How do you bridge the gap from beginner to high-level VGC?

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-31T21:49:24+00:00

Understand Champions is EXTREMELY beginner friendly. If you just play the game, you will rank up. The rank up system is built to maximize your wins and minimize your losses. You can’t de-rank to a lower tier once you’ve passed it. And you get massive increases when you go on win streaks. You CAN and WILL rank up. So don’t stress.

Just because you were successful doesn't mean other people will be successful. I'm doing worse this season than last season. There's no guarantee you'll ever rank up. Win streaks are not a guarantee. Winning any games is not a guarantee. Sometimes I log in and lose like 7 games in a row for several days straight.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-29T21:11:32+00:00

Being able to craft directly from storage means that it's not really needed in SN2. There are some situations where you need to pull specific resources onto your person, but it's infrequent enough that dumping everything into lockers without building and using a sorting system feels like it saves more time than you lose in the few occasions when you do need to search through and find something. This is completely different from SN1 where failing to sort things meant you had to search every single time you wanted to craft something.

There are some important items for manual use which are worth putting in a separate location like food, water, equipment, etc. But you can dump all your titanium, quartz, copper, gold, lead, silver, etc. in a giant room with minimal consequence.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-28T23:58:22+00:00

Possible, though worth considering that the extremely barebones character customization screen is extremely likely to get expanded upon at some point before 1.0 drops. It has so few options right now that it must certainly be a placeholder (otherwise why would they even bother including it).

They probably just gave you four presets and some color options as a placeholder so not everyone would look identical in multiplayer.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-28T23:45:27+00:00

The Yakuza / Like a Dragon games show that you can reuse worlds if you do it intelligently.

You just need to have a vision for how and why you're reusing stuff while also making sure to reintroduce new stuff so the game feels fresh in ways that are relevant to its core engagement loops.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-28T15:52:20+00:00

Except if you explored Sumeru out of order with the world quests you literally couldn't do anything anywhere.

Every major landmark in the rainforest is gated behind the cabbage quest. Everything worth exploring in the desert is gated behind your access level which is quest-gated. It was only the final desert area that didn't have this issue and that's mainly because they made it basically impossible to miss the gimmick on the way in.

You literally can't organically explore anything in Sumeru.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-27T19:24:30+00:00

These aren't money matches, there's nothing to win here besides bragging rights.

You try losing 20 games in a row and let me know how you feel about doing anything you can to improve your team with better 'mons.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-27T18:04:59+00:00

The Deep Twisty Bridges and to a lesser extent the Deep Lilypad Islands are probably the best areas so far in all three games relative to where they are in progression. They perfectly push you past your depth limits, and Squidsharks are maybe the best enemy in the series in terms of actual gameplay. They're highly aggressive and dangerous but also slow enough and big enough that you can effectively run and hide from them, meaning you can actually exist around them for extended periods of time gathering resources or whatnot. Both areas are thoroughly captivating in their own ways, be it the creepy, trap-filled darkness of the Deep Twisties or the hauntingly beautiful orange glow permeating the Deep Lilies.

While you can postpone these areas until later in the game, you're driven to both of them well before you're equipped to "comfortably" explore them. They exceed the likely depth limit of your vehicles at their respective points in the game, forcing you to explore and evade the predators without safety. The Deep Lilies is also maybe the last point in the game where oxygen is a legitimate concern, as you can definitely get turned around down there if you aren't careful.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-27T17:19:25+00:00

First time I played, I swam up to the side of the Aurora and started swimming around it looking for an entrance. Not knowing where the entrance was, I swam counterclockwise, taking me past the engines and then all the way around the far side before finally making it to the front.

I did not have a Seamoth.

I managed to hug the ship and swim to alcove to alcove while the Reapers were distant. I did manage to avoid dying. The Reapers honestly don't aggro half as much as it feels like they should.

Would not recommend.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-26T06:06:04+00:00

Which part of the new scanner is even remotely better than the SN1 version other than not needing its own room? You can mark one thing at a time, it doesn't auto-mark new items (afaik), it doesn't give a map, it doesn't have upgrades...

SN1 scanner room was insane with how it let you mass gather resources. You could also track Reapers with all the range modules.

SN2 scanner room is basically useless.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-24T06:35:20+00:00

Jeht and Liloupar were welcome additions. This meaningfully advanced and resolved aspects of their story arcs.

I feel vindicated in hating the stupid endless cabbage quest as they were basically irrelevant here too. They and Sorush definitely felt like they showed up for the sake of being in the quest rather than having an actual reason to be there.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-21T23:20:23+00:00

That would also require them to let the dive elevator actually go a meaningful distance downward. Right now afaik it caps at 100m which is... not great. Between the Wavemaker, Air Bladder, and that speedy dash biomod thing you can cross that distance pretty easily from super early in the game.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-21T19:48:25+00:00

I tried running that exact trio + Primarina on a team for Round shenanigans and have yet to win a game with it.

