[Official] Silent Running 2.0 Features

[Klegran2]

Hey Ya'll!

Since the release of Silent Running we've been getting a ton of feedback on what players like and don't like about the state of the Cyclops. We are attempting to address these issues with another feature patch to the Cyclops. Here is the overall goal of the changes, followed by the changes themselves:

Players liked the concept of Silent Running (SR), but felt that in order to get the most out of it they had to keep the sub perpetually in silent running when near enemies. It essentially became a "get out of jail free card" by slotting into SR to remove agro from all enemies and then crawling past them at a snail's pace. This was not the intent of the feature; instead it was supposed to be used very seldomly to sneak past enemies. To address this, we are replacing the Silent Running speed setting with a SR ability that runs for 30 seconds followed by a 2 min cooldown. During Silent Running, no noise is created, but any of the sub's now 3 speeds can be used so no movement penalty is incurred.

This fixed the issue with Silent Running, but left us with the problem of the sub now always making noise. To fix this, we've added the ability to turn off the Cyclops' engine. When the engine is off, the sub cannot move and creates no noise whatsoever, but works as normal in every other sense (fabricators, lights, lockers can be used as expected). Powering back up the engine takes a small bit of time, so one must consider if they want to leave their sub idling for a quick getaway, or turn off the engine and potentially be stuck in a bad situation.

Flank Speed was intended to be an emergency speed only, not the speed players default their Cyclops to at all times when not in danger. To address this, we made the current flank speed the new standard speed. Flank is now even faster than before, but can create fires. The longer it is used the higher the chance it will overheat the engine and create a fire. This should provide some exciting moments using flank speed to escape danger, without sacrificing the boost of speed you have all come to expect.

Slow speed is intended to be used to navigate tight areas and will also produce far less noise than the other two speeds.

A large change has also been made to how creatures attack the Cyclops as well. Noise is now directly related to the range of agro the Cyclops gives off. Creatures inside the 'radius of noise' produced by the Cyclops will attack it. Those outside it will not. To help understand this concept we added a sphere on the sonar representing the noise range being given off. All creatures shown on the sonar will be yellow if they are not attacking, and will change to red when they are within agro range and may attack. This should help the player much more easily understand the relationship between noise and creature attacks.

Here's a direct list of features added:

• Silent running is an ability, the icon is moved to the right hand side. Entering it will enter a state where no noise is generated for the limited amount of time, no matter how fast the player is driving. It runs for 30 seconds, with a 2 min cooldown. While active, all external and internal lights will be shut down for the duration of the ability but no other penalty will be incurred.
  
  
• In the place of where the silent running button used to be, we now have a turn off engine button. Turning off the engine will reduce Cyclops noise to zero. The Cyclops can be used as normal while in this mode, but cannot move. Once powered down, the speed buttons will be replaced with a power up engine button. Pushing the power up button will start the engine, which will take a few seconds before it is again active and can be used. Leaving the Cyclops will automatically power it down.
  
  
• Flank speed causes overheating and can creates fires. 20 seconds of use will overheat the engine. Once overheated, dice is rolled every 2 seconds to determine if a fire is created. The longer the player stays in flank speed the greater the chance of a fire per die roll. Heat is implemented as a hidden value that ramps up from 0 to 1 when applying throttle in flank speed. When not applying throttle, heat goes down and die rolls stop; no fires can be created if the player is not actively applying throttle. This is also the case if the player switches out of flank speed. Oral warnings have been added to communicate this concept.
  
  
• Added a noise range indicator on creature sonar. The 'size' of the noise indicator directly correlates to the noise value of the Cyclops. Creatures within the range indicator get more aggressive over time, creatures outside of it get less aggressive. The aggression value is visually communicated through changing the creature's sonar blip color.
  
  
• Shields repulse creatures and cause them to flee when they attack it so it is more powerful than before (almost identical to the Seamoth Perimeter Defense System).
  
  
• Energy values have been retooled so the Cyclops can't break the first law of thermodynamics and charge batteries faster than it uses them. To combat this nerf, energy useage overall has been scaled back so the Cyclops can now drive for twice as long on the same amount of power as before.
  
  These changes will be hitting Experimental within the next day or so. Feedback always appreciated. :)

[kwong20287]

Good, glad to see that.

[Cougarific]

Good changes all 'round.

[Nyello]

I was fine with how it was but I like these changes too. Can't wait to try it out when it hits experimental mode. Kudos.

[Tim Timsen]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGlCfDELXvs

[Nilandros]

I am not sure I like the idea of the shield repelling creatures but I am sure there is a balance in there somewhere and I can understand the logic behind it.

What about that overshield thing you guys were working on that was brought up in another thread?

[Klegran2]

Overshield is already in

[Nilandros]

Yay!

(Wasn't sure if that had been finished or not - I thought you guys still had some tweaking to do.)

[nuLoon]

This is exciting! Can't wait to see the same polish and balance brought to the rest of the game systems. Well done devs!

[Big]

I know how unbalanced the cyclops is to function as a mobile base. But what about the fire suppression system and flank mode? It basicly makes it so that you can run longer than typical

[ImHelping]

Oh my goodness.

Ghost Heat. I thought I saw the last of invisible heat penalties in Mechwarrior Online.

Also, the giant top tier submarine has defenses "Almost identical to the Seamoth perimiter defense"? That's a pretty big letdown, if the improved state is only on par with the baby submarine.

Does it at least not drain any more energy than the seamoth perimiter defense would from a single power cell? Or has the energy cost been essentially multiplied to put a dent in the Cyclops's 6 pack of power cells instead, despite only being as strong as a submarine sporting 1/6 the power?

