My grievences with upgrades and over-abundance of resources

[Hand]

As a whole the game is amazing but i feel like its stuffed with useless upgrades you never need and il go in category order:
-the amount of lockers is insane and you will only ever need 1 pneumatic lock because the storage is infinite. Same goes for body parts
-the matter regenerator, at least in my experience, Is absolutely useless because you only ever need your steel or armored parts and not the other specifict parts (which i will cover later)
-I got beef with the F.A.X mashine. Not only am i required to get it to progress at the bottom of the tree but it beeps at the end of EVERY, SINGLE, TRIP. All it does is store your story notes and tapes which is made redundant BY THE DISGUSTING AMOUNT OF LOCKERS AND THERE SMALL SIZE
-This one is just a personal opinion but the blowtorch requiring marsh eggs makes it costly to make and not long lasting compared to making a stack of repair putty. The only good use iv found is to top off parts so there 100%
-The anchor radar has one singular purpose: The obfuscation hazard and its VARY rare. In my previous normal run i have been in it at most 2 times and now in my mechanic run i have been in it 0 times
-Why the *radio jam noise* do you need a insulated headlight unless your a really bad driver? hell why do you need any of the body parts that cater to one element? maybe its just me and my well practiced driving
-While on this topic i think olympium body parts is absolute overkill, especially when you get the lim shield
-If anyone can explain the flood lights to me im all ears
-Why do we need a GIANT storage container on top of our car. Maybe someone further in can explain that one to me because i understand putting the small ones outside for tools or goldshells but this one eludes me
Moving on to resources i think there just too plentiful and its super easy to instently jump to steel from your vary first trip and then armored the moment you enter mid-zone. The only thing that hinders your progress is anchor energy and resource placement (its near impossible to get thermo sap in outer zone but easy mid zone for example) which is a shame because when you get the plasma grinder and magnetic hammer you barely ever get to use them because of your already huge stockpile

[pcdeltalink]

I don't really have something to say on all of these but I will talk about some of them.

Lockers
Yes, they need to be better. I like the infinite storage on the pneumatic ones HOWEVER they cannot be organized or sorted in any way which is a massive pain in the rear if you're going through trying to find something to take with you (I normally take along a couple basic items each run just in case I need emergency tool crafting and haven't found the needed items yet). Would also be nice if the stack size limit was just way higher while in the pneumatics as well as it would clean up that interface a lot.

We also need a pneumatic locker for cosmetics like decals and paint.

Blowtorch
Agreed that (by the time you get it) it's pretty much useless. It costs too much for what it offers and even skipping repair putty you probably have enough mats by then to just scrap and rebuild most parts.

Anchor Radar
Yes, it is only for a single hazard. Contrary to your experience I actually see it quite often. I just tend to not go through those areas if I can help it. Or, if I have to, I will likely skip most of the anchors in them.

Insulated Headlight
I actually find those stupid wrecks that spawn the electric pillars in a circle around you (I forget their name) quite often and I usually don't see them until I'm already in the trap zone so the most common thing my car is hit with is electricity. Though currently I run reinforced headlights just because of their durability.

Olympium parts
Too annoying to farm for the benefit they give you (though I would like to see what a full set of panels/doors looks like). I currently have 1 panel that is Olympium (think I found it in a crashed truck if I remember right) but otherwise any Olypium I had went to upgrades/research rather than parts.

Giant roof storage
Personally I love the giant storage on top of the car. If I remember right the final upgrade for storage in the trunk was quite a long time to get and so before then I had to rely on side storage (of which I was down by 2 spots: lightning rod and wind turbine). So actually the giant storage became essential for me letting me enjoy the pack rat that I am and take everything not nailed down.

Resources
I do think the base game eventually reaches the point where challenge disappears due to just swimming in resources. Though that is somewhat to be expected with the way the game is structured. You can spend a lot of runs just farming mats if you desire and with very little risk/part usage. However, I have not experimented with the additional play modes that were added awhile back that increase the difficulty. I would want to know how those handle resources/crafting costs and how much that changes the experience.

[Hand]

Originally posted by pcdeltalink:

I don't really have something to say on all of these but I will talk about some of them.

Lockers
Yes, they need to be better. I like the infinite storage on the pneumatic ones HOWEVER they cannot be organized or sorted in any way which is a massive pain in the rear if you're going through trying to find something to take with you (I normally take along a couple basic items each run just in case I need emergency tool crafting and haven't found the needed items yet). Would also be nice if the stack size limit was just way higher while in the pneumatics as well as it would clean up that interface a lot.

We also need a pneumatic locker for cosmetics like decals and paint.

Blowtorch
Agreed that (by the time you get it) it's pretty much useless. It costs too much for what it offers and even skipping repair putty you probably have enough mats by then to just scrap and rebuild most parts.

