Grind-mode

[Cocofang]

Been thinking about how to adjust Dredge to be slower and longer. Basically an optional grind-mode for those that would want it.

There are obviously a lot of exotic things that could be added to the game but I tried to divide it into two categories. Completely new mechanics/content and mostly adjustments to existing things that I‘d assume are much easier to implement.

Basically, I am just looking for an excuse to spend more time in Dredge and a grind-mode would do the trick.

Reusing/adjusting existing mechanics

Characters offers quests that grant a much higher reward than selling fish straight up. Integral for progression.
Once a fish from a specific habitat has been caught that habitat is eligible to appear in quests. The required fish are random.
Failing a timed quest prevents that harbor from offering more quests for 3 days.

Fishmonger
"The people of the Marrows are very grateful for your service. Been some time since I have seen them so excited for fish."
"You ... uh ... you wouldn't happen to have more of these ... mutated fish?"
-Timed Quests (48-96h)
--Catch 2-3 specific resident fish (200% value)
--Catch 1 specific aberrations (500% value)
--Catch 2-3 specific foreign fish (400% value)
-Non-Timed Quests
--Catch 3-4 specific foreign fish (300% value)
--Catch 2 specific aberrations (400% value)
--Catch 3-4 specific foreign fish (300% value)
--Catch specific big (6+ slots) fish (300% value)

Traveling Merchant
"I am always looking to learn more about the sea and its inhabitants."
-Filling out Encyclopedia
--Each complete entry (base+aberrations) grants $50
--Each completed habitat grants 1 Research Part
-No longer sells Research Parts, Refined Metal, Bait or Dynamite
-Sometimes sells 1x Lumber/Metal/Cloth for $100

Researcher
"I need more of these odd specimen to truly understand what is going on here."
-Non-Timed Quests
--Deliver 4 specific aberrations (choice between 1x Research Part or 400% value)

Airman
"Truth be told ... although this is my home now I could use a little variety."
-Non-Timed Quests
--Deliver 2 foreign fish (choice between 4 bait or 2 random dredge)

Builder
"It seems I underestimated the workload when you are on your own. I can manage but I need material."
-Non-Timed
--Deliver 3 specific dredge pieces ($100)

Ingfell Resident
"I heard of the most fascinating recipe! It sounds delicious, would you mind helping out?"
-Timed Quests (48-96h)
--Deliver 2 specific fish with specific freshness or infected (300% value)

Economy
-Higher loan (1000%)
-Not paying off loan for 5 days locks Marrow harbors until $20 is deposited or loan is paid off
-Higher prices for upgrades (1000%)
-Higher prices for equipment (1000%)
-Fish prices
--Coastal/Shallow Non-night (30%) Night (50%)
--Depth (30%)
--Mangrove/Volcanic Non-night (40%) Night (60%)
--Hadal/Abyssal (50%)
--Oceanic (40%) Night (60%)
--Fish 6+ slots (100%) ; Lower spawn rate (40%)
--Trawl-only fish (+20%)
-Higher prices on repairs (300%)
-Storage space
--Default 4x5
--Mid 6x7 - $500
--Large 7x8 - $1000
--Extra Large (current) 8x9 - $2000
-Durability
--Nets
---Basic 3 days – 3 yield
---Improved 5 days – 3 yield
---Silt Filtering 5 days – 4 yield
---Tempered 5 days – 4 yield
---Large 7 days – 4 yield
---Heavy Duty 7 days – 5.5 yield
--Lights 1/1/2/2/3/3 days
--Rods lose durability on each individual fish bite
---Basic Fishing Pole – 50 durability
---Simple Skimmer – 100 durability
---Weighted Line – 125 durability
---Hydraulic Rod – 125 durability
---Flexible Fish Pole – 125 durability
---Heat Resistant Line – 150 durability
---Anti-Tangle Line – 150 durability
---Versatile Rod – 200 durability
---Harvesting Platform – 400 durability
---Bottomless Lines – 100 durability
---Fathomless Winch – 125 durability
---Sampling Device – 50 durability
--Altar Rods
---Sinew Spindle – 100 durability
---Tendon Rod – 150 durability
---Viscera Crane – 150 durability
--Engines
---Peculiar Engine 2 days
---Arterial Engine 2 days
---Weak Valve Engine 4 days
---Rusty Overboard 2 days
---Improved Outboard 2 days
---Refined Outboard 4 days
---Jet Drive Engine 2 days
---Twin Prop Engine 3 days
---Twin Jet Drive Engine 5 days
---Engine Stack 5 days
--Crabpot
---Basic 5 days – 0.4 yield
---Efficient 5 days – 0.5 yield
---Hardy 7 days - 0.5 yield
---Large 5 days - 0.5 yield
---Complex 10 days – 0.75 yield
---Massive 10 days - 0.75 yield
---Reinforced 12 days - 0.75 yield
---Maw of the Deep 10 days - 0.6 yield

Numbers are kinda pulled out of my behind. Goal is that everything turns a slight profit of course. Maybe nerfing fish value and making everything more expensive (+ maintenance) at the same time is too much. But overall progression and wealth generation should be much slower. Idea is that fulfilling the fish orders/quests is the most important thing to progress, not just dumping all catches at the nearest port.

