I bought Zubmariner and almost immediately after gaining the ability to submerge I noticed something. It appears that travel while submerged is absurdly fast relative to the map when compared to sailing above, by a wide margin. Time, fuel, terror, supplies, all seem to be more efficient by far while submerged. The islands, ports, etc. just seem to be closer together.
Am I missing something? Because at this point being underwater feels like going into hyperspace, almost like cheating.
I think it’s a bit more dangerous as the monsters hit harder. Also, you can only gain so much terror before diving becomes a death trap.
Can somebody take some measurements and do some math on this, because to me it always felt like I was moving more slowly underwater? Except for the underwater currents, of course, although I find those tricky to use properly. And the Constant Companion isn’t so bad if you keep your distance and have a ship capable of tanking.[li]
Watch the map rather than your apparent speed. Notice how much closer together things are when underwater. For example, on my current captain Visage is near Rosegate, but while submerged they are very nearly on the same screen.
[quote=Chrysoprace]The islands, ports, etc. just seem to be closer together.[/quote]I believe exactly that is the case - they seem to be closer together, presumably because the background underwater looks way more varied and detailed than above the waves.The actual distances are the same: http://imgur.com/a/I64Dx illustrates this quite good.
Though there might be very slight differences in framerates above/below the waves, depending on hardware and effect settings - and the presence of mentioned effects at the time, most notably fog - the (short) trip from Khan’s Shadow to Khan’s Heart always takes about the same ~20 seconds on my current game, submerged or not (ok, went seriously oldschool on that and just counted it. But about a dozen times :)) I also don’t see a difference in fuel consumption.
[quote=Chrysoprace]For example, on my current captain Visage is near Rosegate[/quote]These are always in the same positions, it’s fixed within the sector.
[quote=Anne Auclair]Also, you can only gain so much terror before diving becomes a death trap.[/quote]With sufficiently high Mirrors and a Bandersnatch, that oversized tick is among the most profitable of farmable resources in the game. :D
Well, there goes some of my enchantment :P
Technically, you got oxygen as a survival factor to consider as well.
Other factors are bumping into rock formations, naval mines and hidden enemies and peculiar zones you cannot return to the surface from.
Not a cakewalk.
But yes indeed, it looks like you travel faster in zubmarine form.