Christmas is here at last! Tis the season for gift-giving and snow. Snow may be harder to come by, though, but good news! URSULA will be lowering the temperature of the base to 32°F (that would be 0°C) in the evenings to encourage a Christmasy atmosphere.
Reminder that, there will be no AC requirements in December though we will still ask that you check in and, if you can, tell us your activities! We still need to write this post for January after all!
Speaking of which, see you guys next year!
Dreaming of a White Christmas
Given the nature of the game and the very tropical weather involved, we can't exactly make it snow for Christmas. We know you must all be very disappointed. We're so sorry! But we can give you something falling from the sky for the holidays!
That is to say: A spaceship is crashing.
But not just any spaceship. This ship happens to be a Kharaa ship, drawn to the area by the Nostromo's distress beacon just as the Sunbeam was before it. Of course, their reasons were far less friendly than the Sunbeam's. But surely no one around here would trust a Kharaa?
Around noon on the 7th a pulse will ring through the planet. It will temporarily disable any unnatural abilities in crew members as well as life support systems. URSULA will be able to get life support back online within an hour, while powers will come back within a day. What powers and abilities are effected are entirely up to you! Perhaps all of your character's abilities will be disabled, or perhaps none at all. It can also last longer than a day, should it be something you wish to play around with. We leave this choice in players' hands.
The crashed ship will be identified as The Narcissus, which URSULA recognizes as a cargo ship that did military runs. Although her scanners indicate no survivors, she would like to try searching the wreckage anyway.
Naturally, that's where you come in. Check the main mission of the month and see what you can find for Christmas surprises!
Some of the updates mentioned here, along with a few others, have been added to the Biome and Base posts. As mods we don't manage the player-run Subnautica discovery document but we encourage everyone to use the document for details that aren't included on the Biome and Base posts.
BIOMES
The Grand Reef has been explored and more spiritual hotspots have been found. A massive hotspot has been found further down this area that has yet to be explored.
A small base has been discovered below the lava vents. It's fairly small in size and it seems to have been used as a research lab. It has been abandoned but it seems as if someone else has recently paid a visit to it in search of something. It is unknown if they found whatever they were looking for.
BASE
A barn has been made on the base island. As of now, it is home to Zelda's Loftwing, but over time it possibly can be expanded if more pets who may not be comfortable living in an underwater base are introduced. That's completely up to the crew! Speaking of the base island, the construction on it is still currently ongoing. Inside the underwater base, the construction of Can Town has begun in the second floor observatory. Crew members are encouraged to help build it.
Some other new additions include cotton candy, more herbs and spices, and a lot of different types of metal that were leftover from Naoko's mission from November. A few other things like a pesticide that a previous crew from another ship used to create the Barren Reef and a mysterious serum that seems to have some connection to the Kharaa has been recovered, but there isn't much known about the latter.
TECH
The new submarine has been completed. This one can reach deeper depths than the other submersibles at the base. The Goggleos have also been created, which are a piece of virtual reality tech that will enable characters who were not able to see Mikleo to now, well, see him. Yay Meebo!
SUNBEAM
A few more exchanges have been made with the Sunbeam, the cargo ship that temporarily orbited the planet for a couple of weeks. They gave some information on ISHMAEL, the Kharaa, the Degasi, and the Nostromo. They also did a few supply drops that included food (both junk and healthy), entertainment such as movies, various equipment and scrap, and also a lot of chalk. They said that they will tell others about the crew being on the planet so that now, the base can expect semi-regular supply drops from ships who happen to be passing by in the area.
KHARAA
Dave Strider has finally informed the rest of the base of the Kharaa presence on Iniidae! If any crew members wish to meet these apparently friendly Kharaa, Dave wants them to speak to Rose Lalonde first so she can use her Seer powers in order to peek into the future to see if it's safe or not. It seems like, for some unknown reason, having a very large group visit the Kharaa may end badly.
According to the Sunbeam, there is a Kharaa ship flying near Iniidae. The crew of the Sunbeam said that the chances of those Kharaa landing on the planet are slim because it doesn't seem like the type of planet they'd be interested in. Let's hope for the best!
