Should the world 'encourage' us to build more bases?
Greyfairer
Join Date: 2017-04-24 Member: 229937Members
Join Date: 2017-04-24 Member: 229937Members
Having played quite a bit I find that I usually only build one base and expand it as I go along. Granted I do initially build a simple 'intersection with a solar panel' under the pod as a sort of expanded storage, but I don't consider this a base proper. I can motor from my single base to anywhere I need to get to albeit at a cost in transit time and this time cost is really the only negative I have found to my one base play style. I do not use the Cyclops as a mobile operations center either as I like the options a real habitat affords.
Now I will occasionally build deeper just to do it, but it is never based (see what I did there) on some driving cause.
So I am curious as to how many bases others build in a normal play through. If you build more than one what is the reason and when do you usually move on from your current base? Do you build in a preferred area or build in a 'scenic spot' and motor all needed materials back and forth as required (scavenging runs so to speak)?
And I am sure it has been talked about before, but should there be reasons forcing us deeper and requiring new base construction? Maybe the storms the Degassi survivors encountered are cyclic and return making everything above 100M uninhabitable due to constant damage (ala Cyclops type) for some long period of game time before the storms subside. What types of things could happen that force us out of a depth band and into a deeper area and then out of that depth band into another? Instead of depth bands should moves be from biome to biome based on some condition? A combination of both? If we are nudged by the environment to move then how many such moves should be 'encouraged'?
Thoughts?
Greyfairer
Now I will occasionally build deeper just to do it, but it is never based (see what I did there) on some driving cause.
So I am curious as to how many bases others build in a normal play through. If you build more than one what is the reason and when do you usually move on from your current base? Do you build in a preferred area or build in a 'scenic spot' and motor all needed materials back and forth as required (scavenging runs so to speak)?
And I am sure it has been talked about before, but should there be reasons forcing us deeper and requiring new base construction? Maybe the storms the Degassi survivors encountered are cyclic and return making everything above 100M uninhabitable due to constant damage (ala Cyclops type) for some long period of game time before the storms subside. What types of things could happen that force us out of a depth band and into a deeper area and then out of that depth band into another? Instead of depth bands should moves be from biome to biome based on some condition? A combination of both? If we are nudged by the environment to move then how many such moves should be 'encouraged'?
Thoughts?
Greyfairer
Comments
What I've been thinking is to have one large central base near the thermal vent in the safe shallows, both for the free unlimited power and because it's on the boundary of several other biomes as well for gathering convenience. It's also shallow enough to allow for easily building foundations above the water for farming plants from the floating island.
In the little survival I've played, I made extensive use of the single corridor outposts. I would put one near the front of the Aurora (in shallow enough water to avoid the Reaper) and one on the floating island. I've also thought that it would be great to put one next to each of the large wrecks, both for storage and for a pipe network to avoid running out of air.
After getting a Seamoth and Moonpool, I would probably build several medium-small satellite bases with the minimum essentials to be self-sustaining (bioreactor, water purifier, and alien containment) near important/scenic locations (mountain island, floating island, Jellyshroom cave, Blood Kelp Zone LR entrance for Cyclops). Once I had the scanner room, I might build an array of scanning outposts (scanner room + hatch + solar panel) across the map to ease the process of gathering resources.
Once I was ready to progress into the ILZ, I would use a Cyclops to carry enough materials down to set up a medium-large forward base in the Tree Cove. That location is so perfect (no hostile wildlife, right at the max depth for a Seamoth, multiple thermal vents for power, uranite crystals nearby) that I'm pretty sure the devs intentionally set up that area as a safe zone for the player before venturing into the endgame. This would be a sizeable base with a full farm and multiple water purifiers so as to be a safe place to fully restock before heading into the depths.
Beyond this point, I might build a few single corridor outposts in side caves in the ILZ (or inside the lava castle) to have a place to recharge power cells.
In terms of the game encouraging multiple bases, I actually like that idea as long as it's done with a carrot rather than a stick. Underwater storms coming and wrecking your base wouldn't be fun for a new player who didn't realize that they should have built deeper initially. We already have a more positive reason in the form of the scanner room. A further positive reason could be something like a perimeter defense field that requires a lot of power to run, but creates a sizeable safe zone (at least against medium/small predators).
Maybe we could also have wrecks or precursor bases that need to be powered to become fully accessible, so the player has to build a base nearby with sufficient power generation.
I actually like your idea for storms as they could provide strong incentive to move out of the safe shallows. I also don't think they would be much of a problem for newer players if they are constructed correctly. All you'd have to do is set them up to arrive after a reasonable amount of time (8-10 in-game hours) and with plenty of radio signal warning (the Aurora weather detection system could remain functional on automatic) and then set the timer not to start until you've built / repaired a communications relay to be sure you'd get the warnings. Additionally, I would avoid having them just destroy the base outright, but instead make them cause your base structural integrity to drop by some massive number like -250 or -500 for the duration (which should be at least 1-2 in game hours to make them more than just a nuisance) so you could theoretically harden your base against them with tons of reinforcements if you really wanted to. This would also prevent you from losing everything if for some reason you were caught unprepared, as your stuff would still be there you'd just be unable to drain the base for a long duration.
The "forcing the player to move to other biomes/depths" part you suggested is something I would not like to see. Especially since you can't get all ressources in each biome. You will always kinda need access to many biomes when you want to build anything bigger. And at least for me no warning time no mater how long would justify the destruction of a base. You know how build crazy some players can get. And after several hours comes a storm that destroys your stuff and or limits access to it? Nope not for me please.
