How long do you think it would take to speedrun this game?

Darwin-Evolution

I myself am not a speedrunner, but I am a little curious to know the answer. I'm therefore asking this to the speedrunners: would you be interested to try and speedrun subnautica to find out what's the fastest you can finish this game in?

I myself imagine that it should take a little longer than most other speedruns because it's specifically a survival game where finding resources is sometimes random.

SnailsAttack

Well the easiest option I can think of is lugging around one of those purple oxygen-producing corals with a gravity gun, and i dont think that'd take too long.

Darwin-Evolution

I meant speedrunning it in survival mode from beginning to the very end with the rocket lol

Brechnor

Hmm let’s see,

The minimum without spoiling the game here accidentally;
I can think of doing it this way

1. Do the aura on the day of its event,
2. Find seaclops blueprints on the way, upgrade it to max depth and use it as a taxi to “that safe place down there” and back when you need to move between areas
3. Visit the three desagi bases for blueprints
4. Build prawn and sit it comfortable in “the safe place down there”
5. Build 1 multi room and 1 scanner room in “the safe place down there”
6. Upgrade prawn
7. Use prawn to go further down and do the thing you need to do.
8. Finish game

It would be possible to do it without the cyclops even if you build the most minimum base requirements just to upgrade those two sea vessels.

Depending on how “lucky” (which is up for debate) you get with game breaking items in capsules will determine how quickly those steps go.

You can even ignore the big pew pew when that “event” happens without needing to go inside it until later.

The idea of dragging a coral around is nice but it will actually slow you down considerably more than taxing around with an early upgraded seaclops.

gamer1000k

Don't forget building the Cyclops so you can build the module for the rocket cockpit.

Skope

*cough*

Darwin-Evolution

Skope wrote: »

*cough*

Ah now that doesn't count cause A) It's early access and he didn't actually get to the true ending, and B ) he glitched the game to get into the aquarium lol

Wratts

Speedrunners often use glitches though. For speedruns, it's kinda part of the challenge to reduce playtime to the absolute minimum without hacking/modding the game, and exploiting glitches in the full release are part of that.

Kouji_San

There's still going to be a lot of traveling in between all the "story checkpoints" though


And usually speedruns are done on games which have been out for a while, so there's no sudden issue of an update disabling a glitch. Glitches are part of speedruns as @Wratts mentioned and for a speedrun to be official it has to only use ingame options.

LordCurlyton

That same speedrunner has posted his first "Any%" run, and I think by adding the need to get the rocket launched he got it done in a little under 1.5 hrs. I would gather its mainly because he has to wait for Aurora to explode so he can get the blueprints for the Neptune, plus added scavenging time. I would imagine if anyone finds a way to clip into and out of the pre-explosion Aurora then the time could be greatly reduced.

starkaos

A true speedrun would be activating the radio ASAP, answer every radio message ASAP, and disable the gun before the Sunbeam arrives. How many speedruns actually make it possible to save a bunch of npcs that are killed off in 99.9% of playthroughs? Might be possible to save them while not in a speedrun, but that would require not fixing and answering the radio and where is the fun in that.

Brechnor

Kouji, some of the story checkpoints can be ignored as they happen when you are there or not.
The second Big Bang event happened in my game when I was over 900m deep, but it still replicated its bang in game by making loud noises, the sound down there when it happens is incredibly immersive too... it was actually quite a fun effect that if you haven’t experienced yet, I recommend you doing so!

CandyManCriminal

i beat it in a little over a day, and i was messing around quite a bit
so a few hours? 9? i dunno

FirstEd

Wow, lots of outdated stuff in my post. Edited.

The last time I brought up this topic, I got shown the aforementioned link (

There were a few things about the run I didn't really think were very sporting. Dying ever 120 seconds or so just felt like a cheat, and the glitch through the door also felt cheap.

So, that run is from early access. Here is the current record for any-%, but it involves the same process of dying ever 120 seconds or so, and glitching through the door.
https://www.speedrun.com/subnautica/run/z0eqn39m

The run is categorized as 'Any%' (which includes glitches), but, bear in mind there are categories like "Glitchless any-%" (same as any-% but no glitches) or "any-% hardcore" (which would require not dying but any glitch could still be used).

Getting back to the run above from early access: According to MirrorMeddle himself, a hardcore run could be done in ALMOST the same time, which would be achieved by glitching through the safe shallow floor and going directly to the Lava Zone.

That said, I don't think this speedrun category is what people are interested, because glitches aren't the intended way to experience the game. In speedrunning history, people used to feel that using glitches was unfair and uninteresting because it's experiencing the game in a way other than intended. Nobody who reaches the Primary Research Facility expects to glitch their way past the door. Whether or not these glitches are allowed is more a matter of category. The fact is that that run uses a category which uses glitches and wall-clips. I think the category that everyone WANTS to see is...

Glitcheless, any-%, Hardcore

There is no current run for it.
https://www.speedrun.com/subnautica#Any_Glitchless

That's a run I would LOVE to see from start to finish. What are the bare bones that a player would need to complete the game, as intended, without dying (and without exploiting or glitching the game)? How fast can a player complete the game, with the experience as intended (ie, not using glitches, on Hardcore).

Anyways, as far as I know, THIS is the place to go to see the current records for speedrunning in Subnautica, so if you're into this kind of thing you can check it out:
https://www.speedrun.com/subnautica

FirstEd

Sorry for double post, but I'm updating the information here.

