Dealing with Beasties
Jacke
Calgary Join Date: 2017-03-20 Member: 229061Members
Calgary Join Date: 2017-03-20 Member: 229061Members
I've gotten used to Stalkers and Sand Sharks. I hate hate hate Bleeders and Biters but they easily fall to my Thermoblade. And I've dodged plenty of Reapers and even gotten away from one who grabbed my non-reinforced Seamoth and left it with a sliver of remaining hull strength.
But then there's other beasties I'm not so sure about handling.
1. Warpers
They are now so strange. Early in the game, they aren't hostile to the player anymore. I've watched them and scanned them close up.
But apparently you get sicker and you get added to the Warpers' deadpool. And I'm sure it's going to be back to oh-damn-what-now.
I've heard about using the Propulsion Cannon to shoot stuff at their heads. Quartz apparently works well and is reusable. Deepshrooms are said to work well too. I've tried firing gaspods at Stalkers to test and it's hard to hit the damn things. Are Warpers easier to hit?
2. Bonesharks
Outside of the Safe Shallows, Kelp Forests, and Grassy Plateaus, and even near their fringes, there's a damn whole lot of Bonesharks. Moving in my Seamoth, I've seen more than 6 close together at a time.
And early in the discussion about the damageable Cyclops, it wasn't the big beasties that was being talked about. The threats were groups of 3 Bonesharks attacking.
What to do about them?
3. LR and below
I've yet to explore down there. But I've heard stories about River Prowlers, Lava Larva and Lizards, and Sea Dragons. Any tips on dealing with them and what else lurks down there?
But then there's other beasties I'm not so sure about handling.
1. Warpers
They are now so strange. Early in the game, they aren't hostile to the player anymore. I've watched them and scanned them close up.
But apparently you get sicker and you get added to the Warpers' deadpool. And I'm sure it's going to be back to oh-damn-what-now.
I've heard about using the Propulsion Cannon to shoot stuff at their heads. Quartz apparently works well and is reusable. Deepshrooms are said to work well too. I've tried firing gaspods at Stalkers to test and it's hard to hit the damn things. Are Warpers easier to hit?
2. Bonesharks
Outside of the Safe Shallows, Kelp Forests, and Grassy Plateaus, and even near their fringes, there's a damn whole lot of Bonesharks. Moving in my Seamoth, I've seen more than 6 close together at a time.
And early in the discussion about the damageable Cyclops, it wasn't the big beasties that was being talked about. The threats were groups of 3 Bonesharks attacking.
What to do about them?
3. LR and below
I've yet to explore down there. But I've heard stories about River Prowlers, Lava Larva and Lizards, and Sea Dragons. Any tips on dealing with them and what else lurks down there?
Comments
Note: I keep restarting so I've never scanned Lava Lizards.
With warpers, keep in mind they are terrible in vertical movement. That's why they're some of the easiest scans; just swim straight above them and all they do is spin circles as they slowly try to reach you. Might be a bit of an exploit that'll one day be amended, but for the time being it works. They usually disappear for a while after they've been kept on the hook this way.
Don't have anything for bonesharks. Avoid & heal/repair is the basic strategy, though I find them pretty ignorable in anything but the Cyclops.
River prowlers and lava lizards are like bonesharks, but less plentiful; nothing to do about them in specific, although lava lizards only are trouble when they've got ammo. With the sea dragon (at least, the one at the plant. I've yet to go further myself), just keep out of its way and it might never even target you. For ease of mind, it might be worth setting up a small base nearby but out of its route so you have a save/spawn point to catch your courage and have something to try again from if things go wrong.
Unless the shield (or horn?) now works to remove lava larvae, my main strategy is to keep moving, because they're much less likely to hop on if you don't stand still. They're easy to remove from the PRAWN if they do get on, but with the Cyclops I find it easier to remove all but one or two powercells as I journey and take them out whenever I find the drain substantial (which really isn't all that often). They'll all let go if there's nothing to feed on.
Nope! Nevermind. Damn stalkers just have a TON of HP. Bonesharks are pansies, though. (unless head stabs are crits?)
Never killed a stalker as they flee way too fast ..
My real problem is my fear of reapers .. I did not even explore the dunes (thanks the pda to warn me about "many reapers") and the mountain, the reaper there catch me once and scary me for life !
The Prawn should have jets and a grappling hook for dangerous places, but it has the disadvantage to sink down if you get teleported out of it. So warpers are the enemy number one for the Prawn and you should avoid to sink down into a cavern full of warpers with your Prawn. Like near the abondoned base at the DGR.
The warpers might be fearsome, but as far as I know they still need contact to hurt you. So when you get teleported you should immediately start to swim in any non warper direction in circles as fast as you can. Unless the devs don't let the warp projectiles hurt you, this strategy should work. If you can stay cool and not get panic when teleported to the dark. Because panic and disorientation seems to be their greatest weapon with lots of players making the mistake of turning around to search for a warper, allowing the warper to touch the player.
Another good thing is that the Warpers make noises when warping in. So if you listen, you should immediately change direction multiple times when hearing a warp sound. Strafing and circling is good as warpshots are not guided, even if you can't see the warpers.
The Sea Dragon now has a valid aggro range and thus can be circumvented with diving or the Prawn. The Cyclops just needs to turn off engines and look through cams until he is away. The Sea Dragon can easily be stasised as there are not many of them.
That makes the Warper now the most dangerous creature of Subnautica, unless they allow the Sea Dragon to see a Cyclops with engines off. And mainly because in the lower zones you can't use the incredible speedy Seamoth and thus must use the slow Prawn. But in the bright lit lava zone you usually can see Warpers from afar and jet around them.
