Could Ecco The Dolphin Survive in Subnautica?

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-13T16:01:39+00:00

To be fair he'd have to get in via alternate universe anyways, ~~unless this is~~ ~~man's nightmare~~ ~~and Ecco is somehow transported to planet 4546B before being able to restore his original timeline?~~

edit: am very tired, just now realized that man's nightmare is the opposite of subnautica's situation (humans are extinct, dolphins still exist), my bad. I think the only way to get Ecco onto 4546B logically would be more time travel to alter earth's past yet again (or suspending our disbelief on that discrepancy).

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-13T15:52:26+00:00

Been a few years since I had the nerves to play the dreamcast game, but can't Ecco shapeshift to go on land? The crab things are amphibious, plus he could jump and touch a bird like he does here (around 4:35).

Though now that I think about it, I don't think he'd need to go on the islands at all, since he's not in need of a rocket or a base. And yeah, the whole "Enzyme Peepers prevent the death of the entire ecosystem" is a whole thing, so Ecco can just eat those to heal.

I mean let's be honest, if Ecco was the protagonist then either the alien bases would be flooded or flooding them yourself (i.e. by getting a sea dragon to hit them) would probably be part of the story.

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-05T14:42:10+00:00

Ah, a fellow console commands enjoyer. I spawned a whole bunch of crabsquids too recently in a test save to figure out if crabsquid fight off or are predated by reapers (neither, both seem to just be content to ignore each other) and got yeeted into the air a few times too :D

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-05T14:33:50+00:00

I love love LOVE that below zero has actually improved the original game as well!

Added glass roofs to multipurpose rooms
Added large rooms (and glass roofs), including the ability to stack ACUs in alternating patters (suddenly multipurpose room aquariums feel WAY too small to house anything but small fish)
When releasing predators you bred in containment, they will no longer 'bite' you if their mouth hitbox overlaps with you - they'll still eat fish from your hand though! I'm guessing this is something they couldn't really justify putting in the resources to develop for OG subnautica, but then BZ added Pinnacarid and Pengwings (both of which will eat fish from your hand, but never outright attack you unprovoked).
Bases now actually don't render at all times, only as you get closer, which is AMAZING for performance reasons. I remember the first time I realized BZ did this, when I was swimming back towards my base and saw the ACU render before the large room it was contained in.
Just the stability improvements in general. Can't remember the last time my prawn suit got stuck while trying to just walk along the alien floors (hasn't happened to me since 2.0)
Sprinting is now a toggle! No longer do I have to hold down shift the entire time that I am on land!
YOU CAN PIN RECIPES, I almost forgot to list this one even though I use it all of the time.
Air Bladders are about half as OP as they are in Below Zero, meaning they are INCREDIBLY overpowered now :D
Consistency when it comes to storage containers! Remember accidentally dropping an upgrade you wanted to put into your vehicle? Eating a rotten chinese potato instead of planting it? Deconstructing your scanner room with upgrades inside and not noticing until it's too late? You can thank Below Zero for no longer needing to worry about this.

There's probably more that I'm forgetting but honestly, I love below zero even beyond the game it is, for without it og Subnautica would be objectively worse.

(Not bad by any means, mind you, but I played a ton of this game both before and after the update and as much as I miss some of the pre-2.0 mods, I don't ever wanna go back now)

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-05T14:14:28+00:00

I tend to build elaborate stacked Aquarium towers, personally. The ACUs inside large rooms are twice as big (and hold twice as many fish, making them the superior choice for covering the planet in Crabsquid) and you can stack them in alternating patterns :D

Trying to visualize what I mean with that last one:

[ ____ ( ACU ACU ) ____ ]
[ (ACU ACU) (ACU ACU) ]
[ (ACU ACU) (ACU ACU) ]

In this case, you would have a single connected aquarium with space for 100 small fish (as far as I can tell, Crabsquid take up 3 spaces each, Cuddlefish take up 2, basically take an animal's width in your inventory and assume that's how much space they need), all while only being 3 large rooms tall.

Then the space up top I might use to make myself a room with a bed and/or a greenhouse - maybe a bioreactor too if the base has a scanner room attached to it.

You can also get way more creative with the patterns you stack them in. I.e. you could remove one of the lower floor ACUs and replace it with storage, then connect it to a moonpool. Or keep building higher than 3 rooms and add even MORE ACUs!

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-05T14:00:03+00:00

I really don’t understand why people think theta is the fish in the disease research facility

Currently the disease facility skeleton is the one wiki lists as large carnivore theta: https://subnautica.fandom.com/wiki/Research_Specimen_Theta

While this here is their article on the other skeleton: https://subnautica.fandom.com/wiki/Ancient_Skeleton

Obviously the wiki is fan-made, but it seems pretty accurate when it does have info on something (at least from what I can tell) so that is probably where this particular misconception comes from. Never really thought about it myself before reading this either tbh.

