Recharging your batteries

[Terra Blade]

Ok, first off the upgrade you get while fixing the Aurora does make a big difference; I still feel the cyclops, base, just anything that needs a battery eats them like they were going out of style. I get that it is a survival game, but I feel that instead of making them one use batteries we need to make then able to be recharged. I would be even more frustrated if I hadn't realized just breaking down and rebuilding the seabase generator gave me unlimited base energy.

If this is given as a seabase only upgrade, it makes the base that much more important. As right now the only main use of the base is for storage space and cool factor. If it were a recharge over time bit, it would still give importance to making enough cells/batteries just not to the point of being a constant resource hog.

As it is now, I feel LESS inclined to go out and explore with my hi-tech toys. In fact the only reason I pulled out the Cyclops and Seamoth were to get to the Aurora past the new critters. If I knew the only leash to exploring was battery charge vs time to recharge I would be more inclined to take both out more frequently.

[Grimbah]

Sounds good!

[tdrave]

The cyclops should have a Real energy generator something that run on hydrogene fuel or some other exotic fuel.
Plus you should have different type of circuit to choose to power like : Light , energy system that kind of ♥♥♥♥ :D
Anyway i am sure the dev will make submarine much more complex in the future update :D

[Terra Blade]

Originally posted by tdrave:

The cyclops should have a Real energy generator something that run on hydrogene fuel or some other exotic fuel.
Plus you should have different type of circuit to choose to power like : Light , energy system that kind of ♥♥♥♥ :D
Anyway i am sure the dev will make submarine much more complex in the future update :D

I'm not sure what you mean by having different circuits. Do you mean being able to turn things like lights on and off to affect power drain?

As for the generator, I get why it isn't that way. As it stands there isn't a huge reason to build your own base, and while there may be good reasons down the line the base should be...well your base of operations. Which means needing to periodically go back and restock. I also see why you don't want to have complete freedom to explore and making the Cyclops any more energy efficient would be boarder-line for it. Because the more freedom of movement to go anywhere at any time, the smaller the world becomes. Just think of how easy it was to get around with the seaglide vs swimming, or the seamoth vs the seaglide. But I feel the recharging batteries would be enough of a leash on the player without making the world any smaller.

It doesn't even need to be the original power generator (though maybe the most efficient use of current assets), and could be a reward for exploring a particular biome or research tree. But having some sort of way to recharge batteries would mean that, at least for me, I would use my big expensive sub for more then the occasional jaunt. If I had to set it up, it would be that the generator on the base is limitless and the slots are how you recharge power cells (a smaller panel could be put on the back for batteries).

[Nogge]

They could add a hydrogen-based generator to build for your base. Of course it'd have to be incredibly expensive and should involve having to get into some seriously dangerous areas (Aurora's Dark Matter core, deep down in the Lava biome, things like that) to even get the blueprint for it, but it would allow your base to effectively have unlimited energy available.
After that is finished, there could be an additional upgrade to it to allow the generator to charge up energy cells. Make it only 2 cells per in-game day to keep things at a good pace and make the cells themselves (expensive) upgrades of regular ones, so that you can't just have 12 or them lying around without much of an issue and have almost infinite power for your sub.

With the addition of the electro fins allowing you to recharge your tools without the need for batteries, I don't see the issue in also adding a way to not be forced to constantly make new cells, eating up your copper and quartz.
Heck, they could probably add some sort of transformer (not the robots, the motor) that keeps your Cyclops/Seamoth/Exosuit charged as long as you do something. Maybe even slap solar panels on the vehicles.

[Terra Blade]

Originally posted by Nogge:

They could add a hydrogen-based generator to build for your base. Of course it'd have to be incredibly expensive and should involve having to get into some seriously dangerous areas (Aurora's Dark Matter core, deep down in the Lava biome, things like that) to even get the blueprint for it, but it would allow your base to effectively have unlimited energy available.
After that is finished, there could be an additional upgrade to it to allow the generator to charge up energy cells. Make it only 2 cells per in-game day to keep things at a good pace and make the cells themselves (expensive) upgrades of regular ones, so that you can't just have 12 or them lying around without much of an issue and have almost infinite power for your sub.

