I've been finishing up the Deepsea Dive Digsite and while Arlo is a lovely addition to the site, it gets repetitive really fast. With Baldwin you have a lot more control and small-scale rewards (you decide what goes in and get it the moment the brew finishes). Arlo on the other hand is using two tools to work on random tiles (and in one case, random plots) over and over and over.
While being able to chose what tile is being worked on would be great, another way to improve the game might be to add more tools beyond the pickaxe and magnifying glass. Of course they have to be balanced to not trivialize Arlo; the point isn't so much to make your work faster, but to give the player variation and room for strategy.
These tools would be significantly rarer than the existing ones. I'm talking 1 per 100 normal tool, if not more. And if they're too powerful a number cap could be made so you can't hoard them. Alternatively they're handed out based on number of tiles you've cleared, ensuring players aren't at the mercy of lady luck.
Here's some brainstorm ideas for potential tools:
Dynamite
The rarest of them all. The bomb will clear 4-6 spaces on a plot immediately and have a nice explosion animation. Potentially it might have a balancing effect in that nearby plots can collapse and some of their tiles get covered.
Drill
Can be used on a specific plot to clear 3-5 spaces. Trade-off being it takes five hours. It's a good tool to use if you don't have the time to check in often on Arlo, or right before you tune in for the day. And rarity will ensure you can't spam it.
Dragon's Breath
Same functionality as the drill, but will attempt to clear a vertical line on a chosen plot. You can't chose the row it's used on, and if you're unlucky it'll be wasted on already uncovered tiles. Best for fresh plots.
Mystery Dust
Will randomly swap a bunch of the uncovered spaces across all plots in a digsite, with no control over what goes where.
Lantern
Slightly increases the chance that the next five tools will target the chosen plot. For pickaxes it only increases the chance of one pickaxe targeting it.
Tent
Temporarily covers a plot for ten turns, making any tools unable to target that plot. Multiple tents can be set up, but it takes 15-30 minutes and setting up a tent counts as one turn. A lantern and tent can't be used on the same plot. You have to exhaust one of them first before you can use the other. However they can be used simultaneously on seperate plots.
What do you think? Would you like more tools for Arlo? Do any of the above sound like good ideas or are they awful? And do you have tool ideas of your own?
I've been finishing up the Deepsea Dive Digsite and while Arlo is a lovely addition to the site, it gets repetitive really fast. With Baldwin you have a lot more control and small-scale rewards (you decide what goes in and get it the moment the brew finishes). Arlo on the other hand is using two tools to work on random tiles (and in one case, random plots) over and over and over.
While being able to chose what tile is being worked on would be great, another way to improve the game might be to add more tools beyond the pickaxe and magnifying glass. Of course they have to be balanced to not trivialize Arlo; the point isn't so much to make your work faster, but to give the player variation and room for strategy.
These tools would be significantly rarer than the existing ones. I'm talking 1 per 100 normal tool, if not more. And if they're too powerful a number cap could be made so you can't hoard them. Alternatively they're handed out based on number of tiles you've cleared, ensuring players aren't at the mercy of lady luck.
Here's some brainstorm ideas for potential tools:
Dynamite
The rarest of them all. The bomb will clear 4-6 spaces on a plot immediately and have a nice explosion animation. Potentially it might have a balancing effect in that nearby plots can collapse and some of their tiles get covered.
Drill
Can be used on a specific plot to clear 3-5 spaces. Trade-off being it takes five hours. It's a good tool to use if you don't have the time to check in often on Arlo, or right before you tune in for the day. And rarity will ensure you can't spam it.
Dragon's Breath
Same functionality as the drill, but will attempt to clear a vertical line on a chosen plot. You can't chose the row it's used on, and if you're unlucky it'll be wasted on already uncovered tiles. Best for fresh plots.
Mystery Dust
Will randomly swap a bunch of the uncovered spaces across all plots in a digsite, with no control over what goes where.
Lantern
Slightly increases the chance that the next five tools will target the chosen plot. For pickaxes it only increases the chance of one pickaxe targeting it.
