Creature Base Attacks and New Buildable Items

Bases should be able to take damage from creatures. Different-sized creatures should deal different amounts of damage: small creatures, like the Nibbler Mango, should deal a small amount of damage; medium-sized creatures, like the Hammerhead, should deal a moderate amount of damage; and large creatures, such as Leviathans, should deal significant damage.

This would make players think more carefully about where they build their bases and consider both the downsides and upsides of each location, especially with the new region being based around the Collector Leviathan.

Automatic Flare Cannon

There should be a buildable structure called an Automatic Flare Cannon that you can place on top of your base. When a creature attacks your base, it automatically shoots a flare that lures the attacking creature in the opposite direction of your base.

The cannon should be able to hold a certain number of flares, meaning players have to refill it once it runs out. If the cannon is empty, the creature would have a chance to attack the base again if it chooses to.

Armored Walls

There should also be a new wall type similar to the glass walls called an Armored Wall. These walls would have significantly more durability and be able to withstand more damage from creatures, giving players another option for protecting important parts of their base.

Electric Base Defense

There could also be a buildable structure that you can place on the outside wall of your base that electrocutes creatures when they touch the base. The structure should be customizable in size, similar to the Grow Bed, allowing players to adjust it to fit different sections of their base.

This defense would primarily target small and medium-sized creatures, giving players another way to protect their base from smaller threats. Larger creatures, such as Leviathans, would be less affected or completely unaffected by the electric defense.

Concepts of what I’m thinking. The electric defense and cannon would be smaller.

While I agree that eventually, building bases in the territory of agressive animals should come with consequences, here are a few thoughts:

Essentially what you just wrote is “Make base maintenance very grindy. Then give us tools to make it less grindy. Then make those tools grindy in turn”

Also your idea would require a significant rework of creature behavior. With the monomanic way hammerheads attack right now, you would never be done re-arming your flare cannons.

Last but not least, from what I hear, many players absolutely despised the concept of armoring their base, so I’m not sure how pleased they would be if you told them they have to do it in the safe shallows now.

Lore-wise, I imagine Alterra would approach creature deterrence similarly to the Resources Development Administration (RDA) from Avatar, but Alterra uses less violence. Alterra could use electric deterrents to discourage them from attacking. This would make the defensive structure feel believable within Alterra’s technology and give players a way to protect their bases without having to directly kill the creatures.

They already have the base workings of the creatures in place, and they can add different mechanics to them without necessarily rebuilding everything from scratch. They are already changing and expanding creature behavior anyway, so adding mechanics that allow creatures to interact differently with bases could be part of that ongoing development. Creatures already react to Flares and the Sonic Resonator.

You’re only looking at the current state of the game instead of the long-term picture. The game is still adding more creatures and Leviathans, so this idea is not just about building in the Safe Shallows. Eventually, there could be many different regions around the world, each with its own creatures and threats. Base defenses could make those different locations feel more unique and give players more things to consider when choosing where to build.

And I’m already suggesting a relatively simple system. This is not some extremely violent mechanic where creatures are being killed. The defenses are mostly about deterring or redirecting creatures. The electric defense would mainly discourage smaller and medium-sized creatures from attacking the base, while the Automatic Flare Cannon would shoot a flare away from the base to lure larger creatures, such as Leviathans, away. The goal is not to kill everything—it is to protect your base.

The game is already encouraging players to use things like flares and the Sonic Resonator to deal with creatures without killing them. My idea follows that same design philosophy by giving players a way to use those kinds of mechanics for base defense. So I don’t understand why the answer should be to completely remove every defensive option and make bases permanently untouchable.

You’re also putting words in my mouth by turning my idea into “make base maintenance extremely grindy.” You already have a Repair Tool. Repairing damage does not automatically mean you are constantly grinding. I never said creatures should attack nonstop, that repairs should be expensive, or that players should constantly be re-arming defenses.

The Automatic Flare Cannon also would not be shooting flares at a Leviathan. It would shoot the flare away from the Leviathan and away from your base, giving the creature something else to follow and luring it away. The electric defense is there specifically because the flare cannon does not need to be the answer to every small creature that gets too close.

And nobody is being forced to turn their entire base into a fortress. Armored walls could simply be used as a few reinforced panels on vulnerable parts of the base, while the Automatic Flare Cannon would be an optional defensive tool for players who want extra protection in areas with larger threats. Some players might not need a flare cannon or electric differentat at all, depending on where they build and what creatures are nearby.

If you want to build in a safer area and use no defenses, that should still be an option. But as the game expands and adds more dangerous regions and creatures, building a base directly in the territory of aggressive animals should reasonably come with more risks and more ways to deal with those risks. The idea is not about making the game grindy—it is about adding long-term gameplay, variety, and more meaningful choices to base building.

Also, in your logic, did you make a suggestion called “more complex creature behavior and creature behavioral modification by player interaction”? Because wouldn’t that also require a significant rework of creature behavior?

Funny how that works. At least we agree that bases should have consequences. But don’t criticize my idea just because you can’t fully comprehend how it could work. It’s an idea that can always be changed and refined.