Subnautica

fris said:

immersive

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I already made that joke!!!

There's no way you made it from the crash zone to 1100m down in a single fall under ordinary circumstances, you must have fallen through the ocean floor which is prone to happening in the Prawn. I had to reload once because my Prawn fell through the bottom of the moonpool at the enforcement platform, and then like 5 minutes later after reloading I had to abandon that Prawn and spawn another one with the console because it became convinced that it was no longer in water, despite me being ~1200 meters down. Like I could get out and I'd be swimming normally, as soon as I got back in the Prawn it would go back to acting as if the water volume was no longer there. The funny thing is that it's still down there if I turn the waypoint back on even though I took the crush depth upgrade to put in the replacement Prawn. Can't take crush damage if you aren't in water!

This game is easily the most disappointing game that I've ever loved, I mostly just wish there was more to do. Base building is a fun diversion, but aside from the moonpool (and obviously the fabricator) they're just that, a diversion. Now granted the game experience is wildly different on replays compared to your first playthrough, but I did my no-cyclops playthrough without building a single additional base aside from my starter underneath lifepod 5. And because of all the raw titanium you need building bases without all the extra storage of the cyclops is super tedious, but if you have the cyclops you really don't need to build bases anymore except out of convenience. Even a power cell recharger isn't particularly necessary because you can pretty easily just keep building fresh power cells. The main draw of sprinkling bases throughout the game would be having scanner rooms to find resources, but the only reason you need that many additional resources is...to keep building more bases.

Basically I really just wish the game had a AAA budget to add more stuff/make the game bigger, but without losing the vision and uniqueness that you typically only find in games with a lower budget.

fris said:

still going slow, fun game to decompress despite the stress it gives. got my prawn's grappling hook and drill, ready to kill my first reaper. few back and forths, get out to repair a few times, ready for a 3rd ride, and let go on accident, i'm flying through water. i was killing the 1st reaper you find near the main ship crash. before i know it, i'm 500m down and my 1st base is 1500 meters away. can't slow down my decent, nothing around but water. i finally 'land' around 1100 meters (100 above max depth) in what i assume is one of the lava zones. i have 1 food and 1 water on me and 1 set of extra power cells. luckily, i made it to the lost river the other day and i setup a base there w/ power & food. spiderman my way there with little time to spare food wise. it'll be a long way back to my cyclops and base. holy crap this game is immersive.

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Damn you fell right into



. Terrifying.

Game is very fun. Shame there's no multiplayer - it would be a blast doing coop with my kids.

People say that, but I really think it would be exponentially problematic for the experience of the game. The entire premise is that you are ALONE and LOST.

The IDEA of multi-player is cool, but I think it would make the game less... Memorable

If you're not tired of the survival genre, then pick this up. They did an incredible job with the atmosphere. Plunging into the depths of pitch black water next to massive, sheer cliffs while playing late at night with the volume cranked is pulse-pounding. Do yourself a favor and go in blind -- no videos, streams, guides, etc.

Didn't realize they upped the price so hard. I bought this for $10 long ago and most of that was from selling Rust skins.

Jaybee said:

If you're not tired of the survival genre, then pick this up. They did an incredible job with the atmosphere. Plunging into the depths of pitch black water next to massive, sheer cliffs while playing late at night with the volume cranked is pulse-pounding. Do yourself a favor and go in blind -- no videos, streams, guides, etc.

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This: playing on headphones in the dark is an experience. You just feel from the sounds that there is awful shit out there waiting to get you. The sound is amazing in this game definitely right up there so far as survival games go. The base bulding aint so bad overall either (Though i found it slightly tedious at times as it takes quite alot of shit to make stuff and that seems hit or miss).

My brother bought this game on Steam and told me to try it out. The first hour or two was a challenge. I didn't accomplish much, I died plenty of times, and I wasn't sure if the game was for me. Though, the graphics, atmosphere and immersion really convinced me to keep plugging away at it.

Now, I am 14 hours in. I have Seamoth, Cyclops, and Prawn Suit. I am hitting a wall again. I just don't know what to do or where to go. I haven't gotten a radio call in hours now. Every time I take my Cyclops and Prawn Suit out for exploration, something bad eventually happens and I lose them. That is a couple hours of lost progress and re-farming to get the materials to rebuild them. I love this game, but I am not sure how much more I can put into it without some direction or story line focus.

The other thing is the lack of a map. I understand the feeling of being 'lost' has so much to do with the immersion of the game, but I wish there was a way to upgrade your compass a bit to include mapping as you discover new areas... or maybe there is and I haven't figured it out yet. There is probably a lot about this game I don't know or understand still.

drop beacons everywhere. They are cheap, last forever.
You could, totally create a quadrant system with them. xx/xx (then make notes of points of interest on a notepad) Or, just drop them at key locations.