Anchor Radar
Yes, it is only for a single hazard. Contrary to your experience I actually see it quite often. I just tend to not go through those areas if I can help it. Or, if I have to, I will likely skip most of the anchors in them.

Insulated Headlight
I actually find those stupid wrecks that spawn the electric pillars in a circle around you (I forget their name) quite often and I usually don't see them until I'm already in the trap zone so the most common thing my car is hit with is electricity. Though currently I run reinforced headlights just because of their durability.

Olympium parts
Too annoying to farm for the benefit they give you (though I would like to see what a full set of panels/doors looks like). I currently have 1 panel that is Olympium (think I found it in a crashed truck if I remember right) but otherwise any Olypium I had went to upgrades/research rather than parts.

Giant roof storage
Personally I love the giant storage on top of the car. If I remember right the final upgrade for storage in the trunk was quite a long time to get and so before then I had to rely on side storage (of which I was down by 2 spots: lightning rod and wind turbine). So actually the giant storage became essential for me letting me enjoy the pack rat that I am and take everything not nailed down.

Resources
I do think the base game eventually reaches the point where challenge disappears due to just swimming in resources. Though that is somewhat to be expected with the way the game is structured. You can spend a lot of runs just farming mats if you desire and with very little risk/part usage. However, I have not experimented with the additional play modes that were added awhile back that increase the difficulty. I would want to know how those handle resources/crafting costs and how much that changes the experience.

Fair point on the headlights. When I was first starting I would accidentally ram on the wreck and couldent escape. I highly suggest stopping just outside (or inside) it's range, look around you for openings (usually it's behind you but if not the electricity from the minute men is vary minor) and distance yourself far enough from the zap zone. I also find you can stay in the enclosed area by just far enough away from the zap zone. You can also speed right past it and bearly get any damage or none at all

[Anachronomalous]

There are a lot of upgrades that, at least in base game difficulty, are more for the sake of variety or "fun" than being utilitarian. As far as car parts themselves go, if you're good enough at avoiding damage from most anomalies you can really get by just fine with a Turbolight Engine, maybe an added gas tank and battery, and steel panels.
Much of the issue is that the game really isn't that difficult on "Pacific Drive" difficulty and most of the issues come from just bad driving and bad habits, both of which are fixable.

That being said, a lot of parts that are not required but make for excellent QoL.

Originally posted by Hand:

-the amount of lockers is insane and you will only ever need 1 pneumatic lock because the storage is infinite. Same goes for body parts

I didn't bother with the lockers past one pneumatic locker since you still can't sort them as of the time of writing, which sucks because it would be nice to clump all my metals together when I'm doing Deep Zone runs for LIM Magnets.

Parts lockers I understand better because you can store a ton of different parts for different builds (AMP engine build, LIM-Chipped engine build, etc.)

Originally posted by Hand:

-the matter regenerator, at least in my experience, Is absolutely useless

Disagree wholeheartedly. The Matter Regenerator is arguably the single biggest means of stretching part economy in the game. With the upgraded one you can effectively have two different builds in active rotation at once so you can swap them out as needed, which means much less spent on making new parts and repair putty/blowtorches.
This goes double for when you don't have the fatigue mechanic toggled off, as having parts in rotation means you deal less with fatigue over the course of the game.

Unless you're only doing one set of doors/panels at a time, running them into the ground immediately, and spending so much time grinding for resources that you're always in excess of Thermosap Crystals for armored parts, you're going to hit a wall with resources at some point, and that's where the Matter Regenerator comes in handy.

Originally posted by Hand:

because you only ever need your steel or armored parts and not the other specifict parts (which i will cover later)

Need? Sure, I guess; see my point above regarding endgame viability. But that doesn't mean it's not nice to have others for the sake of risk mitigation or QoL in general, especially if you're having problems with certain aspects of the game over others.

For example, the Lightning Rod looks like just an optional battery thing, but what it doesn't tell you is that it's useful for mitigating the threat posed by Wriggling Wrecks early on in the game.
Anticorrosive parts are useful for lessening the risks posed by unlucky acid splashes from Mid-Zone weather and anomalies, and acid is one of the most damaging things the car can endure.
Sure, you can beat the game without them, but that doesn't make them useless.

This isn't even taking into account higher difficulties like Olympic Excursion, where the meta changes substantially.
If you move into higher difficulties, Armored parts become much less of a game changer because Lead-Plated parts will become your go-to for most of the car (you can mostly avoid running into things; you will not be avoiding the instability storms), and having multiple runs of parts in rotation will stop you from going insane grinding out materials (which you will be spending more of to manufacture parts, due to how the difficulties are configured).

