Greetings. I have been watching Starbound for a long time, but last night was a sleepless one, so I thought up a lot of ideas that could make Starbound's already extensive exploration system even more exciting. I do not really know C++ (or capabilities of SB's engine), my programming skills are limited to writing horribly laggy WinForms applications for Accounting and creativity is practically non-existent, so a lot of things I suggest are unfeasible to implement or sound like ripoffs of Unreal, SS13, Dwarf Fortress, sci-fi shows and books and a myriad of other sources. Alright, I will try to keep it organized. My English is not very good, so please correct me through PM if I make any mistakes. Single-use weapons This one is easy, if ammo system in SB is in any way similar to Terraria. There could be certain items or weapons that were discarded after a single use, like cheap flare guns, rocket launchers like РПО-А that either became too damaged to be used again, were too cheap to allow reloading mechanisms or were too bulky to carry back and reload. Weapons like this could allow a player a choice - to carry a reloadable weapon at expense of cargo space or take a single-use weapon, make a huge bang if needed (or piss off a mob with a flare to the face), then throw a weapon away and switch to something else... or use it as a bludgeon. These weapons or items, if implemented, should be easier to construct or find than "ordinary" ones. It would make sense to equip a small ship with some of these to make construction costs down while giving a crew a chance in case of an emergency. Automated resource harvesting What confused me about Terraria or Minecraft is the fact that a god-like being that is the player in late-game has to come down to mines and swing its pick (made of Awesomite) to get construction materials for yet another humongous castle. I think an astronaut that can build entire ships would be able to make a drilling platform to extract metal or oil or whatever useful stuff is in the ground. Of course, this shouldn't be without risk - wrong placement could lead to drill bit breaking or a pump helpfully transporting magma to your workshop. Or, maybe, a puzzled amoeboid monster. Or a sentient, aggressive puddle of acid. Underwater mecha I am sure there are oceans to be implemented in SB, so why not make a special mecha with a different texture that would withstand pressure of water (maybe some damage over time for players and land-based vehicles when underwater to encourage usage of specialized pressure suits/mecha) and use a flashlight and a grabber arm to explore the depths below? Disabling aircraft I have seen a VTOL (and a pulse rifle from Aliens, heh) on a screenshot recently, so I assumed that it is flyable. Since this game has weapons (lots and lots of them), I also assumed that it is destroyable. What I (and probably other gamers) don't like about aircraft in videogames is their destruction effects, which are usually limited to disappearing in a lame-looking ball of "fire". Please, please draw some sort of animation for downing an aircraft and add randomly flying debris or maybe replace it with a "battered" sprite that is a salvageable object, similar to chest. Or maybe go one step further and make a player able to recover such a valuable investment after some field repairs. Stationary automated weapons If my assumption about aircraft is correct, some automated AA guns would be a nice touch to any base. After all, people in multiplayer would love to bomb someone less developed and these guns would be a deterrent. Turrets are also useful for killing mobs that come too close to player's base. Maybe this is stuff for future updates, but having a range of turrets to choose from could add a whole new level of awesomeness to SB (starting with an MG+motion sensor and advancing through tiers to MLRS, futuristic rail-plasma-coil-tesla-whateverguns and industrial lasers cut down that particularly resilient monster). Imagine a siege by hordes of hostile fauna countered by high walls, deep trenches and automated machineguns and mortars. Or maybe huge Freudian BFGs like Big Gun in Quake 2, if you absolutely need an overkill or a relief on a highly hostile planet. A turret could function like a friendly NPC with "move" ability removed. Spaceship crash sites and abandoned structures What is more epic than a sight of a rusted beached ship on horizon? A sight of a crashed spaceship on an alien world, of course! Inside a player can find resources to repair his own ship and build his base, survivors able to join the player on his quest, various items, traps, squatting mobs or maybe a hostile faction's members that brought this particular ship's downfall. Or, perhaps, break into armory or medbay and salvage whatever you find. Or hell, you could just use the ship as housing. The ships could vary in size, shape and internal design for maximum amusement and challenge - for example, you could find a downed shuttle (avionics for VTOL, some food, money, corpses or low-level loot inside) or stumble upon a giant spaceship fitted with a hangar (some damaged aircraft or vehicles), armory (guns! Lots of guns!), cargohold (bulky spare