HORRORTERRORS
A few crew members have made more progress with the Emperor. They've discovered that the sickness she has is similar to the one that had infected the base, but far more advanced in form. Her antibodies have kept the disease controlled enough as to not kill her, but she's still suffering from it. Some of the crew has helped purify her which has helped somewhat! She also revealed that it was a strange people who had made her and the Dragon immortal. The people wanted to use them as experiments. They have since vanished or died off, and the Emperor has no other information on them.
MEMORIES
Some progress has been made regarding the crew's mysterious arrival to the planet and their altered memories! It has been discovered that buried deep within the crew members' subconscious are memories of drowning and experiencing electric jolts. Once these new memories are remembered, it will feel like the memory of drowning was there all the time and suddenly recalled, similar to when you suddenly remember something you wanted to say or something you were trying to recall earlier. The fake memories will feel more like a dream now, something that came about organically from their own minds. In order to gain these new memories, each crew member will have to go through the process in order to have them invoked. It will be fairly unpleasant!
Remember you're also free to explore and do whatever you wish and can ask us about your own mission objectives as well.
MAIN MISSION: SALVAGE THE NARCISSUS
URSULA SAYS:"How unfortunate... I believe last time we retrieved bodies from the Aurora and salvage as well? I suppose needs must. We should once again do what we can here and take whatever we need. I'm only grateful we managed to turn off that signal before anymore came! But why didn't they contact us?"
REQUIREMENTS: Pretty simple! Just explore the fragmented ship to your heart's content.
RESULTS: Salvage, goodies and surprises. If there's something in particular you want to find or do with this ship, let us make Christmas miracles happen for you on this ship of dreams! Just tell us what it is.
SIDE MISSION: RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS
URSULA SAYS: "Perhaps with everything that's happened, it might be good to bring some holiday cheer to others! That's perfect. Everyone, please cheer up one random crew member."
REQUIREMENTS: Just like it says, bring some holiday cheer to others on the base by doing random acts of kindness. Spread the happiness! This can't possibly be awkward. Note that URSULA will help your character with any convenient issues needed. She can break the showers to help you fix them for kindness! Don't worry it totally still counts even if she helps.
RESULTS: URSULA will be happy and so will someone else probably?
Following the river northeast, they'll come across something huge at the end of a canyon. This massive structure is unlike anything else they've seen before. They'll be able to enter through a moonpool docking area. The insides are strange to say the least but they haven't been flooded, so it's safe to walk around in. The base appears to be in low power mode from the dim lighting.
Each area of this massive complex has an aquarium. They're empty currently. Other areas have rows of smaller tanks that are also empty. Several tanks can however be found occupied with these creatures however they don't appear to be alive. Or dead, for that matter. But they aren't moving.
Playing with strange terminals can get them to respond, though given the language barrier, it's hard to say what's going on... A video will play if they mess with it enough, showing an old friend outside, tearing into the facility from the canyon walls until it comes to rest how it is now.
Oh my goodness this is wonderful, thank you so much! This is great, it'll give the exploration crew a lot to work with. That said, one more round of questions from some of the members coming on the expedition.
1.) Is it possible to move the tanks and if so, could they bring back one of the tanks to the base for URSULA to check out/Dirk to study its soul? Percy would mostly be interested in trying to get it to respond.
2.) What kind of architecture is around this abandoned place? Are there any plans Annabeth could hijack and bring back to the underwater/island base?
3.) Sorey and Mikleo would like to explore the ruins of this base! Would they find anything of particular interest? Also, is there malevolence and/or foreign bacteria contamination that would be scanned for?
4.) Is there anything Dirk or Annabeth could get off of the computers to bring back to the base for Ami to check out? Annabeth will be bringing her magical canon laptop (the Daedalus laptop she received upon entry in-game) to hook up to the terminal to see if it works or not to find more information.
5.) Dave is going to be Dave and look for secret passages. Would they find anything or is the base just what it seems?
