[spoiler] Sunbeam happens too early ?

[Agrorix]

For newplayers having to figure everything out, even keeping up nicely with the load of lifepods early distress calls, I think the sunbeam incomming rescue team happens too early... to the point it's not even buyable for players. Not to mention time not elapsing accordingly to the sunbeam communications : the proclaimed needed week to come is lasting quite a short time ^^

During my first game I was rather surprised of the speed within help was coming but obviously couldn't help myself but to think it would end badly considering time spend as tech unlocked, thus not really cared.

I think the sunbeam should come later, maybe not before a month of ingame playtime, when the player should have begun to feel some actual despair.

[Kanaro Min]

It -could- get pushed back some, but they are just trying to push the player to the island, probably to help a little with blueprint acquisition.

[Agrorix]

The island is really interesting blueprint wise only if you push exploration upto the other island, wherein lies a few structures to enhance the player's base, which are actually dispensable.

Orelse trying to get in the aurora stays way more interesting blueprint wise : 3/4 seamoth, 3/4 prawn, canon, vehicle bay, many interior blueprints, batteries as even cyclop pieces.

[Mr Shadow]

It happens to soon... i havent even gotten inside aurora in my new save and already avery contacts me....

[BlackWater]

I concur, but I'm sure the Devs will tweak it. I for one, wonder, even though outcome would have been the same, why this particular landing spot was chosen by Captain Avery instead of option B.

[Minun]

I already built a base before going into aurora - its not a bad thing. However i got lifepod messages coming in long time after the rescue ship was shot down. I think there should be some more time for you to find the other aurora lifepods and "rescue" the crew before being recued yourself. But its okay, because its when you find the island, that the game really takes off.

[Agrorix]

Originally posted by BlackWater:

I concur, but I'm sure the Devs will tweak it. I for one, wonder, even though outcome would have been the same, why this particular landing spot was chosen by Captain Avery instead of option B.

Probably because option A is closer to the sunbeam wreck, which logically leaves more chances for survivors to go there rather than option B.

Originally posted by Minun:

I already built a base before going into aurora - its not a bad thing. However i got lifepod messages coming in long time after the rescue ship was shot down. I think there should be some more time for you to find the other aurora lifepods and "rescue" the crew before being recued yourself. But its okay, because its when you find the island, that the game really takes off.

Indeed gamewise this is logical, thing is this is too tutorialish imo :

1- dicovery : getting used to the basics, crafting some tools and equipement
2- basic exploration : going to some lifepods for vehicles unlocks
3- story going as expected : aurora being destroyed
4- rescue team already : going to sunbeam RDV
5- saving the rescue team : investigating alien base
6- sunbeam crash : exploring island and/or going to explore the aurora
7- story actually begins, before that not even time to feel trying to survive in a hostile world, not before first reaper encounter, which does not usually happen before aurora exploration.

This can be all done in a handfull ingame days by mere following the "tutorial", I think the player doesn't really have time to feel despair or lonelyness (in opposition to the lonedark or the forest for example) for he's well taken care of by his pda as frequent coms to sustain hope as pressure on him.

I think this is the reason why in my first game I quite did not rush to reapir the com link relay, I was trying to enjoy the game first.

[primarccreagor]

I think its trigered from Seamoth creation, could be wrong but noted getting mesages right after building it. This was like build, splash, BEEP BEEP "This is the Sunbeam do you need help, Ill try again tomorro". The first mesage you get from them, and was way too notiable to think other wise.

[dancle]

Someone make a parody of what would happen if the Sunbeam lands on the Floater Island. I wanna see what would happen.

[Cougarific]

The Sunbeam storyline is triggered by repairing the Comms Relay in the lifepod (or building a new one), then retrieving your messages.

You can delay the Sunbeam's arrival indefinitely by either not repairing the Comms Relay or not retrieving the messages from the relay.

"Too early" is totally dependent on how the player chooses to play. You could play through the entire game and never trigger the Sunbeam's arrival if you wanted to.

[Enorats]

Well, I don't tend to go back to the lifepod after building a base. I also never build a comm panel. Since the communications come in one by one it takes forever for me to reach the Sunbeam as I get a comm signal only once in a blue moon when I happen to need a medpack out of the lifepod.

I actually reached the current end of the story well before triggering the Sunbeam event this time around.

[Vilkata]

I agree it arrives far too early. Knowing the trigger and being able to avoid it as someone that's played several times is not the answer. Logically, a new player is going to repair comms way before they're ready to be introduced to the alien gun and the advancement in the understanding of the story that comes with it.

Personally I feel like there are a couple of better triggers. Possibly making the Seamoth, or maybe repairing the Aurora's reactor. Both indicate the player has made some level of exploration into the game and has learned the basics about the environment and survival. At that point the story can push forward to give them the explanation as to why the Aurora went down.

[Agrorix]

Originally posted by Cougarific:

The Sunbeam storyline is triggered by repairing the Comms Relay in the lifepod (or building a new one), then retrieving your messages.

You can delay the Sunbeam's arrival indefinitely by either not repairing the Comms Relay or not retrieving the messages from the relay.

"Too early" is totally dependent on how the player chooses to play. You could play through the entire game and never trigger the Sunbeam's arrival if you wanted to.

We all know that...

You totally missed the point which is to make an interesting story for average new players who will more likely follow the "tutorial".

This is not a thread about ways to avoid the sunbeam crash, I can use the console for that and still get lifepods coms.

[Cougarific]

While I respect the opinions of those who think it comes too early In My Humble Opinion it does not.

All the Sunbeam storyline does is push players toward what is often a). their first understanding that there are (unseen) islands to explore, b). their first understanding that there's advanced alien technology on the planet and c). an understanding of what brought down the Aurora and what the player will need to do before they'll be able to get off the planet.

There's still a lot of exploration and discovery to be done after the Sunbeam "arrives", this is just a gentle nudge in the right direction for people who've spent most of the game in the Safe Shallows up to that point.

[Agrorix]

What buggers me with the subnautica beginning, which is by far speed up by the sunbeam arrival, and in contrary to most solo survival games is : instead of being lost and having to experiment and look for a solution or at least some clue what to do, there are too many leads to follow at once (lifepods coms coming also too fast in a row imo) leaving the player having to just choose which one to be investigated first (want a seaglide go there, want a seamoth go here) instead of actually exploring by looking for any lead.

This is too obvious of game mechanics thus harms the story imo, for not leaving the player some time necessary to build up despair or lonelyness feelings.

I think to create a more interesting story the sunbeam could be triggered by the deghazi lifepod and under certain conditions, example :

- having obtained a pda from the aurora
- having obtained some cyclop pieces, meaning he'd be either lucky or having reached a certain depth for sure

Also some lifepod coms could be corrupted (like the one we get further in the story) but be repeated periodically until the player is close enough to get the full message in clear.

Finally a device to translate some alien message could has to be found or build, instead of leaving the know it all brain pda doing all the thinking for the brawn player.

[Cougarific]

Originally posted by Toutatrix:

You totally missed the point which is to make an interesting story for average new players who will more likely follow the "tutorial".

You're right, I'm totally not understanding why you think this is a problem.

Are you saying that the first time you played the game, without watching any Let's Plays or reading any Guides you immediately gathered all the ingredients for the Repair Tool, repaired the Comms Relay, and got all the messages leading up to the Sunbeam rendezvous too quickly for your tastes? What like, within the first 3-4 days? First week in-game?