Elysium

The Elysium is a Barotrauma submarine for long campaigns and small crews (2-6 players MP, or SP with 2+ bots). It might be one of the most usable realistic submarines available.

Elysium is the result of >300 hours of design and hundreds of iterations, each one play-tested in actual online multiplayer. Every detail has been refined with a rigorous form follows function approach.

Download

The sub is available on Steam Workshop.

Highlights

Reasons why you might want to consider it:

• small-to-medium submarine that feels like home in a dark and dreadful place
• realistic, immersive design, made by a real-life engineer :)
• uncluttered, polished ship UX (e.g., logical design, clear labels, optimized walking path)
• 360 degrees gun coverage, depth charge launcher, defense coils
• AEGIS self-defense system
• strategically placed suits, emergency kits, ... if things go wrong
• all-in-one dive ops center for efficient away-missions
• two diving hatches (main + emergency)
• spec-ops shuttle for caves and tunnels where main sub won't fit
• griefing resistant when playing MP
• vanilla-only, does not rely on any mods
• and of course it has all common systems you'd expect (fabber, decon, ...)

This sub WAS MADE FOR YOU if you ...

• play SP campaigns with 1+ bot, or MP with a total of 2-6 players
• prefer small, efficient crews over large 'circuses'
• rely on teamwork and communication instead of control and enforcement
• want to feel like being in the USCSS Nostromo or Prometheus (Alien universe) when exploring foreign worlds
• play with friends

This sub is NOT the right ship if you ...

• host large everything goes servers or small authoritarian ones.

Author's Note

Like few other games, the experience in Barotrauma campaigns is highly dependent on the vehicle chosen. Some are angled and cluttered, leading to pockets players goofing around; others have rigid, frictioned control regimes akin to prison barges.

When I started designing this sub I wanted to capture the feeling of Aliens. A small team of people, utilizing technology and cunning, to explore and just maybe survive in a hostile world.

Unfortunately, most subs just are not conductive to such gameplay. Many are user hostile, with Spaceballs-esque designs that inadvertently interfere with the work that needs to be done, shifting gameplay from exploration and horror towards frustration and futility.

In short, I wanted a submarine that fades into the background, highlighting the the dangers of the world around it.

Elysium is not a submarine to win the game, but a conduit of immersion and terror. It should credibly make you feel you are on a submarine someone would have actually built to explore the depths of Europa. A home for the brave, a vehicle to venture into the abyss, maybe to return.

Ship's User Manual

Below is a list of the systems available, and a guide how to use them.

Center

The center window was the defining component when I started this sub a few years ago.

As the name Elysium alludes to, the submarine is meant to be a safe haven in dark waters. The panorama window (1), and subsequently added resting bench (2) reinforce the feeling of relative safety while giving a view to the abyss.

Command Room

• 1 - Main Console - Steers the submarine. Two indicators, MAIN and SHTL, show the remaining battery for the main submarine, and shuttle respectively. The sub can run for ~1 minute on battery power, the shuttle for ~5 minutes.
• 2 - AEGIS Controls - The sub comes with an intruder defense system, on by default. AEGIS will zap approaching enemies, actively fight invaders, and alert the crew if it does so. Sometimes, however, AEGIS can be in the way (e.g., when transporting pet raptors). In these cases AEGIS can be disabled with the button.
• 3 - Long Range Comms - Wired to a high-powered transmitter the terminal can send radio messages to divers far away.
• 4 - Ship Controls - These buttons and lights control primary ship functions:
  • Arm Hatch - Enables or disables the rear emergency hatch. A yellow light indicates the rear hatch was armed, a red light means it's open.
  • Scram - Shuts down the reactor, primarily an anti-griefing measure. Yellow indicates the reactor is off (the ship runs on battery), red the reactor is overloading.

    Whenever I see the red light I usually "count to 3" in my head. Most of the time whoever was operating the reactor just made a mistake and it will go back to normal. If after 3 seconds it's still overloading you better scram and have a look what's going on.

