Underwater Caves

[AcidSpiral]

I am very curious what the reasoning behind needing underwater caves is. I see this as a pointless move. Here is my reasoning...

1. Living in underwater caves provides no bonus aside from a good defensive position.

2. Resource transportation to underwater caves is time consuming and sometimes risky considering no wood, metal or stone are readily available.

3. Underwater cave dwellers are not blocking any content from other users. Once built in crystals do not spawn at all and the oil rocks are less desirable than the ones outside. The only bonus is the pearl spawn which is also plentiful outside but is not used for anything aside for electronics and the spino saddle.

4. Underwater cave dwellers are already limited in which tamed dinos they can keep there safely due to size restrictions and flyers not being able to fly underwater. Other tamed dinos require levels spent into oxygen to even be able to travel down there.

Here is our story...

We love on a server dominated by two large Chinese tribes that wipe the island of bases and tamed dinosaurs almost nightly. Most English speakers have given up and left the server but a few small tribes merged into mine because we are not quitters and plan to fight the two dominant tribes to the end. We have had zero success setting any bases up on the surface without being wiped by ungodly amounts of explosives. Our underwater cave was our last defense to actually be able to build without the tribes being able to easily take us out.

Everyone is free to post there opinions here. I would really appreciated knowing the developer's reasoning behind this nerf.

[behemoth227]

While I'm not a dev, I can guess that the justification is that a cave is a cave is a cave. You still only have one entrance to protect, which is a huge advantage over any traditional bases, and while your personal situation with the griefer tribes is unfortunate, the small number of experiences like yours are vastly out weighed by people who would exploit that ease of defense to raid, pillage and destroy and be essentially impervious to any realistic retaliation without some sort of damage multiplyer to "even the playing field".

[AcidSpiral]

I can understand that point of view but underwater caves were still not impossible to breach at all. We were raided the other day and fortunately instead of being completely wiped this time we were able to fight them off after a long while. I added another disadvantage that was already present and that was the lack of most tamed dinosaurs and the ones you can keep have to have precious points wasted in oxygen.

[AcidSpiral]

Bump.

[AcidSpiral]

If anyone was interpreting this as a whine post about the nerf... It is not. Just seeking answers. All are also welcome to join us in the fight on Server 366 as well. :P

[Klingenmeister]

Originally posted by Jat:

How large is the Ark?

Regarding the size of the ARK, it's currently approximately 36 square kilometers of walk-able land mass. There's also about 12 square kilometers of ocean, and of course that's just 2 dimensional measurement. There are very tall mountains that rise above the cloud layer, and oceans are quite deep with major underwater reefs, and there's a massive underground cave system that adds about 50% more traversable area to the ARK. The caves themselves are akin to dungeons in many ways, so while they can be inhabited by players, they are not easy places to survive long-term...

As for other ARKs, currently they are just copies of the same ARK with different statistical variation of resources and creatures to make it easier or more difficult. But as we proceed past Early Access, we intend both to introduce new ARK physical layouts and also add the procedurally-generated world feature. And of course there will be player-created Steam Workshop ARKs :)

Can we build Underwater at Early Access launch?

Underwater base building will be partially in at Early Access launch: you won't be able to build vacuum sealed underwater bases, but you will be able to build in underwater air pockets that are like mini-caves embedded in reefs along the ocean floor. However, building out the technology tier that will include vacuum sealed structures is a post Early Access priority.

This is from the FAQ: Cave building was intended and planed

[AcidSpiral]

I'd like to at least see it toned down a bit in underwater caves. Since they are already so hard to occupy maybe give us a 2x damage modifier.

[Jolly]

Cry less, play more. It's a game in development. Things are going to change. If you can't handle that, wait for release and then you'd never have been able to be cheeseballs to begin with.

The caves aren't meant to be habititats - period. Get over it.

[AcidSpiral]

Originally posted by Jolly:

Cry less, play more. It's a game in development. Things are going to change. If you can't handle that, wait for release and then you'd never have been able to be cheeseballs to begin with.

The caves aren't meant to be habititats - period. Get over it.

I would like to know exactly what in my post would have been considered "crying"? You obviously also haven't read the posts from the developers that said that caves are intended to be built in. If you can't add anything constructive to this post why do you bother posting? A typical forum troll with nothing else to do perhaps?

[Martin]

Does not really matter anymore. Due to the 6x damage in underwater caves they are now useless. I did more or less quit the game after this patch well because it destroyed the whole underwater experience. It takes s* tons of time to bring items down and farm.

And NO! There is no huge advantage building underwater over any traditional bases. Yes you only need to protect the front. BUT! The time you use to build the whole front in a underwater caves is the same as a 6x6 metal base with double metal walls on land due to easy access to resources. So no there is no huge advantage building underwater!. Also you more or less HAVE to be 2 persons to build underwater and transferring items etc. On land you are even able to tame multiple dinos which have a huge advantage for farming materials. In underwater caves you only have sea animals which cannot farm materials (yet), so again no huge advantage.

"Personally I think the 6x damage multiplier is a bit much. Since when did strategic placement become an exploit? I though it was just smart. What's next? Are they gonna nerf building on the stone columns because they can only be accessed by air?"

[Antelope]

Originally posted by Jolly:

The caves aren't meant to be habititats - period. Get over it.

Would love to see the mental gymnastics you used to get to this conclusion. Let's see what the devs said? Which someone literally posted directly above your comment.

Originally posted by Klingenmeister:

Originally posted by Jat:

How large is the Ark?

Can we build Underwater at Early Access launch?

Underwater base building will be partially in at Early Access launch: you won't be able to build vacuum sealed underwater bases, but you will be able to build in underwater air pockets that are like mini-caves embedded in reefs along the ocean floor. However, building out the technology tier that will include vacuum sealed structures is a post Early Access priority.

This is from the FAQ: Cave building was intended and planed

[AcidSpiral]

I wonder if there is any chance we can get a comment from a developer on this subject?

[Martin]

Originally posted by VoidScape:

I wonder if there is any chance we can get a comment from a developer on this subject?

We tried to ask them in forum before the patch and made a Straw Poll, but they seems to be busy or don't care about this subject which I personally find really stupid.

[Atma]

Many of the reasons listed in the OP as hazards of underwater cave bases are exactly why they're being nerfed, imo.

You see, you may have to deal w/ those things, but those who wish to siege these bases ALSO have to deal w/ those things. While being attacked.

[Alvi]

I totally agree. pls remove it.

[Defektiv]

Dude just wanted to tell his opinion and is hoping a dev will respond so they can feel special and starstruck. Otherwise he wouldn't have created another thread just like the others or bumped it himself to try and shove it in our faces in a horribly veiled attempt to get a dev to respond. It's like that kid in class who asks the same question you just asked but in a different way so they can get some attention too.