Devs: Would you consider adding Scuba Diving Gear to the game in A18?

[BodyBagger]

[Please read entire post before prematurely rejecting the idea; there's a lot here to digest]

 

Since I used to scuba dive in real life, I may be a bit biased when I say adding scuba gear to the game would be a fun addition, if done properly. It would add an entirely new dimension to exploration for mid to late game (late game being a time when new experiences are needed to keep the game going). Exploration would no longer be limited to the land. There's plenty of water (lakes) on most maps (once A17 catches up to A16 maps), so why not use lakes as something to explore & loot from instead of just a barrier or mere decoration?

 

In this post I cover the following: 1) looting possibilities, 2) special underwater gear, 3) mods & recipes, and 4) medical emergencies you may experience while at depth. I'll try to keep this brief, but here are a few quick ideas:

 

1) Looting Possibilities

 

A) Small towns—or even large cities—are completely submerged underwater in a large lake, and only accessible with scuba gear. The scenario: A large dam broke upriver since there were no humans to maintain it, and the city was built in a small valley below sea level downstream. This underwater city may have special loot not found anywhere else in the game. The city could be completely hidden underwater, or have the top of a skyscraper just breaking the surface of the water to indicate its location. Careful, because zeds still walk the streets.

 

B) Sunken military ships and submarines also litter the lake's bottom with large caches of ammo, weapons, food, etc. But, you'll need special gear to get inside in order to loot (see below). And remember, the dead crew is still inside the vessel.

 

C) Complex underwater cave systems: Rare treasure chests filled with gold and silver is hidden or buried inside these cave systems. Find it and you may be rich enough to buy anything you want at Trader Joels. But, venture too deep into a cave and you could get lost in it's many meandering passageways, then run out of air and die. Small air pockets may exist, but only offer a temporary reprieve--limited air. Cave walls would be indestructible, like the Trader blocks (no easy way out if you get into trouble). Special gear is (again) necessary for exploration!

NOTE: Zeds would, of course, be protecting loot in all of these scenarios. A special "bloated" zombie could be added to the current gang.

 

2) Special Gear (made w/mods & special recipes, or found in POI's)

 

A) Underwater metal detectors: Used to find gold & silver or even ammunition buried in the silt at the bottom of the lake near shipwrecks or in and around buildings that are submerged (or in caves).

 

B) Underwater Cutting Torches: Used to cut through the hulls of ships, or cut into safes more quickly than a pickax can... Use it wisely because you only have a limited amount of fuel you can carry with you. Mods are available to make it more effective (cut faster).

 

C) Dive wheels: These devices resemble a fishing rod and reel; however, instead of transparent fishing line the dive wheel consist of a highly visible, but thin twine (rope). Before entering a cave, the diver ties off one end of the twine outside of the cave and unwinds the twine as he/she travels through the cave system—providing a clear and visible path out of the cave so the diver doesn't get lost--a must-have item. If you're a risk taker, you may enter a cave without one of these devices... but you may never come out alive since underwater passages do not show up on your map & you cannot mark your map while inside. Only the cave entrance shows up on Sonar (see below), and is also visible to the naked eye.

 

D) Lift Bags: Divers can't lift lots of heavy metals and gear out of the water on their own, so they use lift bags. Basically, anything found on the bottom will be put inside of a bag that has what looks like a parachute or balloon attached to it. The diver uses his/her regulator to release air into the attached "parachute" to fill it with air from the scuba/air tanks. Once filled with enough air, the lift bag floats to the surface with the loot in the bag. But be careful! If you don't have much air left in your tanks at the end of a dive, you could drown before you make it to the surface. So... plan your dive, and dive your plan!

 

E) Dive Lights: These lights attach to face masks to allow hands free operations; lights have two settings: broad beam to illuminate a large area (used with good visibility conditions), and a narrow beam (used when visibility is poor, such as when silt particles are kicked up from the bottom creating a large cloud of underwater dust). These lights get very hot and are cooled by the surrounding water; they cannot be used on land, otherwise they will burst from the heat. Note, the batteries only last for a short period of time before they have to be recharched by a generator/solar panel/battery bank. You don't want to get caught deep inside a cave when your batteries go dead and you're surrounded by nothing but darkness (not even adjusting your Gamma settings can save you). Always bring a backup light in case your primary light goes dead.

 

F) Dive Boat: A small boat with an engine so you don't have to swim long distances on the surface... Additional storage for loot is available (50 slots). Can carry up to 4 people (with mods). The dive boat could double as a fishing vessel if fishing was added to the game, as well (just another thought since in A17 we now have recipes that require fish--fish tacos). A sonar mod is available to help find underwater cities, sunken ships, cave entrances, etc. and to provide depth information. An anchor mod is used to keep the boat from drifting (or keep someone onboard during the dive). The boat would also need a trailer so it could be towed to the water by the 4x4 or motorcycle.

