Submarine Idea. "Mako" with NEW 3D renders (updated post)
Artorius
Indiana USA Join Date: 2016-09-02 Member: 221998Members
Indiana USA Join Date: 2016-09-02 Member: 221998Members
Basic idea:
A submersible that is faster than the Seamoth and "flies" through the water like an aircraft.
((Inspired by the "Deep Flight Super Falcon Mk.II" ))
Purpose:
For quick forays into dangerous areas for resource gathering or exploration.
While faster than the Seamoth, it would not be as maneuverable or able to carry as much. It also should not be able to go as deep as the Seamoth with the same upgrades.
It would be a fun way to cross the map when needed or to enter dangerous areas where getting in and out quickly is advantageous.
Main:
Mako is a small one-person submersible that is capable of "3D-flight" underwater. Loops, rolls, etc.
Max depth: Initially 200 meters. (Same as Seamoth)
Compensator 1 = 300 meters.
Compensator 2 = 400 meters.
Compensator 3 = 500 meters.
Uses 1 or 2 power cells. Range on one cell is 6,000 meters. Switching power cells is performed with a manual selector option while aboard the vessel.
Can be equipped with solar chargers on the upper wings. Recharge rate is 1% per minute of game play. Only the "unloaded" cell can be charged by solar. (requiring the user to switch periodically) Can also recharge from moonpool or cyclops which charges both cells simultaneously.
Max Speed: 40 knots (20.5 m/s) [compare to Seamoth's max 12.7 m/s (24.7 knots)]
Can surface travel using lower wing as a hydrofoil. Surface speed 60 knots (30.9 m/s)
Speed upgrade adds +10 knots (5.1 m/s) But reduces range to 4,800 meters.
Can dock with Moonpool and Cyclops.
Docks 'upright' with the front pointing straight up. The "hatch is the glass dome itself. The 7 protective arms open like a flower and the glass dome splits in two halves allowing the pilot to step in/out. When swimming, just being close to the machine will let you get in just like the Seamoth.
Storage capacity: 3x3
No offensive or defensive abilities.
Can "cloak" by turning all lighting off and using black and white night vision and moving very slowly or not at all.
Pilot sits in a conventional position.
Vehicle can move forward or backward or turn in place using differential thrust. However, it has no mechanism for vertical movement and would need to turn up or down and then drive that direction to do so.
In the advent of power failure, the operator can have the vessel can float to the surface.
(Optional...maybe an upgrade?) Has Mapping Position Recording Ability (MaPRA). Allowing for backtracking from a new location by following virtual "breadcrumbs" which are dots shown in the heads up that appear as tiny glowing dots every 33 meters traveled.
((I have computer rendered images but I cannot figure out how to post pictures))
((Pictures posted))
A submersible that is faster than the Seamoth and "flies" through the water like an aircraft.
((Inspired by the "Deep Flight Super Falcon Mk.II" ))
Purpose:
For quick forays into dangerous areas for resource gathering or exploration.
While faster than the Seamoth, it would not be as maneuverable or able to carry as much. It also should not be able to go as deep as the Seamoth with the same upgrades.
It would be a fun way to cross the map when needed or to enter dangerous areas where getting in and out quickly is advantageous.
Main:
Mako is a small one-person submersible that is capable of "3D-flight" underwater. Loops, rolls, etc.
Max depth: Initially 200 meters. (Same as Seamoth)
Compensator 1 = 300 meters.
Compensator 2 = 400 meters.
Compensator 3 = 500 meters.
Uses 1 or 2 power cells. Range on one cell is 6,000 meters. Switching power cells is performed with a manual selector option while aboard the vessel.
Can be equipped with solar chargers on the upper wings. Recharge rate is 1% per minute of game play. Only the "unloaded" cell can be charged by solar. (requiring the user to switch periodically) Can also recharge from moonpool or cyclops which charges both cells simultaneously.
Max Speed: 40 knots (20.5 m/s) [compare to Seamoth's max 12.7 m/s (24.7 knots)]
Can surface travel using lower wing as a hydrofoil. Surface speed 60 knots (30.9 m/s)
Speed upgrade adds +10 knots (5.1 m/s) But reduces range to 4,800 meters.
Can dock with Moonpool and Cyclops.
Docks 'upright' with the front pointing straight up. The "hatch is the glass dome itself. The 7 protective arms open like a flower and the glass dome splits in two halves allowing the pilot to step in/out. When swimming, just being close to the machine will let you get in just like the Seamoth.
Storage capacity: 3x3
No offensive or defensive abilities.
Can "cloak" by turning all lighting off and using black and white night vision and moving very slowly or not at all.
Pilot sits in a conventional position.
Vehicle can move forward or backward or turn in place using differential thrust. However, it has no mechanism for vertical movement and would need to turn up or down and then drive that direction to do so.
In the advent of power failure, the operator can have the vessel can float to the surface.
(Optional...maybe an upgrade?) Has Mapping Position Recording Ability (MaPRA). Allowing for backtracking from a new location by following virtual "breadcrumbs" which are dots shown in the heads up that appear as tiny glowing dots every 33 meters traveled.
((I have computer rendered images but I cannot figure out how to post pictures))
((Pictures posted))
Comments
Nice design and model!
Thanks!
I'm working on some other ideas too.
I totally understand that the chances of my ideas being used are small. But who cares, its so much fun to be a part of the community pumping out ideas!
Keep the good work up
I love the 3D flight idea as well, would separate it from the seaglide and seamoth in terms of mobility, imagine dodging a reaper and zooming off into the distance "laters alligator!"
