Possible to free dive out of fabrication facility?

[Tartley]

I fell victim to the situation where a roaming leviathan must have destroyed our prawn suit while we were in the fabrication facility making AL-AN's body. Return to the entrance, and it's gone. I'm disappointed there's no wreckage or upgrade modules or supplies left behind to salvage.

I'd just take something like this on the chin, but I'm playing through with my nine-year old, who hasn't seen the missing prawn suit yet. He's very easily provoked to tears, etc. So while I don't want to insulate him too much from this harsh reality, I also want to handle it in the best way - this is meant to be fun, after all. :-)

So: Is it going to be possible for us to free-dive back out of the fabrication facility? I suspect not, but thought I'd over analyze it and chat about it here, because I was already thinking it would be fun to have some sort of free-diving Olympics, where people posted their screenshots or whatever, to demonstrate reaching particular spots, and back again to the surface, with pinky promises they didn't use any vehicular assistance. :-)

In our favor: We have TWO booster tanks, one flotation bladder, and three health packs. Also, there are beacons at the place we entered the red cubic crystal caves, and another at the vertical shaft in the blue-green crystal caves.

Working against us: Although there are beacons to help, I don't really know the way out very well. We might easily take distracting detours along the way. And those leviathan(s) are still out there. I don't know that I've tangled with one without a vehicle before.

What's the best point to use the flotation bladder? Should we head for the phase gate facility instead of retracing our steps? I guess we're about to find out...

[Tartley]

Holy carp, I just realized something else... we have a habitat builder tool. So maybe we could build places of refuge as we travel.

As far as I can tell, the minimum we need to build a refuge for oxygen is:
* 2 titanium for an I-compartment
* 1 titanium + 1 quartz for a hatch
* Some power source. I assume solar will be useless. Hmmm, this is going to be tricky...

It's these self-imposed missions that make S&BZ so great. You can make them so hard or unfair that people would object if they were in the main game. But when self-imposed, they cause us to rise to higher levels of inventiveness and determination. We are going to get out of this, one way or another. More as it happens...

[Tartley]

I feel like posting a screenshot of our inventory, so people could be all pricess bride about our copper or whatever: "So why didn't you LIST that amongst our assets?!?"

I with the alien fabrication facility included a fabricator we could use.

[Coops]

One thing in your favor is that the body part cave in the crystal caverns has air. If you can make it there, the next stop is Maida's moonpool. From there its an easy out with O2 plants for a wide margin of safety.
I did a no vehicle run a while back and if you have a seaglide It is possible just barely if you know where you are going.
The exit I use is just about due west of the fabricator facility and the body part cave is on the way. There is another exit but I am not as familiar with that one. It comes out by one of the wrecks
But be prepared to die and get transported back to your base. Unless you want to save and retry when you drown.

Edit. You can build habitats along the way but you need a power source. Solar panels will not work down there. You should be able to find magnetite and maybe have enough parts for a thermal plant. If so, you are golden.

[Dirak2012]

Are you playing on permadeath? Otherwise you should respawn on your base after you die.

[Tartley]

Originally posted by Dirak2012:

Are you playing on permadeath? Otherwise you should respawn on your base after you die.

Good question, but no, we're on regular survival. Initially I was just wondering whether I should prep my kiddo for the expectation we'd die and respawn, because he finds it quite distressing. He's a fabulous creative and imaginative type, and sometimes being over-sensitive comes with the territory. But now I've started thinking about it, it's just sheer bloody-minded stubbornness that's driving me to try and get out without dying.

[Tartley]

Been out scouting a bit. Got the minerals we need for everything except the hard part: A power source. Realizing I'm running low on water. This attempt might not last long. Might have to just swim for it.

[admiral1018]

So with two booster tanks, it is *technically* possible to swim out with the Seaglide. You can make it quite easily from the fabricator facility to the body part storage to refill your air (should even be possible with just one 135 second tank). From there, if you know the exact perfect route, it's possible to make it either to Maeda's base or the surface via the purple cave entrance. In both cases, you'll only have a few seconds to spare, so it's risky unless you take the exact route.

With that said, since you have the resources to make a basic I-tube and hatch, you can use that to your advantage. Even an unpowered tube like that will count as "base" and will act a re-spawn point if you die.

So, my advice would be to swim from the fabricator the body part facility, refill air, then swim as far as you can towards an exit. When you have 30 seconds of air left, stop swimming build a small base, and let your air run out in there. This might be less traumatic for your son than seeing the character drown to death. You'll take a quick "nap" and then should emerge in the same place with a full tank of air (second tank will not be refilled through). Deconstruct the base and repeat as needed until you're safely out.

[Voodoojedizin]

A suggestion you use for the rest of the game.
Save your game often it only takes a second, if you would've done that you wouldn't be having a problem now.
Always save your game when you're doing something risky, like exploring places you have not been, going into caves, or even gathering resources, you get the idea I hope. Anyone who plays games knows the routine save save save.

[*|PEZ|* Merivio]

It's really wholesome reading that you're playing this game with your son! Will you give us an update on how it goes?

[Tartley]

Originally posted by Voodoojedizin:

Save your game often it only takes a second

Ha! It's a good suggestion, and I definitely appreciate the helpful intention. But I think in this case, it's precisely because we saved *too often* that we're in this situation - when we'd finished making AL-AN's body in the fabricator, and watched the ensuing cutscene, we saved our game! The prawn was probably already destroyed by then, we just didn't know it. :-)

[Tartley]

Originally posted by *|PEZ|* Merivio:

Will you give us an update on how it goes?

Yes! I'll definitely report back how it goes...

[Tartley]

Originally posted by *|PEZ|* Merivio:

Will you give us an update on how it goes?

OK, well, sorry for the disappointing conclusion, but: Our water was running low, so rather than fancy base-building, we just tried to swim for it, via the body part storage facility. However, it was not meant to be. We got several shadow leviathan attacks, and I fumbled using a health pack before another attack happened, and we died.

Kiddo was fine with it. I'd talked through with him that it might happen, he rolled with it like a champ. Onward to build a new prawn suit and investigate the new alien teleport facility...

Thanks to everyone who advised us, it was a fun thought experiment regardless.

[*|PEZ|* Merivio]

It's nice to hear how well he handled it!

It was only a few days ago I was at an alien facility myself and nearly lost my own prawn suit to a leviathan who seemed very much inclined to munch on it while I wasn't around. It was only because I kept hearing its noises than I went back to check and found it on the single digits of %. Honestly think it's a bug that these creatures would attack your vehicles when you're in the middle of plot progression (I tried to bring it into the facility out of harm's way but there's an invisible barrier for vehicles it seems).

Anyway, thanks for the closure, it's always rewarding reading about these experiences :)

[admiral1018]

Just to put your mind at east, it's only the Prawn in this game that will attract unwanted attention from leviathans while you're away. The Seatruck will be perfectly safe.

In fact, if you have a Seatruck with at least one module, getting out of the pilot's chair and walking inside will immediately de-aggro any leviathans and make you invisible to them. You can actually use this to avoid any attacks from them at all if you time it right and get up just before they strike,