Gameplay
-Time moves slower (80-90%)
-Insanity
--Surface indications for aberrations only appear while insane
--Shrine puzzles can only be done while insane
--Insanity hazards are much more frequent
-Night
--Rocks can pop up anywhere
--Infected slithering more common
--Equipment can randomly be disabled (as if damaged)

Abilities
-Light
--Less lumen 200/300/500/750/1000/1200
--Doesn't grant sanity
-Crabpot
--Crab spots are far off around islands in the ocean, not around shops or main islands
-Trawl
--Shares equipment space with engine -> opportunity cost: faster or passive income
-Bait
--Only attracts one fish
-Haste
--Much higher sanity cost
-Atrophy
--Much longer cooldown
--Always infected
--1-2 fish caught
-Banish
--Much longer cooldown
-Manifest
--3 damage to ship
--Can only be used while on full life
--Much longer cooldown

Extra adjustments that don‘t currently exist in the game

Fishmonger, Traveling Merchant
--Inventory resets after 5 in-game days and only if player exited a certain radius from the shop
---"Sorry, haven't had time to restock anything yet."

Trader
-Non-Timed Quests
--Milestones for selling certain items to him (i.e. sell him 5 rings for extra reward)
--Investigating rumor/wreckage and selling the loot to him

Collector
-Non-Timed Quests
--Deliver 4-5 specific aberrations to get an item that can be used on a completed side-quest to reset its progress
---Rewards for side-quests can only be gained once, even after reset

Quests from Builder
-Non-Timed
--Deliver 3 random dredge pieces
---Repair/Maintenance for free

Boat customization
-Jet Engine weaker
-Placement of equipment slots can be custom within a dedicated area
-Trawl+Engine share spaces in the back
-Cap on total equipment slots a boat can have (lower than live)
-Additional boat-inventory slots are custom placed symmetrical

Economy
--Equipment durability is not shown and cannot be "preemptively" repaired
-New 2-slot item that can be bought from Collector and prevents insanity gain but breaks after two days
-Fuel
--Can be bought at every populated port
--Every populated port has a hidden, slowly refilling fuel storage
--Fuel gets much more expensive the lower the fuel storage is
--Encourages changing ports to buy cheaper fuel and let other ports refill
--Having no fuel disables engines
--Engines can be manually disabled to reduce fuel consumption
--Fuel tank size increases can be bought
--Different engines have different fuel consumption
-Fish
--Fishing spots appear in a general area randomly, respecting their possible habitats. No more fixed fishing spots
-Insanity
--Can make boat steer left/right/ahead for 3 seconds
--Fake fishing spots can appear
--Fake fishing spots can randomly damage an empty boat tile
--Fake fishing spots can randomly be fished but once the spot is emptied all caught fish disappear
--Dog slows down insanity build-up while on the boat
-Sleep
--Not sleeping for 3+ days can make you fall asleep randomly
---Time goes forward 6h
---Fish turns rotting
---Boat can be randomly damaged
---Boat can be in a different location within a certain radius to the original position
-Night
--Waves can drag the ship into random directions
--Chance for the compass and the map to show random directions/positions
--Chance for the lighthouse to appear as if it was someplace different
--Dark silhouetts (ships, islands, etc.) can be approached for a 50-50 chance of either revealing an aberration fishing spot (guaranteed the first 2 times) or the angler

Those are some ideas that I'd be interested in seeing to make a playthrough longer and more engaging. I am sure there could be even more added to the game to make progression even more interesting. Especially when it comes to hazards.

[nzguzzi]

games completed way too quickly.
Definitely needs things to drag it out, more side quests, build a town etc etc, restore an old boat. Something to grind it out.
Rewards more than just money as well.

[Psyringe]

Personally, I enjoyed the game partly _because_ it was short. It was a nice little short story, it doesn't need filler material to pretend being a novel. I had fun with it for a few days and was very satisfied with my purchase. The story ended when I was ready to move on, which I did, and I've been enjoying other games since then. I can't see why I would want to limit myself to just one world if I can explore many others as well.

