[Spoilers] The beauty of pipes
Rezca
United States Join Date: 2016-04-28 Member: 216078Members
United States Join Date: 2016-04-28 Member: 216078Members
I'll start this off by saying I never liked the Pipes in the previous versions. In fact, I fully expected them to be cut from the game. To me, they were clunky to use and were pretty much rendered obsolete with the Seaglide and Seamoth, although in my opinion at the time they were never useful to begin with. I spent more time fighting to get two pipes to connect than I did diving further down, and they took up inventory space I could have used for other things. Plus at any depth they would have been useful at, hostile fauna would join in on making my miserable experience even more so.
When the pipes got updated though, so much changed. I gave them another try, and actually managed to chain them to the seafloor in one go without struggling along the way. I began liking using them, and used them when building deeper bases early on in the game. That's when it struck me.... How far could I take this?
Every time I restart my Subnautica game, I like building my first base in a new location. Sometimes I start in the Safe Shallows, sometimes one of the Kelp Forests, I've built my first base on a cliff in the Scarce Reef overlooking the Grand Reef once (Using the seaglide, since this was before the pipes were updated), and a few bases were in or bordering the Grassy plateaus. This time though.... I wanted to do something really different. Without building the Seaglide or Seamoth.... I wanted to build my first base in the Lost River.
Taking the time to only get a pair of Fins and a Beacon to mark the beginning of my pipe-chain, I began collecting the resources to start off this crazy idea.
I learned along the way that Warpers don't warp in unexpectedly and in random locations, but rather have specific spawnpoints and will warp in there, and then patrol along a short specified path before warping out. I got attacked a few times on the way down.
I continued working my way down, stopping to place a secondary branching pipe every now and then so I could refill my oxygen on the way back up to restock on Titanium for more pipes and on Food and Water... And after a while medkits too, since I had a few run-ins with Warpers and later Ampeels and Blighters on my trips as well.
A shiny piece of Kyanite on the ground, and an Ampeel that decided to shock me a few times in the background.
Finally, I had arrived. The pipes had a little 'snag' on the border between the Blood Kelp Zone and the Lost River itself, where they refused to go more than a meter or so away from the previous pipe, and I was afraid that maybe it'd stop going entirely or stop producing oxygen. Thankfully, a few short-placed pipes later they continued to extend to their full length and continued to produce that precious oxygen.
I had made it to the Lost River without finishing scanning the Seaglide, without visiting the Aurora, and managed to do so before the Sunbeam reached the planet. Barely. On my final trip back up they gave the message they were approaching, and I wouldn't even bother going to the island. Even before I read about the precursor array, I knew this rescue mission wouldn't happen. There's just no way the game would give you an ending that quickly. After I learned that it would end with more unpreventable deaths, I was actually a bit unhappy. Something we could actually prevent if we're given the opportunity, and it ends up just making us sit and watch.
Anyway, so I was on my way back up to the surface, dodging the hostile fauna along the way. I had some lithium so I could make the reinforced plating to keep my first base intact, but what I did not have was a Bioreactor or Nuclear Reactor to power this base. I also didn't have a MP Room since I hadn't visited the Floating Island yet. I rarely visit the island right off the bat anymore, preferring to pace myself a little rather than beeline for the planters and MP Rooms.
So there you have it. The pipes are actually really fun to use now, and while some people did say they were always really useful.... I just never could get the hang of using them before. Now they're very simple to use, and actually look pretty cool.
I wonder truly how far one could rely on just a network of pipes alone, without the aid of a submarine or even a seaglide. This was an interesting "challenge" to take on, though a slightly tedious one as well - and please leave me alone crabquids and biters ;v;
When the pipes got updated though, so much changed. I gave them another try, and actually managed to chain them to the seafloor in one go without struggling along the way. I began liking using them, and used them when building deeper bases early on in the game. That's when it struck me.... How far could I take this?
Every time I restart my Subnautica game, I like building my first base in a new location. Sometimes I start in the Safe Shallows, sometimes one of the Kelp Forests, I've built my first base on a cliff in the Scarce Reef overlooking the Grand Reef once (Using the seaglide, since this was before the pipes were updated), and a few bases were in or bordering the Grassy plateaus. This time though.... I wanted to do something really different. Without building the Seaglide or Seamoth.... I wanted to build my first base in the Lost River.