With the addition of the electro fins allowing you to recharge your tools without the need for batteries, I don't see the issue in also adding a way to not be forced to constantly make new cells, eating up your copper and quartz.
Heck, they could probably add some sort of transformer (not the robots, the motor) that keeps your Cyclops/Seamoth/Exosuit charged as long as you do something. Maybe even slap solar panels on the vehicles.

The main issue for having a super expensive generator is all you have to do currently is breakdown and rebuild a new generator. You already can get unlimited power. Plus, again making it super expensive cuts down on people wanting to explore.

[Nogge]

The main issue for having a super expensive generator is all you have to do currently is breakdown and rebuild a new generator. You already can get unlimited power. Plus, again making it super expensive cuts down on people wanting to explore. [/quote]

They could (and probably in some way should) change that infinite energy trick to not work as easily anymore. And making things expensive to create, with materials you can only get in certain areas of the map with a lot of work and searching behind getting the materials, does certainly encourage people to go out into the sea and search for those items to get practically infinite energy, which is definitely a reason to search and explore for things. Maybe require different items from different biomes that are unique to those, like some special main root from the very core of the center mushroom from the Mushroom Forest, or a special ore only found in the Lava Castle.

[slapz]

I posted a discussion a little while back that deals with this very topic:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/264710/discussions/0/617336568072643995/

[Michael Lemmons]

If you don't like the energy requirements, you could always play in Freedom mode. In addition to not needing food and drink, the Cyclops doesn't need energy. The Seamoth is infinitely rechargeable, of course. That just leaves the various toys to use up juice.

All in all, though, batteries and through them power cells are dead simple to make. I have an entire locker near the engine room on my sub just dedicated to power cells.

[slapz]

Originally posted by Mack:

If you don't like the energy requirements, you could always play in Freedom mode. In addition to not needing food and drink, the Cyclops doesn't need energy. The Seamoth is infinitely rechargeable, of course. That just leaves the various toys to use up juice.

All in all, though, batteries and through them power cells are dead simple to make. I have an entire locker near the engine room on my sub just dedicated to power cells.

Seriously? It doesn’t make any sense. It’s inefficient and downright idiotic to rely on crafting batteries to power everything; especially when there are readily available energy resources besides electrochemical exchange.

If batteries are projected to be the only energy source, we should at least be given hybrid supercapacitors, or fuel cells that can last much longer. The game has interstellar travel, but where is the rest of the high-technology?

[Terra Blade]

Originally posted by Nogge:

The main issue for having a super expensive generator is all you have to do currently is breakdown and rebuild a new generator. You already can get unlimited power. Plus, again making it super expensive cuts down on people wanting to explore.

They could (and probably in some way should) change that infinite energy trick to not work as easily anymore. And making things expensive to create, with materials you can only get in certain areas of the map with a lot of work and searching behind getting the materials, does certainly encourage people to go out into the sea and search for those items to get practically infinite energy, which is definitely a reason to search and explore for things. Maybe require different items from different biomes that are unique to those, like some special main root from the very core of the center mushroom from the Mushroom Forest, or a special ore only found in the Lava Castle. [/quote]

While I understand that point, it still falls short when you consider that in searching you are then using up power cells. Now if quartz were like salt and basically can be found anywhere...less of a problem. But between glass for the cyclops (15 quartz), flippers (4 quartz), base windows (6 quartz each), and so forth...quartz takes a very big strain on the resource list. It very VERY quickly adds up. Every power cell takes 4 quartz, and really doesn't last all that long in the Cyclops even with the upgrade. Especially if you use the Cyclops to recharge the seamoth, which can easily zap 10% charge or more on a 50% seamoth.,,and that is with the upgrade.