So if someone says the game "definitely needs things to drag it out", then my reply is: most definitely not, that would significantly worsen the experience for players like me. It would also increase the risk that players get burnt out on repetitive content before finishing the story.

However, as an _option_ for players who aren't that curious about other games, it would make sense. And if someone were to actually add grinding mechanics to this game, then the suggestions made by Cocofang would deliver that. So even though those suggestions wouldn't add anything of value for me, I'll respect the work that went into them and acknowledge that they would achieve the goal they were designed for. I just don't share that goal myself.

[Siamese55]

As admittedly someone that has a hard time seeing the value in drawn out quantity when compared to shorter quality, I am glad the official updates seem to be focused on adding more content and mechanics for everyone rather than an optional mode or "balance tweaks." That said, some of your new mechanics suggestions are interesting and there is definitely room to make insanity more varied and unsettling even in the base game.

You are not alone, though; I have seen other mentions of a "hard mode." This difficulty change seems more than apt for the modding realm, and it would probably be decently popular and respected one it if had even a portion of your suggestions.

[Jeff]

Upgrading storage space makes sense.

Idk about having to repair fishing poles. I generally prefer if games don't put a durability on your main action but maybe it would be fine if they didn't break super fast

I'll be honest I tl'dred most of the most though, ain't nobody got time for that

[Cocofang]

The currently existing valuables are:
- Money (also in the form of treasure)
- Dredge
- Bait
- Research Parts
- Explosives
- Equipment
- Books

Out of which money is the most liquid one. It can also translate into Research Parts, Explosives, Bait and Equipment. So with the current set-up it mostly always comes back to money.
Dredge and Research Parts are pretty much isolated to upgrades.

I already suggested a way to add usefulness to Dredge by having it be a request from the Builder. But the other valuables should probably have additional usages as well.

Maybe people could request Explosives, Equipment, Bait and Dredge deliveries in general, paying a premium. Hard to say, the resource economy is very limited because it's not the focus of the game. But that's fine. Tuning the economy to move much slower and be more dependent on engaging with quests would change the dynamic sufficiently well, I think.

And yeah, it'd just be a mode for people that simply enjoy the gameplay loop and want some extrinsic motivation provided by the game to further engage with it.

[Fingusa of the East]

I am sorry but you want the game to be even grindier?

Currently doing my first run of the game and getting my third hull was a 3 hour long grind cause the fish are worth absolutely nothing and treasures are usually protected by infinite spawning underwater monsters that you have no way to fight cause this is a current year horror game.

Are we playing different games or are you just using online guides or something?

[Cocofang]

Yes, I would want an optional mode where the game is much grindier, progression much slower and insanity/night much more dangerous. I played the game blind and without any cheese to generate resources faster.

[vermis]

you should check out Sunless Sea if you haven't already, sounds like a good fit

[Cocofang]

I not only enjoy the atmosphere but also the core gameplay loop in Dredge. So I'd appreciate some extrinsic motivation to play the game some more, seeing as I 40/40ed it.

So a harder, grindier game mode that takes much longer to progress would be great.

[MadArtillery]

As long as it's optional. It was nice playing a game without a giant grind for once.

[Cocofang]

Yeah, I felt like the game game has a very good length for it to not overstay its welcome.

There were some progression issues but nothing that throws everything off completely. For example you could drastically get ahead of the progression curve (i.e. money) if you just engage in the gameplay loop a lot out of enjoyment. So you'd end up never having to fish for money once you got access to new items, you could just immediately buy them.

And although I did not really have that issue myself there are some that disliked the lack of Research Parts. When I noticed those were a bottleneck I started dredging again and quickly caught up. But the traveling merchant sells more now anyway.

Either way the feeling of working towards the next item was pretty much missing entirely because I had so much excess money from simply playing. That's one of the reasons why I'd be interested in a grind-mode.

[Duo]

i like the radiant quest idea.
would be even better if there was post game freeroam after the apocolypse

[Waldherz]

As an option, sure.

[Cocofang]

With more DLC on its way I would once again like to raise this request.

[Ghost-Tank]

I think many of these grind mode ideas are awful and would be as irritating as barnacles on your backside.

Like the FAQ says, if the game is too easy, trying sleeping less.

You could come up with good challenge ideas in the existing game, such as sleeping during the day and fishing during the night as much as you can. And put on classic 3D glasses whenever your panic is running wild.

I'm just looking forward to the new DLC coming.