How about an upgrade option for the Compass?
Tarkannen
North Carolina Join Date: 2016-08-15 Member: 221304Members
North Carolina Join Date: 2016-08-15 Member: 221304Members
Yesterday I was exploring the world, trying to find fragments for upgrade arms on the Exosuit. The go-to wrecks I've memorized so far hadn't given up anything; Lifepods 7 and 17 wrecks had nothing for that, and Grand Reef #1 wreck had just a single Grappling Arm fragment. I knew there was another wreck in the Grand Reef but no matter how long I looked for it, I could not locate it. I finally had to use the wiki to locate Grand Reef #2 wreck, and was able to navigate to it via the F1 console. That got me to thinking, how about if we could upgrade the Compass?
The Vehicle Modification Station takes the basic utility items (such as the Survival Knife, Swim Fins and O2 Tank) and gives them minor but logical upgrades. So it wouldn't be far-fetched to upgrade the Compass from basic NESW navigation to full-fledged GPS navigation. Also it's worth noting that the game already uses this information as the player is exploring the world anyways (by the above-mentioned F1 console display), so the game already has this data, but it could be displayed to the player perhaps beneath the NESW display.
Now before people go mentioning "But bruh, you need satellites to relay the GPS information to the player! It doesn't make logical sense to have this info despite it "being" there anyways!" well, that is true. However, I should point out at present some of the recipes in game also don't quite follow logical sense when crafting them:
1. Compass doesn't require Magnetite, but can still read directions
2. Thermometer doesn't require Mercury Ore, but can still gauge temperatures
3. Repair Tool doesn't require Battery, despite needing one to work
4. Cyclops doesn't require Power Cell, even though it spawns with six (see above)
And if that is still a sticking point, it can either tie in with the Scanner Room once it's built, or perhaps the player can build some kind of Transmission Tower to "relay" the GPS data to the player in a logical sense. Either way I'm not picky, but I would like to have access to this info without needing to use debug/test commands... especially since once the game launches 1.0, the debug information likely won't be available anymore.
The Vehicle Modification Station takes the basic utility items (such as the Survival Knife, Swim Fins and O2 Tank) and gives them minor but logical upgrades. So it wouldn't be far-fetched to upgrade the Compass from basic NESW navigation to full-fledged GPS navigation. Also it's worth noting that the game already uses this information as the player is exploring the world anyways (by the above-mentioned F1 console display), so the game already has this data, but it could be displayed to the player perhaps beneath the NESW display.
Now before people go mentioning "But bruh, you need satellites to relay the GPS information to the player! It doesn't make logical sense to have this info despite it "being" there anyways!" well, that is true. However, I should point out at present some of the recipes in game also don't quite follow logical sense when crafting them:
1. Compass doesn't require Magnetite, but can still read directions
2. Thermometer doesn't require Mercury Ore, but can still gauge temperatures
3. Repair Tool doesn't require Battery, despite needing one to work
4. Cyclops doesn't require Power Cell, even though it spawns with six (see above)
And if that is still a sticking point, it can either tie in with the Scanner Room once it's built, or perhaps the player can build some kind of Transmission Tower to "relay" the GPS data to the player in a logical sense. Either way I'm not picky, but I would like to have access to this info without needing to use debug/test commands... especially since once the game launches 1.0, the debug information likely won't be available anymore.
Comments
Sounds like a logical and extremely useful upgrade to have! It has my vote.
I don't believe I'd ever even think "but bruh," let alone actually mention it. However, here's your rebuttal to the "but bruh" crowd!
You don't need GPS at all! Just take a couple steps backward in technological development and your solution is already there (and tested): INS. Inertial Navigation Systems were what we used before GPS (yes, there was a time before GPS, young ones), and it works pretty well. Basically, it's a teched-up version of classical navigation; the system teams up an accelerometer (for speed) and gyro (for direction) to determine where you are relative to where you were. With a map, this allows you to figure out your location - maybe not down to the foot like a GPS, but pretty dang accurately all the same.
So if the upgrade station took a compass and a computer chip, it should be able to whack together an INS unit.
1. Well, um, you don't need a magnet for a compass. A gyrocompass operates by using a semi-fixed gyroscope to produce a compass heading based off planetary rotation and movement of the device. Most ships today use gyrocompasses rather than traditional magnetic compasses because the magnetic type get thrown all screwy by steel hulls. If the computer chip has a miniaturized ring laser gyroscope, that'd do it.
2. Don't need it. Almost all medical thermometers and, indeed, most thermometers in general today use different thermal media, many solid state. Thermocouples are the most common non-fluid thermometers in use, operating by converting thermal input to electrical voltage output which is measured and translated into a temperature reading. Bimetallic thermometers are often used as thermostat switches. And the few liquid-based thermometers still in use have alcohol as the thermal media since mercury is so toxic (and mechanically dangerous). Really, although it has some indispensable uses, mercury is getting pretty tough to locate in the daily world today. The most common interaction between you and mercury now is fluorescent lighting (even CFLs).
Thanks for fixing my mistake.
Awesome, I wasn't aware there was geolocational mapping available without satellites! So that means, there's no lore/situational reason why we can't have the F1 console XYZ positioning display in the game after all. I'm all for that!
Hmm... I wasn't really aware of that, that's really cool! If they can be made with newer technology and not need older items, then I concede those points.
I think we will see a use for Mercury and nickel. Otherwise it would be the only resource in the game that you can't use for anything. That would indeed be odd.