19 hours ago, Krougal said:trying to make water scarce
2 hours ago, zztong said:long-term scarcity.
I think people have a false assumption going that TFP for some reason wants players to have to worry about water for their entire playthrough and that if a system of obtaining and stockpiling water somehow solves the player's water issue, then that system is broken.
Water survival should get solved during the course of the game and it shouldn't be something the player must struggle with after a certain amount of time spent working to achieve self-reliance in that area.
The problem of an infinite water source and infinitely lasting reusable jars is that the snowball effect of that system means that water survival is solved on day one, with zero struggle or progression. There is zero expense to that system or any kind of diminishing returns so the snowball rockets down that hill becoming an avalanche in mere moments.
The current system, depending on how you play, can take a couple of days to a full week before you have your water source established and reach the point where the struggle is gone. In either case, it does require the player to focus on solving the issue at the opportunity cost of doing other early-game tasks which is an aspect of the new system that I greatly appreciate.
How long SHOULD the player need to struggle with water? I don't know. In my games it all gets solved sometime within the first week of game time. Some playthroughs I end up needing to drink some murky water and others I never do. But in every case, the objective to solve my water issue is a real objective that I pursue and sink time into accomplishing.
When I went back to play A20 and more recently when I tried the mod District Zero, it felt akin to having the creative menu on for water as the stack of empty jars just automatically built up in my inventory without any conscious effort. It was just free and didn't steal my focus from other objectives at all. District Zero's jars are more scarce than A20 but still, once I found a jar it was mine forever and the stack would've grown if I hadn't decided to just throw away all empty jars whenever I noticed them in my inventory.
I'm certain TFP could iterate the current system to something that allowed for some harvesting of water from water sources in some limited way to prevent the snowball effect that reusable empty jars created and maybe they will if there's time before the end. If they do, I wouldn't necessarily be opposed.
But whatever system they land on it will also have the goal of creating a short-term objective to solving the water issue. There is no search for a system that creates a long-term or whole playthrough struggle for water survival. It is meant to be solved in the early game.