Making it a reward is fine, but at the same time it should be an early reward. Such as maybe a fragment in or around the Aurora. But while I could just play the game on freedom, if it weren't for the power consumption rate I wouldn't have an issue with survival. But I don't think the devs can do any more to make power last longer in the cyclops short of either adding physical upgrades or something that makes power cells go further.

[Nogge]

An alternative to the whole "recharging power cells" issue could be a pure upgrade to the Cyclops, since that is usually the main energy-dump in everyone's life. Make it possible to replace the generator it currently has with one run with, for the lack of better idea, Dark Matter you managed to get a hold of from the ruins of the Aurora that runs infinitely in theory but can overheat if you don't let it rest, meaning you might have to sit it out a bit and prepare with rations in your storage for long trips. Having to make a single power cell every once in a blue moon for your exo or the seamoth would be reasonable, especially since one for each to initially create them should be enough.

If overheating happens or your Cyclops gets destroyed (water pressure, the Sea emperor, stuff like that) the generator could explode in a nuclear blast, similar to the Aurora but obviously way smaller, causing a crater and radiation in the area it exploded in. Of course the radiation shouldn't spread and would eventually be gone, since the reactor was far smaller.
And in case that scenario happens, the dark matter would 'respawn' a few days later inside the Aurora, requiring another adventure into it, though it shouldn't respawn if your generator is still around, meaning you would only be able to at max have a single one at a time.

Such a thing could even be used to power even bigger submarines, in case we ever get any (we definitely will at some point, even if it won't be until the Sea Emperor is finalized or multiplayer hits post-release).

[slapz]

Originally posted by Nogge:

An alternative to the whole "recharging power cells" issue could be a pure upgrade to the Cyclops, since that is usually the main energy-dump in everyone's life. Make it possible to replace the generator it currently has with one run with, for the lack of better idea, Dark Matter you managed to get a hold of from the ruins of the Aurora that runs infinitely in theory but can overheat if you don't let it rest, meaning you might have to sit it out a bit and prepare with rations in your storage for long trips. Having to make a single power cell every once in a blue moon for your exo or the seamoth would be reasonable, especially since one for each to initially create them should be enough.

If overheating happens or your Cyclops gets destroyed (water pressure, the Sea emperor, stuff like that) the generator could explode in a nuclear blast, similar to the Aurora but obviously way smaller, causing a crater and radiation in the area it exploded in. Of course the radiation shouldn't spread and would eventually be gone, since the reactor was far smaller.
And in case that scenario happens, the dark matter would 'respawn' a few days later inside the Aurora, requiring another adventure into it, though it shouldn't respawn if your generator is still around, meaning you would only be able to at max have a single one at a time.

Such a thing could even be used to power even bigger submarines, in case we ever get any (we definitely will at some point, even if it won't be until the Sea Emperor is finalized or multiplayer hits post-release).

The sub is surrounded by water. I don’t see a reactor overheating anytime soon, especially as depth increases.

[Nogge]

Originally posted by Totally Lemon:

The sub is surrounded by water. I don’t see a reactor overheating anytime soon, especially as depth increases.

The sub might be surrounded by water, sure, but I'm pretty sure the insides aren't filled with it (unless things are going very, very wrong).
Fires can break out in submarines irl aswell, there's no reason the reactor wouldn't be able to have a meltdown if its temperature rises too high, unless you'd be able to flood the generator room which might, for all we know, not even be enough to keep something run on freaky sci-fi stuff like dark matter (I know it exists, but certainly not as fuel) from going haywire and melting down. There's underwater volcanoes, after all, and water might just vapor/plasmarize on contact with that reactor, resulting in a steam explosion, which are never pleasant.

[Hank Chill]

at least you got the upgrade, i died shortly after picking it up and lost it forever.

[Kitchen Gun (TM)]

Solar panels on the roof of the cyclops for charging at the surface or a nuclear power plant that can run the sub for a long time. Just make it a normal uranium or thorium sub without the spooky dark matter thing. A nuclear reactor doesn't turn into a nuclear bomb BTW but it would spread radioactivity. Marine reactors today work very reliably.