Some questions

[Midnyte]

hey guys,

so i've owned this game for a while now and have played it a little bit here and there but never nothing to serious... it seemed to be rather bland to me so i was hoping some of you could shed some light on what im missing or probably doing wrong.

so they have caves... now what is the point of these? why bother venturing into them? whats the purpose of crafting when you can just wasily buy the things you need at the stations?

the few times i've played it it just felt like all i did was auto nav from one base to the next while trying to fix all the leaks and issues. im sure there is more to it then just that so if anyone can fill me in i would appreciate it :)

also, how do you even locate caves?

[Smurff-a-thon2k]

And your difficulty settings was....... 10?....20?
Maybe try 80~100 and auto nav to the next station, wasting multiple hours repairing while under massive attacks and your bot crew wasting all the resources until you finally die and fail the mission might have you actually change your strategy and have to play the game.

[Buggy Boy]

This certainly seems to be a game that you get out what you put in - if you just want to get from one station to the next ASAP and ignore everything else, then yes it'll be a little boring for you, you're not interacting with the game world much at all.

On each round there are minerals to mine, swarms to defeat, big beasties to best, probably wrecks and alien ruins to explore and perhaps the occasional pirate or abyss monster if you venture off the path. Caves have minerals and plants in them which might be crucial to your survival when stations don't have what you need (e.g. thorium or uranium, or fuel rods) or when there are no more stations ahead for many rounds. These things can be tackled solo but it's often said that caves and ruins are better explored with friends in multiplayer, the bots don't really know how to act autonomously outside of the sub (the imminent update improves on this for alien ruins though).

Unless you have Jovian Radiation turned on, you can spend hours in a single round exploring, gathering resources, defeating monsters and pirates, even in solo play there's so much you can do. Take your time, explore, take risks, escape, take defeats on the chin, and when you finally reach the next station you'll feel as though you have a few stories to tell.

[Teal V2]

Ok, so you want to know what is the game in this.

First of all, play campaign mode.
Your objective is to reach the end of the map, aka, go right on the world map.

What is the challenge in it? The same as in every RPG. You can't beat the final boss with a lvl 1 character.

As you go to the right, the game gets harder and harder, so you will need better stuff.
You need to upgrade your submarine, buying a better one and upgrading its systems.
(Hull damage resistance, faster repairs, better power usage, efficiency increase, etc).

You also need a better crew, so they also should "level up". They get stat points as they doing tasks. Repairing stuff, shooting at aliens, healing wounds, driving the sub-marine etc..

Now then, you need money to upgrade your stuff and to buy stuff. So you need to finish missions to get money.
As you go to the right on the world map, it will be harder to find cities, so you need to be well stocked to have enough resources / fuel till the next city.
Here comes mining to the scenery, as you can get lots of resources from the walls of caves to make fuel for yourself.

Also, in the next update, characters will receive perks as well as they do tasks on the sub-marine, making it even more advantageous to have a well experienced crew on your sub as you progress to harder difficulties (to the right).

Once you finish the campaign (reached the right of the world map), you can say you finished the game and there is nothing else to do but repeat and play with friends (or randoms, but it is not preferred, since people tend to troll, exploding reactors for fun or shooting crew to death without reason).

[DuckieMcduck]

In the next update there are item quality statuses so good craftsmen can make high quality items that have bonuses to them.

Also in the next update there will be crafting recipes of super items that can only be created by class roles with the appropriate talents.

As for caves, there can be artifacts which will also benefit from talents in the next update (they can give more resources and more crew xp). They also have raw materials that you'll need to make this crafting.

Bottom line is, next update will tie all the knots together for making the campaign awesome.

[Midnyte]

Thanks to everyone except that at least seemingly butt hurt smurf guy for providing some actual good replies to my questions. I was a bit lost on what to actually do aside from auto nav to the next location. I was a bit lost on pretty much everything lol... so that actually clarified it alot for me and i appreciate that. Gives me a bit to work with in regards to direction.

now my next question would be this.... if the intent is to actually kinda take your time and kinda explore as much as possible ...how do you guys keep your subs in operation for a prolonged period of time i find that they run out of fuel pretty quick sometimes.

The crafting of items makes sense now and i thank you guys for pointing that out... i have never really gotten to much into the game to see how the map actually plays out.

now also if im using passive sonar or hell even active sonar im not really sure what im reading with all the colors and stuff or where to even find an entrance to a cave via the sonar... could use a bit of help in that department as well if thats not to much to ask.

thanks again guys

[Insano-Man]

Originally posted by Midnyte:

now my next question would be this.... if the intent is to actually kinda take your time and kinda explore as much as possible ...how do you guys keep your subs in operation for a prolonged period of time i find that they run out of fuel pretty quick sometimes.

