Shark Encounter (Game Version 0.04)

Tips For The Raft – Dealing With Sharks – Fighting Against Sharks – First Aid – Predator Encyclopedia – Other Hazards

Preliminary Note

(Dieses Handbuch ist auch auf Deutsch verfügbar)


This guide refers to the 0.04 version of Stranded Deep still available under Betas which has been written on an older Unity engine (much has changed since then).

It aims at beginners, at people who ask themselves how to travel safely, who want to avoid shark attacks (or who maybe even are afraid of sharks or deep waters in general), and at anybody looking for information about marine wildlife, hazards and their remedies. It is not aiming at the professional shark hunter searching for body counts.

Tips For The Raft

Before you start thinking about sharks, let me provide you some hints about paddling with your raft, which will pay off when you are under attack or on the run. One thing that you will probably know already is that you can keep the left mouse button pressed in order to paddle. You don't have to press it again and again. Coming from the water, best method for getting onto the raft is just swimming towards it (don't jump, don't look up). Recommendations follow.





1. Stay crouched while paddling.
This will give you more stability (although it looks a bit weird when using the life raft). Preferably you should configure the game in a way you won't have to keep the Ctrl key pressed in order to stay crouched: Esc key -> "Options" menu -> "Input" -> Disable the "Toggle Crouch" check box.

2. Control your position.
In order to paddle properly, you will have to find a balanced position. The raft tends to rotate under you. To stop this, step into the direction of rotation. On the wooden raft, this feels a bit strange at the beginning, because the balanced position will often be at the raft's edges rather than in the middle. Once you have found the balanced position, you will still slip backwards a bit from time to time. Correct this by stepping forwards.

3. Use the wooden raft.
Although it feels less convenient in the first place, the wooden raft that you can craft by yourself is better than the inflatable one that has saved your life so far. The wooden raft is a bit faster, less bouncy, and more stable, and it does not get thrown up into the air when being attacked from below. You can create it by building a foundation on the water surface (using eight sticks and a hammer or crude hammer).





Using a hammer with an engine, a fuel tank, a propeller, a carburator, a stick and duct tape placed around your wooden raft, you can turn it into a motor raft, which is a bit faster. If you want to use it for longer trips, you should take additional fuel in jerry cans and/or a paddle with you, in case you run out of fuel.





As soon as you have found flippers, it is possible to go without a raft. Flippers will make you dive so fast, you can escape any shark. When swimming, the additional speed given by flippers is less high, so diving and occasionally getting up for air is a recommendable tactic to escape sharks. However, in this case you will have to pay more attention to lionfish.

Dealing With Sharks

The first and most important thing you have to know about sharks is that they will react to your behaviour. This is the main reason why so many people have enormous problems handling them, while others can stay in the water for a couple of minutes (realtime) among two or three hungry sharks, without even getting scratched.

Hectical and uncoordinated movements will signify a shark that you are panicked and vulnerable - something that you must prevent by all means. Sharks are looking for victims, not for opponents. If they feel that you might also be a threat for them, they will less likely attack you.

Stay calm and earn some respect. This is your first basic rule. The second basic rule regarding sharks reads: Unless you want to fight them, avoid them. This leads to some obvious conclusions.

How To Act In A Particular Situation

You sight sharks in a place you want to go to:
Come back later. If you feel that you cannot leave an island because sharks are lurking at the coast, carry your raft to the other side and start out from there.

You are on the open sea, discovering a shark in front of you:
Observe how it moves, and try to get around it - best behind its back.

You notice a shark in your proximity (shark music):
Don't stop. Go on paddling. You have a fair chance that nothing will happen.

A shark circles around your raft:
Avoid touching it, but stop paddling only for the short moment it crosses your way. Then go on.
(You can take advantage of this moment by changing your direction to make the shark lose you.)

A shark attacks your raft:
Try to stay on it in the center of the raft. Look down. If the raft rotates under you, step into the direction of rotation to stop it. If the raft is lifted up and pushed aside, try to follow its movement. This is a bit a matter of practice. Go on paddling as soon as possible. (Again: The wooden raft is of advantage, because sharks cannot throw it up into the air.)

You fall into the water:
Don't panic. Just get back to the surface and onto the raft quickly. You will have best chances to escape. Do so. (Repeat, if necessary.)

You encounter sharks while being on the water or underwater:
Know that sharks will less likely attack you, when you look at them. They prefer clueless victims. If sharks are on the track of you, and you panic and try to flee blindly, they will chase you, because this is the exact moment that you are easy meat. Keep eye contact with them to hold them at distance. When they turn their back on you, you can try to escape into the opposite direction. But watch out! Once they have found interest in you, they will come back and search for you, and when they find you, you must be ready to "hypnotize" them again. If a shark rushes towards you directly (although you are staring at it), try to swim or to dive sidewards in order to avoid the attack.

Most important:
Stay calm.

Additional information:
Sharks can be killed, cooked and eaten.

Fighting Against Sharks

Not everybody is a hero or a killer, so maybe this is not your business. If you adhere to the tips given above, you should be able to avoid this situation.

If you want to take the challenge, it is advisable to have some food, a bandage and for the great white shark also some morphine at hand (see the next chapter). Best tool for killing sharks is currently the axe, second best the crude axe, followed by the machete. The spear is intended for fish and crabs, if you want to fight against a shark, it is quite useless.





The tiger shark (that you have seen in all the pictures above so far) is the most common dangerous shark in the SD Pacific and will probably be your first opponent. It takes 10 hits with the axe or 14 hits with the crude axe to be dispatched. The tiger shark can kill you with the third attack. The great white shark, the strongest opponent to be found, can kill you with the second attack and will require 18 hits with an axe to be finished.

