More Feedback/Suggestions

[Kissker]

So.. first let me say Thank You to Obsidian for hotfixing a few problems, like Larva Swarms and Raw Science not appearing (as well as Burgle disappearing, etc).  So thank you, very much.

 

However... now that I have Raw Science... something else is amiss... my dew collectors don't appear to be functional. (personally.. would rather revert this, as Water is heavily needed, while I can obtain Raw Science in other ways, although I am not sure if the 2 are connected or not)

Now.. to some fun bits of the suggestions.

first off.. I would love to have a system to stop regrowth of plants. I know there is a small radius around foundations (from testing) and if you build on it, it won't usually regrow, but I want a more solid - and factually stated method.  The number one method seems to be to 'leave grass stumps' if you want them to regrow, and 'chop them down completely' if you want to remove them.  In my testing -it hasn't mattered what I have done - so I would love this to be an actual function, instead of just players stating it is.

with that - a permanent removal of materials - I would like to have a 'regrow fertilizer' introduced, make it expensive and require Raw Science to either craft, or unlock, or both. (in addition to other things) I would suggest an a 'station' like the smoothies to make it, needing 1 acorn top, 4 larva pincers, 2 glowing fungus, and maybe some other materials to build, and using a set of materials to craft 1 'super fertlizer' - it would be used on the ground with a range indicator of what it would effect (a highlight ring that would highlight previously existing grass/materials to be effected by regrowth) once regrown, the grass will keep regrowing until the 'stump' is completely removed again, resetting it to 'map original'. (the set of materials might be 3 groups of 5 items each, allowing us to get rid of excess ant parts, larva pincers, etc)

I would like to see better building in the game as well. Things like the angled wall are nice to fit on the side of stairs, but there is no current way to 'rotate' that so it is 'upside down' to place under a bridge for example, to give a nicer look, or functional support to attach flooring to. We also don't have any half walls, but Foundations and walls can snap and be placed to 'half height' making it rough in some cases to fill in gaps in buildings that occur when you have a foundation at half height as well as ones at full height.  And finally, some objects like roof should snap to walls more effectively.  If you were to rotate a wall 45 degrees (angled) for example, you cannot snap/place a Angle Wall on top of it, as angle walls only rotate to 4 snap points, and not the 45 degree angle wall placement.

It would also be nice if we could include peblets into walls for fortifications, it wouldn't have to be the full wall, just 1/3 up the base for example, or a peblet foundation similar to clay (maybe using clay and peblets to craft)

Raw Science.  Without spoiling, I know there are things to the current game, but keep that in mind while I describe this, as those current things are kinda useless/wasteful.

I hope raw science either becomes randomized, or respawns in so many days in the future. While the little bundles are nice, they are not enough to currently buy all the upgrades in the game so far - let alone those in the future. This also means it limits the usefulness of some of the in game items we currently have, and at their expensive cost - make them seem not really worth it - as a simple guide online can show all the current raw science points to us.

 

The shovel.  I'd like it to be stronger. It takes quite a bit of effort to get clay, which makes it feel too tedious for the yeild. Cutting down a single 'harvest attack' should remedy this without requiring there to be 'more clay per node'.  This will probably mean it does slightly more damage as well (as damage dealt seems to effect harvest attacks needed to fully harvest) which should be ok, as it is not a particularly strong 'weapon' in the first place.

Harvesting:  I would like it to have  a few changes.

first - once a resource is harvested (acorn, clay, anything that gives a stacked item in your backpack) to place the items in your backpack immediately instead of 'exploding into the world' -unless of course your backpack is full. (then the explosion will be a nice indicator "oh no, my backpack is full!")  Making it less tedious to pick up small objects like acorn chunks and sap.

secondly - acorns need to crack into more than 1 shell part. I can understand 'where we hit' became 'broken' so it wasn't usable, but it should at least give us 2 shells, if not 3. They are used in armor, tools, stations, storage and more, and one of the most needed items, plus it just physically makes sense.

swimming: I hope in the future our heads are more above water when we swim at the surface, but otherwise this mechanic seems fine, and is quite fun if not scary.

Insect AI: I would like insects to not be so 'afraid' of you when you have ranged advantage, it seems too clever for them to skitter backwards and around corners as if to avoid your line of sight. I can understand 'not staying put' as they are getting hurt, but they should turn and run away, or try to hide in a more natural way.  Also.. the HP return needs to be slower (still).  I shot multiple  arrows into a spider, it went around the corner, and I chased it - it came back full health with my arrows still stuck inside it - I got to see the lifebar fill this time, instead of turn blue and reset instantly, it 'chunked' HP recovery, about 25% at a time, still too fast - way out healing even advanced healing for the players, and I didn't hesitate to chase it when it finally decided to 'run away to reset' either.

and once again I would like to say venom arrows, the poison damage, needs to be more potent.  Testing being poisoned by a Wolf Spider vs Shooting a Orb Spider with a venom arrow (or all 5 in my case for more balanced testing) results in the psn to players being extremely potent and deadly, while to basically all insects it barely making the arrow do 'double damage' just with half the damage being damage over time from the poison. It is also unclear if 'multiple venom arrows' stack the damage, or combine for greater damage, or increase the timer that the damage is applied, making using multiple seem wasteful until the previous wears off.

I have now found 5 ladybugs on my map.. and killed them all and still never got a ladybug head.  15 in game days have passed since, and I have not seen another ladybug.

I have still never seen an ant egg. I have even gone to the liberty of having both a feeding basket for rotten meat at the entrance, as well as hand-delivering food (hotdog and rotten and nectar) to the 'food room', as well as murdering enough ants to have a basket full of parts and another full of mandibles.  I know there is 1 or 2 groups of ants left on my map - stuck at the pond - and I plan to murder them later to see what happens.  I would like, in the future, for the players to be able to don Ant Armor and "feed the colony" by dropping food into the food room (or just through the hole) triggering some sort of event, such as signaling all the ants to return to the hill, or allowing respawn/eggs.        an AI tweak here could do wonders for the current ants - by adding 2 factors.  1: set them up to return to the hill at night. (this means a player would have to remain awake all night) after morning comes, they 'reset' and go back to forage for items/food.     2: if an ant has not returned to the hill in 2 nights, it dies, instantly, without leaving a body/loot behind. This should help reset the 'stuck' ants in the world, and keep clutter down.

and lastly, insects - should drown underwater. I have several ants and gnats stuck underwater, and they just live there happily.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Kissker