Dear Beam Team,
I want to start out by saying I completely understand why you would choose to deny regrowth of certain objects. You want players to go out and gather, not be stuck to a single location. Survival until escape, that’s your goal. That said, there are many problems with “railroading” players in that manor;
First, this means your resources are capped. No matter what you do, there is a limit to what you CAN do. A lot of people replay these games because they want to build. Some don’t even care about completing the game or escaping their solitude, even for their first playthrough. Their goal is to build a massive resort or a huge floating island (raft) or some other impressive construct. Finding out they can’t do that? Well, huge letdown.
Second, with Stranded Deep specifically, it means the difficulty sharply increases the more players you have (as every player is required to craft to advance). Honestly, I don’t know how 2 players even make it off a lot of their starter islands with how limited some of the random islands can be. Does one player just stand around while the other one grinds up their crafting skills on the first island, then they move to the next (assuming their raft hasn’t vanished)?
Third, where’s the logic in non-regenerating trees and coconuts? I mean, I completely understand that when you pick up a rock it shouldn’t just magically respawn. That said, you can get limitless food from fish/crabs. You can get limitless water from harvesters. Fibrous leaves regrow. You can even plant them, as well as other crops. Why no tree and coconut regrowth? It doesn’t have to be an instant thing. Like even 15-20 days for a tree would be better than NOTHING.
I’ve been with you guys since very Early Access and this has been something people have ALWAYS complained about. So what gives? You want people to travel? Fine, like I said, make the regrowth happen over a long time. Don’t deny it completely, for cryin out loud. I mean, come on, at least make it an option that can be toggled on and off so it’s up to the player.
That also fixes the Co-Op problem. Why you only allow 2 players, when other games with similar opening storylines (The Forest comes to mind) allow up to 8. I’m guessing it’s due to the limited resources, because more than 2 players would be impossible to survive during the initial couple of days. Making these resources renewable, even if there’s a lengthy wait for the renewal, will open the game up to a larger co-op capability.
Again, even if the tree/coconut renewal is optional (a game setting) it would still be a huge improvement over the current system. Once that’s implemented, there wouldn’t be a problem going to even a 4-player coop… Remember, the more your game offers the more people it’s going to attract to it.