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?
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.
We continue to applaud Valentine's hard work on things that don't involve ferris wheels.
> It is indeed a strain of the Carar disease. The problem seems to stem from an enzyme, specifically the 42nd one. The disease targets it and the enzyme traps it, neutralizing it. That's good! But what's bad is that it's lead to something of a stalemate. While the enzyme can trap and neutralize most of the disease, it can't catch all of it.
> To summarize, the Sea Dragon is perpetually sick with a fatal disease that can't actually kill it.
> If the enzyme can be strengthened, it could lead to a cure. The enzyme itself is quite weak, though, and strengthening it outright could lead to the Sea Dragon becoming sicker as the enzyme and disease wage war against each other.
> It's worth noting that the enzyme can be found in much smaller quantities in other fish from the planet. These quantities wouldn't be enough to stop the disease, however, and while it's found in the fish, their bodies don't seem to actually produce it after the initial production.
> URSULA will be very happy to add the Kharaa to her databank.
> The strain is indeed different from the Shroom Sickness and the Carar. However, it is still related. It seems the Shroom Sickness is what happens when the Kharaa are left to mutate in an isolated area over a long period of time. Centuries, perhaps more. The Carar illness, meanwhile, seems to be a non-parasitic version that kills the host slowly rather than mutates and takes over the host. It could be considered therefore a 'failed' Kharaa.
> After researching it thoroughly, URSULA will come to the conclusion that the creature is from a planet found roughly fifty years ago. It was rich in resources but, at least according to her data, was not infected with Kharaa at the time of discovery. That may have and certainly seems to have changed.
> When presented with food while hungry, it will eat. When presented with food while not hungry, it will hoard the food in a corner. When presented with most objects, it will hoard them. It seems to have an intricate system of hoarding, however, as it is careful in how it arranges its pile. The more important the object, the further down it hides it. It will not actually try to escape as long as it has objects to protect.
> While it doesn't seem to understand the nuances of human speech, it can read tone. Saying something positively or negatively will impact its mood. Positive things seem to keep it at ease while negative things will agitate it.
> Karkat it seems to view in almost a fond way. If Karkat tries to take its stuff, while it will hiss, it won't actually attack or put itself between the stuff and Karkat. With Valentine, however, it will worry more about its stuff being taken away again. If they both continue to give it things, however, it will come to view them both in a more positive manner.
> Most interesting is that it rarely rests. It seems to be alert most of the time. Brief periods of inactivity last only about ten minutes and happen roughly every ten hours. As it doesn't have much to do, it will mostly tend to its pile of things, obsessively cleaning them and checking them.
I'm sorry that it took me so long to respond to this! Thank you very much for your reply guys; as always Valentine will be putting all of her findings about the Sea Dragon's sickness and making it available for public record. The specific experiment on the Kharaa, for the time being, will stay encrypted as she figures out the best thing to do about it.
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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!
A TWO-FER
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.
no subject
> It is indeed a strain of the Carar disease. The problem seems to stem from an enzyme, specifically the 42nd one. The disease targets it and the enzyme traps it, neutralizing it. That's good! But what's bad is that it's lead to something of a stalemate. While the enzyme can trap and neutralize most of the disease, it can't catch all of it.
> To summarize, the Sea Dragon is perpetually sick with a fatal disease that can't actually kill it.
> If the enzyme can be strengthened, it could lead to a cure. The enzyme itself is quite weak, though, and strengthening it outright could lead to the Sea Dragon becoming sicker as the enzyme and disease wage war against each other.
> It's worth noting that the enzyme can be found in much smaller quantities in other fish from the planet. These quantities wouldn't be enough to stop the disease, however, and while it's found in the fish, their bodies don't seem to actually produce it after the initial production.
> URSULA will be very happy to add the Kharaa to her databank.
> The strain is indeed different from the Shroom Sickness and the Carar. However, it is still related. It seems the Shroom Sickness is what happens when the Kharaa are left to mutate in an isolated area over a long period of time. Centuries, perhaps more. The Carar illness, meanwhile, seems to be a non-parasitic version that kills the host slowly rather than mutates and takes over the host. It could be considered therefore a 'failed' Kharaa.
> After researching it thoroughly, URSULA will come to the conclusion that the creature is from a planet found roughly fifty years ago. It was rich in resources but, at least according to her data, was not infected with Kharaa at the time of discovery. That may have and certainly seems to have changed.
> When presented with food while hungry, it will eat. When presented with food while not hungry, it will hoard the food in a corner. When presented with most objects, it will hoard them. It seems to have an intricate system of hoarding, however, as it is careful in how it arranges its pile. The more important the object, the further down it hides it. It will not actually try to escape as long as it has objects to protect.
> While it doesn't seem to understand the nuances of human speech, it can read tone. Saying something positively or negatively will impact its mood. Positive things seem to keep it at ease while negative things will agitate it.
> Karkat it seems to view in almost a fond way. If Karkat tries to take its stuff, while it will hiss, it won't actually attack or put itself between the stuff and Karkat. With Valentine, however, it will worry more about its stuff being taken away again. If they both continue to give it things, however, it will come to view them both in a more positive manner.
> Most interesting is that it rarely rests. It seems to be alert most of the time. Brief periods of inactivity last only about ten minutes and happen roughly every ten hours. As it doesn't have much to do, it will mostly tend to its pile of things, obsessively cleaning them and checking them.
no subject