Methods of defense against horrid seamonsters
Autochton
Sweden Join Date: 2015-03-20 Member: 202358Members
Sweden Join Date: 2015-03-20 Member: 202358Members
So we all know that the Subnautica world is full of godawful fanged monstrosities that would love to take your face off and use it as chewing gum. We also know the devs are not going to give us anything resembling effective offensive weapons. To my mind, that makes for a similar situation to wildlife divers in our world, who need means to keep e.g. angry bull sharks, curious-hungry Humboldt squid and other unpleasant customers at bay without murdering them outright.
So a few thoughts came to mind while rewatching Nigel Marven's brilliant Chased by Sea Monsters series. In it, he 'travels back in time' to particularly nasty marine biomes to encounter some of the biggest, nastiest and least congenial sea animals we know of. Among these are C. megalodon (the real-world Mega-Shark), Liopleurodon (huge Jurassic marine reptile), Cameroceras (a giant paleozoic proto-squid), Dunkleosteus (massive armored monster-fish) and a bunch of indeterminate mosasaurs (reptilian killer-whales of doom, basically). He brings with him a panoply of means to deter attack, and it is these that made me think of the following pieces of kit:
Stun rod: Doesn't actually harm the animal, but causes a jolt of pain which will deter it from attacking further. Fairly cheap to build, but won't work against really big critters, but is both longer and safer in use that e.g. your knife. Getting this to work might require some AI updates to make the animals react realistically to pain, but that would be a good addition anyway.
Stink suit: A rig worn over your swimming gear (or even rad-suit) which emits foul-smelling chemicals into the water around you upon command, or maybe by proximity switch. Will deter even quite large predators for a short time, but requires moderately hard-to-come-by resources. Has limited chemical charges which need refilling.
Armor: Various types might exist, providing protection against the jaws of ever more frightening beasts. Chain mail might work against Stalkers, but a sand shark might require more powerful composite materials. Armor slows your swimming somewhat, as it makes you heavier, but not too badly, and later armor types might provide more protection for less mass.
Speaker: Sometimes, the best defense is deflection; a waterproof loudspeaker might emit interesting noises that can attract even the biggest sea monsters. If you put a speaker somewhere and set it to playing a particular animal's noises, it might attract that animal - or its predators. Which might mean that critter is not where you're going next. Would also mean a use for hydrophones to record the sounds of various animals.
All of these have in common that they're non-lethal defenses, deterrents or misdirectors. Thus I'd say they fit with the style of the game quite well.
So a few thoughts came to mind while rewatching Nigel Marven's brilliant Chased by Sea Monsters series. In it, he 'travels back in time' to particularly nasty marine biomes to encounter some of the biggest, nastiest and least congenial sea animals we know of. Among these are C. megalodon (the real-world Mega-Shark), Liopleurodon (huge Jurassic marine reptile), Cameroceras (a giant paleozoic proto-squid), Dunkleosteus (massive armored monster-fish) and a bunch of indeterminate mosasaurs (reptilian killer-whales of doom, basically). He brings with him a panoply of means to deter attack, and it is these that made me think of the following pieces of kit:
Stun rod: Doesn't actually harm the animal, but causes a jolt of pain which will deter it from attacking further. Fairly cheap to build, but won't work against really big critters, but is both longer and safer in use that e.g. your knife. Getting this to work might require some AI updates to make the animals react realistically to pain, but that would be a good addition anyway.
Stink suit: A rig worn over your swimming gear (or even rad-suit) which emits foul-smelling chemicals into the water around you upon command, or maybe by proximity switch. Will deter even quite large predators for a short time, but requires moderately hard-to-come-by resources. Has limited chemical charges which need refilling.
Armor: Various types might exist, providing protection against the jaws of ever more frightening beasts. Chain mail might work against Stalkers, but a sand shark might require more powerful composite materials. Armor slows your swimming somewhat, as it makes you heavier, but not too badly, and later armor types might provide more protection for less mass.
Speaker: Sometimes, the best defense is deflection; a waterproof loudspeaker might emit interesting noises that can attract even the biggest sea monsters. If you put a speaker somewhere and set it to playing a particular animal's noises, it might attract that animal - or its predators. Which might mean that critter is not where you're going next. Would also mean a use for hydrophones to record the sounds of various animals.
All of these have in common that they're non-lethal defenses, deterrents or misdirectors. Thus I'd say they fit with the style of the game quite well.
Comments
Something to add. Some deep sea creatures on earth use biolunenesant lights to startle predators. Perhaps lights could be placed on the outside of the Cyclops to deter leviathans. If a creature attacks the lights could pulse rapidly to scare it off. The draw back is that the lights would consume power. This would work on animals that are the same size as Cyclops.
A disadvantage could be the lights may attract even larger monsters, if implemented. Perhaps an enormous sea monster could come to investigate. a way to defend against something that could swallow a sub would be to hide, by shutting off engines and lights, waiting until the monster has left the area. Or fleeing to shallower water where it cannot follow.