Best Of
Re: update...
We passed cert today, and we just completed our post-cert testing. Look for an announcement Thursday 

Re: 3-in-1 On the Edge Of Release - Subnautica
We passed cert today, and we just completed our post-cert testing. Look for an announcement Thursday 

Re: Soo...what happened to the Degasi survivors?
They still need to make a few wrecked Degasi subs hanging around down there near the bases.
Re: 3-in-1 On the Edge Of Release - Subnautica
I posted this on reddit, so I'm posting this here to help clarify what happened.
We should hopefully, have some kind of news this coming week. We feel your pain, and we're sorry it's taken so long.
We've mentioned in many threads that we fixed one problem, which lead to another. Then to fix that problem meant we had to upgrade Unity, then there were new problems which meant lots of pain, cost and time. All while having to upgrade to the latest Subnautica version, which is how we're at a 3-in-1 patch. It's certainly not through lack of effort, we've been putting in a ton of hours.
We were ready to ship a couple week ago, but an issue that got passed Cert testing (that was not in out final testing before we sent it to Cert) that was found by us, and of course we had to fix it as it was game breaking: https://unknownworlds.com/subnautica/3-1-edge-release/
It's not been fun, but we think we found the problem stopping us from shipping and the build is on it's way to Microsoft for Cert. We'll be posting if/when it passes cert and it passes our own internal final testing.
We should hopefully, have some kind of news this coming week. We feel your pain, and we're sorry it's taken so long.
Re: "Dawning": A Subnautica Story
Bart Torgal
You know those days, where everything seems to turn up roses? How nothing bad happens for the entire day, and you feel like you're on cloud 9?
This day was the opposite of that.
I sat in the Scanner Room, overlooking a small swamp planet filled with giant cockroach-like monsters when the ship flailed around like a chew-toy in a dog's mouth. My chair had not been locked down for safety purposes, so I went flying into the wall behind me. No sooner had we dove, the ship righted itself once again. I was dislodged from the small dent I had made with my fall, and slammed into the metal ground. After a few seconds of trying to get my bearings, and failing miserably, I stood and hobbled to the entrance. I exited the Scanner Room to see what was happening, when I saw my father at the panel.
I didn't even have time to question him when his right hand swiped hard to the starboard side. The Degasi jerked to its right, causing me along with all the other loose object to go spiraling into the opposite wall. When I hit the wall, I heard an audible crack and my side exploded in pain. Definitely a broken rib, if not multiple. I lay there on the deck, trying not to heave my innards, when I heard my father chanting, "84%...84%...84%...84%...84%..."
I hadn't the slightest idea what he was talking about, but I didn't like it. I tried to stand, but my stomach crawled up my throat, and my vision dimmed into a red haze. I quickly dropped back to the deck, cradling my own body. I tried to yell, but my lungs didn't want to inflate, so I was reduced to a whisper. "Father, what are you doing?" I croaked.
He didn't pay any attention to me, but continued to try to keep pushing the thrust above 100%. I kept trying to get his attention, but each attempt left me drained and dizzy. It wasn't until an engineer ran in from the Engine Room screaming, "Sir! Sir! Slow down or the engine will overheat and collapse!!"
The man, whose name I believe was Marcus Troutzart, ran to my father and tried to shake him away from the panel. My father, scarcely moving his head, swiftly backhanded the man, sending him spiraling backwards. I had never seen him do such a thing, my father was not a violent man, and had always talked about how such violent acts were barbaric and idiotic. This was completely out of character for him.
Soon, alarms blared, as the computer spoke over the Degasi's intercom saying, "Danger, danger, reactor silos numbers two and three are in critical condition. Overheating imminent, turn off engines immediately."
My father didn't even flinch.
Marcus shouted, "Mr. Torgal! You're going to kill us all if you don't stop!"
Only then did my father speak, "What should I care?"
His answer had shocked me. He had truly lost it. I was so flabbergasted that I didn't realize Marguerit sprint in. She jumped, almost flying, and delivered a crushing blow my father's jaw. He cried out, as he was knocked nearly 2 meters back, sliding into a row of computers. "Are you insane?!" Marguerit yelled, "You could of killed everyone in the ship with this stunt of yours!"
