BoxFigs
Refugee
Let me preface this by saying I'm not in either camp. I'm looking at this purely from a game design perspective, at the mechanics behind all the talk. I first played the game in Alpha 17, though I didn't really get into it until Alpha 21. Because of that, I was still new to the game when Glass Jars were removed, so I don't have much reason to want them back. I'm only suggesting this as a way to give the community what they want while balancing water collection in a logical way.
You see, it wasn't just that you could craft Glass Jars, or that you could collect 125 Murky Water with a single click, but it was also trivial to turn that Murky Water into boiled Water. So what I propose is to limit the rate at which you can obtain clean Water to bring it in line with the Dew Collector.
In any case, if Glass Jars get readded, please make cooking and crafting non-drink items give the Glass Jar back. That was what really bothered me in the short time I played when they were still in the game. I actively avoided making recipes like Cornbread and Boiled Meat because of it.
Anyway, I feel that this concept would be an ideal solution that would add to immersion in a balanced way and would make players feel that they have a choice in how to obtain water.
You see, it wasn't just that you could craft Glass Jars, or that you could collect 125 Murky Water with a single click, but it was also trivial to turn that Murky Water into boiled Water. So what I propose is to limit the rate at which you can obtain clean Water to bring it in line with the Dew Collector.
- Contaminated Water: A new intermediate stage of water that replaces Murky Water found in containers (except toilets). Murky Water cannot be boiled, but Contaminated Water can. Maybe at a 2:1 ratio at a Campfire, where you get the second jar back, and can be purified 1:1 at a Chemistry Station.
- Water Filtering Station: A new workstation unlocked at Workstations level 2 that converts Murky Water to Contaminated Water over time. The crafting recipe could be 50 Scrap Polymer, 2 Short Iron Pipe, 2 Duct Tape, 20 Sand, and 5 Coal.
- Murky Water Changes: Contaminated Water would have the current stats of Murky Water, so Murky Water would need to have -10 health and 25% dysentery chance to make it worse by comparison. As mentioned before, it can no longer be boiled into Water.
- Dew Collector Changes: The Dew Collector would also produce Contaminated Water by default. Like Joel mentioned in his Reddit post, it would require Glass Jars to collect water. Maybe its collection rate could be dependent on the biome, to give a reason to use the Water Filtering Station instead in some situations.
- Glass Jars: I think it would be a good idea to bring down their stack size to somewhere in the 20-50 range. High enough to take up only one slot in most situations, but low enough that using them to collect water wouldn't be too convenient.
- UV Light: The current functionality of the Water Filter, making a workstation produce clean Water directly, could be replaced by a UV Light that decontaminates the water automatically. The Water Filter can be repurposed as a tool that increases the efficiency of the Water Filtering Station, as an improvement of the makeshift one made of sand and coal.
In any case, if Glass Jars get readded, please make cooking and crafting non-drink items give the Glass Jar back. That was what really bothered me in the short time I played when they were still in the game. I actively avoided making recipes like Cornbread and Boiled Meat because of it.
Anyway, I feel that this concept would be an ideal solution that would add to immersion in a balanced way and would make players feel that they have a choice in how to obtain water.