parts, food, construction materials and other stuff that is usually placed in a cargohold), crew quarters (filled with looooooot!), weapons and a reactor that could power a base ten times bigger than yours. And some enemies to make the reward even sweeter. Sparking power lines and hissing automatic doors multiply coolness factor by 1.5. Maybe some ground structures too - temporary outposts, comm stations, long-abandoned by their owners. Or maybe there could be a side-quest such as player finding a comm relay that transmits coordinates of some location and searching for said location. Moss In Terraria and DF vines and moss would grow over abandoned ground structures over time. It adds a nice touch to old ruins and rarely-used player-constructed buildings. Moss would spread on illuminated, adjacent tiles unless trampled on or burnt by a flamethrower. Planets with high damage rating could have aggressive/poisonous/corrosive "moss", damaging player with fumes, his structures or outright attacking anyone in sight (or maybe non-native organisms) with moving vines (Man Eater from Terraria and Tiberium from C&C send their regards). Just imagine an adventure composed of these elements You stumble upon a derelict escape shuttle, activate its computer and find an approximate location of its mothership, also downed on the planet... containing something unspecified, but interesting interest. You get to the location, but the only thing you see is ocean. After getting a diving suit or a mecha you dive down, enter the submerged wreck, cut out the rusted doors and explore the ship until old but still-functional sentry guns open up on you. After disabling the power or destroying these guns you continue to walk inside the ship until you find an unsubmerged part, overgrown with moss and a door that leads to a sealed chamber. Inside, you find a powerful single-use beam weapon, that could also be used in construction of a weapon platform to blow that pesky xXxMEGAKILLER_98PROxXx n00b that has been harassing you out of the sky. Now you will show him, right? On the way out you also notice parts and construction materials for a drilling site. You will return here later to get these too, right?Wrong. After exiting the wreck you see a depth charge launched by that dumb VTOL deathmatcher turning it into a mess of metal scraps and fragments. Alright, now you are REALLY frustrated. That "megakiller" will not stand a chance against your new weapon. You will shoot him down, repair his craft and then turn the tables on him by blowing his base to kingdom's come.
Oh, my bad. Vines. Wine would be nice to have too - but I don't think aliens' beverages can be digested by humans. Fixed.
A little more feedback, please? I may sound like an ass, but I am a bit disappointed that three-string OPs with childish suggestions get way more views than this one.
Some very very very good ideas! I would like to see at least some of them implemented in the final release of the game.
As for this idea, I liked it, but (in general) I think it should apply to a small number of items/weapons, not so hard to build/find, but that very very powerful or useful. Hummm, interesting. But the fun of this type of games is actually going there, extracting the resources you need, crafting and then building. I would hate it if this is implemented to a wide range of blocks/items. I'm not sure what type of water damage has been coded yet, perhaps only drowning damage. But sounds like a good idea.l I'd prefer turrets that can be maned by the player instead of automatic weaponry. Anyway, as long as these are not uber super leet weapons that will require zero attention from the player I'm ok with it. Looks awesome Yes, sir!
What if you stand next to aggressive moss for over a minute it starts to spread and strangle you and you have to hack away at it to get free.
Isn't that just player's loss? a sane player wouldn't go to a bathroom or something while they're in danger?
After searching the forums for "wreck" I stumbled upon and wanted to post my gratitude for this thread. I particularly like the idea of wrecked ships and whatnot occasionally appearing on a planet. I could see them as a rare occasion, only one out of a couple dozen planets might have one, and even rarely more than one. Would be neat to see the top of an ancient shipwreck peeking out of the terrain and having to dig down to explore it for tech. Overall, definitely some solid suggestions you have.
Really I like all of your ideas in general. One shot items and weapons, deployables, wrecks, crashing craft wrecks and debris etc.
Thank you for your attention! After all, it increases the chance that developers will see this thread from infinitely small to at least somewhat sizable. Unless "Suggestions" is really simply an outlet for bored pop-culture-laden players, of course.
These idea's are some of the best so far, they're also the little things. Like moss... it would be awesome to go on an epic adventure and return to a house filled with moss, toadstools, small critters, and other nature-y things. The one-use weapons are also a favorite! I think it would be awesome to shoot down an alien with a flare! Full support on this!