You can use your medical equipment while swimming. If a shark hits you badly, go up to the surface, treat yourself, maybe have a snack, and then go down again. Tiger sharks can be lured into shallow water, where you might be able to stand. You can also fight them from the raft.

Short before dying, a shark will try to flee. If you want its body for the meat (or for a nice souvenir photo), you will have to be quick. Shark meat is very nutritious, with parts of it restoring your health nearly entirely, but the most beneficial thing about hunting sharks is that they do not respawn, i.e. once you got rid of the tiger sharks that terrorized your island, there will be peace.

About five minutes after the last time you hit it, a shark will slowly begin to regain health. See the small encyclopedia further below for more information about sharks, their habits, etc.

First Aid

You will not be surprised to hear that a shark attack can seriously harm you. But there are other creatures down in the ocean that can as well cause physical injury, which needs to be treated. You will find the respective medical items most frequently in cabinets on ship wrecks. Most of them cannot be crafted by yourself, so look out for those cabinets attentively (they are astoundingly easy to overlook, especially if the wreck is underwater). All medical items can be used only once.



You can check your health status by holding the F key pressed. Possibly you will have to left-click once to switch your watch from the time/date view to the status view. This will show your health and the amount of hunger and thirst being satisfied. When you are injured or ill, your health will not regain before the two other bars are at 80% or higher. If they are lower, health will decrease depending on impairment. If your health is very low, you should eat, drink and rest in order to recover.

Wounds

Wounds have to be treated with a bandage, which you can either find, or craft by yourself using duct tape and a cloth. The bleeding and the constant drop of health will not stop until treated, and you will have to eat and drink a lot in order to compensate the blood loss. If you enter the ocean with an open wound, sharks will be attracted.

Broken Arm

Use morphine to treat a broken arm. At the moment, a broken arm does not impair your physical activities, but it will take some health over time and does not mend by itself. Besides that, it does not look nice.

Poisoning

Poisoning can only be cured with antibiotics, it will not vanish. It is caused by touching a sea urchent or a lionfish or by eating angelfish, rockfish or clown triggerfish, no matter if cooked or raw. Poisoning will lead to a loss of health that has to be compensated by eating and drinking.

Cold

Diving in deep, cold water can cause a cough, which is harmless and will vanish after a few days. Ingesting luiquid and resting is recommended. Alternatively, you can use vitamins to cure it.

Drowning

If you have been nearly drowning, your health will stay zero for a few days. Eating and drinking will not make it go up. There is nothing you can do except resting and waiting.

Predator Encyclopedia

Here you will find some information about the different types of sharks and other predatory fish.

Blacktip Reef Shark

The blacktip reef shark lives around the islands in shallow to medium water depths. It is a small, harmless, retiring shark that usually will flee as you come closer. Sometimes it gets curious and wants to have a look at you, but there is no need to worry about this fellow.

150 HP

2x Meat

Tiger Shark

You will see the tiger shark quite often, on the sea as well as from the coast of an island. Its habitat is in shallow to medium water depths. This big, aggressive shark has no fear to approach and to attack you. It also likes to play with rafts to see if there is something eatable on them.

200 HP

4x Meat

Great White Shark

The great white shark is a real monster that lives in deep sea areas. It uses to attack its prey from below, and it is able kill you with the second attack. Fortunately, the great white is not as belligerent as the tiger shark, comparatively slow and quite rare.

350 HP

4x Meat

Blue Marlin

The blue marlin is a big and potentially dangerous fish that lives in deep sea areas. It can cause serious damage with its long bill. The physical weakness of the blue marlin is compensated by its high speed.

125 HP

3x Meat

Other Hazards

Sharks are not the only hazards in the ocean. The following creatures may be not as big, but they can really ruin your day. For treatment of injuries, see the First Aid chapter.

Lionfish

The small lionfish can be found everywhere in the ocean. It is inoffensive and will flee when approached. Only problem is running into it by accident, which will cause poisoning. You also cannot eat it without getting poisoned.

Sea Urchin

The sea urchin lives on the seafloor and in wrecks, so beware of its poisonous spines when searching for things. Especially in the dark it can be hard to discover.


All other animals in the ocean can be regarded as harmless.






Humpback Whale

Postcript

I hope my guide has been helpful. If you liked it, please give it a "thumbs up" or leave a comment.

Many thanks and good luck to you on your way through the Pacific!

Skarmo

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http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=389153320

[hannkki]

still amazing guide

[PapiwA]

My favorite cowriter 👽

[CautionExplosive]

spear at the top of sharks skull at night or day if your old and eyesight lacks especially for the quick hammerhead if your still clumsy with controls those few seconds seeing the spear might save your life(even tho it makes the shark mad) i'd rather it not jump scare attack me bahahah

[bluescreened]

I haven't encountered a great white shark at all, sharks are no problem for me(I have 3 dead sharks on my roof-), and getting poisoned doesn't matter much because of the new update that includes poison to be healed from a pipi plant and a coconut. Have i just not played enough? Because seeing a great white would be pretty fun. I'm also a bit scared of the dark water, it gives me chills for some reason. That would kinda explain why i haven't seen a great white..

[The Crisp]

Fact! throwing 10 spears in the newest version kills tiger sharks

[Some_William]

still amazing guide

[Gears]

If you've already pissed a tiger shark off, watch it's movements. if it's retreating, it may simply be getting ground to charge you. Strafing can save your life in this scenario. I killed two sharks with a wooden spear (on separate occasions!) by dodging attacks with "a" or "d".

[jbgaming5012]

this is the best guide for sharks and just saying people dont try and kill a tiger shark with wooden spears

trust me

[PumpkinHead]

hi

[sharkwhisperer101]

This is awesome! By far best guide for dealing with sharks!