Idea: Showing Subnautica to a friend
QuantumFlare
Northern Ireland Join Date: 2015-04-30 Member: 203988Members
Northern Ireland Join Date: 2015-04-30 Member: 203988Members
Hello! Just thought I'd share a little idea I had recently about introducing someone new to Subnautica. It was a lot of fun to do and go through with whoever I was showing the game to. This works great if you only have a small frame of time where you can't reflect the full experience from scratch. 
So instead of throwing them into the deep end (LOL) and being at the mercy to countless hours of gameplay, I'm compiling little side missions to showcase the gameplay in a manageable way. These include:
- Finding new or used tools
- Search and rescue
- Reviving lost tech
In this article, I'll be explaining how I set my version up and telling the story behind these objectives. If you want, you can use console commands to help speed along the building process (see link below).
http://subnautica.wikia.com/wiki/Debug_Console_Commands
I may add to the list later, some screenshots are included, and I hope you enjoy reading!
CONTENTS
- SETUP
- LOCKER CONTENTS
- SCATTERED LOOT
- SIDE OBJECTIVES
SETUP
All beacons off, except for side objective beacons and first Seabase beacon. Blueprints unlocked (no need to scan items). Player starts in a single x-corridor base with two solar panels and a beacon called "Seabase Alpha" situated in a Safe Shallows biome. I started them off with a rebreather, compass, thermometer and ultra-glide swimming fins, but it's up to you. The base has a fabricator, a locker, a med-kit fabricator, and a window looking out over the small trench below. You can do this in your current game or in a new game if you like. It was funny when my friend stumbled across my massive base with Cyclops and everything after exploring for about 45 minutes! Make sure it's far away from wherever you started the player or they'll find it straight away - especially if it's in the way of the Aurora, because they always swim straight towards that. 
TIP: You can reduce their sight distance thus hiding far-off objects such as Lifepod 5 using the console command! Example: "farplane 500" (default is 1000).
(That beacon totally didn't just suddenly appear between the second screenshot and this one...
)
LOCKER CONTENTS
I added titanium and glass to allow the player to build an oxygen tank or anything else they wanted as an introduction to fabrication mechanics.
- 1 Fire extinguisher (100% fuel)
- 1 Flashlight (100% charge)
- 1 nutrient block
- 1 big filtered water
- 4 titanium
- 2 glass
SCATTERED LOOT
Some tools are scattered around the Shallows. To allow for light and fast gameplay, the tools have not been spread away from around the base for more than 200m. However, they are still hidden (kinda). Here are some examples I used:
- Diamond knife (~18% durability = ~36 uses)
- Habitat builder (~4% charge)
- Propulsion cannon (unpowered)
- Seaglide (unpowered)
- Seamoth (see SIDE OBJECTIVES)
SIDE OBJECTIVES
You can make up your own if you like! Here's two ideas of my own:
1/ SEAMOTH SEARCH AND RESCUE
Named the AMS Loyalty (AMS: Alterra Marine Ship), your PDA has been able to detect and mark it. Your mission is to recover that vessel!
I set this Seamoth about 400m away from base. The player will find it easily, thanks to its own beacon. It is near a Reaper Leviathan (but not close enough to be noticed and attacked). I brought the Seamoth's health down to 15% by crashing into terrain. Once placed, I then drained all of its energy using the Proximity Defense upgrade module, which was then removed. It contains storage, sonar and torpedo upgrade modules, with three gas torpedoes. The storage compartment contains:
- 4 silver
- 2 copper
- 1 med-kit
- 1 disinfected water
- 1 rotting cooked Peeper
- 1 fire extinguisher (100% fuel)
- 1 repair tool (0% charge)
Upon inspecting the Loyalty's condition and the presence of a nearby Leviathan coupled with Sandsharks, you come to the conclusion that the survivor was not very lucky. It seems to have been wedged in the terrain for quite some time, given the power cell has gone flat and the ship's colours have gone dull (I used dark, low-saturation green and brown colours for the hull and a strong, dark yellow for the stripes and nameplate). It seems that they came to this area to gather silver from surrounding deposits when they got attacked! The inventory contains copper which was probably going to be used to make a fresh battery for their repair tool. It seems they attempted to fire at the Leviathan as there are three out of four gas torpedoes left.
You can try recovering the Seamoth and taking it for yourself, but be careful - it's very fragile!
2/ ABANDONED BASE (work in progress)
Another signal has been detected about 500m from the starting point. Investigate!
(screenshot coming soon...)
