We had a thread where we were talking about the backpacks and how they gonna be the new protections from environment. However what I never liked is this simple "on/off" switch for total protection. I think it does not create any true mechanic at all except going to the tech screen and changing it. Making it "backpacks" isn't much different, except that I can even carry my "tech station" around with me at any time. However, here a new idea of how another system could look like: SB has that energy system which generally is nice, but totally underused, because it's only for combat matters and some movement, which with the current techs isn't much of awe anymore. So what if we keep the idea of Armor providing a different level of Energy regeneration. This can still help us to define "tiers" and their Access to different biomes. But now the protection packs won't be a on/off switch. They will be tiered protection levels. As well as maybe other Augments. So imagine we create an augment belt able to house 5 slots. This belt can now filled with various kinds of augment modules. Each augment put in will drain energy depending on it's tier. The player will now have a choice of combination what augments and strength he wants to add and what his current characters Energy supply allows. So some basic examples of whats should be possible (numbers are of course not chosen accurately and just function as placeholder examples): Light modules: simple light bulp module: 1.0E/s - emits a slight light around the character. similar to the lantern on a stick. Basically the lantern on a stick placed in a module slot. flood light module: 1.5E/s emits a light similar to the xenon light but only directed forward.in a 90degree angle halogen module: 1.5E/s emits light as the halogen pack xenon module: 2.0E/s emits light as the xenon backpack does. This way the player has a choice of various kind of light sources in combination with different kind of energy levels drained by them. Less light may provide more energy regeneration for wepaon usage to supply combat or other modules. Healing modules - small nanobots supporting the players wound regeneration and applying various medics into the body. basic healing modules - regs 1H/s costs 1E/s standard healing module - regs 1.5H/s costs 2/s advanced healing module - regs 2.0H/s costs 3/s superior healing module - regs 2.5H/s costs 4/s as you can see, this is non linear, and using low and standard healing will cause 2,5H/s at the cost of 3E/s it may be more efficient than the advanced module, yet it will require 2 modules applied to the belt which only has a limited amount of slots available. Which should kinda balance the system within itself. Radiation protection modules - they basically increase the time between the damage ticks. low radiation protection - reduced radiation effect by 40% 1E/s standard radiation protection - reduced radiation effect by 60% 2E/s high radiation protection - reduced radiation effect by 80% 3E/s formula of using multiple would be 1-((1-mod)*(1-mod)*(1-mod)) making for example low rad and standard rad delivering a 76% reduction instead 100% reduction) This way no 100% protection is possible, maximum protection would be 95.2% at a cost of 6Energy per second. However certain combinations with health regeneration may cause a kind of 100% protection by causing damage taken vs health regenerated to be not draining health of a player yet it would cost a lo energy which would also be needed for other protections, regeneration, combat and of course permanent light sources. So the player may have to truly think about what he takes and what protection values are needs. same as the Radiation protection would work: cold protection modules heat protection modules Oxygen supply modules. Acid protection modules - against acid rain and damage from being in toxic liquid. Higher tiers armors providing more power will allow the player to access hazard environments easier or generally to even survive them, while a lower tier player may not be able to do so due to not supporting enough Energy to keep the modules running. Or a high tier player may choose to be medium well protected versus multiple hazards. Further such a system would require a better heat system in the game in general, like specific surface temperatures, and hot climate close to the core, while deep planetary areas are also cold. This way you will face different environmental threads on planets instead of just one threat per planet which currently makes every "choice" a no brain decision. So basically a volcano planet may be hot, but cause less heat damage than a magma planet. And while a frozen palnet may be cold, deeper within the planet it may be still cold, bu less cold, and even hot near the center of its lava core. So yes thats it, a rough idea of how to implement a bit more unique choices into the current on/off system of hazards and tiers. And mostly also to give the energy system more meaning which in my opinion is very underused. Edit: some typos