Otherwise our current crew is just made up of a bunch of OP magic users so we will try not to destroy anything probably. Thank you again!
We wonder why this month is the month of "we promise to try not to explode it"...
> It is possible to remove the tanks and take them back! Is that really wise, though? Well, we'll see. URSULA will mention she's seen them before on occasion but they always stayed away from the base, so she wasn't sure what they were. At the moment it seems to have no soul. But that doesn't mean it was always this way. Investigating the creature further will reveal it's... missing some parts. Like the brain. How can this be discovered? It wasn't put together well, so it might fall apart with too much poking. It's completely organic, too, not machine, so be careful with it.
> The architecture is completelyalien in nature. Rather than stairs, it has ramps. At least it's accessible. Angular corners compromise much of the structure and beams hang down at odd places. The designs all over the place do seem to have some meaning, given that only a few patterns are 'generic' (like the ones on the floors) while the rest on the walls and pillars have their own unique look.
> Our lovely little ruin friends! There is a very fun area to be found that leads between the floors of the center. This elevator like shaft is still in working order, which is good because there's not actually an elevator. Stepping in, however, will suddenly put the pair in Zero G, where they can easily bounce off the walls to any floor they like. As for bacteria, in the aquariums, they'll find traces of not only the jelly shroom disease but a more advanced version as well matching the one the Sea Dragon has.
> They will be able to bring home a great deal of information! While it's all in an alien language, Ami's abilities will be able to translate it to something more or less understandable. The gist seems to be that the facility was a disease research center. They call the disease 'Carar'. Unfortunately, the lifeform in containment unit seven broke free and destroyed much of the facility in rage. After that, a quarantine and destruction program was activated. According to the data, this happened over 1,000 years ago.
> Oh Dave. Sure, why not. There's a secret passage in one of the control rooms that leads to a special storage chamber with... gasp, crystals inside! These crystals are ion crystals. Very precious and rare material that can power anything. Just be careful not to wind up trapped. The door blends into the wall very well.
This is fabulous, thank you very much! I really appreciate everything and all of this information to disperse to the other players.
(And just to confirm, these crystals wouldn't happen to be the same as the ones Percy and Annabeth found small versions of in the Kelp Forest, right? "While searching the kelp forests, they will find an extremely rocky area. A lot of different species of fish hide within the rocks, including some of the larger predators, so they should make sure to be careful.
> On closer inspection of the rocks, they'll notice that it's actually made of a different type of mineral than the usual undersea rocks they'll find. It's a lot like diamonds in many ways, only darker in color. Very small crystals about the size of a thumb nail can be spotted around the rocks as well. The sea animals will react hostilely if they attempt to take any of those. If Percy tries to talk to them, they will more or less tell him to mind his own business.")
… Roderic is going to put on one of the wetwares after he learns of all of this information. To see what happens if a technical human wears it if this was created from an unknown species they haven't come across yet. Will it reject him? Will it allow him but with adjustments/consequences?
On a scale of one to ten, how reckless is this for him to do.
- purifying one of the regular less dangerous Khaara - purifying a Khaara soul Dirk yanked out of one
He thinks this might have some value wrt generally keeping the crew uninfected and also providing a clue as to how to get further with the Dragon's infection so he's willing to do the thing for science. MAGIC SCIENCE
SURE that's cool! If you wanna thread them out more later sometime I'm down but yeah otherwise it's fine to assume Mikleo's teaching him pretty steadily.
UGH WHY IS EVERYONE CUTE. HE WILL BE SUPER APPRECIATE AND TAKE DUG ON ADVENTURES? Also URSULA will probably be getting a lot of hugs that day.
Question: would DUG have some function to communicate back to Naoko so they can use him to contact her in case of emergency, or did she mostly leave that function out after Dirk fiddled so much with LARA the first time around?
She'll add the function if Mikleo asks for it! She wouldn't have put it in because she wasn't sure if Dirk would just remove it or not anyway so it would have been a waste of programming.
