these cave systems, and you have to take him out or chase him off to get the loot.

Would be cool in really deep caves to have an Arc Sun light source, as those ILZ caves are just so black and barren. Or maybe external planting pots and some farmable flora that's a really good bio-lum light source (I'm playing around with snake shrooms now, but I suspect the farmed versions will be like the farmed membrane trees and not give off any light.