Sea fishing feels so bad but i think it have a good potential.

[Cuernito.]

I like fishing in almost all games i touch but DST, normal fishing in freshwater is ok but fishing at sea is the worst mechanic of this game so far in my opinion, im not joking i like all the others mechanics this game have, i like farming, bosses, ranching even tallbirds i enjoy all but sea fishing and i feel so bad about it because fishing is almost always my fav mechanic in this kind of games, i like fishing in terraria, core keeper, stardewvalley, the forest, minecraft, etc.

So i want to make this post to bring some ideas to improve this mechanic and hopefully klei can do something with sea fishing.

First I think sea fishing have 3 main problems that combine so bad, there are games with only one of these problems in their fishing mechanic and they are ok but DST have the 3.

Poor variety of fishes.

Sea fishing dont worth the effort = meh rewards or no good ways to use the fishes.

Clumsy mechanic.

The first problem can be solved adding more variety of fishes, something funny and creative like glowing starfish, white tunafish, berry anglerfish, transparent angelfish, sun jellyfish etc, i think real life have a great variety of sea fishes and klei can create even weirder creatures so this sould be an easy problem to fix.

The second is a matter of making new crockpot recipes that use exclusively sea fishes (good recipes btw) so this sould be easy too.

And finally the worst thing, the fact i have to use a container for all the lures this game have is bad enough but the sea fishing rod and the fishing in this game are so slow, you can't mass farm fish to get food unless you are winona or wicker which feels bad. i think a good way to solve this could be with an upgrade to the sea fishing rod, a new craft using scrap, gold, wood, moon glass and rope to get the arachnid net rod, this new tool have 4 slots for your favorite lures and 4 slots for floats and one slot to put fish food. This new tool can catch 4 fishes at the same time and none of them can escape when they take the bait,(so you never lose your lures) and the rod can automatically drop fish food when you throw it into the ocean only if the fish food slot have some. This way you dont need the lures box all the time and you save another inventory slot for the fish food.

All this should be enough to solve the problem of sea fishing but i think this game is build in epicness too so i feel there should be a new hidden mechanic, new 4 mini giants and 1 new giant. My idea is adding legendary fishes, the foes of the sea. Theres should be 1 mini boss per season and you will need a new tool to face them, the spearpoon canon but first im gonna talk about the bosses.

Mini giants.

Joey Le Grande(autumn): He is a really big mantis shrimp/sea horse that use echolocation to get his food, he is almost blind, his diet is autum fishes only. He lives usually in shallow ocean parts. He moves really fast but gets tired fast too, he attacks using his fists to make fast and consecutive damage to the player or the boat and he can do an epic scream to scare mobs and stun the player for 2 seconds. He drops a shrimp big head, 4-6 raw shrimps, 3-4 raw fish and 1 minichest(this drowns into the sea after some time), the chest can contain some random gems, some moonglass and 1 blueprint for the pocket sonnar. 2000 health

Angel Jessy(winter): She is a really big blue dragon/angelfish that like cold waters, she likes to put fires off using water spits and she likes to play a little with the player too spitting water if too near. He likes ice sheet and rough ocean, her diet is winter season fish only. She moves fast and has good stamina, she can attack trying to bite the player 2 times, she do one bite then she goes underwater to emerge to other part of the boat edges to try another bite then she gets tired, if she is not near the boat she can spit water 2 times to the player location. On death she drops a big angelfish head, 6-8 raw fish and 1 minichest. the chest contain random gems, 1 gear and 1 blueprint for the sea splinkler. 2000 health.

Big Rosita(spring): She is a really big oarfish covered with colorful corals and other sea plants, she only eats spring fishes, she is really shy so she almost never show herself unless attacked with the spearpoon canon. She likes shallow ocean and waterlogged ocean. She is medium speed but she has a lot of stamina. She does one bite attack then she stay still, during this she start glowing and when full glow if she gets attacked the player takes electric damage and after the electric stun she does another fast bite attack, then she does a final tail slap to the get away of the boat again. On death she drops one large fish body, 3-5 death eel, 2-4 raw fish and 1 minichest that contains random gems, 1 gear and 1 bluepirnt for the biofuel producer. 2000 health.

Old Sunny(summer): He is a big sea turtle with brigh yellow and red colors that try to make his predators know he is dangerous. He likes hazardous ocean and brine shoals, his diet is summer fish and jellyfishes. He is really slow with low stamina but he has extra damage resistance cause his shell, when on the edge of the boat he charges a big range bite that does a lot of damage and after that he gets tired, he emits heat with his body that can cause a max of 2 parts of the boat to smolder. On death he drops 6 hard shell scales, 1-2 raw fish, 1-2 Fire tutle eggs and 1 minichest with random gems and 1 blueprint for the shield of the sea bumper. 1800 health.