Tent
Temporarily covers a plot for ten turns, making any tools unable to target that plot. Multiple tents can be set up, but it takes 15-30 minutes and setting up a tent counts as one turn. A lantern and tent can't be used on the same plot. You have to exhaust one of them first before you can use the other. However they can be used simultaneously on seperate plots.
What do you think? Would you like more tools for Arlo? Do any of the above sound like good ideas or are they awful? And do you have tool ideas of your own?
Honestly, something like this would be really fun, and maybe you could trade the surplus tools you get from mustering to new ones?
Honestly, something like this would be really fun, and maybe you could trade the surplus tools you get from mustering to new ones?
Yes, please, especially for tents! This would be so fun and mame Arlo so much more engaging, heck i forget he's an an NPC more of the time! Maybe some fun additions will make me more excited for him
Yes, please, especially for tents! This would be so fun and mame Arlo so much more engaging, heck i forget he's an an NPC more of the time! Maybe some fun additions will make me more excited for him
I used to display all my meme numbers here, but honestly im tired off that
i will still say that i own the #
420 saved scry
The tent sounds like an interesting idea! I'd love to cover up the familiar patch I've already uncovered twice
The tent sounds like an interesting idea! I'd love to cover up the familiar patch I've already uncovered twice
I like all of these! Makes archaeology more of a puzzle, not just a “click the button” daily.
I like all of these! Makes archaeology more of a puzzle, not just a “click the button” daily.
...who, me?
I would love more tool variety, as long as it keeps the timing balance as you've said. It would be a shame to make it too easy and change the pace of items acquired by much, but it would also be so fun to have more options to change things up and have a bit more control while sacrificing completion time.
I currently have 99 pickaxes and 646 magnifying glasses because it is just such a massive time taste to use the magnifying glass. I very rarely use one when a plot only has one square left, but even then once I've already got every plot, I don't care as much about when I re-dig them up, so why bother wasting time uncovering less plots? Rugged Work is the only way for me. :D
I would love more tool variety, as long as it keeps the timing balance as you've said. It would be a shame to make it too easy and change the pace of items acquired by much, but it would also be so fun to have more options to change things up and have a bit more control while sacrificing completion time.
I currently have 99 pickaxes and 646 magnifying glasses because it is just such a massive time taste to use the magnifying glass. I very rarely use one when a plot only has one square left, but even then once I've already got every plot, I don't care as much about when I re-dig them up, so why bother wasting time uncovering less plots? Rugged Work is the only way for me. :D
This is really clever, I like the idea of tents and lanterns particularly. I've wished before that excavating had a small chance of turning up trinkets or something, just to add a bit of instant reward now and then.
But this would be a good way to make it feel less like a repetitive slog and more like you're solving a puzzle.
Support.
This is really clever, I like the idea of tents and lanterns particularly. I've wished before that excavating had a small chance of turning up trinkets or something, just to add a bit of instant reward now and then.
But this would be a good way to make it feel less like a repetitive slog and more like you're solving a puzzle.
Support.
These are all super interesting; love the concepts and ideas!
Support.
These are all super interesting; love the concepts and ideas!
Support.
Oh this is super neat, there would be some real strategy towards the minigame! That's coming from someone who doesn't mind the current system too much, and having some stuff that recovers other spaces requiring you to think about your options is super neat.
Edit: One thing that I may request though, can we please NOT have a waystone notification prompting you to use the special tools? Since they have some actual strategy to them I don't want to feel like I have to use them immediately, and I always clear out my waystone notifications all the way because it's super satisfying.
Oh this is super neat, there would be some real strategy towards the minigame! That's coming from someone who doesn't mind the current system too much, and having some stuff that recovers other spaces requiring you to think about your options is super neat.
Edit: One thing that I may request though, can we please NOT have a waystone notification prompting you to use the special tools? Since they have some actual strategy to them I don't want to feel like I have to use them immediately, and I always clear out my waystone notifications all the way because it's super satisfying.
I love the idea of extra tools turning it into something with a bit more fun and strategy. As-is I just clear the new digsites once then don't touch them anymore because it's not interesting enough to warrant the constant notifications.
I love the idea of extra tools turning it into something with a bit more fun and strategy. As-is I just clear the new digsites once then don't touch them anymore because it's not interesting enough to warrant the constant notifications.