  • Hatches - Closes all hatches for flood containment. The yellow light means someone switched on Ballast Drain, and there is a risk the ship might shoot upwards.
  • Diver Go - Enables "Dive Permission" in the airlock. Signals the divers you are ready to support their dive. It also switches on some exterior orientation lights. A green light blinks and beeps (about one second) if a diver returns to, a red light if a diver leaves from the ship.
  • Engine - Disables the engine. Can be useful with new players that have a habit of swimming next to or through the engine steam. Yellow means the engine is off.
  • Dpt. Charge - Enables the depth charge launcher. The actual fire button is below deck.
• 5 - Manual Coil Discharge - When AEGIS is on, the external coils will fire automatically on enemy contact if there is enough energy stored. These buttons fire the external coils regardless. Yellow means the charge status is low, and firing them may leave the main guns empty.
• 6 - Shuttle Controls - Controls the main spec ops shuttle systems.
  • Shuttle Pwr. - Enables shuttle power. Green means it's on. It will also enable the Shuttle Navigation Terminal (7), switch the Periscope (10) to shuttle view, and make the Periscope Cycle (8) act on the shuttle guns. A red light means the shuttle is undocked.
  • Shuttle Hatch Lock - Locks or unlocks the shuttle doors. By default (green) the shuttle doors are locked, preventing divers from entering or leaving the shuttle. When unlocked (red) divers can cycle the door.

    Since the shuttle consists of a single room you MUST ENSURE THE SHUTTLE RESTS ON SOLID GROUND before allowing divers to operate the door. If you don't, the shuttle will easily crash dive some 100 meters and be destroyed. You have been warned!

• 7 - Shuttle Navigation Terminal - Steers the shuttle, must first be enabled via (6).
• 8 - Periscope Cycle (Main Sub / Shuttle) - Cycles the periscope view. The green light indicates which camera / gun is used. When (6) is off this cycles the main submarine navcams, when (6) is on it cycles the shuttle guns.
• 9 - Shuttle Status Indicators - Gives a quick idea what's going on while you are not on station.
  • Enemy - An enemy is near the shuttle. You probably want to use the shuttle guns or someone might die.
  • Crew - Divers are inside the shuttle, good to check before moving it.
  • Alert - Someone inside the shuttle pressed the "Alert Captain" button. An audible alert will sound if "Shuttle Audio" is on.

    It is a good idea to tell your divers to press that button when they want to return. In contrast to crew radio this signal has a much greater range.

  • Shuttle Audio - Whether to sound an acoustic alarm when "Alert Captain" is pressed. Keep this on, unless your crew is obnoxious.
• 10 - Periscope (Main Sub / Shuttle) - Controls the navcams, or the shuttle's, depending on (6).

Security Area

• 1a - Weapon Stations - The sub has 4 weapon stations with 360 degrees coverage if the ship is at least slightly moving (if the sub is still there is a tiny path on the nose where crawlers can rest). Arrows, order and a slight vertical offset match the corresponding gun.
• 1b - AEGIS Proximity Alert - A red light and audible alert indicate enemies near that gun. If AEGIS is disabled the light stays yellow and the alarm is off.

  Teach your crew to ALWAYS check the gun if the light blinks; greatly increases your life expectancy.

• 2 - Ammo Cache - Ammo can be stored next to the guns to minimize travel when time matters. Has sufficient room for practically all encounters when using upgraded ammo.
• 3 - Repair Monitors - The ship comes with a number of repair monitors (aka Status Panels) placed all over the ship, your repair crew will love you.
• 4 - Weapons Locker - This section also houses a freely accessible weapons locker, right between the captain and security, and is meant to hold items you want to sell next port.

  I usually put sellable items into a box in the lower right corner.

• 5 - Emergency Kits - Every hull section has an (identical) emergency locker, containing a spare weapon, welder and first aid. These greatly increase your chance of survival when being attacked intruders, and you just have to make it to the other side of the ship.

