Void DLC Expansion Idea

Let's enjoy this little pipe-dream together. Or perhaps a nightmare.

The Void and why you should visit it

The Existing Void Lore (not so enticing)
1. No reachable seafloor or other play-boundary edges
2. Plankton and Leviathans are its only lifeforms
3. No resources out there

Now, one small adjustment . .
OK let's just tweak Void factoid 3 and proceed from there. In my universe there ARE resources to be found dotted throughout the Void. Really good ones, honestly, unique and vital for crafting some new techno-McGuffin back at the Crater (who knows what - maybe a personal teleporter, or something that goes BOOM for change).

Otherwise you'd have be crazy to venture out there. Right? No, but that will help enormously.

The expanded Void Ecosystem

Not expanded by that much though:

• All manner of hostile leviathans still exist out there - as is right and proper.
  
• Also included are passive type leviathans, relatives of those already existing in the two Subnautica games. These are about the only places you'll find any resources:
  
  • A plankton munching relative of the Reefback
    
  • A free-floating relative of the Vent Garden, with space enough to build / find a small habitat.
• Drifting wrecks of doomed void expeditions - many of them trashed Cyclops subs I guess - bobbing along by virtue of attached Floaters and/or air left trapped in their hulls.

Void Technology

This is a realm without landmarks where most everything drifts slowly out of position. But Alterra has all the technology to keep you alive. For a short while at least:

1. Void Beacons
Required only by those hoping to find their way back

• Pretty much standard Beacons and will keep their positions just fine. Available in safety yellow!
  
• However, they have a shorter range than normal beacons (doubtless from using some particular broadcast wavelength that doesn't enrage leviathans).
  
• So a trail of these must be dropped like breadcrumbs to find your way back to the Crater.
  
• Ideally, deployed via the Cyclops Decoy launch tube - for Sanity's sake alone!

2. Active Sonar
The standard Cyclops sonar is an Active Sonar, since it sends out 'pings' and listens for the echoes. But due to many hostile leviathans, any use of any active sonar in the Void is a high risk-reward strategy, but vital for locating inanimate targets.

• Player may opt to 'flash emit' an active sonar pulse in the hope of discovering any drifting submarine wrecks within range.
  
• Of course this will attract ALL hostile leviathans within acoustic range, so it's best followed with evasive manoeuvres, decoy deployments then silent running, silent prayer.
  
• The reward for this recklessness is the likelihood of discovering any wrecks within range, containing useful Void-unique tech to scan

3. Passive Sonar
Your main survival tool in the Void. Passive Sonar is a well known stealth tactic used by vessels that don't want to reveal their presence to hostiles:

• You don't 'ping' with this thing. You just listen.
  
• It allows a player with a stereo headset to hear the groaning and rumblings of the Void's horrors and judge their location and direction. At first just by careful listening alone,
  
• Later, with the aid of upgrades the on-board computer can use passive sonar data to map the positions of local targets.

Active vs Passive sonar back on Ancient Earth

Key Starting Equipment

Passive Sonar Hydrophones
- Directional, a player wearing a stereo headset can judge the direction of any groaning leviathan within range by its relative volume in each earpiece.
- Target Range can only be guessed at by the volume of a creature's calls. But there's no cause to fear the noises of the Deep, until they start getting louder!
- Not usable when underway, due to engine noise.

Equipment Upgrades:

Where:

Found in the drifting wrecks of submarines and occasionally on (or in) passive leviathans (Void Reefbacks or Void Gardens), all left behind by early doomed mariners.

This is NOT the really huge one with the Precursor City inside it

What:

1.Passive Sonar Hydrophones (with Noise Cancelling tech)
- Directional (as above)
- Target Range estimation (as above)
- But this IS usable while underway, but only in Silent Running mode

2. Hydrophone Sled (deployed and towed behind Cyclops)
- Directional (as above)
- Target Range estimation (as above)
- Allows passive sonar while travelling at standard speed, due to its distance from the engines
- Can be jettisoned in case of an attack, in the hope it may be targeted instead like a lizards tail.

3. Sound Profile IDs
- Once a levivathan is approached closely, say within 50m, your PDA can henceforth ID others of the same species with a message over the hydrophones.

4. Passive Sonobuoys
- Deploy these listening devices to float in the water like beacons.
- When you're in range of one of these, it allows your on-board computer can 'triangulate' an acoustic target's range and bearing accurately
- A second sonobouy at, say, +/-100m depth will allow the computer to calculate a target's relative depth also.

5. Passive Sonar Map
- Final upgrade provides a 3D display of all acoustic sources in listening range of the Cyclops
- Thereby eliminating the need to continue operating the passive sonar manually by listening though your headset.

TL:DR:

1. Get out there exploring the Void in full-on sneaky stealth mode - you Wimp!
2. Locate unique resources to make some new powerful gadget for your life back in the Crater.
3. Master traditional submarine navigation skills to locate upgrades and evade the Void's horrors
4. Change pants regularly to maintain good hygiene at Sea.

Always just follow your dreams

Putative Game Universe

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2946311783

[Sputnik]

Yeah looks great! Really hope it gets finished.

[litekoala]

a mod like this is already in the works, check a youtube channel called aci

[Sputnik]

Get coding kiddo

[Hooye!!]

aww, man....

[Sputnik]

Nah, just an idea to tempt modders with.

[Hooye!!]

does this actually exist? I think I might need it if it does.

[EvilDucky_Boy]

YEAH THE VOID IS A SCARY NIGHTMARE

[Sputnik]

lol me too. I hate looking over that edge!

[banana]

me whenever i simply glance at the void: *heart attack*

[Sputnik]

That information is classified


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2895416059