The simple answer is to buy more fuel.

Buy up as much as an outpost sells, and do that every time you dock. Always stash away scavenged fuel rods. Harvest molochs for their brockite to recharge your thorium rods. Early game is going to be lean before you've stockpiled a surplus, but once you're later into the game, you should have more leeway with how long you linger in a level - especially with reactor output and efficiency upgrades.

now also if im using passive sonar or hell even active sonar im not really sure what im reading with all the colors and stuff or where to even find an entrance to a cave via the sonar... could use a bit of help in that department as well if thats not to much to ask.

In my experience, the color of what you see on the sonar means almost nothing. At best, they're a redundant indicator as to how close something is; more distant objects tend to show up as fainter blues, closer objects as brighter greens. Creatures tend to show up brightly no matter what distance they are, but I'd say their shape is more important than their color.

Edit: Fingers moved before my brain did. Let me correct this:
Color means nothing for most sonar returns. Ice spires and icebergs return as bright greens, similar to creatures. Sonar interference returns as a chaotic field of random orange dots, usually centered on the interference-causing object.

With that said, watching the shapes and patterns you see on sonar is crucial to discerning what your environment is. Caves tend to have highly detailed structures that appear in a rapid wave with the sonar pulse. You'll sometimes see currents moving around inside them, which is almost a sure-fire sign that they're a cave.

Wrecks usually look like a big, darkly-outlined box on sonar. They're distinct from most of the walls in the level in that they have a very precisely-defined shape. Some of them hang over ledges, and all of them have some kind of solid ground beneath them.

Ruins look similar to wrecks, but they read back as a big collection of squares and rectangles. Likewise, they usually generate nestled inside the walls, floors, or ceiling somewhere, with an opening somewhere nearby.

Monsters and other living creatures tend to have very distinctive sonar returns. If you get a good feeling for their size, you might even be able to tell the difference between similarly-sized signatures. For example, crawlers have a noticeable blob in the middle, whereas mudraptors are usually smooth and slender. Movement patterns can also be a good indicator. Hammerheads come in fast, then run away faster, whereas bone threshers swim along with the rest of their pod and stay stuck to your sub once they get there.

In general, just keep playing. Once you've got enough experience, you'll know just what to do, and what everything looks like.

[Buggy Boy]

When it comes to finding minerals, unless your chosen sub came with a mineral scanner (can't be added to one without, currently) then it's the good old tried and tested eyeball technique - in multiplayer you could navigate close to the cavern walls and tell your crew to watch through the guns for minerals and plants, or set the sub to glide down past rocks on autopilot (set maintain position some distance ahead near the rocky edge) and look through a periscope yourself, you need to be quite close though as the periscope range isn't very far.

You can also opt to take a handheld sonar scanner with you when you find a cave mouth, which should be quite distinctive on the nav sonar display; go in a little way and ping your handheld sonar with the mineral scanner turned on, it should show you the internal structure of the cave and any minerals, which will show as small bulb-like shapes.

Just keep an eye on the ballast for flora, the crew don't tend to notice it until its growing out of the ballast tank, then it's quite a job to clear and can cost lives. Always check the sub over before leaving on a single player cave expedition, make sure there are enough reactor rods available (three at least) too for your crew to keep the sub running while you're away.

You can often find uranium, lead, and thorium out there, meaning that so long as you have a deconstructor and fabricator on board then fuel shouldn't be a worry. Just don't bank on finding the minerals you need when you need them though, it's random and there's every chance you'll sail right past some while looking at the other cavern wall. I don't think it's worth scouring the entire cavern, it would take too long and too much fuel just keeping the sub running. Beware that some caves are very dangerous!

[Insano-Man]

Originally posted by Buggy Boy:

Beware that some caves are very dangerous!

I'll back this strongly. Some have currents strong enough to pull divers up against the wall. Some have environmental hazards that can be deeply deadly. Most usually have a few monsters waiting at the end.

I once had an occasion where a swarm of about 5-8 husked crawlers were stuffed in a cave that was part of an artifact mission. I was lucky enough that they all burst out to attack the sub when I approached, but that'd have been the end of that run if they'd waited instead.

Always go prepared. Always go in careful. And whenever you've got the chance, always bring a buddy.

[Midnyte]

thank you guys so much for the response on this topic. It has already improved my game play alot more. I originally th ought all i had to do was auto nav and fix problems but thanks to you guys explaining all these things it has opened up alot more gameplay for me and im very appreciative for that.