  Another thing to teach your crew: Make sure these are stocked at all times, and everyone knows what's inside. In most cases you don't 'just' die, but rather bleed out while people try to find saline. These lockers address that problem.

Situational Awareness

• 1 - Locker IDs - Every locker has a unique ID (e.g., Mid 2) and a content label, making it easy to store and find items.
• 2 - Security Status - The mid section holds a number of readiness lights corresponding to the current threat level. Each one is accompanied by a change in global illumination.
  • Battlestations - Enabled by the captain when a major battle is imminent. Crew members are to man guns, prepare for flooding, and cease non-critical activities.
  • Intruder - Triggered automatically if enemies are detected inside the ship. Probably the most terrifying light you can see.
  • Silent Running - Enabled by the captain if stealth is in order. Non-critical systems are disabled, the reactor is switched off, speed is limited.
• 3 - Decentralized Suits - Elysium has a suit-to-crew ratio of about 2:1 with decentralized placement. In other words, there should always be a suit nearby when you need one.
• 4 - Ship Status - Near the central nexus, where the horizontal and vertical path intersects, are a number of additional status lights to signal important conditions:
  • Power - The reactor is out of power and needs attention (usually refuel).
  • Engine - The engine is below ~50% and needs repair.
  • Dive Ops - Dive teams are leaving (red) or returning (green) to the ship.
  • Shuttle - The shuttle dive team wants attention.

Fabrication Area

• 1 - Constructor - The ship comes with a standard fabricator between major storage shelves and is linked to one.
• 2 - Medical Fabricator - The same is true for the medical fabricator.
• 3 - Genetics Research - An on-board research for husk genetic experiments where no one can hear your crew scream.
• 4 - Backup Controls - Backup controls at the rear allow you to steer the ship while fabricating (e.g., if solo), or in case of catastrophic bow damage.
• 5a - R.E.T.A.R.D. - A computer terminal with commands and help related to various subsystems, which vaguely offers these commands (try help):

  

• 5b - Current Depth - A progress and environmental (depth) danger indicator.
• 6 - Water Sealed - Apparently half of all players falsely assume you can't store Sodium in lockers or else they explode. If someone ever again moves all chemicals to a "water proof" location in god-knows-where, show them this sign.

  Almost EVERY-SINGLE-SESSION someone has a near death experience transporting chemicals to a safe place and then steps in water. Look, it's really simple: Sort chemicals in that locker and just don't remove them. The medical fabricator uses it, and no amount of flooding will harm it.

Engine Compartment

• 1 - Deconstructor - Placed near the emergency airlock to disassemble alien artifacts in a fully flooded room, preventing fires or contaminating the rest of the ship. It is also conveniently linked to a storage locker.
• 2ab - Airlock Controls - These repurpose the rear compartment into an airlock.
  • Arm - Seals the rear room, preventing accidental flooding.
  • Cycle - Once armed this actually opens or closes the airlock (3).
• 3 - Emergency Airlock - Also called the Thalamus Airlock, as it might be the only usable airlock in case you got sucked onto a wreck and need to leave topside. Also handy when fighting pirates and they're still shooting.
• 4 - Emergency Kit (Combat) - A special emergency kit incl. harpoon, scooter, plasma cutter and various other tools is placed here. If you are the only survivor, your ship is swarmed with Leucocytes, and you need to kill a Thalamus Brain you will thank me for this kit.
• 5 - Engine - Since it might be exposed to water the engine's light blinks when performance is degraded.

