Subnautica — Expansion Ideas — IV
I’ve been talking about my Subnautica Expansion ideas to improve gameplay for the last 3 articles. It’s time for the final one: Creature behavior.
I had already written about this in my first articles but I didn’t have the same perspective. I’m not going to go into detail but basically creatures have new behavior now… including attacking bases!
Before I start, a message from future! You can find a list of Subnautica articles, including the behavior series in this publication.
If I Sees, I Eats
First thing to know is that the creatures reacts to things they like and dislike. For example, stalkers love the smell of metal and to feel it in their mouth. They also enjoy kelps. Your base is, even when titanium, is refined metal and they kinda like it rusty, but it’s still attractive. If there is also kelp around, they’ll probably hang out around your base and may occasionally try to grab a bite of something. While rooms are too big for its taste, corners of foundations or outside modules like the solar panels might be worth a try.
Of course, a reaper will be much different. If you build slowly and steadily and you don’t show much movement from inside, maybe, just maybe, they’ll accept you as part of the background. If not, you are in their territory and you may end up with a destroyed base.
There are some evolutionary back-traced fears in some creatures. For example, Ampeels can be attracted to your base easily, but are scared of Crabsquids. You can use this to scare them off.
I See What You Did There
Now you might be saying: “Are you crazy? I’m not letting some crabsquids loose around my base to stop some ampeels!”
Well, you don’t have to. With the expansion comes a new feature: Creatures in Alien Containment Unit react to what they can see and vice versa. If you have an ACU in a MP room with enough glass, the Ampeels will see the Crabsquids and back off. Of course, the Crabsquids will want to bully the Ampeels, so if there are too many of them around, you may wanna be cautious: They’ll get nervous if they keep wanting to chase down Ampeels but can’t.
Similarly, you have to be careful if you are breeding prey fish and there are predators outside: They may try to charge in and damage your base.
Of course, different creatures have different ways to feel, different view ranges etc. Crabsnakes for instance, have no eyes. They rely on secretions of mushrooms and sense nearby vibrations, so they are mostly isolated (except for the player running around.)
Conclusion
There is more to this topic since behavior for each creature will be different. As mentioned, my initial articles have some points, but with all the new systems considered, they may need a revamp to make things interesting. In the end, creature behavior, combined with new materials and changes to alien containment unit, will definitely make the game more interesting.