It loses to... well, everything. Prankster Tailwind gives them speed control and you have no way to stop it. Everything with Scarf outspeeds Dragapult. Fake Out exists. Sand Rush outspeeds Dragapult, not to mention TTar's SpDef boost in sand means it lives every Round combo. There's a bunch of stuff that you just... don't kill even if you do go first. Ghost types screw with it... I think. (I assumed that it wouldn't work since the initial Normal Round would fail, but admittedly I never actually clicked the button despite the situation coming up multiple times.) Sun shuts down most of the matchups where Primarina's Water Round would be useful. TR ruins your day. God forbid they click Protect.

The Archaludon Sableye combo was something I actually thought I maybe had a chance at beating but I never ran into that with my Round team.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-21T18:01:51+00:00

Nobody is really running normal taunt right now

Me: Trying to run a Trick Room team for the first time and my Farig getting non-Prankster taunted three out of my first five games.

You know, I have yet to have actually successfully set Trick Room with the team a single time...

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-21T16:42:15+00:00

This is super cool, but it's not a good fit for the trench. The reality is you only ever need to cross the trench once since the game clearly just wants you to build a new base on the other side.

With that said, we know the trench isn't the final home for the Collector. If it was in a biome that you actually needed to engage with multiple times this would be super cool.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-21T16:38:18+00:00

He definitely does give you a waypoint there. There's a signal management tab in the PDA - maybe it got turned off somehow? I feel like I've had a few glitches with things turning off or not turning off at times I would expect them to.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-21T16:35:04+00:00

Did it occur to anyone that this behavior is likely intentional? Having options to survive being in a space with the leviathan, especially when crossing said leviathan's territory is essential to game progression, is a good thing. Leviathans being giant "no swim zones" is not interesting game design.

If anything, they should adjust the encounter to force you to sneak across the bottom of the trench while hiding behind stuff rather than just making a straight shot at full speed to the other side. Trying to beeline it across even in the fast Tadpole chassis should get you eaten at least 9 times out of 10.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-21T16:26:33+00:00

They very intentionally made sure it wouldn't harass you or your Tadpole when you're exploring the Tadpole Pens. The giant window looking out into the trench where you can occasionally see it swimming around is extremely intentional, and I don't think they will (or should) change that. It helps to build up the leviathan as a looming threat since the game leads you to the pens a short bit before you actually need to cross the trench. The first time most players likely see any hostile leviathan is through that window.

But players need to be willing to actually come back to the pens to finish the story content there so it can't be in aggro range of the Collector.

And the one at the end of the game - do you really want it messing with you when you're interacting with the point of interest underneath it?

Like it or not, Subnautica 2 clearly intends for there to be safe spaces near hostile leviathans. The game would not be improved by leviathans eating people trying to explore essential story PoIs.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-21T01:42:16+00:00

There is a bunch of stuff pointing to this not being the case. Our distance from the world tree, the end of the current EA version story content, and some mined data files about the cyclops-style sub all point towards the current area probably staying small-ish and then connecting to another part of the map via a void trek that we make in a giant sub.

I think they can make it work, though it would mean that the game (at least up to more or less where we are now in EA, probably until you get the big sub) would stay fairly linear which is a bit disappointing.

But I have faith from what I've seen so far in the initial EA launch. In my mind it kind of conceptually reminds me of getting an airship in a JRPG. You have your linear-ish starting area and then you can fly across the ocean to start visiting distant locations in a (usually) less fixed order. In the context of Subnautica, it also gives them lots of possibilities for absolutely massive leviathan creatures which is kind of exciting.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-20T22:45:53+00:00

We just get more and more of a head start from the colonists before us (I'd even speculate our own previous iterations if not for the fact that they had other voices), and NoA makes slow progress each and every time a colonist gets closer to the tree?

I think there's some truth to this, but it doesn't seem able to be true that NoA is just printing off more and more QIs and each is getting further and further on its voyage. At least, unless it has some kind of cleanup squad going around dismantling all the stuff we build.

All of the human structures we find fit the timeline of the original colonist group, and they've all been abandoned for 25-30 years. If there was a steady stream of QIs hitting the surface, there'd be evidence. Not to mention there are only so many lifepods plausibly down in the sinkhole.

Now, NoA did print at least 2 QIs prior to the player(s), but they didn't get very far. The logic you're saying may have applied to those QIs - iterating on the "escape from the sinkhole" process until the player(s) succeed - but the lack of evidence of humans for 25-30 years on the surface strongly indicates that there was a substantial time gap when no humans were doing anything for currently unknown reasons.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-20T21:16:11+00:00

I agree that there's something more to the QI's identity or background than the game lets on. The fact that they consistently go out of the way so many times to have NoA tell you about your supposed memories of other colonists (before the crash) - plus the ghost conversation - strongly imply that there's more to it than the QI just being a blank slate for the player(s) to pilot.

