Water filter is too strong

[Dr.Cola]

It instantly filtering tainted water 1:1 with no wait time or any requirements in a way removes the water mechanic completely. Especially if you build your base next to a water source.

Right now you get it into the labs, and while yes it is at the "end" of the game, when the full game is out you do not have to manage the water stuff for the rest 60% of the game?

I feel like it needs something to not make it trivialize every single other water mechanics.
Either have it filter passively but takes longer than doing it manually or it requiring power.
Or something that I can't think of, but definitely not keep it the way it is now.

[MechWarden]

Not wrong, but also likely an unpopular take right now.

Going from high losses via boiling for two areas, to as much clean water as you can pour into the magical machine near the start of the third area is a bit jarring. It makes any idea of a mid-tier water purification a very hard sell.

Nerfing that or pushing the filter system further back is likely going to tick players off.

[Dr.Cola]

Any adjustment from how it is now would be seen as a big nerf though, considering its current functionality makes it 100% perfect 1:1 water instantaneously.

I think the main appeal of the water filter should be the automation of water at the cost of speed personally.

The boiling water with high losses shouldn't be the reason to keep it as it is. If anything adding a mid-tier that does it much better either via speed or amount with boiling should ease the pain.

Pushing back the filter back is not my suggestion as my problem with it is the lack of any gameplay to it.

[Valen Logan]

I get the feeling the water filter behaves the way it does for a reason. My guess is in the future more things requiring water will be introduced and the water filter will make more sense in that regard. The game already hints at there being more fluids than just clean and dirty water. We even have two different buckets for handling different fluids which don't exist right now.

[Kai]

Well, with clean water being plentiful, players can focus on other things more important like dealing with harder and bigger entity threats to them... It's going to be harsh to deal with survival elements if you have Leyak and other entities harassing you 24/7 right?

Distilled and purified water for instance are used by scientists in labs for sure, water filtration isn't sufficient for that. And while you can technically drink distilled water, the lack of minerals can be bad for your health in the long run, so it's more of water for experiments, like making new medicines or such?

[Ramirez]

Just saying, once you start getting into the mine area of the Manufacturing West look for the pool of Antejuice. Just barrel up as much of that as possible you can use it for literally everything but watering plants.

[hotmailcompany52]

I kinda hope we get an entire water system that uses all the pipes I've been accumulating. Part of that could be a nerf to the water filter making it filter x amount a second but letting containers be plumbed into it allowing more tainted water into the filter and allowing the clean water to collect into another container.

[ULTRA]

To be fair you can get like 8 water coolers or something by the time you get to the Far Gardens so ahhh clean water is pretty much a squatter concern to begin with.

[NekoiNemo]

Yep, water system could use some reworking.

Early game it's such a colossal pita (not even because it's hard to come by, but because boiling is a massive chore that requires a lot of clicking and inventory juggling), it might be tempting to get the 8 point perk to drink tainted water. (unless you fancy carrying every cooler you see back to base)
But then you get the water filter in the (what i assume is going to be) mid-game, and the entire water system just gets written out of the game, as you can now have instantaneous 10L of pure water whenever you want.

I would understand if the instantaneous water filtration was an effect of a costly consumable you put in water, but a reusable item should definitely purify water more gradually

[Ethical Lune]

Easy fix would be to have it very slowly purify water over time instead of instantly yeah.

[Dragontoast]

You can also unlock teleporters at roughly the same point and by extension have unrestricted access to the Antejuice lake in Manufacturing. Even if you changed Water Purifiers it just makes plants tedious and nothing else.

[Wendigo]

Originally posted by Dr.Cola:

It instantly filtering tainted water 1:1 with no wait time or any requirements in a way removes the water mechanic completely. Especially if you build your base next to a water source.

Right now you get it into the labs, and while yes it is at the "end" of the game, when the full game is out you do not have to manage the water stuff for the rest 60% of the game?

I feel like it needs something to not make it trivialize every single other water mechanics.
Either have it filter passively but takes longer than doing it manually or it requiring power.
Or something that I can't think of, but definitely not keep it the way it is now.

Water filter does what it's intended to do.
No such thing as being 'too strong'

[Anker]

'too strong'

What, exactly, is this too strong for? What challenge is this overcoming too easily? Not boiling 9-10 pots of water at a time? Taking up a player's time boiling things? Making it too easy to check on your plants even though they take days to grow anyway?

What gameplay is this taking away that would be more valuable then having a water filter? By the time you finish sector three, you shouldn't be struggling to survive. You should be thriving.

[StopItStepBro]

I mean you’re not wrong but I feel that would have a strong adverse impact on the solo gameplay since base selection is much more strict which leads to usually longer treks to water sources to stockpile water which you then expend on drinking, soups, crops, etc and by the end of that you use quite a bit. The 1:1 instantaneous result feels nice to remove *some* of the tedium especially on a solo run.

[Anker]

Early game, people just don't build bases unless there's a water source nearby. If you ask where people build their base, it's usually near one, and if you ask *why* they picked that location, they'll usually mention it as the main factor. And later... Well, again, you unlock the teleporter soon after the filter.

Let's talk about the mid game. Here's something you might not have noticed, because the game hides it and doesn't mention it ever. Right next to the east-access tram station to the train portal, there's a mining area. And if you unlock the shortcut by exploring it, you can walk right through that door, go through a straight tunnel, and meet your mid game hydration solution: A pool of infinite antejuice.

What's antejuice good for? Most things. You can't grow plants, but that's about it. You can drink it unpurified and make any regular soup with it. You can fill as many water containers as you have with it and take the tram home.

With this, a pattern emerges:

Sector One: Water is a struggle. You can make enough to boil soups, but before you can base near an oven, making any real quantity of it is a pain.

Sector Two: You get access to as much Alien Water as you want. Your hydration needs are taken care of, as is your soup requirement. The only issues is it comes from a single source, and you can't farm plants with it- But that's okay. You really shouldn't be growing plants anyway, given how tedious boiling water is.

Sector three: Water purifier. You no longer have to take the tram to a water source, come back, and boil it. Just basing near a water source is enough.

You see the ongoing thread? Your basic survival needs are supposed to become easier as you focus more on dealing with enemies and more hostile enviroments, going from less about fending off meters designed to make you go home and eat, and more into exploration and empowerment as you build yourself up.

[Flak Monkey]

So we can have personal portal devices, tesla coils, litteral railguns, magical antigravity trinkets but not an efficient water filter? Why? Easy accessible clean water breaks immersion or something? Why would anyone even complain about this. I don't get.