He didn't respond, holding his now bloodied mouth. We all sat in silence as the computer relayed the engine's heat readings. We stared at him for what seemed to be forever. After an inordinate amount of silence, he spoke softly, "What should I care?..."
At this response, Marguerit stomped over to him, and gave him a swift kick to the stomach. Then gave him another, and another. It took 2 engineers and myself to drag Marguerit away from my father. And even then she shouted some of the vilest, explicit words I had ever heard. And I went to Secondary school.
Once we were sure that Marguerit wouldn't kill my father, we set about cooling the nearly critical, radioactive hyperdrives. Only my mother attended to my fathers wounded body. I would've helped, but I couldn't bare to look my father in the eyes. Everything I knew about him, everything that I had attributed to him, was slowly cracking. I wished more than anything to keep this image from breaking.
After we had stabilized the engines, we set about to getting back on course. I checked our destination, our last recorded position, and our current position. And things were not looking good. Due to such a high burn for such a long time, not to mention our current, unhindered kinetic energy, we had traveled 1,366,956 Km. away from Asteroid B0AGDD. Things were not looking good. Not only that, but we were still traveling at untold speeds towards a mystery destination. But the next problem we had to solve was how to stop. No ship was ever designed to stop while traveling at such insane speeds. We would need to to orbit around several other planets and moons to take advantage of their atmospheric friction.
Sadly, until we could get the ship stopped, we couldn't turn back. We could literally tear ourselves apart by trying that. There is no other way but to go to...whatever my father was so desperate to see. I still couldn't see what made the planet so special, besides an abnormally high titanium content.
It would take an estimated 12 days to reach the area, barring any complications during orbiting.
Everything had to go perfectly until then.
You know those days, where everything seems to turn up roses? How nothing bad happens for the entire day, and you feel like you're on cloud 9?
This day was the opposite of that.
I sat in the Scanner Room, overlooking a small swamp planet filled with giant cockroach-like monsters when the ship flailed around like a chew-toy in a dog's mouth. My chair had not been locked down for safety purposes, so I went flying into the wall behind me. No sooner had we dove, the ship righted itself once again. I was dislodged from the small dent I had made with my fall, and slammed into the metal ground. After a few seconds of trying to get my bearings, and failing miserably, I stood and hobbled to the entrance. I exited the Scanner Room to see what was happening, when I saw my father at the panel.
I didn't even have time to question him when his right hand swiped hard to the starboard side. The Degasi jerked to its right, causing me along with all the other loose object to go spiraling into the opposite wall. When I hit the wall, I heard an audible crack and my side exploded in pain. Definitely a broken rib, if not multiple. I lay there on the deck, trying not to heave my innards, when I heard my father chanting, "84%...84%...84%...84%...84%..."
I hadn't the slightest idea what he was talking about, but I didn't like it. I tried to stand, but my stomach crawled up my throat, and my vision dimmed into a red haze. I quickly dropped back to the deck, cradling my own body. I tried to yell, but my lungs didn't want to inflate, so I was reduced to a whisper. "Father, what are you doing?" I croaked.
He didn't pay any attention to me, but continued to try to keep pushing the thrust above 100%. I kept trying to get his attention, but each attempt left me drained and dizzy. It wasn't until an engineer ran in from the Engine Room screaming, "Sir! Sir! Slow down or the engine will overheat and collapse!!"
The man, whose name I believe was Marcus Troutzart, ran to my father and tried to shake him away from the panel. My father, scarcely moving his head, swiftly backhanded the man, sending him spiraling backwards. I had never seen him do such a thing, my father was not a violent man, and had always talked about how such violent acts were barbaric and idiotic. This was completely out of character for him.
Soon, alarms blared, as the computer spoke over the Degasi's intercom saying, "Danger, danger, reactor silos numbers two and three are in critical condition. Overheating imminent, turn off engines immediately."
My father didn't even flinch.
Marcus shouted, "Mr. Torgal! You're going to kill us all if you don't stop!"