Interestingly, the Kharaa can't be purified because there isn't anything especially malevolent about them. Perhaps it's their devotion to what they are? It's hard to say but they'll remain as they are. It is, at least, a clue in regards to the Sea Dragon.
Mission: flashdrive Characters: dave and roxy Details: remember that flashdrive of crypted info from the ship dave and rose found last month well IF HE GIVES IT TO ROXY TO CRACK, WHAT ALL CAN SHE GET so i can toss the link thataway
Mission: Security upgrades! Characters: Dirk, Annabeth, Roxy, Hinata Details: In light of BOMBS, they're upgrading security with more locks and less free access to dangerous things. So!
The locks will be upgraded to be biometric (hands print as before) but also require voice activation. There is an option to include a physical key although people would need to not lose those so they'd have to be careful.
There will be a sensitive area access list, which currently is just the weapons room. Everyone is on it by default, and to lose access, they need a three-person vote from 'senior Altera Science Group' members. In this case, Dirk and Annabeth would ask to take the vote with URSULA to remove Komaeda from the list.
Hinata, Roxy, and Dirk will have been working extensively to upgrade security on URSULA and keep her data safe and sound!
Mission: I'm Not Your Bro-ad Trip Characters: Homura, Dave, does Obama Washington Akemi the Squig count Details: A pair of time travelers are bailing on the base for the rest of the month for two very different reasons. Literally, they will go just. About anywhere that is not the base?? DAVE WILL BE LOOPING TIME BACK, however, so it'll be like they never left! They're going exploring, and Homura wants to find out anything she can about the missing weapon. Dave will be keeping an eye out for the ship he and Rose were looking for last month. AND HOMURA IS going with a full inventory, Just In Case :lb
Mission: Trying to figure out what's hurting the Sea Dragon from the samples collected by the drones. Characters: Valentine! She will be keeping Sorey, Mikleo, and that group updated. Details: The drones brought back samples from the Sea Dragon last month. Valentine wants to see if she can determine what's affecting it and what, if anything, they can do about it. For better or for worse.
Mission: Studying the Kharaa. Characters: Valentine, Karkat. Details: Karkat brought Valentine a critter with Kharaa in it. Valentine wants to know several things: 1. To add the details of the Kharaa to their databases. 2. To see if it's a different strain of the ones on record, and its differences to the Shroom Sickness AND whatever was on the Dragon. 3. To see if URSULA has any data on the creature the Kharaa is using as its host. 4. To observe its behaviour, presenting it with various items (ranging from food, to fippery, to useful tools) while its still in containment. If it doesn't appear like the creature will be using it for escape, she'll even let it keep them. 5. To see if it understands the crew when they speak. 6. To observe the difference in its behaviour when presented with her and with Karkat! Does it view them both the same way, is there a sign of more respect, fear, enjoyment, etc for one person over the other?
She'd very much like to keep it alive and mostly a secret until she's able to answer several questions about the species, so she'll be keeping it in the best containment that the base has to offer, and looking at ways to improve that. It'll be under video and, if she's able, thermal and audio surveillance at all times. She will also not be a cruel captor, but she's not exactly going to give it a fluffy bed and a teddy bear. Basically, she'll treat it with the respect she'd give a similar unknown quantity.
> What's left of the Kharaa are drones. They're, well, not the most exciting bunch but they're interesting to observe. It seems they spend all their time tending to plants and each other. With the hive destroyed, they are no longer receiving new orders, making them caught in a loop of cleanliness. They also try to heal each other and will even feed each other while another drone is too busy tidying up.
> Most drones are busy trying to fix the wetware systems. The ship was running on them for the most part and since the plants are still alive, most of the ship is still functioning.
> A datalog of final testaments can be found. It seems most of humanity has grown up on the idea that if Kharaa invade your ship, you commit suicide. Most people on board had their final wills ready in the ship's registry. The captain's in particular asks that their bodies be taken care of if possible and to take anything they (that is, the finder's of the ship) need from their possessions, barring anything the crew members want delivered to relatives or friends. It seems like this is just how it goes now from the normality of the requests.
