Branthan

Hi, I have a suggestion for improving the handy gnat. One of the things in this game that is extremely difficult to navigate is having the required materials to build bases/objects, in a chest or palette nearby. Often as bases get bigger, there is a lot of tedium in bringing materials close enough to utilize. The handy gnat circumvents this to an extent by letting your character stand next to your chests, then the handy gnat can use the materials regardless of distance. Most players start an initial base that holds 90% of all their materials before expanding. In Grounded 1, the handy gnat could fly across the map, which made base building in farther locations much easier. You could utilize all of the materials at your main base to build out a distant base. In Grounded 2 the gnat has a limited range. I know this is so you can’t just fly the gnat across the map right when you start and ruin the point of the exploration. My suggestion is to expand the distance the handy gnat can fly, based on the story progression. Add small quests to a zone that, when completed, you can fly the handy gnat there. If you’ve beaten the masked stranger in the statue, allow the gnat to fly to the statue. If you complete a small quest line at the fire pit, you can now fly the handy gnat to the fire pit. Wanna build a base at the pine tree? Finish a small quest line there that allows the gnat to fly there. This way you aren’t removing the exploration, you’re making sure the player has adequately explored the area on foot/buggy, before allowing the gnat to fly there and base build. I feel this would remove a lot of the headache of trudging materials across the map, or having to relocate palettes as you run to get them close enough to your new build. It also wouldn’t remove the surprise and fun of exploration. If the handy gnat is enabled in the options, provide a quest line in each region to complete that clearly lets you know “Complete this and you can fly the handy gnat here”.