Giant.

The MegashadowJaw(Post rift chance 10% to show with his bait in any season and 100% during a new moon): He is a really big rockjaw that got corrupted with shadow fuel in response to lunar power trying to take overworld. His diet is a new fish exclusive post rift, the white mooncat fish. He is really fast and has a ton of stamina, he lives only in hazardous ocean. He attacks with fast and consecutive bites when near the boat, has an insanity aura and can charge an attack when far from the boat making a big bite to the boat but if he misses the charge attack he gets tired and stop moving. On death he drops 8-12 raw fish, 3-4 pure horror, 5-8 dreadstone and 1 minichest with the cursed cutlass. 6000 health.and planar armor.

New mechanic.

Now to face these fish bosses you are gonna need the new spearpoon canon, a new crafting attachment to boats like the pinchin winchin, you are gonna need the blueprint from crab hermit, the craft is gonna need 1 spear, 3 ropes, 2 planks and 4 silk. This new attachment have 4 slots to put the bait (any fish alive) inside a big net that you can launch into the ocean to attract the new bosses or other fishes only during their season and in the ocean biome they like, after a while theres is a chance for the legendary fishes to show, they appear as really big shades under the water some of them can show their head others are shy, and after they spawn you have to use the harpoon-spear, you have to aim and shoot and if you dont miss the spear is gonna pierce the fish's back, then the fight start, the big foes like to fight back but they are smart and know when to run, when they try to swim away from the player the minigame start, the fish is gonna pull your boat towards it using the harpoon rope, you have to row and try to avoid the obstacles and dont get too far away from the fish cause he can break free and escape, after a while of swimg away the fish is gonna get closer to attack the player or the boat again and the process repeats over and over after the fish is death or escape. I had this idea of harpoon mechanic by seeing how nautopilots works so i know its possible.

New items.

Pocket sonnar: is crafted with a compass, a shrimp big head, 4 moonglass and 1 scrap. This item when hold can show the location of the islands others than mainland with white arrows showing the way, deep bass shoals with green arrows, special biomes like salt and waterlogged with blue arrows and it can show fishes shoal near player too with red arrows.

Sea splinkler: is crafted with 1 gear, 2 scraps, a big angelfish head and 2 electrical doodads. This item is a splinkler that can only be placed near a water body like ocean or a lake, it needs fuel to work like ice flingo, and it works like a foutain so it can water all tiles around it.

Biofuel producer: is crafted with one large fish body, 3 planks, 6 hound teeth, 1 gear and 4 scraps. This item can produce high quality fuel using all kind of raw food, dishe or rot but it take a while to make the fuel.

Shield of the sea bumper: these are crafted with 1 crabking bumpers, 2 hard shell scales and 1 glommer wings. This is the best bumper, they have 200 durability and can be repaired using hard shell scales, they cannot break, when low health they stop taking damage for the boat.

Fire Turtle eggs: they can be used to ranch turtles so player can get easy hard shells scales without killing old sunny a lot of times.

Cursed cutlass: Its an item not a weapon, this item first should be paired with a boat, after that the boat health gets extra 200 health and start emiting shadowy aura, the item gives you control over wavey jones and when using the cursed cutlass a wheel of commands appear, you can make wavey jones raise or lower your mast, anchor and if the boat has an steering wheel too you can change the direction of the boat too, so this is really good for solo sailing with a fully equipped boat.

[Jakepeng99]

Add a fish trader which wants specific types of ocean fish, so having diffrrent species means something.

[Well-met]

all you need to do is make lures not vanish on fail

[Cuernito.]

1 hour ago, Jakepeng99 said:

Add a fish trader which wants specific types of ocean fish, so having diffrrent species means something.

This is a good idea too, maybe a fisherman merm that lives in an island near swamp mainland.

or in order to not making it much like pearl, maybe a new tiny community of merms and pigs fishermen that lives in some islands over the ocean and they can trade fish for a lot of good stuff.

Edited January 17 by NekoSoulx

[Jakepeng99]

9 hours ago, NekoSoulx said:

This is a good idea too, maybe a fisherman merm that lives in an island near swamp mainland.

or in order to not making it much like pearl, maybe a new tiny community of merms and pigs fishermen that lives in some islands over the ocean and they can trade fish for a lot of good stuff.

That’s what I also thought. I also thought of pirate merms

[aidankocherhans]

Sea fishing is mostly just a novelty, it's more effort for no better rewards than all the standard methods of getting food. The payoff needs to be significantly higher.

Edited January 18 by aidankocherhans

[Velvy]

i feel like certain sea fish could yield multiple fish meat, so you get more bang for your buck, but the fish trader idea sounds really good as well. rn my main hope is that warlys skilltree has a fishing section that signicantly improves sea fishing by a ton