Taking the time to only get a pair of Fins and a Beacon to mark the beginning of my pipe-chain, I began collecting the resources to start off this crazy idea.
I learned along the way that Warpers don't warp in unexpectedly and in random locations, but rather have specific spawnpoints and will warp in there, and then patrol along a short specified path before warping out. I got attacked a few times on the way down.
I continued working my way down, stopping to place a secondary branching pipe every now and then so I could refill my oxygen on the way back up to restock on Titanium for more pipes and on Food and Water... And after a while medkits too, since I had a few run-ins with Warpers and later Ampeels and Blighters on my trips as well.
A shiny piece of Kyanite on the ground, and an Ampeel that decided to shock me a few times in the background.
Finally, I had arrived. The pipes had a little 'snag' on the border between the Blood Kelp Zone and the Lost River itself, where they refused to go more than a meter or so away from the previous pipe, and I was afraid that maybe it'd stop going entirely or stop producing oxygen. Thankfully, a few short-placed pipes later they continued to extend to their full length and continued to produce that precious oxygen.
I had made it to the Lost River without finishing scanning the Seaglide, without visiting the Aurora, and managed to do so before the Sunbeam reached the planet. Barely. On my final trip back up they gave the message they were approaching, and I wouldn't even bother going to the island. Even before I read about the precursor array, I knew this rescue mission wouldn't happen. There's just no way the game would give you an ending that quickly. After I learned that it would end with more unpreventable deaths, I was actually a bit unhappy. Something we could actually prevent if we're given the opportunity, and it ends up just making us sit and watch.
Anyway, so I was on my way back up to the surface, dodging the hostile fauna along the way. I had some lithium so I could make the reinforced plating to keep my first base intact, but what I did not have was a Bioreactor or Nuclear Reactor to power this base. I also didn't have a MP Room since I hadn't visited the Floating Island yet. I rarely visit the island right off the bat anymore, preferring to pace myself a little rather than beeline for the planters and MP Rooms.
So there you have it. The pipes are actually really fun to use now, and while some people did say they were always really useful.... I just never could get the hang of using them before. Now they're very simple to use, and actually look pretty cool.
I wonder truly how far one could rely on just a network of pipes alone, without the aid of a submarine or even a seaglide. This was an interesting "challenge" to take on, though a slightly tedious one as well - and please leave me alone crabquids and biters ;v;
Comments
I hate pipes with a passion. I hated them back then and upon giving them another try when they got updated i still hate them immensely! Altho i can certainly understand why other might enjoy including them in their gameplay like when reading the experience you just had, its just that i feel that the pipes arent made for me
I was sincerely expecting (and maybe more hoping than anything else) that pipes would be used to provide bases with a means of getting oxygen in cases where it is unpowered, in order to maybe incite me to use them more, sadly it did'nt happen. Oh well, maybe one day i'll bring myself to try them out more seriously ....
Thanks, I wanted to try something a little different for this game and it turned out quite nicely xD I almost drowned a few times though heh.
Yeah, the pipes are pretty situational things, just like the Gravsphere. They're useful for some, pointless for others - but they're there should someone wish to use them
I hope the gravsphere gets a shiny new model and revamped mechanics too, maybe have it actually pull in small items rather than just limit how far they can go. Would really make catching Peepers much easier, and keep those pesky Bleeders and Biters at bay while you work!
That wouldn't change the fact that you're not able to intervene should the Sunbeam chain of events does get triggered though.
I'm not sure if it repairs itself or not since I always repair it along with the lifepod itself once I get around to it, and usually have one in my base as well.
Yeah, I agree with you as well about the whole "stopping the event" thing. I think for new players, they might try to get the ship to land on the island, but for more experienced players the whole scenario loses some of its "wow" factor. So basically, yeah, I think allowing players to stop it would be a good idea. I just think allowing the player to choose when they start to get messages would help with that.
More changing how it plays out than stopping it entirely, but yeah.
I'm not really sure how many people would honestly think they could get rescued by it though, like I mention in my Suggestion thread the Sunbeam chain comes in relatively soon. If this was how you get rescued, and as a result ending the game.... How would you feel about that? Playing for an hour, give or take some time, and then suddenly the game comes and says "Hey, we can end it right here if ya want." which all gets triggered just by picking up on the comms relay which may or may not even provide that message trigger. It could just be random flavor text (I got the "Hunting/Analyzing" message in between Lifepod distress signals early on last time I played) or could be distress signals. So this 'potential ending' could come real quick or somewhat later.
