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[zxc]

Running into one randomly can simply mean death (the loss of most parts) if you don't have a launcher (-9 or -8 and none might have spawned yet) or some other way of breaking free. All the other traps are just a fraction as damaging. The length of time you're ensnared is incredibly long. If it lasted about 25% as long it would still serve its function while being more in line with how damaging other traps are (still likely far worse than most traps but at least it would be more of a setback rather than the loss of 80% of parts as in many situations).

[Kyzrati]

They serve a different purpose from other traps, and are meant to be a much bigger problem for--mostly--fliers. I don't mind them at all as a non-flier. If they are bothersome, search for them via terminals and use Structural Scanners (you may have to slow down when rounding a corner to scan more effectively, and using multiple scanners is a great way to find traps extremely quickly). That or use Stasis Cancelers, or maintain a nice surplus support:weight ratio. There are lots of ways to deal with them.

There is also a very significant advantage to stasis traps, but I'm not sure anyone's figured it out yet. (In fact, as a non-flier I kinda like them.) The derelicts will later let you in on the secret

That said, I'll look into the numbers again, but the idea is that they're a significant headache for fast movers, something you should fear greatly and always be on the lookout for.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(Also, if you're talking at all about Garrisons, those are deadly and full of stasis traps for good reason.)

[zxc]

I turned a corner and immediately got caught in one on -8, and this was before any launchers or stasis cancelers showed up. There was no way to avoid it, there were no terminals leading up to it, and I had no way of breaking free quickly. As a result, I lost everything but a single flight unit I had in my inventory. This doesn't seem reasonable to me. It's less a headache and more a game-restart-prompt when you don't have the tools to break free.

Suggestions:

One or more of:

• Reduce stasis trap length
• Reduce/remove stasis traps from early game
• Trap length reduces upon taking damage

[Kyzrati]

Ah, wasn't aware you meant in the first few levels, where some of those situations don't apply.

Materials does have the highest terminal coverage for trap searches, though--you can usually reveal all of them that way (the searches go through walls and a single terminal covers nearly a quarter of the map at those depths).

In my opinion the most reasonable step would be complete removal, because any type of trap is already fairly rare from -10 to -8, and there is only a relatively small chance of each one being a stasis trap. According to the current data there's a 39-63% chance of having just 1 stasis trap array on a floor in the early game, and the chance for more than that decreases exponentially. And of course you generally don't cover even half of the area of a map, so the chances of encountering one should be quite low. You're just... lucky

Given your clarification on where you were, I agree there's no need to have stasis traps in the early game, where they're exceptionally dangerous and you have fewer tools to deal with them. I've removed them from Materials. I'll look at the numbers for their other instances, but I don't think I'd want to reduce their strength without also nerfing or removing their secret benefit, which I don't want to do because I prefer game elements to have multiple strategic considerations. (Stasis traps are deadlier, yes, but also have an outright benefit to a degree way beyond any other trap, even without reprogramming them... it's harder to take advantage of in the early game, anyway, though.[/cryptic_comments])