 

G) Dive Shop: A new POI where most of the above items could be looted, along with the standard dive gear: air tanks, mask, fins, snorkel, etc. The pawn shop would be another location where dive gear could be found, along w/random containers. An air compressor would need to be added to the game (like the tablesaw was, recently) so you could refill your air tanks. Possible POI names: Sharky's or Sharky's Diving Den, The Aquatic Emporium, Water Gear Inc., The Shoreline's Edge, Wet & Wild (place this POI next to the strip club, and have the naked strippers work there as employees), Depth Dunkers, Water Explorations, Hydro Sports, or simply The Dive Shop. Ok, one more: Joel's Wet Wonders.

 

I have more ideas here, but this is enough to get started... and, I hope code can be written to perform the above mentioned tasks. Can you pull this one off TFP?

 

3) Mods & Recipes

 

A) Re-breather: This equipment would scrub CO2 when the diver exhales and recycle the expelled air, allowing the diver to stay underwater for longer periods of time. Attaches to scuba tanks, but adds to encumbrance. Better use this mod if you plan to enter a cave system.

 

B) Advanced Fins: Larger fins with special grooves that allow divers to propel themselves faster through the water (2 additional levels of speed).

 

C) Additional Gear/Thicker Wet Suit: Transform cloth clothing (shirts, pants, hood, gloves, and boots) into neoprene diving gear with a "special recipe" using oil, glue, and acid which will provide greater warmth underwater. Also, upgrade a finished 1/8 inch thick neoprene wetsuit (shirt & pants combine into one piece during the recipe process) into a 1/4 inch wetsuit with a mod, keeping the diver warmer for longer periods of time underwater.

 

D) Larger Air Tanks & Special Gases: Makes a longer dive profile possible, like the re-breather... but, causes a greater degree of encumbrance.

 

E) Spare Air: A mod that changes an ordinary, empty food can into an emergency air source. When finished, the spare air cylinder contains approximately 1 to 2 minutes of extra air for use in emergency situations—such as when your main air tanks run out of air in a cave system. Carried in your backpack or toolbelt. Can be refilled for repeated use like the primary air tanks.

 

Many more mods are possible, but I don't want to make this post too long... and I'd like to hear ideas from you as well.

 

4) Physical/Medical Effects You May Suffer From

 

A) Nitrogen Narcosis: If you dive too deep for too long, you may suffer from this malady. Basically, you will become disoriented and feel like you're drunk causing you to make poor decisions at depth that could cost you your life. A special drug could be developed in the game that may prevent this from happening, or at least lessen the possibility (an "N2" injector).

 

B) The Bends: Shoot to the surface too quickly and nitrogen bubbles could form in your bloodstream. You're better off to do a safety stop at 15 to 20 feet to off gas the nitrogen for a short period of time before surfacing. Otherwise, you may not be able to move. A "nitrogen dissipator" drug could be used to speed the process.

 

C) Panic Attacks: You may feel claustraphobic in tight areas (or in total darkness) while underwater. This will cause you to hyperventilate and use up your air much more quickly than normal. Depending on how much air you have in your tanks, you could drown. Take a small dose of a "relaxant" to calm down; but don't take too much, otherwise you could lose your decision-making ability and drown anyway.

 

D) Hypothermia: You lose body heat much more quickly underwater. Make sure you have the right equipment to stay warm, and don't do extremely long dives. Get too cold and your body might just shut down in the middle of a zed attack.

[Gazz]

Pointless unless and until there is a lot of underwater content / gameplay first.

 

Also, Subnautica.

[BodyBagger]

Nothing that should really hold you back...

 

Pointless unless and until there is a lot of underwater content / gameplay first.

 

Also, Subnautica.

 

 

Content: I suggested underwater content at the beginning of the post. Furthermore, content doesn't need to be in every single lake. It could be in only one or two lakes and difficult to find... which could make it more interesting for those who like to explore and find rare things.

 

Gameplay First: I realize you guys have your hands full with Alpha 17 right now (and probably for some time to come). This is why I suggested that it would be presented in a later Alpha (Alpha 18). There's also a lot of bugs that need to be fixed (I submitted a game ending bug report about a week ago myself; totally locks up the screen), so I don't expect anything new to be added to the game for quite some time.

 

Subnautica: Just because there's another game with underwater content doesn't prevent you from presenting it in your game as well... Aren't there other zombie games created by other companies? Did this prevent you from making 7 Days to Die? Of course not. There are other games with skill trees as well, but you just introduced that into the game in A17. So this is not something that should hold you back... Use your imagination re: the diving concept. It would be completely fresh for the game and open up all kinds of possibilities... What other looting and exploring ideas can you add to the game other than more buildings on land? Basically more of the same stuff we already have. That's why adding the 4x4, the motorcycle, and gyrocopter are such great ideas: It's brand new stuff... new toys to play with. People love that sort of thing!

 

Anyway, just wanted to share some ideas that you may not have thought of before... With or without the diving concept it's still a great game. Hope to see more additions in the future...

 

Take care!

[Arysto]

That's probably not what developers want to implement in the game, for very simple reasons. It's game about zombie apocalypse, how do you want to fight zombies underwater? Or rather how zombies would fight you underwater?