Only then did my father speak, "What should I care?"
His answer had shocked me. He had truly lost it. I was so flabbergasted that I didn't realize Marguerit sprint in. She jumped, almost flying, and delivered a crushing blow my father's jaw. He cried out, as he was knocked nearly 2 meters back, sliding into a row of computers. "Are you insane?!" Marguerit yelled, "You could of killed everyone in the ship with this stunt of yours!"
He didn't respond, holding his now bloodied mouth. We all sat in silence as the computer relayed the engine's heat readings. We stared at him for what seemed to be forever. After an inordinate amount of silence, he spoke softly, "What should I care?..."
At this response, Marguerit stomped over to him, and gave him a swift kick to the stomach. Then gave him another, and another. It took 2 engineers and myself to drag Marguerit away from my father. And even then she shouted some of the vilest, explicit words I had ever heard. And I went to Secondary school.
Once we were sure that Marguerit wouldn't kill my father, we set about cooling the nearly critical, radioactive hyperdrives. Only my mother attended to my fathers wounded body. I would've helped, but I couldn't bare to look my father in the eyes. Everything I knew about him, everything that I had attributed to him, was slowly cracking. I wished more than anything to keep this image from breaking.
After we had stabilized the engines, we set about to getting back on course. I checked our destination, our last recorded position, and our current position. And things were not looking good. Due to such a high burn for such a long time, not to mention our current, unhindered kinetic energy, we had traveled 1,366,956 Km. away from Asteroid B0AGDD. Things were not looking good. Not only that, but we were still traveling at untold speeds towards a mystery destination. But the next problem we had to solve was how to stop. No ship was ever designed to stop while traveling at such insane speeds. We would need to to orbit around several other planets and moons to take advantage of their atmospheric friction.
Sadly, until we could get the ship stopped, we couldn't turn back. We could literally tear ourselves apart by trying that. There is no other way but to go to...whatever my father was so desperate to see. I still couldn't see what made the planet so special, besides an abnormally high titanium content.
It would take an estimated 12 days to reach the area, barring any complications during orbiting.
Everything had to go perfectly until then.
Re: "Dawning": A Subnautica Story
Bart Torgal
The day has finally come. The day we go to the asteroid, and the day I begin my lessons on the ways of running the Torgaljin Trans-Government. My father said that when his time comes, that I must be prepared to continue in his stead. To continue to grow the profit that my grandfather had created. But being the standard teenager, I procrastinated packing until the last minute. Typical.
By the time I had arrived in the ship gantry, I seemed like there wasn't a single part of the room that wasn't moving. People hustled about, carrying various shuttle pieces of every size. People climbing the walls, re-calibrating the plasma shield that protected us from the vacuum of space. Even the usually dormant drones zipped about, showing papers and parts to my father and the gantry captain, repairing everything on the shuttle, be it as large as a broken wind shield or as small as a scuff mark on the port side. It was not only efficient, but rather impressive to watch. Everything working in perfect harmony with one another. If only Torgal Corp. could be that way. I wish Naheeda could have been here, I wanted to say goodbye to her, but she hasn't shown up. I don't think she will show up, to my dismay.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paul Torgal
"Thank you for allowing us to board in your gantry, Captain." I said
"Och, it's really no trouble at all. That's what this room was built for. But I gotta say, that ship of yours is one of the prettiest to have moored at this dock." The captain said, with obvious awe in voice.
It was true, the shuttle was quite the beauty. A 3-ton, slightly radioactive beauty that is. Her hull was a sleek gray color, complimented with the white solor panels striping around the ship. Compared to most mining ships, she was very small, just a lowly 8-seater. Fortunately, with her size, comes the benefit of a smaller cost when it comes to docking at the various phasegates. After all, credits make the galaxy go round. But back to the ship. The gray hull led to the four hyperdrive rockets. Fairly ancient technology, but many, many times cheaper. They also don't carry the risk of leaking Antimatter. Scary stuff that is.