> One request asks that their pet be taken care of. This pet is apparently a very advanced cyber pet, something like a tamagotchi. It can be easily found in the crew quarters. It's a bat type creature which gradually evolves into varying mythical bird like creatures. It's personality is set to mischievous and does things like sets off alarm bells randomly. It is, however, very cute at least and seems particularly in tune to catch loneliness in its owner.
> If the pet is investigated, a recording of the owner's final moments as she says goodbye to her little friend can be seen. It seems like the attack happened fast, giving little time to prepare from how hurried she acts.
> Most requests in the datalog will be impossible to fill, given that they can't leave the planet.
> In return for her kindness to animals, she'll get many gifts in return. Birdogs will give bundles of feathers and eggs that won't hatch. Chompers will give fruits. Stalkers will give scrap metal and teeth. Teeth? Well. They're trying. Reefbacks will offer to let her take coral and plants from their backs. They're useful for that garden people have been working on!
> If she chooses to give the Angel Wing anything, they'll give her a dead Bulburtle in return. Yay for turtle soup? If she doesn't, though, they'll be quite miffed to be on the naughty list and bully her whenever she's in the Dunes.
also hajime will probably attempt to fill as many requests that are actually possible to do while stuck on the planet. that tamagotchi has a new mama now.
> Unfortunately, Kon does not make it into space. The pulse does shoot him down, but he will actually discover some interesting information regarding it through this mission!
> For example, he will notice that the pulse that hits him is nothing like the one that shot down the Kharaa ship a few weeks ago. It doesn't knock out anyone's powers, for one. It could mean that the pulse adjusts its strength based off of the size of whatever it's shooting down or other factors, but that's hard to say without further research.
> He will also notice that when and where the pulse shoots him down also varies. If he's going very, very slowly, for example, he may even be able to go as far up as innermost part of the thermosphere before getting shot down. If he moves at his top speed, he'll get down down almost immediately. Kon might also realize that when the blasts that hit him when he is higher up in the atmosphere will be a lot more powerful than when he's lower, as if the planet is a lot more frantic to shoot him down the closer he gets to leaving.
> He'll notice that when he stays completely still in the air, nothing will fire at him. So if he wants to take any pictures while up there then that'll be the best time to do so. He may also dodge some of the blasts, but if he keeps managing to do that then the pulse will just become more and more intense so when it does, finally, hit him, it's going to hurt a lot.
We love that this is turning into some sort of family business, Dave.
> The first thing that Dave will find is a set of orders. It seems fairly normal at first, just details like ship maintenance to the crew roster. If they actually keep reading though instead of deciding that it's boring junk and moving on, the last set of directions is a kill on sight order. As in, kill any crew member who isn't on a list on sight. The list is provided and there are only about twenty names on it when according to the roster, there were near a hundred crew members. The date on this order seems to be from after they crashed onto Iniidae.
> There are some plans to create more AIs similar to URSULA, which may explain the list of names that Dave had found along with the encrypted data. Reading through it would seem like they changed their minds halfway through the project and instead started focusing on a more military type AI, like ISHMAEL. It states that they managed to make two prototypes that may have promise.
> The next entry in the files is stating that both prototypes have been stolen by one of the crew members who had been listed to be killed on sight. The location of said crew member and prototypes are unknown, although the crew member may presumably be dead by now at least given how long ago this ship had crashed.
> There are lab reports on the remaining crew members detailing their health, both mentally and physically. It seems like the remaining survivors were all suffering from intense hysteria, paranoia, and extremely vivid dreams. They were also becoming increasingly violent and some even drowned themselves, claiming that the ocean was calling for them. The person doing the reports theorizes that maybe they've been infected by the Kharaa, but later abandons the idea because the patterns don't match up with what they know of the bacterium.
> The last entry is a set of coordinates. They lead to, interestingly enough, the Underwater Islands that were discovered a few months back.
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subnauticaooc2016-12-01 12:24 am
≡U.R.S.U.L.A. NAVIGATION
Jingle Bells
Dreaming of a White Christmas
Updates!
Monthly Missions!
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