Eel Issue - Let's fix that

[Captain Gecko]

Yeah, you knew that was coming.

 

It's a pleasure to see how far we have come in such a short time, from our very first, very messy first round on the Horizon to today. Obviously, with something so new and different change will have to be made... I feel like some big things should be changed, and I'm far from being the only one, but everyone is aware, and the NBT just dropped, so for now let's focus on something small, yet far from minor.

The Eels, the damn Eels, man. Look, I get the idea, of having a rare but very dangerous creature out there. I also, generally don't mind unfair odds and events, I wouldn't be maining Xenoarcheology if I did, however there's a problem when this also means miners getting slaughtered and the ship missing on materials and multiple jobs ending up very... Limited. Once again, I imagine that many problems on the side will be fixed later on, so I really just want to focus on the Eel itself.

 

Here are the problems I'm seeing so far:

- They are redundant in their purpose. We already had a "rare but dangerous", Space Sharks. Now, of course, the Eel is much, MUCH more lethal than the shark, but as far as unique roles go, that's pretty much it. They hit hard and can take a lot of punishement. Now, there may be another role that had been planned instead, to be so dangerous that the only proper course of action is to run, which is actually very interesting and nice! But...

- You can hardly outrun them. I do not mind overpowered foes if you have the ability to avoid or at least escape them. The Eels go rather fast, faster than a walking human in their voidsuit. This means that you will have to run, and obviously, your stamina has limits. You could try to block the Eel into terrain with the help of a heavy object (my go-to one is the Field Generator because with a wrench you can keep it stuck on the ground, mob can't push it, assuming that you've got the right terrain around, and are fast enough), but so far, most of the rocks we've seen are actually full of open spaces, meaning that hiding in terrain is a pretty limited option as well. And I'm speaking of this assuming that you're a Human. Unathi and Dionae are never going to get a chance at escaping it.

- They are HORRENDOUSLY POWERFUL. Yeah of course. As stated, you can hardly outrun them, and facing them is nearly suicidal. If alone, or even with one or two friends, you WILL die, if not from the Eel itself, from your wounds (As it will take a while to fly back to the Horizon... Once again, another problem for another time).

 

Here are a few solutions possible, they could be used together too:

- Solution one, nerfing them. I... I'm actually not that fond of that solution, I feel like the next ones would be better... But these nerfs could be used to give the Eel a more precise role... Make it much slower, to that it remains as dangerous, but can be avoided by all; make it very fragile, so that it acts as a glass cannon, that can do terrible damage to the careless EVA workers, but that the experienced ones knowing where to look and how to react have a chance; etc.

- Solution two, keeping them around a point of interest. Just like how the Hierophant will defend its spot in the Lavalands of your local Baystation-ish server, one way to make the Eel unique, even more interesting, and keep its level of danger might be to make it defend its own little spot. A tile with something it defends (and maybe a worthy reward that could be an incentive to actually face the Eel, like a phoron-superdense rock that would give a full stack's worth of phoron once mined, very expensive Eel eggs, a literal treasure chest, etc.) meaning that the Eel will never go X-tiles away from it and that the players can still run away, and yet have an incentive to not just ignore and stay away from the beast. It's my favorite solution by the way.

- Solution three, keeping them for precise sites. Just like how we had the megaspider/megagreimorian on an away-site with the Aurora (yes I know it was played by a player, but my point stands as far as danger level went), HIGHLY dangerous fauna like the Eels would be kept for special spots, precise sites, ones that players can recognize and know that they may have to at least prepare, giving them a chance to properly engage with the beast, or even just avoid the confrontation.

 

While I'm not fond of the Eel in its current state, and so are many other players from what I've seen/heard, I KNOW that there is potential for something really, really interesting.

[wowzewow]

Getting nerfed already.

Should probably add some space eel cooking recipes, heh...

[WAYRT]

Eel hamburgers when

[witchbells]

I eagerly await the addition of unagi to kitchen menus.