We were admiring the ship when the new mercenaries entered the room. It was hard not to hear them though, they were largest beasts of men and women I had ever seen. They walked in a group, carrying bags of all sorts of equipment and weapons with them. They wore very little, just the Torgal Corp. patented bodysuits, which wasn't enough to hide their rippling masses of muscles.
"Are those the mercs, or did the Justice League just walk in on us?" The captain asked warily.
"Could be both. I better greet them before they decide they want to wrestle." I said dryly.
I strode over to them, shouting, "Welcome to Torgaljin Corporation!"
Many of them didn't even acknowledge my existence. They continued to walk to the ship, nary batting an eye. Only the lead merc stopped and smiled. He had jet black hair with the slightest twinges of gray on the outer layer. He was tall and very well built. He was, however, covered in scars. One began at his bottom lip, and stretched all the way down his neck, and continued down to his arm. "It's a pleasure to join your operation Mr. Torgal. I've heard that you have quite the extensive job for us?" The man said, in vague Terran English accent.
"Indeed I do Mr. Deluca. We're traveling to an asteroid approximately 4.25 lightyears away, deep into pirate territory. You and your men will protect this ship until it makes it safely back to this dock." I said.
"Sounds like fun. But, pardon my asking, are we all to fit in that shuttle there? She doesn't seem big enough to fit us all." He questioned.
"Ah, yes. You and your men are to fly in a smaller ship in the gantry near here. A six-seater resting just in the gantry next to us. It has been stocked with many plasma torpedoes, along with some other fun toys at your disposal. Do what you will with the ship. Consider it a present from the Torgal Corp."
"Very generous of you Mr. Torgal. My associates and I greatly accept your conditions. We will protect you and your crew with our lives." He said with a smile.
He then ran to the other mercs to tell them of my terms and outfit them to their own ship. The sooner they reach their ship, the better. The men and women were graced with exceptional physical strength, but they were quite lacking in the physical beauty department. One of the women barely had a nose, like it had been slammed into a wall repeatedly for hours.
Wait, I had forgotten. Our ship would need protection from the inside. Despite my best instincts, I called Sylas over and asked one of the mercenaries to board our ship in case of enemy boarding.
"Of course. And, for you, only the best will accompany you. My wife, the fiercest of anyone here." He said.
He called over to one of the women, and she came stalking towards us. She had fairly dark skin, with very dark, short hair to boot. However, she had bright white streak going horizontally across the side of her hair. As with the rest of the mercs, she was built like a truck, abnormally scarred face, and a perpetual hint of bloodlust in her eyes.
"Mon amour, you will be flying with this man, protecting him from any dangers that may come aboard his ship." He spoke softly.
"Mhh, whatever. So long as I get to beat some faces in, I'll sit wherever you want me to." She said, cracking her knuckles.
Possibly in the airlock. I could be rid of you that much faster. I thought to myself.
"Go, get your things Amour, we leave as soon as you're ready." Sylas said.
She gave a grunt, and ran off.
Finally, we can get underway. "Fortune, here I come." I whispered.
Everyone began to board the ships, hurrying to their posts. I found my wife and son, and pulled them inside. They took their stations at the radar, and I took position of pilot. I didn't go through 8 years of space flight classes on Mars to not ever use them.
As quickly as the gantry had been an explosion of movement, just as quickly became devoid of life. I switched on the engine, and I could feel the extreme power of the four thrusts behind me. Soon after, the blue shield faded and all that was behind it was darkness. The locks keeping us in the gantry slowly began to unlock. I looked around the gantry one last time for any obstacles, and saw the Gantry Captain saluting to me. I saluted back, then forced a smile to my face. I was tired of being happy for that man, and I was having a difficult time upholding it. I quickly looked away, and spoke over the intercom to any of the other passengers that could hear me.
"Welcome aboard, we will be out in space for approximately 8 months. Make yourselves comfortable, abide by the ration rules, and do your jobs better than you ever have before. The ship will be unlatching from the gantry in the coming seconds, so hang on to something."
The locks came loose, and I put the thrusters up to half power. Even from such a small adjustment of power, the ship shot out of the gantry like a cannonball. Had I not been holding onto the steering panel, I would have been thrown into the back wall like a sock puppet. I readjusted the angle of the ship, and we were off to Asteroid B0AGDD.
