Hardcore Multiplayer Idea: Black Box Recovery

If the developers don’t want a true one-life-only multiplayer hardcore mode, another option could be a Black Box Recovery system.

When a player dies, they cannot simply respawn. Instead, their teammates must recover the player’s black box from the location where they died. The black box contains the last accurate copy of their data (because NoA’s databank corrupted or something), making it the only way NoA can reprint them. The team would then need to bring it back and spend resources to create a new body.

This would create some incredibly tense moments. If someone dies deep in a dangerous biome, the rest of the team would have to decide whether risking their own lives to recover the black box is worth it.

It’s not true hardcore since death isn’t always permanent, but it would make death feel much more meaningful and fit nicely with the game’s lore.

IDK about this. If you die in a long way from your friends will you just be stuck waiting 30+ minutes for them to get to your location, find your blackbox, and travel back to base to reprint you. And that only if the thing that killed you doesn’t kill them. Fun idea but i don’t think its practical here.

What about singleplayer

The waiting period for the dead player is definitely a big issue, I agree. I’m still trying to think of a good solution for that.

what if you can respawn like normal, but; the black box not only contains your “dropped items” but also your progress: blueprints and biomods. You have to either recover your blackbox, or go through rescanning, and relearning everything: all the blueprints and all the PDA data.

It would be as though you were starting a new game, but everyting you built would still exist, and you can get your “memories”(progress) back if you (and/or your friends if in multiplayer) recover your blackbox.

Add in a short timer to respawn, and it’d give a much harsher punishment for dieing, while still staying more or less in line with the lore, and not be TOO frustrating to deal with

For Solo why not Dark Souls it and make it that if you get re-printed and make it back to your black box you get to continue on. If you die on the way to your black box that’s it.

I guess this whole idea is not internally consistent with the story as your last known brain state is transmitted to the biobed at the time of death… but it’s still cool to think of as a mechanic.