Abyss

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Revision as of 20:46, 15 July 2022 by DoryL (talk | contribs) (Update the page to reflect that Abyss creatures do respawn when killed, after a delay.)
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Data is potentially outdated
Last updated for version 0.18.15.0
Last mentioned in changelog 1.0.13.0
The current game version is 1.2.8.0

The Abyss is the area beneath the main route of a level, often extending well below crush depth. It is accessible through "holes" in the passage walls, either in the floor or next to the outpost at the end of the level. The hole next to the end outpost is guaranteed to spawn in every level, but depending on the biome, there may be more or fewer gaps in the floor that lead to the Abyss.

In every level, 4 or 5 islands will spawn in the Abyss, with each island having a 50% chance to contain a cave of a type normally found within the biome the level takes place in.[1] These islands contain minerals that are otherwise hard to find within the biome, which can include coveted alien materials. Depending on the difficulty score of the level, the amount of resources on each island will vary, with higher difficulties granting greater rewards, and vice versa. It should be noted that caves do not increase the amount or quality of the resources on a given Abyss island.[2]

Creatures

The Abyss is devoid of fauna save for three species, those being the Endworm, the Charybdis, and the Latcher. As a result, normal monsters will never be encountered while traversing the Abyss. However, the danger posed by these titans more than makes up for the absence of other predators that would attack the submarine. When attacking the hull, they do hundreds of structure damage per attack, quickly breaching and sinking the submarine. Additionally, they are capable of throwing the submarine around, potentially sending it crashing into walls to sustain more damage, or deeper into the ocean where the pressure will crush it. Anyone foolish enough to go outside during an encounter will be instantly killed by the bites of these titans.[3] Fortunately, once an Abyss creature is slain, there is a "grace period" before another can take its place. This can either give a crew respite to escape the Abyss or the time needed to extract the minerals found in its depths. The exception to this rule is during a hunting grounds mission; the beast will never respawn when killed, creating a prime opportunity to mine the islands for resources.[4]

Whichever creature is chosen by the game to defend the Abyss, it will only spawn once the player has actually entered it, not while they are traversing the level.[5] The exact creature chosen and the time before another can spawn when it is killed depends on the difficulty and biome of the level, with the campaign having a different set of spawns compared to other game modes. The specific chances and times can be found in the tables below; difficulty ranges are both inclusive.[6][Needs verification] Letters in single quotes (' ') denote subtypes which share level generation parameters but have different spawn lists.

Campaign Spawn Chances[7]
Biome Subtype (Difficulty) Grace Time Creatures (Chance to Spawn)
Cold Caverns Basic (0-4%) N/A None (100%)
Advanced (5-14%)
Maze (8-14%)
Transition (10-14%) Infinite (No respawn) Latcher (100%)
Europan Ridge Basic (15-34%) 1200 sec. (20 min.) Latcher (100%)
Advanced 'a' (25-34%)
Advanced 'b' (25-34%) 900 sec. (15 min.) Latcher (70%)
Charybdis (30%)
Aphotic Plateau Basic 'a' (35-39%) 720 sec. (12 min.) Latcher (50%)
Charybdis (50%)
Basic 'b' (40-49%) 600 sec. (10 min.) Latcher (40%)
Charybdis (50%)
Endworm (10%)
Basic 'c' (45-49%) 420 sec. (7 min.) Latcher (30%)
Charybdis (40%)
Endworm (30%)
The Great Sea Basic (50-64%) 300 sec. (5 min.) Latcher (20%)
Charybdis (40%)
Endworm (40%)
Hydrothermal Wastes Basic (65-79%) 180 sec. (3 min.) Latcher (10%)
Charybdis (40%)
Endworm (50%)
Eye of Europa[8] Basic (80-100%) N/A N/A (No Abyss)
Sandbox, PvP, and Mission Spawn Chances[9]
Difficulty Grace Time Creatures (Chance to Spawn)
0-9% N/A None (100%)
10-19% Infinite (No respawn) Latcher (100%)
20-29% 1200 sec. (20 min.) Latcher (50%)
Charybdis (50%)
30-39% 900 sec. (15 min.) Latcher (33%)
Charybdis (33%)
Endworm (33%)
40-49% 720 sec. (12 min.)
50-59% 600 sec. (10 min.)
60-69% 480 sec. (8 min.)
70-79% 240 sec. (4 min.)
80-89% 120 sec. (2 min.)
90-100% 60 sec. (1 min.) Charybdis (50%)
Endworm (50%)

Trivia

  • In previous versions, The Abyss had a relatively fixed starting depth of ~1600m depending on level size and continued all the way to the bottom of each level.
    • As of 0.11.0.7 (Uncharted Depths),[source needed] there is no longer a general average abyssal depth, as the mission starting depth varies from level to level and only goes further down as submarines progress through the campaign.
  • In 0.16.6.1 (Rising Tides), the ability to find alien materials on Abyss islands was added.[10]
  • It is never explained how the titanic creatures of the Abyss find food, as in regular gameplay, no creatures will naturally venture into the Abyss.[11]
  • The massive size of the Abyss creatures is likely a reference to a real-world phenomenon called "deep-sea gigantism", where species found in the deepest parts of the ocean are inexplicably far larger than their shallow water cousins.[12]

Media

References

  1. Taken from biome level parameters, found in ...Barotrauma\Content\Map\Biomes\[Biome]\[Biome].xml, where [Biome] is replaced with the name of the biome in question.
  2. GitHub source for Abyss materials, https://github.com/Regalis11/Barotrauma/blob/master/Barotrauma/BarotraumaShared/SharedSource/Map/Levels/Level.cs, starting at line 2536.
  3. Attack and damage values taken from the respective wiki pages for each creature.
  4. Taken from the spawn lists in randomevents_lineardifficulty.xml and randomevents_campaign.xml in ...Barotrauma\Content.
  5. Found through empirical testing; when attempting to control the Abyss creature with commands, the command won't work until the submarine enters the Abyss.
  6. Based on C# conventions, it is likely that the game actually uses lower-inclusive upper-exclusive ranges, hence the ranges in the table have been adjusted accordingly.
  7. Spawn list for campaign is found in ...Barotrauma\Content\randomevents_campaign.xml, subtype names from biome level parameters. (reference 1)
  8. Name for the campaign end biome taken from https://barotraumagame.com/gameplay-features/sneak-peek-the-environment-overhaul
  9. Spawn list for other game modes is found in ...Barotrauma\Content\randomevents_lineardifficulty.xml, difficulty names in ...Barotrauma\Content\EventManagerSettings.xml.
  10. Feature listed under Changes and additions in the patch notes, at https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/602960?emclan=103582791463484079&emgid=3090036628193150925
  11. Found through empirical testing; when spawning regular creatures in the Abyss with commands, they will flee to the main path as quickly as possible.
  12. More information can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-sea_gigantism
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