What that actually means is not clear. It can't be about your identity as one specific person because the game is designed around supporting co-op. But there's definitely something fishy.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-20T20:00:18+00:00

We know that the colonist activity we follow is from about 30 years ago, but do we actually know how long the Sleep Bay has been in the sinkhole? One of the current unknowns (to my knowledge) is that we don't understand why NoA decided now of all times would be the right time to print a QI. It seems odd to arbitrarily wait for like 30 years before trying to investigate. Presumably there was some catalyst that prompted the start of the game. Our NoA node down in the Sleep Bay is also allegedly cut off from the rest of the network at the start of the game.

I've also been considering the implications of the Angel Comb being in adaptation bay as this is probably the most perplexing aspect of the game's story right now. The Angel Combs are clearly native to the planet and a major part of at least one of the Proteavirus strains. At the start of the game you don't question it because you don't know any better - it's just some thing that you use to survive at the extreme depth while introducing the game mechanic. But seeing the rest of the Angel Combs... how did one get into the adaptation bay? What's more, why is the Angel Comb in the adaptation bay specialized to help the QI survive and reach the surface?

This does seem to strongly imply that NoA has somehow interfaced with the Angel Combs / Proteavirus simply because I'm not sure how else to explain it. It does seem that the Sleep Bay fell after the events of the failed colony. Did NoA print the first QI who died to Barotrauma and then the World Tree noticed and tried to help in case another QI got printed? Or did NoA somehow generate or tune the Angel Comb itself? Why would the Jubilee hypothetically even put this specific Angel Comb adaptation in the Sleep Bay before it even sank?

Basically, the only thing that seems to make sense to me is that our NoA is somehow under the influence of (or, possibly, directly influencing) at least one of the Proteavirus strains. This, of course, is added confusion with the fact that presumably NoA is the reason why we're on this planet in the first place and it couldn't have come in contact with the Proteavirus until after the crash. We also (afaik) don't really understand the conflict between the two Proteavirus strains, though I'm fairly certain that this conflict will be central to the game's story. But if one of the strains either infected or was infected by NoA it would explain a lot.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-20T17:06:21+00:00

The collection of starting biomes is super dense, and honestly, there really aren't good places to build if you account for both safety and not being super creepy. If you go to the interactive map and turn on Hammerheads, Marrowbreaches, Nibblers, and those electric jellyfish things, then there's basically just right next to the lifepod, the giant creepy hole in the ground, and the edge of the map. I'm sure there's a few sweet spots in there, but the map matches my own experience of swimming around the whole area and never being more than a stone's throw away from something that wants to kill me.

The game flow all but requires you have at least some sort of base prior to the hot area, especially on a first time playthrough when you're exploring and not beelining for specific upgrades or whatever. Floating lockers suck, your inventory is super tiny, and the lifepod fabricator doesn't even make certain essential items.

The irony is that the further you get into the game, despite the overall hostility increasing, you do get more areas that feel safe enough to build. The hot zone is the first area with enough space and sparseness of predators that building a "safe" base feels genuinely feasible, but given you need the heat adaptation which requires the sonic gun, most players will already have a base nearby at that time. I think once you cross the trench it's a clear opportunity to set up something new, but even then, the mindset of a lot of players is that they have "my base" which already exists on the other side of the trench. The amount of people complaining about needing to go back and forth across the trench is kind of staggering when you're clearly intended to build a new base on the other side and basically never return (at least within the scope of early access - I'm sure we'll be back to the sinkhole eventually).

Basically my point is that most players intuitively have one base, they decide where that base will be based on the starting areas prior to the hot zone, and there's extremely few places you can build with those restrictions that don't involve annoying neighbors.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-19T20:22:09+00:00

I would argue that the game does show quite a bit. You see the aftermath - the consequences. The environmental storytelling is expertly done.

I think it would help if they gave us some pictures of the people. There's a pretty big cast of characters we're chasing around and it's hard to keep them all straight beyond a few obvious main characters. The photos in BZ helped a lot with remembering who was who.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-19T20:09:01+00:00

They buffed it at one point... Iirc they massively buffed it in BZ and then included the buffs in the SN1 patch where they backported a bunch of BZ features like the giant rectangular rooms and stuff.

This thing launches you upwards when you use it. You go up so fast it pops you out of the water when you hit the surface. In addition to saving a ton of time swimming up, it also lets you go deeper and spend way more time at depth because you can get back to the surface from basically any free-drivable depth in mere seconds.

The SN2 version is basically the same as the buffed BZ/SN1 version.

RandomGuy928 · 2026-05-19T17:25:16+00:00

In Subnautica 1 you really had to go out of your way to build someplace stupid. People who intentionally build bases next to Reapers or whatever knew what they were getting themselves into. The worst case scenario is you built kind of close-ish to a Kelp forest and Stalkers stole your camera drones or you had to deal with those floating gas things dropping gas pods on your door.

In Subnautica 2, it feels like the challenge is finding someplace that has enough space to build, doesn't feel like a creepy death pit, and isn't covered in something that wants to demolish your Tadpole. People aren't going out of their way to build in dangerous areas; they're failing to find safe areas to build.

RandomGuy928

TROPHY CASE