I'm not sure if this is being worked on or not as I haven't really been following the game, but I'm surprised it's not in the game already. Something similar to what the single player campaign had, the mission to mission persistence, combined with purchased upgrades to the sub and multiple people could make for a great co-op experience.

Starting out in a sub and taking small and easy but treacherous missions for such an incapable craft (and crew) and advancing to a hulking, complex monstrosity whether it be well built or not and dealing with very dangerous and serious missions such as end worms and other subs.

Making decisions as to the future of the sub based on dire situations; Can we afford to sacrifice the purchase of weaponry for this mission in order to buy medical supplies? This mission is ranked for a much larger vessel but is the reward worth the risk? Our reactor struggles as is but if we add an cannon we would be a lot safer overall.

It could also add to the impact of various roles, currently the only difference is starting gear and statistics. Different roles could be in charge of different systems of the ship, such as the engineer the electronics and devices of the ship and the mechanic the engines, pumps, guns and reactor, and it would be their job to come up with solutions to issues in these systems and communicate them to the captain, allowing him to make more informed decisions.

This would add elements of grand-scheme decision making, resource management and a sense of progression, and could add a lot to the entertainment value of the co-operative aspect of this game.

Cudowat wrote:I'm not sure if this is being worked on or not as I haven't really been following the game, but I'm surprised it's not in the game already. Something similar to what the single player campaign had, the mission to mission persistence, combined with purchased upgrades to the sub and multiple people could make for a great co-op experience.

Starting out in a sub and taking small and easy but treacherous missions for such an incapable craft (and crew) and advancing to a hulking, complex monstrosity whether it be well built or not and dealing with very dangerous and serious missions such as end worms and other subs.

Making decisions as to the future of the sub based on dire situations; Can we afford to sacrifice the purchase of weaponry for this mission in order to buy medical supplies? This mission is ranked for a much larger vessel but is the reward worth the risk? Our reactor struggles as is but if we add an cannon we would be a lot safer overall.

It could also add to the impact of various roles, currently the only difference is starting gear and statistics. Different roles could be in charge of different systems of the ship, such as the engineer the electronics and devices of the ship and the mechanic the engines, pumps, guns and reactor, and it would be their job to come up with solutions to issues in these systems and communicate them to the captain, allowing him to make more informed decisions.

This would add elements of grand-scheme decision making, resource management and a sense of progression, and could add a lot to the entertainment value of the co-operative aspect of this game.

it's 2 complicated to make. developers are focusing on other things that are more useful

Since submarines Are all player-made a Upgrade system would require a large overhaul of the submarine creator.

I mean yes, Its just editing the sub, But the way you Are imagining it would make it far more complicated.
Mainly because every item would have to be given a value, and really every: From every piece of wall to any items you want to add, to literally every wire in the grid. Of course, spawnpoints wouldnt cost anything.

But yes, the farther you progress, the more OP the sub becomes (Lets call it endgame, since there is nothing to Do anymore).
I am talking lots of railguns filled with nukes, As your behemoth of a sub Goes to completion of Its...delivery mission.

Now really, a coop campaign would require many more missions to be Added with a lot (Or a little) variety. Like Monster nest missions: Eradicate the Crawler nest, lots of Crawlers.
(Because, currently the only "dangerous" mission is the endworm one, and Even that one isnt too challenging, If you Are prepared)

And moreover, many more things have to be considered:
- What happens to a crewmember that died?
- What Happens If a life entity (e.g. Husk) is in the sub when it Docks in?
- What about traitors?
- What about infected?

Tl;dr: Is probadly possible, would however require ALOT, and I mean ALOT of work to be done. (I didnt Even mentions AI improvements for AI subs to be possible)

Frostdemon727 wrote:Since submarines Are all player-made a Upgrade system would require a large overhaul of the submarine creator.

I mean yes, Its just editing the sub, But the way you Are imagining it would make it far more complicated.
Mainly because every item would have to be given a value, and really every: From every piece of wall to any items you want to add, to literally every wire in the grid. Of course, spawnpoints wouldnt cost anything.

But yes, the farther you progress, the more OP the sub becomes (Lets call it endgame, since there is nothing to Do anymore).
I am talking lots of railguns filled with nukes, As your behemoth of a sub Goes to completion of Its...delivery mission.

Now really, a coop campaign would require many more missions to be Added with a lot (Or a little) variety. Like Monster nest missions: Eradicate the Crawler nest, lots of Crawlers.
(Because, currently the only "dangerous" mission is the endworm one, and Even that one isnt too challenging, If you Are prepared)

And moreover, many more things have to be considered:
- What happens to a crewmember that died?
- What Happens If a life entity (e.g. Husk) is in the sub when it Docks in?
- What about traitors?
- What about infected?

Tl;dr: Is probadly possible, would however require ALOT, and I mean ALOT of work to be done. (I didnt Even mentions AI improvements for AI subs to be possible)

I appreciate the detailed response and I understand that there would be quite a work load involved in implementing what I had imagined, but that was my personal view of the possible future of such a game mode as I believe the game has large potential as a co-operative experience that legitimately relies on the participation of other players which would be refreshing in a world of bland "co-op", with even that being rare.

To address some of the possible issues you mentioned:
-The idea was to make the scope of the missions scale as the players advanced in their subs
-Crew member death is a complicated issue, I was thinking of having the ability to hire new crew members for players to play as but with large player counts this could get out of control and result in many players unable to play for a long period of time. The player count would have to be limited or there could be free re-spawns but this would hinder some of the sense of permanence. I was undecided about this and thus didn't put it in the original post.
-Creatures on the submarine can be kept in the sub, and could even be worked into story elements (text descriptions of encounters depending on what was in the submarine, similar to the random encounters you could find in FTL), or there could be a real time display of the ship docked, allowing actions to be taken in between missions.
-Certain game modes such as traitor would likely need to be excluded for the sake of co-op.

Undoubtedly, there are various issues with what I described, and I will admit it was more just a suggestion than a fully thought out feature that has to be added into the game, which may have been the impression. In fact, in hindsight it might even interfere with the developer's vision for the game. But this doesn't change my opinion that this game with a persistent campaign focused on co-operation could be an amazing experience, even if it was the single player campaign currently included in the game but with players controlling the other crew members.