Sounds like a limitation, to me. So SC is limiting gameplay environment? Then they are, of course, making gameplay choices. That's good, but as I said before, by the time its released, it'll have the same gameplay as EDO..they're just going to take 40 more years to get there, removing this and that to get it to work, since they can milk it longer without admitting that. (the scam)
This dropping a limitted number of items, which probably has a time limit as well, reminds me of SRV tracks on a planet, or in other driving games. The wheels leave tracks, but only for a certain distance. In the past it used to be short, and you could watch it like a snake, but nowadays those tracks can be quite long. Havent checked if they're persistent.
Tempted to reply, but don't want to drag this thread into another ED vs SC discussion.
Instead i'll post some cat media.