I picked up the intercom one last time, "We have successfully departed the station, you are now free to move about the Degasi."
And with that, we sailed into the inky darkness.
The day has finally come. The day we go to the asteroid, and the day I begin my lessons on the ways of running the Torgaljin Trans-Government. My father said that when his time comes, that I must be prepared to continue in his stead. To continue to grow the profit that my grandfather had created. But being the standard teenager, I procrastinated packing until the last minute. Typical.
By the time I had arrived in the ship gantry, I seemed like there wasn't a single part of the room that wasn't moving. People hustled about, carrying various shuttle pieces of every size. People climbing the walls, re-calibrating the plasma shield that protected us from the vacuum of space. Even the usually dormant drones zipped about, showing papers and parts to my father and the gantry captain, repairing everything on the shuttle, be it as large as a broken wind shield or as small as a scuff mark on the port side. It was not only efficient, but rather impressive to watch. Everything working in perfect harmony with one another. If only Torgal Corp. could be that way. I wish Naheeda could have been here, I wanted to say goodbye to her, but she hasn't shown up. I don't think she will show up, to my dismay.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paul Torgal
"Thank you for allowing us to board in your gantry, Captain." I said
"Och, it's really no trouble at all. That's what this room was built for. But I gotta say, that ship of yours is one of the prettiest to have moored at this dock." The captain said, with obvious awe in voice.
It was true, the shuttle was quite the beauty. A 3-ton, slightly radioactive beauty that is. Her hull was a sleek gray color, complimented with the white solor panels striping around the ship. Compared to most mining ships, she was very small, just a lowly 8-seater. Fortunately, with her size, comes the benefit of a smaller cost when it comes to docking at the various phasegates. After all, credits make the galaxy go round. But back to the ship. The gray hull led to the four hyperdrive rockets. Fairly ancient technology, but many, many times cheaper. They also don't carry the risk of leaking Antimatter. Scary stuff that is.
We were admiring the ship when the new mercenaries entered the room. It was hard not to hear them though, they were largest beasts of men and women I had ever seen. They walked in a group, carrying bags of all sorts of equipment and weapons with them. They wore very little, just the Torgal Corp. patented bodysuits, which wasn't enough to hide their rippling masses of muscles.
"Are those the mercs, or did the Justice League just walk in on us?" The captain asked warily.
"Could be both. I better greet them before they decide they want to wrestle." I said dryly.
I strode over to them, shouting, "Welcome to Torgaljin Corporation!"
Many of them didn't even acknowledge my existence. They continued to walk to the ship, nary batting an eye. Only the lead merc stopped and smiled. He had jet black hair with the slightest twinges of gray on the outer layer. He was tall and very well built. He was, however, covered in scars. One began at his bottom lip, and stretched all the way down his neck, and continued down to his arm. "It's a pleasure to join your operation Mr. Torgal. I've heard that you have quite the extensive job for us?" The man said, in vague Terran English accent.
"Indeed I do Mr. Deluca. We're traveling to an asteroid approximately 4.25 lightyears away, deep into pirate territory. You and your men will protect this ship until it makes it safely back to this dock." I said.
"Sounds like fun. But, pardon my asking, are we all to fit in that shuttle there? She doesn't seem big enough to fit us all." He questioned.
"Ah, yes. You and your men are to fly in a smaller ship in the gantry near here. A six-seater resting just in the gantry next to us. It has been stocked with many plasma torpedoes, along with some other fun toys at your disposal. Do what you will with the ship. Consider it a present from the Torgal Corp."
"Very generous of you Mr. Torgal. My associates and I greatly accept your conditions. We will protect you and your crew with our lives." He said with a smile.
He then ran to the other mercs to tell them of my terms and outfit them to their own ship. The sooner they reach their ship, the better. The men and women were graced with exceptional physical strength, but they were quite lacking in the physical beauty department. One of the women barely had a nose, like it had been slammed into a wall repeatedly for hours.