I don't know which biome I'm going to set this in, maybe near a Blood Kelp forest. It is flooded due to damage (I'll probably use the Prawn exosuit to punch it LOL). The player should be able to repair it and recover this seabase. It's going to have:
- 1 Beacon called "Energy Signature"
- 1 Communications relay
- 1 Moonpool with Vehicle modification station
- 1 Fabricator
- 1 Nuclear reactor (inactive, contains 1 depleted reactor rod)
- 1 Biohazard trash can
- 1 Battery charger
- 1 Locker with some resources: 1 reactor rod; 3 uraninite crsytals; 1 lead; 1 polyaniline; 2 gas pods; 2 disinfected water
- Multipurpose room 1: bed; desk; chair; coffee machine; vending machine; trash can; shelves; window
- Multipurpose room 2: Alien Containment module with hatch (empty)
- 1 Scanner room (no upgrades)
- 1 Observatory with desk and chair
(Work in progress)
That's all for now, I hope to add more! If you have any suggestions, please feel free to add! Have a good day!
Karateka95
So instead of throwing them into the deep end (LOL) and being at the mercy to countless hours of gameplay, I'm compiling little side missions to showcase the gameplay in a manageable way. These include:
- Finding new or used tools
- Search and rescue
- Reviving lost tech
In this article, I'll be explaining how I set my version up and telling the story behind these objectives. If you want, you can use console commands to help speed along the building process (see link below).
http://subnautica.wikia.com/wiki/Debug_Console_Commands
I may add to the list later, some screenshots are included, and I hope you enjoy reading!
CONTENTS
- SETUP
- LOCKER CONTENTS
- SCATTERED LOOT
- SIDE OBJECTIVES
SETUP
All beacons off, except for side objective beacons and first Seabase beacon. Blueprints unlocked (no need to scan items). Player starts in a single x-corridor base with two solar panels and a beacon called "Seabase Alpha" situated in a Safe Shallows biome. I started them off with a rebreather, compass, thermometer and ultra-glide swimming fins, but it's up to you.
The base has a fabricator, a locker, a med-kit fabricator, and a window looking out over the small trench below. You can do this in your current game or in a new game if you like. It was funny when my friend stumbled across my massive base with Cyclops and everything after exploring for about 45 minutes! Make sure it's far away from wherever you started the player or they'll find it straight away - especially if it's in the way of the Aurora, because they always swim straight towards that. TIP: You can reduce their sight distance thus hiding far-off objects such as Lifepod 5 using the console command! Example: "farplane 500" (default is 1000).
(That beacon totally didn't just suddenly appear between the second screenshot and this one...
)LOCKER CONTENTS
I added titanium and glass to allow the player to build an oxygen tank or anything else they wanted as an introduction to fabrication mechanics.
- 1 Fire extinguisher (100% fuel)
- 1 Flashlight (100% charge)
- 1 nutrient block
- 1 big filtered water
- 4 titanium
- 2 glass
SCATTERED LOOT
Some tools are scattered around the Shallows. To allow for light and fast gameplay, the tools have not been spread away from around the base for more than 200m. However, they are still hidden (kinda). Here are some examples I used:
- Diamond knife (~18% durability = ~36 uses)
- Habitat builder (~4% charge)
- Propulsion cannon (unpowered)
- Seaglide (unpowered)
- Seamoth (see SIDE OBJECTIVES)
SIDE OBJECTIVES
You can make up your own if you like! Here's two ideas of my own:
1/ SEAMOTH SEARCH AND RESCUE
Named the AMS Loyalty (AMS: Alterra Marine Ship), your PDA has been able to detect and mark it. Your mission is to recover that vessel!
I set this Seamoth about 400m away from base. The player will find it easily, thanks to its own beacon. It is near a Reaper Leviathan (but not close enough to be noticed and attacked). I brought the Seamoth's health down to 15% by crashing into terrain. Once placed, I then drained all of its energy using the Proximity Defense upgrade module, which was then removed. It contains storage, sonar and torpedo upgrade modules, with three gas torpedoes. The storage compartment contains:
- 4 silver
- 2 copper
- 1 med-kit
- 1 disinfected water
- 1 rotting cooked Peeper
- 1 fire extinguisher (100% fuel)
- 1 repair tool (0% charge)
Upon inspecting the Loyalty's condition and the presence of a nearby Leviathan coupled with Sandsharks, you come to the conclusion that the survivor was not very lucky. It seems to have been wedged in the terrain for quite some time, given the power cell has gone flat and the ship's colours have gone dull (I used dark, low-saturation green and brown colours for the hull and a strong, dark yellow for the stripes and nameplate). It seems that they came to this area to gather silver from surrounding deposits when they got attacked! The inventory contains copper which was probably going to be used to make a fresh battery for their repair tool. It seems they attempted to fire at the Leviathan as there are three out of four gas torpedoes left.