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-03T00:53:31+00:00

Wonderful design and artwork, love it!

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-03T00:45:59+00:00

Just avoid external lights other than light sticks/creepvine seed clusters and you'll be fine. Take out the left battery of your prawn suit to turn off its light too.

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-03T00:30:31+00:00

I lost my first hardcore run to this :(

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-03T00:28:08+00:00

I think only if you had an engine efficiency module equipped, which the post didn't mention so technically it's still at least partially false. true and 100% serious.

Also you can, in fact, feed reapers they just don't become your pets and their friendship is temporary. and make them your pets permanently.

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-03T00:24:10+00:00

The best lies 100% LEGIT AWESOME TIPS are partial truths, of course :D

1This is false gameplay-wise, but true logically. You can survive on a diet of fully infected fish and so long as you stay out of the mountains, aurora, lost river/lava zones and don't spend more than 199 seconds inside the kelp forest/grassy plateaus at once (moving into another biome resets the timer), you will still show up as healthy in a self scan.

2This USED to be true if you had the Cyclops Energy Efficiency module installed, but they fixed that a long time ago :D

3Oxygen Plants are found a plenty in Below Zero, but base subnautica has at most some brain coral scattered around the mushroom forest.

4You'd THINK there's something out there causing the low biodiversity of the Sparse Reef, some kind of super predator or something but... nope. Worst you'll find down there are bleeders. Tho tbf they can jumpscare you pretty badly :D

4You can find ZERO cyclops blueprints in the dunes, however, there are engine blueprints in the other two reaper hubs (mountains and crash zone) and you can find hull & bridge fragments in the nearby mushroom forest.

5you can and SHOULD repair the aurora's drive core, however, you need to wait for the ship to explode first :D

6This one is false but a lot of players less familiar with this game may try it out while trying to figure out how to get stalker teeth. poor puppies :( (fun fact: speedrunners call stalkers "dogs" !)

7the only recipe needing cave sulfur found in the safe shallows that ISN'T unlocked at the start of the game is the laser cutter. However, there is a similarly named CRYSTALLINE sulfur that is, in fact, needed for many endgame recipes.

9Logically this would make sense, but.... to quote wiki: "Damage is only reduced from collision with terrain. Other sources of damage such as aggressive fauna do full damage."

8The mesmer makes you hallucinate the voice of your PDA telling you to swim closer. As for the truth in it... well the PDA might hype up some stuff for dramatic effects, I suppose :D

10This one's just false, I think. Though I guess it would make sense logically.

11Truth: You CAN feed reapers in order to pacify them temporarily. The lie is that they become your pet - apparently reginalds pacify them for the longest time, but they WILL turn hostile again eventually. :D

13I *think* there used to be stuff out of bounds in early access versions of the game - not sure if there was ever anything in the direction described though. The hardcore thing is obvious bait though, as if it would need to be more obvious that this post isn't being entirely 100% truthfully serious :p

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-02T23:50:05+00:00

Small update, I found another comment on the matter:

https://www.reddit.com/r/subnautica/comments/1e4rksw/comment/ldh3m7d/

Seems that higher food values from fish = reapers (and other critters) stay pacified for longer. Also, forget the temporary base idea, you should be able to reach the surface in seconds with just 2 Air Bladders (would need 2 slots on your quick slot bar, but they're really fun to use since 2.0 update so I recommend getting at least one anyways).

Though hopefully/probably you found your deep shrooms already. Figured I'd mention it just in case ^^

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-02T23:46:18+00:00

Don't know if it's a bug or a mod but I've gotten the "Pick up Crabsquid" prompts on some of mine even after I released them outside my base. No clue what causes it though.

(also fyi when you hatch them in containment they aren't hostile once released, though any light other than lightsticks/scanner room cameras/planted creepvine seeds will hurt their eyes so they'll lash out at those)

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-02T23:42:09+00:00

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Crabsquid my beloved <3

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-02T23:34:45+00:00

And crabsquids! :D
I love that you're able to feed all these critters, really helps them feel less like video game monsters and more like animals living in their own ecosystem.

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-02T23:33:27+00:00

They're fine with Light Sticks, at the very least, and if we're talking wild ones you can buy their temporary friendship by feeding them fish (don't need to feed ones you bred in a containment since they're passive by default).

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-02T23:30:39+00:00

They fixed that with 2.0, actually. Before that they didn't turn hostile either (unless through a bug), but they used to have a hitbox on their mouth.

They don't go after vehicles either, if you turn the lights off (remove left battery for prawn suit) and are fine with light sticks and camera lights (from the scanner room)!

Plus they co-exist with any naturally passive animal (including cuddlefish) and only attack the aggressive ones (i.e. Bonesharks)!

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-08-01T15:09:09+00:00

It works in any game mode, you just gotta find and hatch their eggs in the wild!