Wait, I had forgotten. Our ship would need protection from the inside. Despite my best instincts, I called Sylas over and asked one of the mercenaries to board our ship in case of enemy boarding.
"Of course. And, for you, only the best will accompany you. My wife, the fiercest of anyone here." He said.
He called over to one of the women, and she came stalking towards us. She had fairly dark skin, with very dark, short hair to boot. However, she had bright white streak going horizontally across the side of her hair. As with the rest of the mercs, she was built like a truck, abnormally scarred face, and a perpetual hint of bloodlust in her eyes.
"Mon amour, you will be flying with this man, protecting him from any dangers that may come aboard his ship." He spoke softly.
"Mhh, whatever. So long as I get to beat some faces in, I'll sit wherever you want me to." She said, cracking her knuckles.
Possibly in the airlock. I could be rid of you that much faster. I thought to myself.
"Go, get your things Amour, we leave as soon as you're ready." Sylas said.
She gave a grunt, and ran off.
Finally, we can get underway. "Fortune, here I come." I whispered.
Everyone began to board the ships, hurrying to their posts. I found my wife and son, and pulled them inside. They took their stations at the radar, and I took position of pilot. I didn't go through 8 years of space flight classes on Mars to not ever use them.
As quickly as the gantry had been an explosion of movement, just as quickly became devoid of life. I switched on the engine, and I could feel the extreme power of the four thrusts behind me. Soon after, the blue shield faded and all that was behind it was darkness. The locks keeping us in the gantry slowly began to unlock. I looked around the gantry one last time for any obstacles, and saw the Gantry Captain saluting to me. I saluted back, then forced a smile to my face. I was tired of being happy for that man, and I was having a difficult time upholding it. I quickly looked away, and spoke over the intercom to any of the other passengers that could hear me.
"Welcome aboard, we will be out in space for approximately 8 months. Make yourselves comfortable, abide by the ration rules, and do your jobs better than you ever have before. The ship will be unlatching from the gantry in the coming seconds, so hang on to something."
The locks came loose, and I put the thrusters up to half power. Even from such a small adjustment of power, the ship shot out of the gantry like a cannonball. Had I not been holding onto the steering panel, I would have been thrown into the back wall like a sock puppet. I readjusted the angle of the ship, and we were off to Asteroid B0AGDD.
I picked up the intercom one last time, "We have successfully departed the station, you are now free to move about the Degasi."
And with that, we sailed into the inky darkness.
Re: 'BOREALIS RISING' - A Subnautica Story V2.0.
Two days passed before things returned to an even keel around here. At least Captain Halvorsen had the decency to ask before sending another shore-leave party down. I informed him that the weather probably wouldn't be getting any better for quite a while, so he might as well make use of our facilities while conditions were still relatively favourable. Fortunately, that last cyclone gave us a clear picture of how Manannán's extreme weather systems behave, and our Argus satellite constellation has been reprogrammed to provide considerably advanced warnings in future. The colony's base has been rebuilt and reinforced accordingly, paying particular attention to previous structural failure data. Technically, the base can now withstand a Category V cyclone, although that's not an assertion I'd care to put to the test. If there's another heavy blow coming in, we'll shepherd everyone straight into The Bastion without hesitation.
For the time being, we've decided to focus our attention on those Precursor facilities. Work on the Borealis has been stepped up to account for lost construction time during the cyclone, although it's more a case of working her into a habitable condition as quickly as possible. In fact, she weathered the storm magnificently, convincing me that the ship would serve as an ideal base of operations after its initial fit-out. Life aboard might seem a bit rough and ready at first, although the colonists would soon have access to vastly improved living conditions. Even more importantly, there will be functional shipboard systems that can be used to train our colonial volunteers, and that will shave months off our pre-flight preparation time. If Borealis is ready to launch before the phase gate is assembled and fully operational, there's no reason why we can't use that spare time to give her an absolutely thorough shakedown cruise before finally committing ourselves to The Black.