There is a subtle, but existing storyline. note datapads or radio calls do generally give hints on where to go. not x/y coordinates, but general ideas.
The world is also, not really that big, if you want to search every square inch.

The biggest lack of direction imho, is finding wrecks with specific upgrades. grappling arm, etc. things like that spawn in only 1 specific location.
you can build multiple scanner rooms. built in remote outposts spread out, to allow coverage of the entire map..

Fight said:

My brother bought this game on Steam and told me to try it out. The first hour or two was a challenge. I didn't accomplish much, I died plenty of times, and I wasn't sure if the game was for me. Though, the graphics, atmosphere and immersion really convinced me to keep plugging away at it.

Now, I am 14 hours in. I have Seamoth, Cyclops, and Prawn Suit. I am hitting a wall again. I just don't know what to do or where to go. I haven't gotten a radio call in hours now. Every time I take my Cyclops and Prawn Suit out for exploration, something bad eventually happens and I lose them. That is a couple hours of lost progress and re-farming to get the materials to rebuild them. I love this game, but I am not sure how much more I can put into it without some direction or story line focus.

The other thing is the lack of a map. I understand the feeling of being 'lost' has so much to do with the immersion of the game, but I wish there was a way to upgrade your compass a bit to include mapping as you discover new areas... or maybe there is and I haven't figured it out yet. There is probably a lot about this game I don't know or understand still.

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Savor this experience. Once you've gotten through it the first time you can't unremember things and subsequent playthroughs are a lot less fun. Although losing a Cyclops is one of the hardest things to do in the game, the closest I ever came was when I had just gotten out of range of one leviathan only to aggro a second one before I could get out and repair, but even then I managed to get away, and that was before I started using decoys. Once I started using decoys I never even came close to losing a cyclops.

there are a few things to remember that the game does a REALLY subtle job of telling you. the cyclops is exponentially louder the faster it goes. i've driven right past several predators that would normally attack, but didn't because i was moving slowly enough to not attract them. this doesn't work for ALL predators, but i think the majority of them.

feel free to have multiple bases. they don't need to be sprawling underwater cities, just large enough to fulfill their purpose. that purpose could be a food pitstop. i.e. put some melons in a grow bed and call it a day, it could be just a scanner room in a biome that you end up needing specific minerals from.

beacons beacons beacons. i didn't use them my first go around but they are super cheap and you can label them whatever you want. i put one at all my bases, entrances to hard to find biomes, key areas that i may have to come back to at some point. if you are worried about your screen being filled with beacon relays, you can individually turn them on or off in the pda.

as far progressing goes, the game has a natural arc that is subtle, but stable. if you don't know where to go, check your pda, it should give you hints on what to do next. i remember missing one of these for a bit, not knowing what to do, until i just randomly wanted to clear out all the "new" tabs in the journal. i looked through a bunch of notes and was like... oh... heh, it says where to go right there... the AI voice never said it, i think she just mentioned translating something and i never went to read it.

I have never used a beacon before. I will start using them and that should be sufficient to make my own map of sorts.

As for the story line or what to do or where to go next... My PDA has like 100+ new entries on it, and it would take me hours to go through and listen to it all at this point. Is there a section or category I can 'cut to the chase' on? Crew logs or something?

iirc the really relevant ones are outright labeled "clues".
degassi ones lead to further degassi habitats, iirc even outright create HUD markers.

yeah, the cyclops has two meters in the HUD. speed and noise. its easy to mistake one for engine power, when its actually NOISE.
running slow will make you nearly invisible to most stuff. even "silent running" isnt really needed, if you just go slow.


Did the rescue ship event happen already? did you go meet it?

Fight said:

I have never used a beacon before. I will start using them and that should be sufficient to make my own map of sorts.

As for the story line or what to do or where to go next... My PDA has like 100+ new entries on it, and it would take me hours to go through and listen to it all at this point. Is there a section or category I can 'cut to the chase' on? Crew logs or something?

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There are two islands on the surface that contain the clues that direct you to the next parts of the story. If you're already building bases that means you found the Degasi island base because iirc their bases are the only places you can scan a multipurpose room. The PDA entries give you a clue about them building a base underwater and tells you roughly where to search for it, but it doesn't give you a HUD marker. Since Caliane already mentioned it there is a third degasi base but the clues you get from the second base give you a HUD marker for the third base so it's easy to find. The underwater Degasi bases are actually skippable but they contain a few handy QOL blueprints. The critical path of the game goes from clues you get from the quarantine enforcement platform.

Mild spoiler to help find the second Degasi base if you want it


Major spoiler to find the second Degasi base if you want it, but I recommend against opening this unless you're really having trouble finding it

I believe so...