On a use and size scale; it fits between the Seaglide and Seamoth.
That said, I appreciate your comment because it made me really think about the role this has to offer. It doesn't really work as well when docked with the Cyclops. But keeping one in your base moonpool would be useful.
Do you have any ideas or thoughts on how this could be better?
So this sub remains a bit of an enigma. It could be useful. But not a survival necessity.
Didn't realise I wanted/needed a vehicle of this type in game, but the more I think about it the more I like it! Flying as opposed to droning. My little quadcopter flys JUST like the Seamoth...hovers, which is cool, but flying would be a welcome change.
Sounds like a great scout vehicle and I love the ideas previously mentioned about tunnels and fleeing leviathan's.
What about speed boosting as you rose to the surface from a few hundred meters down, as you pumped up the ballasts from compressed helium? Perhaps its an upgrade from the mod station made with helium resourced from a type of farmable flora with some titanium and silver ore? Ties in with my creature idea below as they live around the 300-500m mark. The depths were good up above I think.
I started imagining something like a desert biome (ikr its underwater but an arctic region is also classed as a desert), with great expanses and distances involved, but also long, dark tunnels lit gracefully with flora allowing you to speed along giving a solid reason to build the machine for mapping purposes, let alone getting there from the crash site. Once mapped, you can come back with the heavy lifting gear... Also, something like bloody big tortoises that are mobile obstacles in effect that change the landscape in/around tunnels to give it some variety.
Maybe a creature fast and agile like the Mako itself and also a serious threat to the Mako, despite this creature having a relatively weak attack versus say a Seamoth, the Mako has the inherent fragility. They sleep during the day also so you would be relatively safe if you didn't get too close and wake them while treasure hunting etc, but they were ferocious during the night time, so you definitely wouldn't want to get caught by them whilst in the Mako! And they swarm if they see you being chased at night when they are all active, giving even more incentive to outrun them or dispose of them if you're capable or in the Seamoth. Either way, you'd have to act fast! Kinda like piranhas...except elongated. And more lethal. Also, the re-enforced dive suit could reduce their damage to you physically as they have tiny teeth, razor sharp, but tiny. Combined with a Seamoth, you could maybe do away with one if you had full health before an attack, however two or three would be a real challenge.
I love the idea of some huge armored crawling creature that lives in the middle deep. (250-1000 meters) maybe the tunnels aren't caves, rather they are burrows dug by the big crawly beasties.
Thanks for the compliments on the Mako. I'm rather proud of it.
I also like the idea of there being blueprints for subs, vehicles, items or tools that really don't have a direct use in the game. But rather, they are the result of the massive vehicle Aurora having allot of people on it. The Mako could be somebody's personal blueprints for the submarine version of a sports car.
Kinda like in post-apocalypse movies when the person finds an abandoned supercar and joyrides it just because they can.
I reread your post and love the thoughts you bring up. Super cool stuff man.
I just posted my thread for the Coelacanth, that having more vehicle options, even when they are actually redundant makes perfect sense. Both within the story and for gameplay reasons.
The story is that we crash land on the planet. The ship we were on had hundreds of people on it. And it was to colonize the planet. Now, with all that, we only have plans for two subs and the Prawn? Seems pretty likely that there would be at the very least blueprints for more designs.
As for the gameplay aspect, giving more ways to perform the same work is always a good way to broaden the replayability of a game that is open world but has a hard-formed linear story. Having each option give slightly varying experiences sweetens the deal allot. What I mean is, you could say "We have two subs that come on lots of colors and equipment combinations." this is true. But it is like saying that in an FPS game, you can have either a pistol or a rifle...we have several colors and types but they are all either pistol or rifle.
Or, you can give people more choices. Pistol, rifle, SMG, carbine, sniper, heavy machine gun, etc. Then offer those in all the colors and styles. Do you NEED more than a pistol and rifle? Nope. Do some people play differently? Yep.
So if doing the same thing here in Subnautica, then we could have five or more submersible vehicles. (the more the better in my book) And let the players play the game over and over until they discover their favorite way to play; their favorite vehicles to use.
This is a bit redundant in itself, but having multiple ways to do the same thing is what makes open world games...open. They are open not only in choice of direction and travel, but also in the sense of choices. You write your own story.
I mention this for submarines, but really I hope that they could add many ways to do things and many options to perform them in various methods and with various tools.
Just my 2¢
You are right about that... Time to hit the drawing board and see if I can mold this into a more fitting design.
This doesn't really offer much aside from speed, and the Map isn't even that large. We're also going to have Teleporters at some point as well, so endgame it'd be pretty useless.
The only real place for it would be when you're exploring the Precursor bases, and considering it's max depth is 500m, it can't really do that either.
What I would suggest? Make it a transformable VTOL/Submarine. A small pod or jet ski with bladeless fans on either side for flight, which then fold in when it submerges. The Tail Rotor becomes the propulsion system underwater. Its main purpose would be rapid transit between surface biomes, flying above the water so the game doesn't have to render nearly as many underwater objects as you travel, cutting down on loading time and allowing you to quickly fly between, say, the Floater Island, and the Mountain Island while being able to skip over the kelp forests and safe shallows.
Your art is nice, unfortunately the concept doesn't really bring enough new to the table to warrant a whole new vehicle.
honestly I'd rather we get a Speed upgrade for the Seamoth that increases its speed to slightly above a Reaper Leviathan's, at the expense of increased energy consumption.
Or bring back the PowerGlide as a Workbench upgrade to the Seaglide.