After breakfast, we assembled at the cave mouth. Time for a wee spot of spelunking. Our basic plan is to check out the cave on Kaori-san no-shima first, then move on to explore as many known Precursor facilities as possible. Until now, we have maintained a 'look, but don't touch' approach to these sites, mainly because there were other unfortunate events popping off in the background. Terribly inconvenient for anyone with an inquiring mind, I must say.
This time, we are loaded for bear. We're treating this expedition as our last hurrah, one final adventure before we have to knuckle down to the serious business of leaving Manannán. Naturally, Héloise and Enzo begged to come along. I advised otherwise, but they wouldn't hear a word of it. Apparently, their shared experience at the Quarantine Enforcement Platform wasn't quite nasty enough to dissuade them from taking another jolly stroll through Precursor territory. Fine.
At least I bothered to warn them.
The opening had formed ten metres above the cavern floor, making it necessary to abseil down with our ExoSuit grappling lines. I descended first, scanning the landing zone with GPR before touching down. Readings indicated that the ground could safely support the combined mass of our suits, although it would be necessary to scan the path ahead before proceeding across any of the natural arches that lay deeper in the cavern. There is a clearly-defined pathway running through this place, although I couldn't detect any signs that it had been used. No footprints or any visible scuffing of the soil. Just a bare, scraped path completely devoid of any vegetation. Extremely curious.
Motion ahead. Multiple targets. Sensor readings are inconclusive, although the closest possible match suggests that a few Cave Crawlers might be scuttling around down here. Not a huge surprise. Naturally, my abiding love of those wee buggers has not diminished with the passage of time. Repulsion cannons, hot. Safeties off.
I'm feeling particularly creative today.
For the time being, we've decided to focus our attention on those Precursor facilities. Work on the Borealis has been stepped up to account for lost construction time during the cyclone, although it's more a case of working her into a habitable condition as quickly as possible. In fact, she weathered the storm magnificently, convincing me that the ship would serve as an ideal base of operations after its initial fit-out. Life aboard might seem a bit rough and ready at first, although the colonists would soon have access to vastly improved living conditions. Even more importantly, there will be functional shipboard systems that can be used to train our colonial volunteers, and that will shave months off our pre-flight preparation time. If Borealis is ready to launch before the phase gate is assembled and fully operational, there's no reason why we can't use that spare time to give her an absolutely thorough shakedown cruise before finally committing ourselves to The Black.
After breakfast, we assembled at the cave mouth. Time for a wee spot of spelunking. Our basic plan is to check out the cave on Kaori-san no-shima first, then move on to explore as many known Precursor facilities as possible. Until now, we have maintained a 'look, but don't touch' approach to these sites, mainly because there were other unfortunate events popping off in the background. Terribly inconvenient for anyone with an inquiring mind, I must say.
This time, we are loaded for bear. We're treating this expedition as our last hurrah, one final adventure before we have to knuckle down to the serious business of leaving Manannán. Naturally, Héloise and Enzo begged to come along. I advised otherwise, but they wouldn't hear a word of it. Apparently, their shared experience at the Quarantine Enforcement Platform wasn't quite nasty enough to dissuade them from taking another jolly stroll through Precursor territory. Fine.
At least I bothered to warn them.
The opening had formed ten metres above the cavern floor, making it necessary to abseil down with our ExoSuit grappling lines. I descended first, scanning the landing zone with GPR before touching down. Readings indicated that the ground could safely support the combined mass of our suits, although it would be necessary to scan the path ahead before proceeding across any of the natural arches that lay deeper in the cavern. There is a clearly-defined pathway running through this place, although I couldn't detect any signs that it had been used. No footprints or any visible scuffing of the soil. Just a bare, scraped path completely devoid of any vegetation. Extremely curious.
Motion ahead. Multiple targets. Sensor readings are inconclusive, although the closest possible match suggests that a few Cave Crawlers might be scuttling around down here. Not a huge surprise. Naturally, my abiding love of those wee buggers has not diminished with the passage of time. Repulsion cannons, hot. Safeties off.
I'm feeling particularly creative today.
Re: The Subnautic Technical commentaries (call all ye science nerds)
Legless Lego Legolas is even angrier.



