Long term resource gathering, large deposits should have some way of regenerating

Simply put, you should never have to rely on metal farms to get metals. I think metal farms are a great way of side generation, however they aren’t fit to be a main one. I’ve been doing some base projects, and I’m starting to notice how quickly the large deposits run out. You have to go further, and further, and further for them until you just can’t find them. Then, it becomes a game of wait at base for your metal farm to give you some. Subnautica, at its heart is an exploration game and going out and actually looking for the resources you need and finding them is way more fun and interesting then waiting for them to come to you. Don’t get me wrong, metal farms are cool but they shouldn’t be the main main focus when gathering resources.

Regenerating ressources would be nice. The canonical explanation for the ressources being there is crystalization from mineral-rich sea water, so re-growth of deposits absolutely makes sense. Ok, maybe not the big deposits, but the small-single-unit deposits could respawn over a number of days, so the player always has SOME ressources to collect.

I think any regeneration would have to be slow, much slower than that for harvestable anchored lifeforms like pents or dragon’s scale coral, or else you’d be able to farm a relatively small area for resources. It’s also worth noting that we’re going to get a much bigger map, and thus many more resources, than are currently present in game.