Crew Quarter

• 1 - Resting Area - Crew resting space with large panorama windows in two directions.
• 2 - Plantation Space - This space can easily hold 3-5 planters, 10+ if you use the entire room. Also, planting a single Tobacco Vine here looks really neat :)
• 3 - AEGIS Intruder Defense - The entire ship has 9 internal AEGIS defense points. Each one consists of an alien motion detector, internal coil, and auto-fire circuitry. If an enemy makes it in the ship will sound an alarm and autonomously engage. The green light means AEGIS is armed and ready.
• 4 - Door Lock & O2 Monitor - Some dead ends, esp. the cargo hold and crew quarters, have a lock button preventing the door from opening, useful for prisoners or unruly passengers. In addition, as prisoners have the tendency to clog air vents, these rooms also come with O2 alarms if the air quality drops.

Reactor

• 1 - Reactor - The ship comes with a low-maintenance reactor that happily operates on a single fuel rod.

  Repeat after me: It needs a single fuel rod. Not two. Not four. Also not three. Just a single one.

• 2a - Reactor Status - These status lights give you a quick idea what's going on:
  • Ext. Power - Green when docked and the submarine receives external power. If (2b) is enabled this also shut down the reactor.
  • Low Power - Yellow when the reactor output falls below a critical threshold (e.g., on empty fuel).
  • Silent Running - Blue when the ship is in stealth mode, and the reactor being disabled by the captain.
  • Audio Off - Sometimes you want to switch the reactor off (e.g., when repairing or to conserve fuel during a long wreck dive), but then the alarm goes on. With this button you can mute that alarm, but then a yellow light will blink to indicate that the alarm has been disabled.
  • Overload - Makes it abundantly clear that the reactor will blow up soon.
• 2b - Power Save - Enabled by default this shuts down the reactor if it receives external power. Can be disabled if you positively need internal power, e.g., on Abandoned Outposts.
• 3 - Fuel Storage - A conveniently placed locker for fuel rods.
• 4 - Fire Alarm - Every fire extinguisher also comes with a linked fire detection system. The red light can be seen from anywhere on the ladder. If it blinks you know there is a fire on that floor, and you should take that extinguisher before heading out.

Electrical

• 1 - Battery Master - The primary junction can be fed from either the reactor, or the batteries. The master batteries come with a charge / discharge indicator, and a cutoff to unhook them from the grid.
• 2 - Junction Switches - Most junctions feature a switch disabling them. When red the junction can easily be repaired, and all connected systems are shut down.
• 3 - Functional Junction Grouping - All junctions have clear labels and comprehensible wiring, for easy to debugging why a system is out of power:
  • Primary - Routes the three big sources (reactor, battery, docking port) into the main circuit.
  • Internal Dispatch - These two dispatch primary power to all other junctions.
  • Steering - Powers the engine, the main pumps and navigation terminals.
  • Aux Pumps - Powers various small drainage pumps.
  • Int. Lights - Connects to all internal lights.
  • Electronics, Production, O2 - All major consumers (i.e., things that drain battery really fast), such as fabricators, the O2 generator and repair panels.
  • Coils - Connects all high-power defense systems.
• 4 - Grouped Supercapacitors - Like the junctions the capacitors are grouped and labeled for predictable power distribution when visited by a family of mud raptors. The arrows show whether they feed top or bottom guns, and can be helpful if you're flooded on ground and need to redirect emergency power.
• 5 - Panorama Window - Let's face it, engineering on most ships is dark, dull and depressive. Not so on Elysium, where you'll have a panoramic view of your environment while keeping the ship running. Also gives you a first-class view when fighting an End Worm.

Medic & Cargo

• 1 - Drug Locker - The medic bay is placed near the shuttle port and airlock, close to where most injured divers pass by. Drugs & Aid has all the healing items. Putting all good items in (1) and all bad items in (2) effectively cuts down valuable search time while your patient is bleeding out.
• 2 - Toxin Cabinet - For drugs and materials that do harm (e.g., poisons, toxins, eggs) a separate place is provided.
• 3 - Depth Charge Launcher - A 2-man-system to prevent misuse and improve team play. The captain can arm the launcher (the light will turn red). The charge can then be fired with the red button.
• 4 - Mission Cargo - Two large cargo racks provide 20 units of space for transport missions. The room can also hold prisoners.
• 5 - Cross Flood Hatches - Also known as ballast drains in the case of Flora infection. Once Steering is disabled in Electrical (and therefore the main pumps are disabled, preventing them from being used by Flora), you can open these hatches. This will drain ballast, exposing the flora, making fire attacks more viable.