If the game really was that short, why would anyone even go into the story-enabled game? Unless you were presented with an option (like declining their help) or if it was too good to be true (It was...) then obviously the game wouldn't just end right there. I'm sure that some people would geniunely believe that the Sunbeam coming would be their ticket off the planet, but if you stop and think it really just wouldn't make sense. In a way, I feel that changing the original Sunbeam message was a mistake. Either way, it's reinforcing the fact you're going to be stuck here for some time, except in this situation the game's just rubbing in your face the notion that you have no say in these matters. With the Degasi, you're looking at a past event. With the Aurora, you were seemingly unconscious while your fellow survivors died off. With the Sunbeam, you get their message and have to sit and watch as they get shot down without you being able to do anything about it.... Despite having the tools on hand to do something about it. The game just doesn't provide you with the chance - yet. I still am pushing for being able to be given that chance to do something.
The original Sunbeam message:
Just easier to use and place, with a better indication of when the pipe will or will not connect, and better logic for attaching them to each other. I'm not sure if they could before, but they can branch off each other too now. I had a pipe branched off every 10 ~ 15 segments or so while going down the trench so I could refill my oxygen on the way back up.
I had the initial compartment set down earlier, before I went hunting for a bioreactor. I eventually found some in a small wreck within the grassy plataues near the Dunes border, then scanned the MP room on the island to start my base up.
And here it is
Powered by a Bioreactor and some peepers / hoverfish, and a single battery charger replenishing my two batteries. That little wreck I found had a ton of stuff in it!
Thus, my first base in this savegame ended up being deep in the Blood Kelp Trench, instead of in the shallow waters. Actually was pretty fun trying this out, lotta titanium spent and it was pretty slow going without a seaglide or submarine, but it was enjoyable overall. I think it's actually pretty cool following that line of pipes down into the depths and back up. Something about it... Especially when it's in the dark.... I don't know, it just seems kind of cool ^^
(for people other than Rezca, he put an agree on my post about 2 minutes after I posted it)
Hopped back onto the forums after going lurker-mode for a long time and happened to catch the message as it was posted xD
I can't find this cache at all, seen a warper, can see a big crater, I know the coordinates, I just can't find an entrance.
I used pipes once trying to get oxygen to an unpowered base, which of course didn't work.
I just use a planter with 4x oxygen corals, the beauty of which is you can use the oxygen all the way up the column as the bubbles go up to the surface. Plant a blood vine or creepvine to mark them in the dark. And it feels nice and tickly on your tummy.
I nearly died several times on the way down because I had no way of easily fleeing the hostile fauna. I didn't even have a seaglide. Trying to do this past a Reaper or Sea Dragon would be the very definition of suicide.
Besides which I had to fill my entire inventory with pipes each time, and then it was a trip back to grinding and farming for more just to do it all over again.
This took hours to do. I could have had the Cyclops in the same period of time if I had just gone through and gotten the Seamoth instead (Assuming "efficient" beelining gameplay, which I don't like doing. I like to pace myself). This was both a challenge and somewhat tedious. I'm sure you could pipe your way through the entirety of the Lost River, but you'd be looking at maybe a hundred or more titanium pieces to do that, and dozens of trips back to the surface to collect more each time you run out. Not to mention being ambushed by Warpers, Crabsquids, Prowlers....
It can seem like an exploit when you look at it on paper, but in practice you're putting yourself at a lot of risk and wasting a lot of resources on something that could be accomplished so much easier with a submarine.
The pipes we have are too thin for that, but a thicker more 'industrial' sort of pipe perhaps..... Then again, you could just use Corridor pieces to simulate the same sort of effect.... But it wouldn't have the same sort of 'feel' to it. I like the idea though!
Not sure about being overpowered, since you're sacrificing inventory space and resources for projects like these. Especially in this case, where it took me several hours. I was very vulnerable to attack, nearly drowned twice, and hostile fauna almost killed me several times as well.
You take a lot of risks using pipes for deep sea exploration, when a submarine would be so much better in nearly every way. It's an inefficient and dangerous method, so I don't really see them as overpowered, even if I did take their use to an extreme in this Blood Kelp Trench example ^^