You can try recovering the Seamoth and taking it for yourself, but be careful - it's very fragile!
2/ ABANDONED BASE (work in progress)
Another signal has been detected about 500m from the starting point. Investigate!
(screenshot coming soon...)
I don't know which biome I'm going to set this in, maybe near a Blood Kelp forest. It is flooded due to damage (I'll probably use the Prawn exosuit to punch it LOL
). The player should be able to repair it and recover this seabase. It's going to have:- 1 Beacon called "Energy Signature"
- 1 Communications relay
- 1 Moonpool with Vehicle modification station
- 1 Fabricator
- 1 Nuclear reactor (inactive, contains 1 depleted reactor rod)
- 1 Biohazard trash can
- 1 Battery charger
- 1 Locker with some resources: 1 reactor rod; 3 uraninite crsytals; 1 lead; 1 polyaniline; 2 gas pods; 2 disinfected water
- Multipurpose room 1: bed; desk; chair; coffee machine; vending machine; trash can; shelves; window
- Multipurpose room 2: Alien Containment module with hatch (empty)
- 1 Scanner room (no upgrades)
- 1 Observatory with desk and chair
(Work in progress)
That's all for now, I hope to add more! If you have any suggestions, please feel free to add! Have a good day!
Karateka95
Comments
Then just upload the archive to Google Drive, or Dropbox, and post the sharing URL ("get shareable link" or equivalent).
Deleting the rest of the contents will ensure that a fresh copy of the terrain is generated, as well as untouched resources.
Deep in the deep grand reef a signal has been discovered by the crew of a another ship.
Spawn cyclops by the degasi base and make sure all lights are off,
Items to include in storage
All power cells in the cyclops are to be removed and the cyclops must be sunk with multiple leeks
Nearby base has a battery cell recharge point and conponents to build a thermal reactor for e nearby smoke stacks. Base however also has spotlights to attract the local predators, so the player must learn that some animals react to bases and environment in different ways.
When I first started looking into Subnautica I didn't think I would like it. I purchased the game, played for about an hour and then turned it off for about 1.5 weeks. I finally decided I needed to dive (no pun intended) into the world of Subnautica and I can't put it down.
I am on my first play through (started on the Dec release and still going). I think I am at just over 21 hours. I was at 18 hours before I had the cyclops and prawn. I am now in the process of moving my base to deeper waters while looking for the 3rd abandoned base of the Degasi crash survivors.
It was a bit frustrating at times, but it certainly made it a whole lot more interesting.
Perhaps suggesting that a first time player try the game in FREEDOM Mode, would be the best help of all.
I tried SURVIVAL right off the bat because I wasn't really aware of the differences, and THAT above all else was the thing I regretted.
Maybe a beginners tutorial about the different modes, would be the most beneficial thing to do.
That and point out the WIKI to first timers, that way they can decide for themselves just how much extra helpful Info they want to absorb while playing for the first few times.
Thanks for the comment Davey! I know, this was the approach I had towards the game too. I've been playing Survival ever since! The reason I developed this was because of how little time I had to show this game to my cousin from England, so it's really just for getting as much of the content in as possible in a short frame. A teaser, if you will!
I think I would use your idea if I had a lot more time with some friends who live around me, having nights in because that's HELLA fun! I really enjoyed getting creative with this whole thing too, so I did get quite attached!
Really?~ Didn't know you could share these files! Look at how awesome our community is! Ha ha!
On that note, I've just finished adding the abandoned base and I also added a flooded, 0% charge Cyclops called the AMS Dauntless not far from said base. The Dauntless has no beacon, but the alarm is still going off in it and you should be able to find it by listening carefully! More details to come - keep those awesome ideas coming!
By the deep grand reef base, spawn a cyclops that's sunken and all the lights are off. Decorate the inside with half full locker of some goodies, maybe one or two power cell in the power unit, empty interior growbed, two empty aquariums, maybe some other stuff, and a beacon saying: titanium mass detected. Good part for the story line of the degasi and a good find.
Apart from all that this is a great way to show a newcomer to this game. (I may use it to show my brother who believes that this games too futuristic)