Idea: make fixing the reactors in the Aurora more time-sensitive
0x6A7232
US Join Date: 2016-10-06 Member: 222906Members
US Join Date: 2016-10-06 Member: 222906Members
As far as I know, there's no real pressure on the player to fix the Aurora's reactor.
Maybe start increasing the level of radiation after a certain time, until it is more than the rating of the radiation suit?
Actually, there has to be a better way around that issue.
Reason? Well, some players are so terrified of the diving board that they need a little push to get them going. (I know one.) I don't blame them; the Aurora is spooky as all get out, and some of us suffer from thalassophobia and/or submechanophobia. Sort of like a fear of heights. Or maybe it's a fear of being small. Who knows. Anyways, point is, some hand-holding may be required, sort of like how the player must find a cure for their disease (Carar).
Thoughts?
Maybe start increasing the level of radiation after a certain time, until it is more than the rating of the radiation suit?
Actually, there has to be a better way around that issue.
Reason? Well, some players are so terrified of the diving board that they need a little push to get them going. (I know one.) I don't blame them; the Aurora is spooky as all get out, and some of us suffer from thalassophobia and/or submechanophobia. Sort of like a fear of heights. Or maybe it's a fear of being small. Who knows. Anyways, point is, some hand-holding may be required, sort of like how the player must find a cure for their disease (Carar).
Thoughts?
Comments
In the larger one, you cannot survive without a suit. This is equivalent to the current radiation zone around the Aurora. As soon as you spawn in, this radius should increase at a linear rate, until the entire map is covered. You must have a radiation suit to prevent damage from this.
In the smaller one, you should only be able to survive in it for 10 or 15 minutes, even with a radiation suit, before you are completely irradiated. When this happens, your body will quickly expire, and there is no using first aid kits to survive. This should cover the map much more slowly, and kill any creatures within the area. This should make it very easy for players to navigate to the aurora, and fix the drive core without any interference.
I'd like to see this happen when interacting with the nuclear reactor:
-You should have to wear your radiation suit when you have uranium and reactor rods in your inventory.
-If your base floods, and has a nuclear reactor, the larger radius like from the Aurora should be placed in the environment around the base, and increase to a maximum size. The smaller, more potent area should be placed within the multipurpose room.
Having the rad suit interact with carrying around uranium and rods is a decent notion, though.
But let's just assume a MFR reactor is sealed. That could lead to a player having no access to any fabricator, if they build under the pod.
I guess I understood that this game was a survival-based game, and forcing the player to survive was an overall goal. I guess I thought it would be more realistic if the player was required to contain the radiation in order to survive better.
Actually, reactors are quite safe when powered down correctly, which should happen in the event of flooding. (ie, no physical damage to the reactor) -- honestly, aren't the reactor fuel rods immersed in water anyways?
And,
It's also a survival game, as already noted. But more importantly, how is the player supposed to know the Aurora is more than just a background prop? Also, how does it make sense to have radiation leaking with no consequences other than wearing a rad suit?
What if I took a swim in a typical spent nuclear fuel pool? Would I need to dive to actually experience a fatal amount of radiation? How long could I stay safely at the surface?
That, or perhaps have it reduce fish populations, so that it's harder to find food until it's fixed.
I like those ideas. But the fish population... hard to notice at first until it's too late. Maybe make the PDA note that the local wildlife population is getting radiation poisoning and irreversible damage will occur within <x> amount of days.
There's plenty of reasons to go to the Aurora. All that is needed is any sort of urgent hint that there's something to get, whether a thing immediately useful or information on the crash, possibly with a tip that the nose has cracked open due to the explosion to give people a cue where to look for the entrance. General gamer/human nature for exploration ensures that every other reason to visit the Aurora will be found (lab's currently a likely miss, though).
What we are getting at is not locking the player out of the story. Rather, we are suggesting giving a higher motivation for the player to fix the reactor by giving them a higher incentive (decreasing your chances of dying). I personally believe that it adds more to the beginning of the game.
Anything to positively reinforce going to the Aurora is a-okay in my book. Anything to negatively promote a trip doesn't strike me as doing the game favors.
To put it simply, a reactor is coughing radiation ~1km from you and there's very little to show (nothing to show?) for that once you've gotten a radiation suit, which kind of breaks the immersion IMO.
How to communicate that to the player, though, is much more tricky. And in this situation, if my crashed ship was in any way inconveniencing the people whose weaponry shot it down and killed almost the entire crew, I would be very slow to seal it on their account.
I would definitely search the Aurora databanks for nuclear-powered mining charges, and be tempted to use THAT to shut down the gun and such.