Warpers + Darkness = Nightmare
I've previously seen the power of facing enemies and strafing to get out of their path of charge. A while back I killed a Stalker that way.
I think the biggest difficulty is going to be getting used to the PRAWN, which I've done little with. I'm wondering about how to kit it out for the deep zones. Once I can make the Jump Jet Upgrade, is one sufficient?
I doubt having more than one would even do anything. For the Prawn, I'd take the grapple & drill arms, for mobility and fighting / harvesting, the depth mod if you're going down to the end-game stuff, power efficiency boost or thermal power as appropriate, maybe the armor upgrade if you're heading into especially dangerous territory.
Seconding this getup, with emphasis on the drill arm for harvesting. If you're not used to the PRAWN, it might be wise to run a little getting-the-feel-of-it round in a relatively secure area with lots of vertical travel. Like maybe try to climb one of the brine waterfalls (grapple arm required, jump jet upgrade not). And don't forget to bring lots of water and food (I always stuff one Cyclops locker full of +50 water bottles)! Seaglide's not a bad one to have with you either.
Having reached endgame myself now, my advice if a sea dragon makes you really nervous because of its proximity: you can reasonably stealth if you throw up silent running and then turn off the engines when SR runs out. Fix yourself up a seat so you don't have to lose hunger/thirst points during the wait and you've got something that's slow (SR def may be tweaked to last longer) but secure. For both the Cyclops and the PRAWN goes you want to be hugging walls and corners because it makes it easier to keep track of the bugger, being thrown around is less disorienting, and you might earn a few seconds as it tries to squeeze its bulk to wherever you are.
(I got attacked while in a tight space with my PRAWN myself and it was an equal mixture of terrifying and hilarious. It's hard not to feel special when Ol' Crocs comes over just for you all the way from its spacious default area where it has plenty of potential kills and then undeniably struggles to make things work. You know those photos of pets that try to fit somewhere they did when they were little but now they don't anymore? An F11 of the sea dragon at that moment would not have been out of place.)
I did this in episode 3 of my YT playthrough. THANK GOD I saved before I went in.
My Cyclops has a bridge with Plant Pots for food and drink, as well as a good stock of water and cured Reginalds.
I'll get around to testing out the PRAWN after I do my Aurora run. Still waiting on UWE to fix all the power bugs in Experimental before I start seriously playing again.
I've been through at least 3 of the 5 shafts to the Jelly Shroom Caves. I don't see how to get out with a PRAWN without at least 1 if not 2 Grapple Arms. Doesn't seem to be any way to hold on while waiting for the Jump Jets to recharge.
How do you do it?
Lava Larva dont do anything but suck onto ur PRAWN and Cyclops and drain power
Honestly? I just stay as far away from them as I can. I don't mess with those guys. Take a wide turn around them and you'll usually be okay. Even if they do warp you outside of your vehicle, I usually carry my seaglide everywhere, so I just use that to out-maneuver them and get back in my PRAWN or Sub and leave. I've never been close to dying by one.
2: Bonesharks
Its kind of the same deal honestly. It's not worth messing with these guys so I just run away regardless of what vehicle I'm in, from seaglide to cyclops. Maybe decoys in cyclops are best saved for these guys. All other vehicle you can just run away.
3: LR and below
a: River Prowlers
Never really had to get close to one. They're far and few inbetween. I've gone down there with my Seamoth and PRAWN many a times, and I think they've only ever attacked me once.
b: Lava Larva
I really think taking the cyclops into Lava zones is asking for trouble, so I don't. I go down there with the PRAWN and PRAWN alone. If they start going towards you to suck your energy, I just back up and try to get a hit or two off on them with my drill arm until they start swimming away. If they do manage to latch on, I just get out of my Prawn in a safe location and give em a slash or two with the ol trusty knife. Sends 'em running. er, swimming.
c: Lava Lizards
It's just kind of a stay away again from these guys. try not to get hit by their projectile (which isn't that hard to dodge), and do your best to stay away from them. There aren't that many around, and the best thing you can do is just get past them as fast as you can.
d: Sea Dragon
Avoiding the sea dragon is actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. When you meet it around the Lava Castle in the Inactive Laza Zone, pretty much all I do is (in my PRAWN suit, armed with a drill arm and a grapple for mobility) start moving around, using the stalagmites as cover. I try to keep an eye out for him and if he's close by I try to stay put and hope he doesn't notice me and leaves. If he does notice, he heads directly towards you. All you have to do is make sure you are behind a stalagmite so he runs into that instead of you. Once he does he'll go back up and either leave, or circle back in for another attack. Most of the time he just leaves. Then you just keep moving.
A lot of it is just watching to see when he's starting to move away from you, and moving at those points. He seems to turn very widely and If he's headed in another direction already, you'll have a pretty solid time to get to your next stalagmite for cover.
e: "what else lurks down there"
You'll find some other enemies that you already know about down here too. in combination with the sea dragon around their abilities complicate things, but the advice above pretty much still applies. The best thing to do is stay away, and if they get close and notice, get away.
Yes, and I died during the tutorial (Putting out the fire in lifepod 5)
And I thought I was good at this game.
Yes, you can. HOWEVER, there is a glitch after you kill it, it can still bite and kill you. Don't know how. (post-mortem twitching?)
Awesome! So, would you suggest PRAWN grapple and torpedo or Stasis and shank? Also: The Wiki mentions the Hardened Blade being the only thing that can kill Reapers. Does that mean Thermal blades and torpedos are useless against them?