And it would be remiss of me to not mention that the Regenerator can also fix any status afflictions that aren't "worn/fragile/etc." without spending the resources on repair kits. Which is nice.

Originally posted by Hand:

...but the blowtorch requiring marsh eggs makes it costly to make and not long lasting compared to making a stack of repair putty. The only good use iv found is to top off parts so there 100%

That's basically what the Blowtorch is for. You don't replace Repair Putty with it; you use it to fix up dings and whatnot where the Putty would otherwise be inefficient. Especially helpful in higher difficulties where you cannot make repair items mid-run and having one of each can help immensely with keeping the car topped off.

Originally posted by Hand:

-The anchor radar has one singular purpose: The obfuscation hazard and its VARY rare. In my previous normal run i have been in it at most 2 times and now in my mechanic run i have been in it 0 times

It's a "nice to have" thing more than a necessity. I bring one if I know I'll be dealing with Anchor Obfuscation.

Originally posted by Hand:

-Why the *radio jam noise* do you need a insulated headlight unless your a really bad driver?

They're more for conferring resistances to other nearby parts more than for protecting against the headlights actually blowing out. The only electrical hazard I've actually seen destroy a headlight was taking a shockwave from a Wriggling Wreck and that's entirely avoidable once you know how WWs work.

They're still nice to have even if they're not mandatory. I personally prefer the Bio Headlights for visibility's sake but they're a solid second choice, given how late in the game Reinforced Headlights are available due to tech tree limitations. My only complaint is that they cost a lot of Copper Wire that could go towards other attachments.

Originally posted by Hand:

-While on this topic i think olympium body parts is absolute overkill, especially when you get the lim shield

On default difficulty, yeah. I've always gotten super unlucky with Red Spires spawn points which made farming for Olympium Fragments worse, but I don't really believe they're worth the time and effort it takes to make them on default difficulty.
LIM Shield is so energy-efficient on default difficulties that it kinda makes half the protective items in the game obsolete once you finally make it to that point, although it is nice to have protection that isn't battery-dependent.

I'm sure there's a better argument on higher difficulties for them. As soon as I survive on an Iron Wagon file long enough to make and use them, I'll detail my findings.

Originally posted by Hand:

-If anyone can explain the flood lights to me im all ears

The Auto-Tracker can be nice as a QoL item depending on your build, but otherwise the flood lights are unneeded.

Originally posted by Hand:

-Why do we need a GIANT storage container on top of our car. Maybe someone further in can explain that one to me because i understand putting the small ones outside for tools or goldshells but this one eludes me

The XL Roof Storage unlocks before the Augmented Trunk storage (doesn't require Corrupted Energy IIRC). Given trunk space is a premium only next to gas and battery and you're effectively getting a whole-ass extra trunk on top of your existing trunk, it's really nice to have regardless of the situation.

More room for repair supplies, more room for gathering crafting stuff, etc. This goes double on higher difficulties where you can't craft repair items mid-run and thus will be using some of that space to bring along extra items, which means less room for lootables.

If you're running an AMP engine build it's basically mandatory if you want any additional storage--which you do--because otherwise your side slots will entirely be devoted to battery-charging attachments.

Originally posted by pcdeltalink:

Resources
...However, I have not experimented with the additional play modes that were added awhile back that increase the difficulty. I would want to know how those handle resources/crafting costs and how much that changes the experience.

I don't remember the exact amount off the top of my head for Iron Wagon--I think you can find it by starting a new file with it and going to the game options to check the presets--but all resource costs for crafting are increased to something like a degree of 1.5x and all Anchor energy requirements for crafting blueprints are increased. (Exactly how much I also don't know but you can wind up with some wacky numbers like "0.5 kLim --> 0.81 kLim", as an example.)

The big issue is not so much the increased costs themselves at face value, but the limitations the game puts on you that effectively require more frequent incurrence of those costs.
For example, on IW difficulty you can't make Repair Putties, Blowtorches, Mechanic's Kits, etc. in the middle of the run, you can only do that at the garage. Couple that with everything doing increased damage to the car and one bad situation can cost you your entire supply of Repair Putty in the car.
Which is going to suck when you use all of them on repairing from a Wriggling Wreck shockwave and not have anything to deal with the inevitable storm damage when you need to escape back to the garage.

Fabrics were never an issue in base game, but because of the constant damage you take from permanent ambient radiation, you will wind up using a lot more on First Aid Kits which actually can put you in the red if you're not actively searching out looting points for fabric every game.
Not having FAKs in the escape can prove fatal if the car's protection gets compromised en route to the gateway. It may prove the difference between making it back to the garage and starting your entire save file over.

[PakThor]

Well said, flood lights blinds me when i turns it on, has been using Tracking-spotlight now. I think flood lights looks aesthetically better front car, for photo mode imo..