Scanner Room Resource Sampling
Quiet_Blowfish
Join Date: 2017-09-11 Member: 232955Members
I really like this room for its 3D mapping function and its spunky little drones. It does seem a bit recalcitrant about making the exact resource searches I want though.
I gather the short selection menu stems from the early days, when there weren't many resources in the game. So, I had a browse on the Subnautica wiki and it reckons a scroll-bar is in the works (yay!).
But I was thinking it might be nice to make it a just a smidgeon less user-friendly than that.
Anyway my idea is you have to give it a resource sample each time you want a new search done - so it knows what to look for. You would put the sample on its fabricator tray. The lasers would then 'de-fabricate' the sample as they analyse it (see no free lunch). The scanner room can then upload the sample's structural data it needs to initiate the new search. (There'd be no long list scrolling though resources you've never heard of - you'd have to discover them first up).
I 'm not sure exactly why, but this might make the Scanner Room feel a little more valuable to players.
I gather the short selection menu stems from the early days, when there weren't many resources in the game. So, I had a browse on the Subnautica wiki and it reckons a scroll-bar is in the works (yay!).
But I was thinking it might be nice to make it a just a smidgeon less user-friendly than that.
Anyway my idea is you have to give it a resource sample each time you want a new search done - so it knows what to look for. You would put the sample on its fabricator tray. The lasers would then 'de-fabricate' the sample as they analyse it (see no free lunch). The scanner room can then upload the sample's structural data it needs to initiate the new search. (There'd be no long list scrolling though resources you've never heard of - you'd have to discover them first up).
I 'm not sure exactly why, but this might make the Scanner Room feel a little more valuable to players.
Comments
Maybe this list could be updated by the samples you present to it. Or, better still, it could be updated by samples you scan. So no "undiscovered" materials in the list and kinda prompt players to examine their surroundings.
But it was a nice room filled with potential, so when I decided to stop playing I knew (hoped) there would be something nice when I came back.
I'm hyped waiting for v1.0 right now.
For Fragments, your idea would work though. You'd have to find the first piece yourself, then the scanner would be able to find similar patterns nearby.
In a General Discussion thread @Morph_guy posted a pic of the set-up he found on Trello (which doesn't seem to want to link here for me right now).
https://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/152901/important-scanner-room-list-scroll#latest
It's not about making sense, but about making the game design more interesting and user friendly.
If you want to make excuses to make things work, that usually comes easily.
...according to Trello
Like I said, I like the concept on paper but in practice I don't think it works very well... just my two cents.
Certainly, if I were I game designer I'd need to develop a proper evil laugh