Subnautica with mods is awesome!

[Vepar]

Finished it a couple of times the normal way, and it's a really amazing game!

But mods... Mods add such great QoL features that really should have been in the game!
Some of them at least. :) Some are OP of course.

I'm enjoying the game all over again, and they work perfectly fine on linux!

[Top Gun]

Yeah, I really want to try the map mod in particular. It's something that I think should have been in the base game, and it sounds like it's well-balanced and still requires you to explore everywhere to fill it out.

[Hackleberryfin]

Originally posted by Top Gun:

Yeah, I really want to try the map mod in particular. It's something that I think should have been in the base game, and it sounds like it's well-balanced and still requires you to explore everywhere to fill it out.

The map is very good and you´re right you have to explore everything first but it can still spoiler you if you are new to the game because you can switch to the alien river and other caves before you knew they exist

[Vepar]

Originally posted by Top Gun:

Yeah, I really want to try the map mod in particular. It's something that I think should have been in the base game, and it sounds like it's well-balanced and still requires you to explore everywhere to fill it out.

I'm playing with it now. It's good, yeah, but i don't think it should have been in the base game, i found it way more scary that way. :) Having a map would kinda defeat some of the confusion and having to navigate through your start position or Aurora.

Honestly, the base game is a pretty good balance of "survival mechanics" and QoL. But some stuff really don't change the gameplay that much and is just saving time like being able to craft something with the materials that are in the surrounding lockers. That just cuts time on having to go back and forth a lot. Idk, personally, that mod isn't something that i think would ruin the vanilla experience.

But stuff that i have now like extra slots for upgrades, new cyclops upgrades and such, those are OP for the base game.Still, i use them cause they're fun, and i finished the base game a few times already so, i did it "the right way" hehe.

[Top Gun]

Originally posted by Vepar:

I'm playing with it now. It's good, yeah, but i don't think it should have been in the base game, i found it way more scary that way. :) Having a map would kinda defeat some of the confusion and having to navigate through your start position or Aurora.

I'm not saying it has to be as powerful as the mod version, but I still think there should be some sort of mapping function in the base game, and that it wouldn't ruin the experience. If it's set up so that areas only appear once you've explored them (like Minecraft/Terraria), you'll still have to navigate the unknown and find all of these new areas. Maybe it's an item you have to craft instead of getting it at the start, or maybe you need to craft upgrades to it to expand its range. Maybe it's strictly a 2D surface map and doesn't include the deep stuff, which preserves them as a scary unknown area. There's a lot of wiggle room in there to properly balance it.

The reason I'm so in favor of a map is because of what I see as by far the weakest stage of the game, the blueprint hunt. Both times I've played, I've had my game grind to a halt because there are one or two necessary blueprints that I don't have, and it's a huge pain to keep track of where you've been and where you need to check. "Okay, I know I found the Bulb Zone before...now where was it..." There are two equally-annoying ways to find wrecks. One is to wander around randomly like an idiot until you're lucky enough to stumble across one, and then leave a beacon there to mark it as complete (which require copper, which is the one resource I'm perpetually out of). The other is to cart around a whole scanning room setup, try to space it out at even distance marks, and then chase down every ping (which may include useless scattered piles of rubble, or even wrecks you've already explored depending on your placement). A map would go a huge way towards making this part of the game more bearable.

And honestly it makes sense from a gameplay perspective too. Your PDA supposedly goes into survival mode when you land on the planet, and it includes blueprints for all sorts of basic materials and tools...but not a simple map, which literally anyone put in that situation would sorely need?

[Vepar]

Originally posted by Top Gun:

Originally posted by Vepar:

I'm playing with it now. It's good, yeah, but i don't think it should have been in the base game, i found it way more scary that way. :) Having a map would kinda defeat some of the confusion and having to navigate through your start position or Aurora.

I'm not saying it has to be as powerful as the mod version, but I still think there should be some sort of mapping function in the base game, and that it wouldn't ruin the experience. If it's set up so that areas only appear once you've explored them (like Minecraft/Terraria), you'll still have to navigate the unknown and find all of these new areas. Maybe it's an item you have to craft instead of getting it at the start, or maybe you need to craft upgrades to it to expand its range. Maybe it's strictly a 2D surface map and doesn't include the deep stuff, which preserves them as a scary unknown area. There's a lot of wiggle room in there to properly balance it.

The reason I'm so in favor of a map is because of what I see as by far the weakest stage of the game, the blueprint hunt. Both times I've played, I've had my game grind to a halt because there are one or two necessary blueprints that I don't have, and it's a huge pain to keep track of where you've been and where you need to check. "Okay, I know I found the Bulb Zone before...now where was it..." There are two equally-annoying ways to find wrecks. One is to wander around randomly like an idiot until you're lucky enough to stumble across one, and then leave a beacon there to mark it as complete (which require copper, which is the one resource I'm perpetually out of). The other is to cart around a whole scanning room setup, try to space it out at even distance marks, and then chase down every ping (which may include useless scattered piles of rubble, or even wrecks you've already explored depending on your placement). A map would go a huge way towards making this part of the game more bearable.

And honestly it makes sense from a gameplay perspective too. Your PDA supposedly goes into survival mode when you land on the planet, and it includes blueprints for all sorts of basic materials and tools...but not a simple map, which literally anyone put in that situation would sorely need?

Maybe they'll implement something like mapping in Subnautica 2 (or 3 if Below zero is considered 2). Especially if the map is bigger. Cause when you explore the map, it's not really that big, when you finally visualize it and see. I think that's part of why they didn't include a map, cause you'd quickly see the game world is pretty small. Would probably break immersion for some people. First time i played it, it all looked huge!

I agree with the wreck hunt, that is a bit annoying, especially the whole beacon business.

The map, the way it is on the mod, kinda makes the scanner room a bit useless. Thankfully there's another mod that lets you scan for resources so it's useful again haha. :D

Maybe they'll include like a mapping room, or something, so that it's not fully automatic and follows wherever you go, maybe you need to set it up a bit, that would be i think a great middleground. Like, build a mapping room, connect your PDA to it, hit "scan" and it'll update that part of the map, and you can upgrade the distance maybe and what it finds like the scanner room, except permanent.

Or, maybe the new game could have like new types of beacons that reveal the map in a radius, and you have to make like a network of them to start mapping, but when they're up, they permanently reveal the surroundings. Then make it annoying so that leviathans can destory the beacons. :D

Idk, there's good arguments for including a map, but i suspect it was omitted to kinda stretch the game a bit. And i think it worked. :D For the next game though, especially if they plan on making a bigger world, i think it should be a feautre in some shape or form.

[Top Gun]

Yeah, the size thing is a good point. I haven't played Below Zero yet, though I watched an LP ages ago. I'm interested to see what they come up with for a true sequel.

[Vepar]

Originally posted by Top Gun:

Yeah, the size thing is a good point. I haven't played Below Zero yet, though I watched an LP ages ago. I'm interested to see what they come up with for a true sequel.

I played Below Zero a bit, the game map is even smaller there. Like, really small. More vertical probably, with the caves and stuff underground but still.
There, they countered the smaller map with a slow moving Sea Truck so you "get" to travel longer lol, but yeah, the sequel probably should have some mapping capabilities.