Fight said:

I believe so...

Spoiler

The rescue ship that gets blown out of the sky by the alien base? Yeah, I got to that point within the first hour or two. Then I went inside the base and got stuck with the needle/infected or whatever.

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Open your PDA and go to the far right tab, Databank. Data Downloads -> Codes and Clues should contain the relevant info you got from the quarantine enforcement platform, Data Downloads - > Degasi Survivors should have the relevant info you need to pursue the Degasi seabases.

Thanks for the help guys.

Beacons really are a game changer. I now have all the areas of the map littered with them and what they are resource rich with.

I made it to the underwater river last night and found the alien facility there. I need to upgrade my vehicles further to go down to the lava area, so I guess that is next.

Fight said:

Thanks for the help guys.

Beacons really are a game changer. I know have all the areas of the map littered with them and what they are resource rich with.

I made it to the underwater river last night and found the alien facility there. I need to upgrade my vehicles further to go down to the lava area, so I guess that is next.

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Might be too late, but fyi you can build modules on a cyclops. The two obvious things are grow beds and lockers to turn it into a full on mobile base, but if you put a modification station on it you don't have to go back to the surface to upgrade your depth modules. Crush damage is very slow, so you can easily pop the cyclops depth module out, run over to the modification station, upgrade it, and then slap it back in the cyclops before you've taken much damage at all.

I kinda dislike the Cyclops. Additional bases after the first are unnecessary even on your first playthrough, and the cyclops magnifies that even farther because once you have the cyclops, the only thing you need a base for is recharging power cells, but power cells are so trivially easy to make (all the materials are in the safe shallows or kelp forest) so you could either build a huge supply of power cells and just swap a new one in when one is drained, or cheese it with multiple moonpools by just swapping drained power cells into a docked seamoth or prawn. My second playthrough I actually completed all the story objectives without ever building a second base or a cyclops, just did everything with the seamoth or the prawn.

Gavinmad said:

Might be too late, but fyi you can build modules on a cyclops. The two obvious things are grow beds and lockers to turn it into a full on mobile base, but if you put a modification station on it you don't have to go back to the surface to upgrade your depth modules. Crush damage is very slow, so you can easily pop the cyclops depth module out, run over to the modification station, upgrade it, and then slap it back in the cyclops before you've taken much damage at all.

I kinda dislike the Cyclops. Additional bases after the first are unnecessary even on your first playthrough, and the cyclops magnifies that even farther because once you have the cyclops, the only thing you need a base for is recharging power cells, but power cells are so trivially easy to make (all the materials are in the safe shallows or kelp forest) so you could either build a huge supply of power cells and just swap a new one in when one is drained, or cheese it with multiple moonpools by just swapping drained power cells into a docked seamoth or prawn. My second playthrough I actually completed all the story objectives without ever building a second base or a cyclops, just did everything with the seamoth or the prawn.

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i'd only somewhat agree. it's possible to get through the game without LOTS of upgrades, the game is more about seeing what you CAN do. also, like i said earlier, building extra bases JUST for the scanner room is such a quality of life change that it's almost mandatory. just remember to build the scanner hud upgrade.

j00t said:

i'd only somewhat agree. it's possible to get through the game without LOTS of upgrades, the game is more about seeing what you CAN do. also, like i said earlier, building extra bases JUST for the scanner room is such a quality of life change that it's almost mandatory. just remember to build the scanner hud upgrade.

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Except the only thing you really need a huge amount of resources for is...building more bases. So that you can find more resources to...build more bases. The difficulty of finding what I call the 'gatekeeper' resources necessary to upgrade your depth modules is more figuring out what biome they're in than actually locating them once you've found the biome. Biggest stumbling block for me on my first playthrough was magnetite, followed closely by gel sacks. Once I found those, I cruised through the rest without too much difficulty.

If you really feel the need to scan around, just carry the mats for 2 multipurpose rooms, a bioreactor, a scanner room, alien containment, some reinforcement patches or hatches, some peepers or reginalds to seed the alien containment, and a bed. It's not as many materials as it sounds like, and once you've picked up everything you want within range of that outpost, you just deconstruct it all and move on. If you don't have alien containment yet you can use a growbed (inside or outside) to feed the reactor, although you'll need something to get it started with while waiting for the plants to mature.

Actually, I feel like both kinds of growbeds break the game even more than the cyclops does, especially considering how early the game directs you towards the place to scan them. The exterior growbed isn't so bad because on your first playthrough you're less likely to know how to really exploit it unless you read a guide, but the interior growbed just completely trivializes hunger and thirst management. Having to turn fish into food and water when you first start was very novel, but once you build a growbed congratulations enjoy your zero effort infinite supply of marblemelons, potatoes, and lantern fruit.