[or0b0ur0s]

Silent running only for a few seconds. Don't act like someone asked for that. Not someone sane, anyway. I may just about be done with this game, then. You seem intent on making it a frustrating die-and-farm-cyclops-mats-for-another-40-hours-crapfest, and that's not what I signed up for.

How about you address the real problem that creatures do too much damage to vehicles too quickly, aggro from zillions of miles away, and are stupidly persistent? Instead of giving us wholly inadequate defenses that last for moments and take up too many stingy upgrade slots.

[Lauleyhn]

I can't see the reason why smaller creatures would attack the cyclops in the first place. I never heard anything of shark attacks while on a subnautical journey, but it seems that's a thing? Meanwhile in subnautica biters hunt you down in packs like no tomorrow. This makes no sense to me...unless they regurarely eat hard metals, or the noise makes them want to crush their head against your hull constantly.

[Nyello]

Originally posted by ImHelping:

Oh my goodness.

Ghost Heat. I thought I saw the last of invisible heat penalties in Mechwarrior Online.

Also, the giant top tier submarine has defenses "Almost identical to the Seamoth perimiter defense"? That's a pretty big letdown, if the improved state is only on par with the baby submarine.

It's sounds like it's going to be the same as what the seamoth has only it may not do actual damage. If you use the perimeter defense on a seamoth, creatures will be repulsed but if you stick around they will come right back for you. It sounds like it's going to be the same with the cyclops.

Originally posted by or0b0ur0s:

Silent running only for a few seconds. Don't act like someone asked for that. Not someone sane, anyway. I may just about be done with this game, then. You seem intent on making it a frustrating die-and-farm-cyclops-mats-for-another-40-hours-crapfest, and that's not what I signed up for.

Actually many people were "angry" that silent running reduced their speed so much. So yes, people did ask for this. With this alternative you have the choice to either book it away or kill your engines and wait it out. Now if you do have to enter silent running and can still go at any speed you want but you have to make your choice wisely.

Originally posted by or0b0ur0s:

How about you address the real problem that creatures do too much damage to vehicles too quickly, aggro from zillions of miles away, and are stupidly persistent? Instead of giving us wholly inadequate defenses that last for moments and take up too many stingy upgrade slots.

Because these aren't really problems. Only a few people, the same people who complain about every creature in other threads, people like you, seem to have this issue. I've never seen Bonesharks attack me from "Biomes away". If I'm in their zone and they go after me, switching in silent running has always made them back off.

Originally posted by Lauleyhn:

I can't see the reason why smaller creatures would attack the cyclops in the first place. I never heard anything of shark attacks while on a subnautical journey, but it seems that's a thing? Meanwhile in subnautica biters hunt you down in packs like no tomorrow. This makes no sense to me...unless they regurarely eat hard metals, or the noise makes them want to crush their head against your hull constantly.

Biters do not attack the cyclops. The whole "animals irl don't attack submersibles" argument has been used in other threads and it always proven wrong. Remember you are on an alien planet with aggressive fauna.

[Flatline]

Some creatures are very aggressive towards other creatures or items, IRL. It would stand to reason that they could be aggressive in game. And it IS an alien planet and ecosystem after all.

Originally posted by or0b0ur0s:

Silent running only for a few seconds. Don't act like someone asked for that. Not someone sane, anyway. I may just about be done with this game, then. You seem intent on making it a frustrating die-and-farm-cyclops-mats-for-another-40-hours-crapfest, and that's not what I signed up for.

How about you address the real problem that creatures do too much damage to vehicles too quickly, aggro from zillions of miles away, and are stupidly persistent? Instead of giving us wholly inadequate defenses that last for moments and take up too many stingy upgrade slots.

The 30 second run time is actually a long time and should allow you to escape without it becoming a "leave on all the time" crutch (albeit a very slow crutch). And they did change the way their aggression is as well as the distance it is, gave us visual cues as to that distance, the ability to see which one is aggressive (or could be) and which are not.

And just to stay consistant with all the other complaints people have made, this is still in beta, so things will change, as they should.

[ImHelping]

Originally posted by Lucki:

Originally posted by ImHelping:

Oh my goodness.

Ghost Heat. I thought I saw the last of invisible heat penalties in Mechwarrior Online.

Also, the giant top tier submarine has defenses "Almost identical to the Seamoth perimiter defense"? That's a pretty big letdown, if the improved state is only on par with the baby submarine.

It's sounds like it's going to be the same as what the seamoth has only it may not do actual damage. If you use the perimeter defense on a seamoth, creatures will be repulsed but if you stick around they will come right back for you. It sounds like it's going to be the same with the cyclops.
...
Biters do not attack the cyclops. The whole "animals irl don't attack submersibles" argument has been used in other threads and it always proven wrong. Remember you are on an alien planet with aggressive fauna.

But, that's not a good thing? Top tier submarine with merely an as good, or worse perimiter defense system than the smallest vehichle in the game is nothing to be bragging about.

Also, no comment on it being possibly an unjustified energy hog for what it does?

Though as usual it people only want to hold to "Realism" if it detracts from QoL. Whenevever "Realism" would improve QoL, suddenly people can't throw it under the bus fast enough.

While I agree "But REALISM!" is no basis for game design in either direction of increasing or reducing gameplay hurdles, most games it seems the average communiuty discussion is always highly hypocritical by way of "We want it REALISTIC! But only if it makes it hurt more, not less"

Maybe throw down some sick burns about Call Of Duty if people bring up realism in a way that would add QoL features.

Like salvaging self charging cells from the crashed lifepods, or dark matter from the patched up dark matter reator. We've had people honestly pull the "Dark matter isn't reaslistic!" card over that idea... Even though it's what powers the ship we came in on, in game. Dark matter is GREAT so long as it's only causing deadly (To you only) radiation! But once you want to put it to practical use? Oh no, suddenly it's out of the question and has no place in a a "Realistic" game.