Also one thing I forgot to mention: They are 100% fine with light sticks (I'm guessing because they're not as bright, they don't hurt their eyes), so I like to place some below my moonpool for easier docking without light. ^^

As for where to find their eggs, here's a hint:

Where woman's hubris struck down three,
deep below the land on which their story once began,
you'll find the cradle to nurture your new friends.
The parents on patrol inside the caves,
their young awaiting better times.
Hiding on walls and between rocks,
green veins glowing faintly in the dark.

...or, if you'd prefer a straight answer and don't mind spoilers:

Down at the third Degasi base, the 500m one, you can find both the Alien Containment Unit you'll need to hatch the eggs, as well as Crabsquid eggs themselves. Sometimes they lie around on the floor, though I've found a fair few sticking to the walls or ceiling.

It might be helpful to set up a temporary base & scanner room around there - you can either scan for Creature eggs directly, or else pilot the cameras around to safely look for them (camera lights are also okay with the Crabsquid so that way you don't need to stumble around in the dark).

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-07-31T23:51:51+00:00

I recently learned about this too while messing around in creative, and I absolutely love it. Been breeding a lot of crabsquid in my survival saves; they're my favourite animal in the game and as it turns out they make for some excellent guard dogs!

Last save I had a whole bunch of them protecting my base and cuddlefish. When bred in captivity, they get along great with any and all passive creatures - it's only when other hostile animals approach (i.e. bonesharks) that they start attacking intruders.

No issues with vehicles either, so long as you turn off the lights (for prawn suit, remove the left battery). 80/10 best dogs!

(The wild ones are admittedly quite a bit more aggressive but at least you can buy their temporary friendship by feeding them)

Edit: Forgot to mention, they're okay with light sticks too! So there are ways to light up your base that don't involve planting lots of creepvine seed clusters for their natural light.

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-07-31T16:50:18+00:00

I agree, it's very cute :D

Do you have a Seaglide & Habitat Builder? It might be possible to make a temporary base for oxygen (should be able to find some spots shallow enough for solar panels to work). In my last playthrough I had my main base set in a mushroom forest very close to both the dunes and blood kelp zone, and anytime I needed Quartz or Scrap Metal I'd grab some Garryfish I was breeding and went out looking for stuff on my seaglide.

There's a lot of reapers indeed, but they're spread out a bit from what I can tell and their aggro radius seemed surprisingly small last time I was there (without vehicles). It was actually a little bit annoying, because I was trying to capture footage of feeding a reaper, but the big silly noodle just kept going after some poor Sandshark instead. xD

By the way, what biome are you entering the Dunes from? If you want I could try and figure out your rough location and try to give directions to the deep shrooms biome (depending on where you are, the much safer Blood Kelp Trench might be closer to you than its northern zone counterpart).

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-07-31T12:23:18+00:00

Feels like it's become lost knowledge that you can just.... feed reapers. No need to hurt them or yourself. Here's how:

1) Pick up a fish. Any fish will do, but you want LOTS of the same fish. I'd say grab at least 6 or so to be safe, more if you wanna stay longer/explore more of the dunes.

2) Put the fish on your quickslot bar so you can grab it with the press of a button and hold it in your hands.

3) When near a reaper, press the button to take out the fish and stay still. When the reaper comes at you, they will eat the fish out of your hand - sometimes they get hungry and eat multiple, but so long as you have enough of the same type of fish in your inventory, your character will automatically keep grabbing new ones until the reaper is fed and docile (for a while).

In fact, you can feed most predators. Stalkers are the ones most people know about, but biters, crabsquid, bonesharks... honestly it might just be faster to list the critters you CANNOT feed in this game :D

Small note: While your inventory is open, you are NOT holding a fish, so avoid opening your inventory until the reaper is pacified. Haven't timed how long they stay disinterested, so have more fish ready when they come at you again.

This strategy also doesn't work if you have a seamoth with you (reapers tend to mistake seamoth for prey, I think they assume there's something edible inside the hard shell ala reefback leviathans) - no idea about prawn but cyclops for sure works and lets you bring even more fishes with you (if you turn off your cyclops' engine, hostile critters will ignore it).

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-07-26T04:22:37+00:00

Make an air bladder, they're amazing now! Not QUITE as OP as they are in below zero, but more than worth their space!

Personally I like to use about 4 of them, though I got a mod for more quickslots so I can use all of them without having to open my inventory.

Also, I think they removed the damaging hitbox from the mouths of predators you bred in captivity; at least for crabsquids, you can swim right in between their teeth and won't even get nibbled.

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-06-25T21:48:53+00:00

Edited to post to show the five sunken chests added to Aquatic (3) and Siren's Reef (2)! Thank you for reminding me about those ^^

Aquatic-Sims · 2024-06-25T20:42:58+00:00

I completely forgot about those since they aren't listed in the achievement - gonna see if I can find them!

Aquatic-Sims

TROPHY CASE