I think it is part of Subnauticas charme that you can build almost everywhere and that it does not restrict you in base size as long as you keep an eye on your SI counter. Limiting that freedom would detract from the whole "open-world"-ish aspect of the game.
I'm just setting up a new base close to the 4-biome boundaries. Even got one foundation just under the waves for solar panels yet close enough to pass power to the nearby foundations for the actual base. That way it get max solar power; it's so shallow that when on top my player character sometimes stands up and walks instead of swims.
One in the Safe Shallows, mostly as storage once it becomes a problem.
I then place a larger main base out near the dunes, right at the bord of the Grassy Plateua, the Dunes and the Blood Kelp trench. It is close to several wrecks, primarily the one down in the Blood Kelp trench, the cliffs are filled with Quartz, Uranium and large gold deposits and it is not that far to the Grand Reef.
Finally I place a base down in the Lost River, near the tree, because it has some good vents, is just at the limit of what a fully dive upgraded Seamoth can handle and provides a good staging area for heading into the lava zones, letting me easily resupply and recharge between missions down there. Also the Lost River has plenty of Quartz and Titanium as well.
Only if they can give buildings an actual purpose should we be encouraged to build more of them. If I resent having to build one base at the moment, I'm going to resent having to build multiple bases a lot more. (If I could live out of my Seamoth, I would, and I do so as much as is possible. Building structures is immersion breaking and unrealistic, so I stay away from it as much as I can.)
Giving building a real meaning and purpose is a lot more important to do before even considering such questions.
The idea was to use these bases as the only way to gather rock from each biome which could be used for crafting seamoth or cyclops and other things
My previous posts on Microbases, Outposts and Camping:
https://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/comment/2296518/#Comment_2296518
https://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/143001/establishing-an-outpost-a-guide
https://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/143581/camping-with-your-seamoth-a-mini-guide
Such as you have to be within 1 Km. at all times. The PDA mentions this when first building a base, but never really mentions it again.
Not only would this give an area gating effect while still giving plenty of wiggle space for resource gathering; it gives a use to bases for acquiring new tech/resources/areas.
Arbitrary restrictions (especially when they only artificially lengthen/waste your time) are a game's death sentence.
But I do see a chance to make a few outposts the further and deeper I go. I did in the very early builds of SN when stuff was less forgiving. (no biobeds to grow stuff)
Yeah, not the greatest idea I've had.
But it was the only one that actually made sense canon-wise.
You have any better ideas? I'm out of good ones.
Lots, but it's too late to implement any unless they want to postpone release for a while.
For example, this game is crying out for NPCs. Survivors who you can rescue, and who can inhabit the bases you build. Building bases when you're the only person around is depressing as hell and more of a chore than a pleasure.
So three moonpool bases for recharging (equidistant) and one or two bases for moving through lost-river... towards ILZ...
I'll also build a few bases for emergency rations (farming) in areas I'm likely to be working (usually tucked into caves)... but these are pretty minimal and mainly for the view.
Honestly, I'd have ores (which are larger) and refineries (which produce compact ingots)... in order to encourage building bases closer to resources... similarly, I'd have it so building a base would expand the variety of resources you can harvest (e.g. some areas don't have any quartz, but a refinery inside a multipurpose room could extract small amounts of quartz from other ores)... this would mean less time travelling between areas and more time building/travelling inside of a biome!
How exactly is base building more immersion breaking than using the cyclops infinite energy loop to survive? I would think spending months living out of a submarine that you willed into existence in the same manner as you would a base would be far more unrealistic. I would also point out that if the builder wasn't a thing, you are far more likely to be able to construct a static underwater structure like a base than you'd ever be to build a complex machine like a cyclops or even seamoth.
I didn't say it was more immersion breaking. They are both ridiculous concepts and I don't like the Cyclops for the same reason. The Seamoth I can live with, because it's small enough to rationalise in various ways, though it too is immersion breaking. ("I found it in the Aurora's storage deck"... which would be a great way of giving a Seamoth to the player, actually, instead of unrealistically building it from sci-fi magic.)
I can see where you're coming from here, but I guess I just don't agree. Its the future, we're on an alien planet on the "edge of known space", arrived at through the use of faster than light travel. While I would like certain constructions to be more resource intensive, I am willing to believe that 3D printing of complex structures through the use of atomic / molecular positioning is possible. With that said, I think not being able to build a base would be highly unrealistic, as shelter is always one of the first and most important tasks for any survival of indeterminate length. But again, that's my opinion and you are welcome to maintain your own views.
I entirely agree, and that shelter would of course be on land, made from wood and safe from any nasty fauna.
But I suppose as we've already dismissed any sense of realism when we introduced sci-fi magic into the mix, so any discussion on realism (or lack thereof) is ultimately redundant.
Honestly, I'd rather be away from the crabs.
On a side note: it does feel odd that the planet doesn't experience adverse weather patterns considering the proximity and relative size of the moon.
I'd kind of like to see some tidal effects, particularly during an eclipse.
How would you go about this? You'd have to make the eclipses a lot longer to really see any effect, but they'd have to be drastic enough to have an effect beyond the first thirty minutes of play while not being game breaking... any ideas on how to implement it?
It each so much power that making a base near areas for deep dives is like mandatory.
I got a base near the big blue tree, powered by heat.
It has a bunch of powercell chargers, water filtration and food production. I can live there forever, although bored.
So its nice on hard dives.
May 'soon' see if I will shove in a moonbay for the heck of it, save even more cyclops power.
That's a great, lore-friendly way to encourage building multiple bases. Additionally, maybe we could have special points of interest that would require a base at that specific location in addition to the general biome research bases.