MirrorMeddle officially did a glitchless, any% hardcore. Check out the run here:
https://www.speedrun.com/subnautica/run/z13v3v7m

Completes the game, no dying, no glitches, no time capsules, in 2 hours 27 minutes.

starkaos

And the same speedrunner did a glitched speedrun at 1 hour 9 minutes. Used Moonpools and miniature bases to save their progress when they were about to drown when swimming to the lava zone. Being able to save your progress in unpowered bases should be considered as a glitch by the speedrun community if it is not already. Perfectly fine in a glitched speedrun, but not a glitchless speedrun.

FirstEd

I understand how the 'dying' mechanism feels a bit like cheating? However, I doubt that it will ever be considered a glitch. To my understanding, the feature of dying, and respawning inside the last base you entered, is inherent to the game's design. It's experiencing the game as was intended (which is a standard in defining what is and isn't a glitch). But again, you can only use that if you're playing Survival (not Hardcore, because when you die the game ends).

starkaos

The difference is between a powered base and an unpowered base. Resurrecting in a powered base is working as was intended, but resurrecting in an unpowered base that has no source of oxygen is not. If for whatever reason, the unpowered base was above sea level, then resurrecting in it would be as intended, but that is useless for a speedrun.

FirstEd

If the devs made it so you couldn't respawn in an unpowered base, then I'd agree with you. Maybe we could ask right here though. I don't know how to flag down a gold response, but so long as a character normally respawns inside their last entered base, even if it's unpowered, then it's not a glitch.

It's interesting to see these kinds of 'exploits' in games. For example, in SMB3, if you're riding the Goomba's Shoe, and you walk off a cliff, you can press 'jump' in mid fall and you'll still jump. A similar thing happens in the original NES Metroid. If you roll off a ledge as a morph ball and then come out of it and jump, you'll jump as per normal. Both of these things aren't, however, considered 'glitches' by the speedrunning community, as they were maneuvers that any person could've performed. Those things are 'experiencing the game, as it was intended'.

But, even so, starkaos, if you can somehow flag a gold response, that'd be a great question to ask them. "Are you SUPPOSED to respawn in the last base you entered, even if that base was unpowered (and/or never powered)?"

starkaos

FirstEd wrote: »

If the devs made it so you couldn't respawn in an unpowered base, then I'd agree with you. Maybe we could ask right here though. I don't know how to flag down a gold response, but so long as a character normally respawns inside their last entered base, even if it's unpowered, then it's not a glitch.

It's interesting to see these kinds of 'exploits' in games. For example, in SMB3, if you're riding the Goomba's Shoe, and you walk off a cliff, you can press 'jump' in mid fall and you'll still jump. A similar thing happens in the original NES Metroid. If you roll off a ledge as a morph ball and then come out of it and jump, you'll jump as per normal. Both of these things aren't, however, considered 'glitches' by the speedrunning community, as they were maneuvers that any person could've performed. Those things are 'experiencing the game, as it was intended'.

But, even so, starkaos, if you can somehow flag a gold response, that'd be a great question to ask them. "Are you SUPPOSED to respawn in the last base you entered, even if that base was unpowered (and/or never powered)?"

Might be a programming issue that prevents them from differentiating between powered and unpowered bases. The simple fact is that respawn points in single player games and some MMOs are supposed to be safe zones. Respawning in a base that is slowly killing you defeats the entire purpose of a respawn point.

poesbru

It took me around 4 hours to find just the reinforced diving suit in my last game (I mean searching only for that, having found everything else). I don't know that it's necessary, but the burning sound and graphic effect is extremely annoying. I just started a new game and after 1.5 hrs have the seamoth, vehicle upgrade station and the modification station, and all tools minus the propulsion cannon, but again no reinforced diving suit thus far. You don't need a cyclops, and I expect to be able to find the cannon quite easily near the aurora, so another hour to do that, scan the prawn, and fix the core, then 2-6 more hours for the rest. So probably 6-8 hours, maybe 4 hrs with practice and very good luck, or if you can bypass the reinforced suit problem with medkits. I've finished the game 3 times and in only one game did I even find the stillwater suit. If it's the same rarity as the reinforced suit then the reinfoced suit is the bottleneck for completing the game.

Maalteromm

poesbru wrote: »

It took me around 4 hours to find just the reinforced diving suit in my last game (I mean searching only for that, having found everything else). I don't know that it's necessary, but the burning sound and graphic effect is extremely annoying. I just started a new game and after 1.5 hrs have the seamoth, vehicle upgrade station and the modification station, and all tools minus the propulsion cannon, but again no reinforced diving suit thus far. You don't need a cyclops, and I expect to be able to find the cannon quite easily near the aurora, so another hour to do that, scan the prawn, and fix the core, then 2-6 more hours for the rest. So probably 6-8 hours, maybe 4 hrs with practice and very good luck, or if you can bypass the reinforced suit problem with medkits. I've finished the game 3 times and in only one game did I even find the stillwater suit. If it's the same rarity as the reinforced suit then the reinfoced suit is the bottleneck for completing the game.

I don't think the reinforced dive suit is mandatory to finish the game (it does make life a lot easier). If you include launching the rocket as your goal you'll take significantly longer, and a cyclops will be required in this case.

___SPOILER ALERT___

unless you find a time capsule with a shield generator module inside (and a "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this." kind of message).

poesbru

ahh yes. Ok then you have to build a cyclops. Doesn't add that much in terms of time. Hard to avoid finding them.

Maalteromm

poesbru wrote: »

ahh yes. Ok then you have to build a cyclops. Doesn't add that much in terms of time. Hard to avoid finding them.

It adds quite some time, having to get both the cyclops and shield generator blueprints.