  Note, you should gently park the sub under the roof of something (as high as possible), as cross flooding will make the sub highly buoyant, possibly ramming it into whatever icicle is above.

• 6 - Storage Rack - Additional cargo space or room for diving crates.

Dive Operations

• 1 - Diving Suits - Three color-coded diving suit lockers near the airlock.
• 2 - Diving Kits - Ready-made diving kits matching the suit. If you need to go on a dive fast (e.g, because of Pirates or Thalami) these kits have everything pre-arranged to survive hostile encounters.

  The idea is, you take the crate, drag-drop all items from it into your inventory (replacing your belt) and hop out the airlock. The black crate is ID-locked to the captain, being the only place on the sub that is not crew accessible. The colored crates are also a great place to store personal gear while outside.

• 3 - Diving Gear - Replenishments for the dive kits.
• 4 - Replacement Batteries - Conveniently located battery chargers for scooter and flashlight batteries.
• 5 - Replacement O2 - Although all dive lockers recharge automatically here you can place excess bottles.
• 6 - Search Light - To get a good look of what's below. This long-range search light is much closer and even has a slightly longer range than running back to the guns before going on a dive.
• 7 - Shuttle Access - The diving supplies are not only close to the airlock, but also close to the shuttle. Less running around when the plan changes. The button controls the shuttle access. If the light is green the shuttle is powered on, if the light is red the shuttle is undocked.

Primary Airlock

• 1 - Flood-Safe Door - The airlock features a 3-doored A-B-A flood-prevention system: Any airlock button counter-cycles the hatches at the same time, so you either board the airlock, or exit the ship, but not both. This, and their moderate size, keeps buoyancy changes to a minimum, preventing wreck divers from being crushed.
• 2a - Dive Hazard Lights - If I got a dollar any time a diver died a preventable death ... Since I don't, I added these lights foreshadowing what is probably going to kill you:
  • AEGIS and Engine - On most of the time, as by default both AEGIS and the engine are on.
  • Ship is faster ... - If this blinks red you absolutely, positively won't be able to catch up if you leave.
  • Enemies outside - Once red you really don't want to leave the sub without someone on the main guns giving you fire support.
• 2b - Dive Permission Lights - Short version: it communicates with the to-be-divers whether the captain (and the rest of the crew) is prepared for them to leave the ship, enabled via the "Dive Ops" button on the bridge.

  Long version, I hate if people just 'go for a dive' without telling anyone. Not because I'm a control freak (I am, but that's beside the point), but because a successful dive requires coordination:

  Once you have divers outside things get complicated. They need fire support, someone on medic should be on standby, they might have valuable equipment you need to recover if they die. Heck, someone else on the ship might have wanted to go with them.

  Long story short, there are just so many reasons why it sucks if people just leave in a Serious campaign, that this light was added. People can still leave the sub with this light being red (e.g., the captain and everyone else might just be dead), but at least they'll get a passive-aggressive radio alert.

• 2c- Dive Suit Rating Lights - Yet another system to prevent preventable deaths. Shows whether the current depth is acceptable for a given suit, calibrated with ~200m safety margin.

Shuttle

• 1 - Shuttle Access - When docked, the shuttle can be access via the top hatch. The shuttle-half operates automatically, the submarine-half can be operated by the door button (3).
• 2 - Defense System - The shuttle comes with two remote-operated miniguns reloaded here.
• 3 - Warning & Controls - The primary warning light will blink once the shuttle is powered, reminding the crew that once undocked the entire room will fill with water. In addition, these buttons are available:
  • Cycle Ship Hatch - Operates the main submarine docking hatch. Only available when docked.
  • Alert Captain - Sounds an audible alert inside the main submarine to get the captain's attention when far away.
• 4 - Mission Hatch - Once unlocked by the captain (the shuttle must rest on solid ground) the crew can egress here.

