Overview
Some pieces of advice to survive in this hostile environment.
Basics of survival after the crash
STARTING
Surviving on the planet might be harsh at the beginning, but you have everything you need around you: minerals, food, potential weapons and natural refuges.
The first thing I always advice is to be wary of your surroundings: the so called “Safe Shallows”, are… well, safe. No big predators around and you want to keep like that until you find yourself a weapon or a faster transport than your very limbs.
You can craft food almost from every fish swimming around you. Keep in mind that organisms such as the Bladderfish are the only natural source of water you will find around, so use them to create filtered water. Other fishes like the Peeper and the Garryfish are a source of cooked food, but will spoil in a day or two.
Also, build at least one extra O2 tank. This will allow you to dive for a longer period of time before surfacing. It’s essencial for basic exploration.
Once you learn how to craft food, it’s time to work on the Pod. The crafter will show you the ingredients to build a Repair Tool, that will fix both the broken panel in the Safe Pod and the Radio, which will transmit signals from other Pods around the map. You are halfway from becoming a survivor!
BUILDING A BASE
Swimming around is fun, but sooner or later that Safe Pod will become small.
Crafting a Habitat Builder tool will be the next step to survive this hostile environment: you will start from simple corridors until the biggest rooms available in the project section. I’m not going to spoil anything about them, just remember that blueprints and fragments are found scattered around the game world after the Aurora’s explosion.
A base needs two very important things to last longer: power and reinforcements.
Power can be acquired via solar panels or generators that will load the base cells during the day and consume energy during the night. The more rooms and machines you have, the more power will be required.
If your base is submerged, don’t just abandon it. Fix the leaks and the automated vacuum system will empty it of all water.
PREDATORS AND HOW THEY BEHAVE
Aurora’s fauna doesn’t limit itself to cute fishes and corals. Out there, in the most remote regions, there are unknown, feral and huge beasts that will eat you whole. I will list a small number of them, just to make clear how they behave in their environment.
Stalker: it’s a medium sized predator, possibly the first one you will encounter. It’s massive long jaws are big enough to cause a decent amount of damage to the player, so it would be best avoiding it at all time. Stalkers are known to populate the creepyvine forests and the seabed cracks. They can often be seen carrying around small pieces of metal, it’s still unknown why they do this. Stalkers will attack the Seamoth.
Sand Sharks: these flat bodied predators are very common in most of the mid-depth regions of the map. They mimetize on the seabed, under the sand, waiting for the unwary prey to come closer to jump on and devour it. Sand Sharks actually slow and can be evaded with the proper vehicle. Sand Sharks will attack the Seamoth.
Crabsnake: this fearsome depth-snake haunts the Jellyshroom Caves and has it’s nest in the very core of these plants. It’s a very aggressive creature that will damage greatly an unwary player. Crabsnakes do not attack the Seamoth.
EXPLORATION AND VEHICLES
Since the planet is vast and dangerous, before venturing in a new biome, make sure you have a fast and reliable vehicle.
Seaglide: this small recon vehicle was designed for short-range expeditions and fast recovery missions. Despite its speed, the player is not protected at all against predator attacks.
Uses standard batteries and has a small geological radar.
Seamoth: Standard recon vehicle, designed for mid to long range expeditions in the sea. Its max depth reach is 200m. The Seamoth can be upgraded with various tools, including a torpedo system, different scanners, hull armor and more. The Seamoth will protect the player from small predator attacks, but will fail against Leviathans and mid-large beasts.
Prawn: a deep exploration exo-suit originally developed to harvest materials in the most remote regions. Equipped with a boost system to perform small jumps, the Prawn can be used to explore caves and deep reefs without worrying about medium predators. Be advised: the Prawn cannot “swim” and falling into a deep cave usually means losing the vehicle.
It can carry either the Prawn or the Seamoth and a big quantity of supplies. Excellent for long recon missions.
Bigger creatures WILL attack the Cyclops if startled.
The Carar Virus and how it spreads [SPOILERS]
OVERVIEW
The Carar Virus is the main reason why the planet has been put under quarantine by the Precursors.
They built the two bases to study it and eventually find a cure, since the pathogen had already killed hundreds of billions of creatures since its first discovery. It is known to have an incubation period of two weeks and to kill its victims in five weeks.
After the Sea Dragon Leviathan broke containment and submerged the viral developement base, the Carar Virus started spreading all over the planet, infecting animals and plants at the same time.
Before leaving the system, the Precursors placed a huge ion cannon on the surface to prevent all incoming ships to land and bring (willingly or not) the Carar to other systems.
SICKNESS ON THE PLAYER
The player gets infected with the Carar as soon as he sets foot into water, so there is no way to avoid infection at this time. Symptoms will not show up until a scanner is built and a self-scan is performed. The computer will analyze your blood and find “minor bacterial infection” on you.
The second stage of sickness appears once the player enters the Precursor base on the Island. Performing a self-scan will identify the infection “spreading all over the organism”, then requesting more data to analyze.
The third and possibly final stage will come once the player has retrieved the Alien Data in the Viral Research Base placed on the bottom of the Lost River. Computer will point out that the infection is getting worser and ask you to perform a self-scan. The infection will reach the pulmonary system and will show symptoms such as fever, coughing and sweating.
The player’s body will cover in small cracks and green blisters, indicating that the virus has completed the incubation process and will start shutting down the player immuno-defensive system.
The virus WILL NOT kill the player at this stage of the release, but it might do in the future.
Warpers will become more aggressive towards you, and will start using the “warp” ability to bring you out of any vehicle and cut you down.
INFECTED FAUNA
The Carar has infected most of the creatures on the planet; they can be recognized by the green blisters all over their body, although they do not seem to be so numerous at the beginning.
A recently added mechanic makes the fauna “infectable” by other sick creatures. That is to say, the more you spend time ingame, the more the animals will be affected and will appear more often around you. The only two creatures immune to the Carar are the Sea Emperor Leviathan and the Warper (this one was actually created to eradicate the virus).
Placing an infected fish inside an acquarium will infect all other fishes inside of it. This seems to be purely cosmetic though.