Ghost Leviathans and Cyclops Ruining the Game For Me...

[Christen04]

Title says most of it...

I finally made the cyclops, only to find myself constantly trying to switch charged powercells with dead ones. I can barely even move the Cyclops without it dying on me. I even have the efficiency module.

And the rare times I do actually manage to get this stupid thing down the deeper areas, Ghost Leviathans wreck it. And I don't usually have a good, effective way of escaping, especially with the powercells constantly dying out.

I was truly enjoying this game up until this point, but now I have no idea how I'm supposed handle this without throwing my laptop out a window and stabbing myself.

I've done all kinds of research...none of it is helpful, because-
-Even with Silent Running on, I still manage to get attacked. So turning it off to save energy isn't an option.
-I have to have the powercell chargers on the Cyclops. My base is too far away and I've worked far too hard and long to get it the way it is to make any more. And I highly doubt the Cyclops will make it far enough on fully charged powercells from my base of operations anyway. It just eats it all way too fast.
-I have tried just the slow, eventual descent option, where I just abandon the Cyclops once it becomes too annoying to constantly cater to, and eventually come back and try to navigate it a bit lower in the water...and rinse and repeat. But Leviathans like to ruin that to by shoving the sub all the way back up towards the surface.

So, yeah, I'm at a loss and ready to just uninstall both games at this point, because this game has very quickly turned from enjoyable to unbelievably cruel and frustrating.

Any advice at all would be nice...or even just sympathy and conformation that I'm not the only one having this much trouble...:(

[Suzaku]

You can't really use a powercell charger on the cyclops. The energy you're using to recharge the cells are coming from the cyclops.

Silent running is used to try and sneak by leviathans. Make sure you're only using it while sneaking, or else it will drain your cells in no time at all.

Once you've been spotted, kick it into high gear, and use your radar to see where the leviathans are. You can use the cyclops shield module to make yourself invulnerable the moment the leviathan makes contact with you, negating the damage for a small energy cost.

Remember that you can only stay at the highest speed for up to 20 seconds. Any longer and you risk starting a fire. In that amount of time you should be mostly out of the leviathan's territory, so it shouldn't be a problem anymore.

If you get the cyclops thermal reactor module, you can recharge your energy just by being in hot areas.

Also, make sure there are no lava larva attached to your cyclops. They drain its power very quickly. You can use the shield module to zap them off, or you can head out and cut them off with your knife.

[Ignis]

I don't really have anything to add to the very complete answer above.

A powercell charger on the Cyclops is totally useless if you don't have the thermal upgrade and is on a hot spot.

If you don't have those upgrades, you should explore more wrecks.

You can pass past the leviathans just fine with the right technology. Find the fire extinguisher on the Cyclops, thermal upgrades, sonar, shield.

They will make your life easier. The leviathans aren't a real threat anymore with them.

If you have difficulties piloting the Cyclops, make sure you use the cameras while doing so. You have multiple cameras depending on the circumstances.

[runemaster]

You will usually be able to reach any destination on the map and also travel back to where you came from with a fully charged cyclops no problemo.

If you're really running out of energy so quickly this could have the following reasons:

- silent mode costs a lot of energy
- solar and shield can eat through your energy too if they're constantly on
- lava larvas in the deepest area suck energy from your cyclops
- NEVER use an energy cell recharger inside your cyclops.
Instead take some full extra energy cells with you that you can swap out if needed.
Also use the thermal upgrade to recharge you vehicle in hot areas

If you get attacked, turn on shield and boost your speed for a little while. You can also drop a decoy during a leviathan attack to help you get away.

[zueldebizz]

This is a grief to start with cuz i'm about to head into the lost river.After reading this post i'm thinking bout preparing alotsa power cell & build a base deep inside there.is it goona work?

[Suzaku]

Originally posted by zueldebizz:

This is a grief to start with cuz i'm about to head into the lost river.After reading this post i'm thinking bout preparing alotsa power cell & build a base deep inside there.is it goona work?

It's not that bad. Proper preparation reduces any issues by 90%. The only genuine threat down there are the leviathans, and if you flee from them like I mentioned in my first post, you shouldn't have much trouble.

Building a base in the area might not be a bad idea. It could give you a potential location to recharge power cells in a pinch.

[zueldebizz]

Originally posted by Suzaku:

Originally posted by zueldebizz:

This is a grief to start with cuz i'm about to head into the lost river.After reading this post i'm thinking bout preparing alotsa power cell & build a base deep inside there.is it goona work?

It's not that bad. Proper preparation reduces any issues by 90%. The only genuine threat down there are the leviathans, and if you flee from them like I mentioned in my first post, you shouldn't have much trouble.

Building a base in the area might not be a bad idea. It could give you a potential location to recharge power cells in a pinch.