AEGIS Motion Sensors

Both upper and lower floors have differential motion detectors (1) spanning the entire width of the ship. If motion is detected, a small light near each ladder (2) indicates whether it comes from intruders (red) or crew (green).

If this AEGIS light (2) is red you really want to grab a gun before going there.

AEGIS Radio Trigger

Sometimes you have no weapons but you have to kill something inside. Preferably when standing far away (1) you can type (2) on radio .x1, ..., .x9 (mind the dot . which is part of the command). This will manually trigger the corresponding AEGIS coil inside the ship (3). To see which coil is where read the label under each AEGIS station (4).

FAQ

Why do hatches not open / close automatically to prevent flooding?

There simply is no winning strategy regarding hatch status. For example, small-to-medium floodings benefit from having all hatches open (as more pumps assist draining water), while large floodings benefit from having them closed. In the end manual hatches are just less surprising. There is, however, a manual button near the captain for force close all hatches.

What does the rear airlock do?

Two things: It's an emergency "Thalamus" airlock, in case the lower one becomes too dangerous. Also, there is a deconstructor in that compartment if you need to disassemble a dangerous artifact (e.g., Thermal) while keeping the room flooded. The latter point has been made mostly obsolete since the introduction of Artifact Cases.

Why is all rewiring disabled?

Griefing protection. Simply speaking, the number of people who improve the wiring of a sub is dwarfed by the number of people who (knowingly or not) mess it up. In many cases it takes a few missions to realize what's going on. By then "the damage has been done", and the savegame is overwritten.

What does the "Diver Go" button do?

A few things, it

• communicates intent. When the captain presses the button it means "You can dive now".
• enables outdoor dive lights.
• enables radio reminders (e.g., to refill equipment) when coming back.

Why is the shuttle so hard to steer?

The shuttle is practically the smallest possible vessel that can hold at least one person, and go both up and down. As such it has a tiny dead zone where ballast is neutral, and instead prefers to go either up or down. Good news is, the shuttle is much easier to steer with auto pilot. Just engage it (setting to Hold Position) and move the hold-position point around. Works like a charm.

Why is X not locked?

Because the ship is built to operate on a trust basis. The benefits from everyone being able to access everything massively outweigh the safety you get from preventing access. For example, on a trust-based sub an assistant can easily grab a gun or administer first aid. On a permission-based sub having just one bad-faith actor on a trusted position gives you all of the previous problems, and more.

The large windows are bad. They make the sub more dangerous. You should replace them with walls.

No, not really.

While it is correct that their structural integrity is lower, all windows in the sub are particularly protected by AEGIS (automated discharge coils). Swarms of small creatures (e.g., raptors, crawlers, threshers) are practically always stunned before they can bash through windows, while larger, un-stunnable creatures simply won't enter. That said, a large onslaught of creatures can ultimately enter, but after some observation I can confidently say that their ingress points are as much plain walls or airlocks as they are windows.

That said, windows have a massive UX benefit: They make working in engineering less straining and give your crew much better situational awareness without hugging periscopes.

AEGIS sucks, it keeps frying me inside the ship.

Yes, AEGIS is admittedly a double-edged sword. It can fry you through walls if you happen to stand close, stunning you for a few seconds, and I agree that sucks. However, more often than not it will keep one group of intruders at bay, possibly even killing them, while you're busy fighting another group at the other end of the ship. After 100+ rounds with AEGIS I'd summarize it as 'highly effective and mildly annoying`.

Credits

A big thanks to all sailors joining 667's Journey to the Core helping refine this ship.

Contact

If you have questions contact webmaster@xeoh.net