Read again. I'm not asking for it to be implemented, I'm curious why I can replenish my thrusters from the plutonium stack in my Exocraft. In others words: I don't like it.
Sorry, I wasn't referring to you. It's just something you learn to take into account and so manage your inventory accordingly.
My main gripe with survival so far is how quick life support drains. Essentially it forces you to walk instead of run and it's incredibly annoying and takes away from the experience. The plutonium doesn't bother me too much although it was frustrating on the first couple of planets.
That's the point of Survival. There's the Normal mode if that's your thing. People pick Survival because it's 'hard', although it hasn't been so hard since the small update that came out just after the Foundation update. There WAS a game breaking problem, a situation in which resources could be depleted between treks out into the wilderness and then on returning and saving, you would find you had less life and less resources each time. This lead to situations in which you ended up with a slither of health and no way to replenish it. This was patched and now you'll always find 'just' enough to get by, if you're sensible.
Survival should not be made easier, just manageable. for instance, they've balanced the Zink out by allowing us to take on Sentinels and get some Zink that way, although there's a risk, and that is exactly what you want in Survival mode. I've played this game for 300+ hours now (travelling though 5 galaxies) and watched well over 500 hours on Youtube ... I'm addicted to watching other people's journeys and seeing how they cope with what appears to be an almost insurmountable problem to begin with. In every single case, eventually they 'get it' and survive. Part of the problem was people continued to play as they had done in Normal mode, even strolling past Plutonium or Zink or Thamium while on their trek to the ship. It was fun to watch, and still is.
Another problem I'm seeing (and not just on here, on other forums and Youtube) is people assuming the experience with Survival mode is always going to be the same as the beginning and so they're worried they'll have to struggle throughout the mode. ... They don't. Once you've upgraded a little, got used to the routines, found a base, a decent ship or a manageable planet, you can continue to improve your durability with relative ease. It then just becomes a case of good management, and it's not even that constant, it's just an occasional thing you have to take care of.
Here's one problem I faced early on in Survival mode: I landed on a planet with very little plutonium (pre patch), found NO zink and got into a death loop. After dying several times (I'd learned not to save. DON'T SAVE in this situation), I was worried that was it. What I ended up doing was breaking ALL of my upgrades down and managed to just get enough resources to escape the death loop I was in. 'Phew' ... But it was FUN and EXCITING.
That might not be your idea of fun and exciting but if that's the case, don't choose Survival. Survival was added for those of us who DO want that sort of thing. I'm now trying Permadeath and that's frigin' scary as hell. I just watch DM21 crash and burn after 20 hours, and just like the trooper and lover of challenge he is, he just started again and accepted his fate.
Just stick with it and learn the game loop. The beginning hours are the hardest but it grows easier as you progress. Platinum and iron are your friend. They make shielding shards.