Yeah, Dats shall do it! Thxs for the advice,i'll go get ready my things.lost river here i come! ":D

[HuskyDynamics]

The above answers are pretty complete, the only thing I'd add is regarding this:

Originally posted by Suzaku:

Once you've been spotted, kick it into high gear, and use your radar to see where the leviathans are. You can use the cyclops shield module to make yourself invulnerable the moment the leviathan makes contact with you, negating the damage for a small energy cost.

Leviathans (and other fauna) mainly detect based on a combination of proximity and noise. While jamming the Cyclops into flank speed will probably clear the proximity, it also makes a ton of noise, and more often than not you'll wind up getting chased and still suffer damage. A somewhat safer (and more power-efficient) strategy is to either stop or kill the engine entirely if you are spotted, and just wait for the leviathan to go away. They might still hit you a few times, but they actually don't aggro on the Cyclops if it isn't making noise (and turning off your engine is far less taxing on the power cells than flank speed + silent running).


As Petty Officer Jones once said, "go dead, shut everything down, and make like a hole in the water."

[dreamrider]

All great comments and advice...but I do not see the most important Cyclops power saver tip of all...

Cyclops is a mobile base, not a run-about.
Ahead Slow speed setting is VASTLY more efficient than Ahead Standard, and only 30% slower.
Ahead Flank is far worse.
You should operate on Ahead Slow most of the time.

Other than that, as stated above:
- Avoid Silent Running, except as brief tactic.
- Avoid Sonar, except for a couple pings in the murkiest dark if necessary.
- For Heaven's sake, avoid the Shield, except for just before a major attack.
They are ALL major power hogs, intended for only brief use.

Also as stated above, never charge extra Power Cells aboard the Cyclops - it is a direct zero-sum drain from the Power Cells installed in the Engine Room...and it is fast!

For what it is worth, in many dozens of excursions in the Cyclops away from base charging facilities, the ONLY time I have ever even had to change Power Cells (or gotten below 50% power) was once when I had something like 35 Lava Larvae on my hull. (By the time I realized how fast I was draining, I didn't have enough juice left to ping the Shield.)

I put up all the numbers to support the above in a post about a month ago. I'll see if I can find it and link it here.

[Mardoin69]

All these comments (advice) is great stuff. This issue is why the older mods were so great. Mods like the cyclops nuclear reactor or bioreactor in combination with aquarium breeding and aquarium overflow--which automatically fed extra fish into the cyclops bioreactor. With the right mod combo and cyclops attachments like Engine Efficiency module (for example) you could even get away with having a 'battery charger' inside your cyclops. Just don't want to be using it WHEN you're putting the cyclops through heavy load.....like trying to outrun Levi's and / or using the zapper.

[mhm_cake]

Honestly, I think the Cyclops is a bit overrated. If you're going in the Lost River, use a Seamoth. If you're going deeper, use a P.R.A.W.N. suit. Getting the Cyclops down that deep is extremely slow and irritating, and getting it back up, equally so. I think it was probably intended to be a mobile base rather than an actual vehicle. Perhaps I'm just bad at driving it, but I always found the Seamoth and P.R.A.W.N. suit was more fun and convenient.

[dreamrider]

Of course it was intended as a mobile base. That is why it came with a docking bay and lots of room for storage as it's two major features, by default.

[Inop]

Originally posted by mhm_cake:

Honestly, I think the Cyclops is a bit overrated. If you're going in the Lost River, use a Seamoth. If you're going deeper, use a P.R.A.W.N. suit. Getting the Cyclops down that deep is extremely slow and irritating, and getting it back up, equally so. I think it was probably intended to be a mobile base rather than an actual vehicle. Perhaps I'm just bad at driving it, but I always found the Seamoth and P.R.A.W.N. suit was more fun and convenient.

Agree with this. If the OP really doesn't like driving the Cyclops then the prawn suit with depth upgrades will take you to the deepest parts of the map. Just make sure you have the jump jet upgrade, the grappling arm and the drill arm installed.

Using the Cyclops to get to the LR and below is not compulsory.

[dragonbornzyra]

Anywhere in the game, when in doubt, build a base. There's really no reason not to , ever, and if you hate having the base deconstruct it later!

[Magiqueue]

If you really want to deal with the ghost leviathan who's throwing hands, farm some gas pods (like 30 to be safe) and then fire up a stasis rifle and the ghost leviathan learns not to throw hands anymore, cause it's dead

[dragonbornzyra]

Originally posted by Ampharos:

If you really want to deal with the ghost leviathan who's throwing hands, farm some gas pods (like 30 to be safe) and then fire up a stasis rifle and the ghost leviathan learns not to throw hands anymore, cause it's dead

It's more or less the same amount of time spent agitating Gasopods, gathering/collecting/farming up all those bombs, storing them, and then having them on your person when you're ready. The time you save killing it quickly with a Stasis Rifle + 30 bomb payload is spent setting up for it.

So it's like a pick your own poison ordeal. You at get the options of how ya wanna go about wasting your time.

Some prefer the Prawn punch, others swear by the Drill module.

Others die by the Thermal Blade.

Me?

Come at me bro!