Void Whales are ridiculous, thinking they should be reworked or removed entirely

[ScoobaJiver]

Having a really great time with the game so far, but incredibly frustrated atm. I made it to the quest to find the parts for HR computer with my second client, who's traits I had really come to love when I was slain out of nowhere by a void whale.

For anyone reading who hasn't encountered one of these before, a void whale is a massive whale like alien that circles ships on the map. Hovering my mouse over it revealed that it eats small ships, so I figure I will avoid that and I went to a different ship. I go around the void whale to a different nearby ship, I rest to regain some health and BOOM "You got to close to a void whale and died."

So I guess Void whales move around. And I guess Void whales movement can be triggered by resting. And I guess there is no way to fight them or anything, just instant death. This information would have been lovely to know BEFORE it took away my best client, a little dialogue blurb from STEV or a hint or anything. And even if I did have this information this mechanic, this enemy, this whatever just isn't fun. Arbitrarily limiting my options of exploration is counter to the entire appeal of the game.

Again still having a great time, I'll continue playing when I'm over it, but nothing about Void Whales works currently.

[ocean pollen]

Originally posted by ScoobaJiver:

And I guess there is no way to fight them or anything,

Keep a stockpile of torpedoes. Void whales are food pinatas.

[Sir Tontonolous]

Perhaps more than one on the map at a time is rather bull. I've had two charge me at once and only have one torpedo.

[ocean pollen]

Only one torpedo? They're not cats. They won't get into fights if you bring on more.

[Sir Tontonolous]

Originally posted by ocean pollen:

Only one torpedo? They're not cats. They won't get into fights if you bring on more.

The torpedo only destroyed one, so the other ate me.

[ocean pollen]

Yeah, I understand that. Aim for five torpedoes.

[Cucumbered]

Once you understand how they work, I don't think they're much of an issue. Besides, the game is designed around you dying a lot, just like any Rogue-like style of game, but I get it might feel like BS the first time.

For next time, all things circling wrecks move every few days. A day will pass if you travel, it will also pass if you rest, it won't pass if you dock to a wreck however. Torpedoes will handle both Void Whales and Pirates.

If you're unsure what direction a whale will pick, and you wanna avoid it, I usually rest until it moves when I'm more than one "tile" away, and then pick the direction it doesn't go. Torpedoes and warp drives for backup when you get cornered.

[Rabid Urko]

Dodge it.

[PCF | Tanasinn]

Without looking at any guides, even before I ran into my first Void Whale I knew that torpedoes will kill them. Maybe try reading your in-game screen before playing something that can be unforgiving.

[LupisLight]

Once I am at depth 2, I make a point to stockpile torps whenever I can. Even if I have to pay through the nose to buy one from a Krell Mart. Always ALWAYS have at least one torpedo on you, more if you can find them. Look for PAC ships (the green military ships), Run to the Torp bays, grab them, then bug out if you really don't need anything else on the ship. Other ships might have a random Torp cached on them, it's show up as a modifier.

Warp Keys are a close second, being as free movement can be very useful in dodging pirates and whales.

[Steven of Astora]

Just died to one of these on an iron man run that I had some good progress on. Pretty frustrating to be honest as It was at the very bottom of the map and it was a bit hard to spot. Yes I should be paying EXTREME attention on iron man but a straight insta kill on the map feels really dumb. I feel like dying should only come from being on a ship.

It should just come with a really massive downside for running into one like the pirates.

[GooseDies117]

Agree with the OP. Void Whales are utter ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. NOTHING should be an insta-kill with no chance of escape on a freaking travel map.

It's lovely that a few of you surmised that torpedoes would kill it. Bully for you. I didn't notice (or care) that a Whale was orbiting my next objective because I thought this was an FPS rougelike and just wanted to get to my next salvage opportunity. Boy was I surprised when the guy I had kept alive for over 100 days who had stockpiled a huge supply of ammo and food was instantly killed by a dialog box with no recourse.

I really like this game. But that's just a lousy mechanic.

[Palandus]

Similar issue is if you die on the starmap from NukMines or Starvation. If you have Heartstarters, you still die.