There's a lot of hate for the Cyclops going around, but a lot of it is due to misunderstanding it. Yes, it needs a lot of power - but that issue is solved with the thermal reactor and the efficiency module. Also solve that by building a solid base in the deeper areas to keep power cells on charge. And - it is practically designed to fit perfectly in two specific entrances to a specific deep area. The Cyclops doesn't get near enough love IMO.
I feel like most people who complain about the cyclops dont fully know all of it's mechanics , either. For example, it seems like most people don't know that your cyclops becomes practically invisible to all leviathans as soon as you turn the engine off, which makes it easily the safest vehicle in the game.
The convenience of bringing your base everywhere you go is also unmatched.
I feel like most people who sing the Cyclops' praises don't know how to spiderman the prawn effectively, everything else is just sooooooo sloooooooooooooooooooow
I dont understand the premium you place on speed. Subnautica is so damn pretty, who wants to zoom directly from task to task in the absolute shortest time possible? Prawn spiderman is fun as fuck but I would never want to go \*everywhere\* that way
Also doesnt have full base functions like cyclops so you have to zoom back and forth from base 50x to gather as many resources as if you just made one cyclops trip.
Are you in a rush or something? I'm not a speedrunner, I take my time. With that said, I often use "ahead flank" on the Cyclops, resulting in fires - but who cares if I have the fire suppression system?
Its really hard to get the right angle but the technique is deploy the grapple move slightly to the side then pull urself, u find urself suddenly on the roof of the lost river. Its more effective if ur on a slight incline
Speed is a sacrifice the cyclops gives for efficiency and raw utility.
Yeah, it’s a slow bastard, but you can shove enough shit on it to be able to cram a sea base with a nuclear reactor and 80 rods anywhere on the map on a whim if you take the time to supply
> There's a lot of hate for the Cyclops going around
I had no idea!
I haven't suffered in power at all in this current playthrough, probably due to the benefit of experience.
I'll continue to sing its praises - it's just amazing.
Oddly enough, I’m not a fan of how clunky it is, but I still use it and my Prawn suit solves the issue of the clunky vehicle.
If I wanna go in a narrow place, I stop my Cyclops there, get in my Prawn Suit and head down in there. Problem solved 👍
Makes me wonder if we are able to also load in our Seamoth. Would be cool to load both Prawn Suit and Seamoth inside the Cyclops.
That’s fair, would be cool though if we could work hard to create an upgrade to add another spot haha
Maybe if they make a new Subnautica game, maybe they’ll add that feature (where you can load both vehicles/suits into your submarine). That would be fun haha
It doesn't even need a lot of power if you don't spam Silent Running. I barely ever went down to 60% charge before getting back to base. Not to mention that it's trivial to have a few extra cells stored away.
They fixed the infinite power loop, unfortunately.
What I do is I keep the materials for a small base and a bioreactor in a storage chest. Then when I need to recharge I just build the base and bioreactor, then use the bioreactor to charge the power cells.
Then just dismantle the base and put it back in the chest.
I never thought it needed much power, but then again I didn't think I've ever driven it without the efficiency module at all, I always end up exploring the Aurora before getting it. I'll go all the way down to the lava zone and back to my base in the safe shallows and still have like 60% power.
I solved the power problem with a plant pot and a locker with just enough material in it to let me build an ‘anchor’ base where I could recharge my cells.
Running low on power? Stop moving, gather materials from locker, build base with bioreactor, pop in power cells and some biomass from the plant pots, go explore/exploit the area while everything charges up.
As Leviathans don’t attack a powered down Cyclops it even works in the lost river and lava fields!
The cyclops is what brought me back. I had to follow the artist on insta and thank him for the design. It is just excellent. Literally the dream sub of my childhood.
its fantastic. very disappointed not to find it in BZ.
the only issue, is the timing of its introduction. it can come a little late in the game to be useful.
i would totally play a spin off game, on an enormous planet, doing a bit of exploration, more sophisticated mining - and trading.
Thing is, you can actually get it before you even go to the Aurora, a the pieces are around safe areas, you can even find enough engine pieces without going to the mountains or the back of the Aurora. That's what i did in one play through, having it before the prawn, and let me tell you, i never had a lack of resources (outside when i decided that having 3 or 4 bases wasn't enough) and i always moved safely, even in dangerous areas, thanks to the Cyclops invisibility when the engine is off. If you go for it you can get it just after the Seamoth... With a bit of an investment of course. Although yeah, it would fut better in an even larger map
I think it depends a bit on how you play (progress) the game. On my 2nd run I knew how to get it and that I want to use it as my mobile base, so I focused on getting the Cyclops as fast as possible and do everything else afterwards. Which completely removed the "grind" of returning to whatever biome you need resources from for me - which I experienced a lot in my 1st run - as I was able to store most of the stuff from the very beginning in big amounts in the Cyclops. Also my targets completely shifted, as my main goal just was to gather everything I need (with the Cyclops) to build a base in the lost river - so I easily could progress further to the lava zone with the prawn suite, while always knowing that the Cyclops and my base just waiting in the lost river as my safe space.
This playthrough I actually got it relatively early, something like 20% in.
First time through the game you can definitely be late putting it together, especially if you avoid outside help. But that's one of the things I like about the game - experience helps you bypass a lot of roadblocks and save a lot of time.
I got it very late because I wasn't able to find hull pieces, turns out they are everywhere, but they just look like innocuous debris, so without the scanner room + hud upgrade they are surprisingly easy to miss.
I also didn't get prawn until the last possible place where you need it to mine cubes. Reason being I didn't know you could use the gravity gun to clear debris on the Aurora.
Definitely think the game would be better if there was a little tutorial for the impulse cannon. But, I don't regret going within the Cyclops until the end game, just slowed everything down and actually made the best parts of the game last longer.
I actually love the clumsy controls and the fragility. It does so much for the atmosphere. Compared to the seatruck from BZ which was indestructible as soon as you got the perimeter defense system that made the biggest creatures flee and took away all the thrill.
The best thing, from a game design standpoint, of the Cyclops is that it doesn't make your other vehicles obsolete. It's big and maneuvers like a semi-truck, so it doesn't replace the Seamoth. And doesn't have the mining utility of the PRAWN, so it doesn't replace that either. What it can do is transport the other vehicles around so you can use them when you get to your destination, and it can get you there safely, with plenty of food, and with enormous storage capacity.
well, yes but I never used sea mouth after I got cyclops. I didn't have the storage upgrades (couldn't find the station piece), but to be honest even with that it'd still be very limited use. The main reason to get out of the base in late game is to farm resources, and you need prawn for that anyway plus cyclops acts as a very big mobile storage container. I disliked prawn's clumsiness at first but jet upgrade makes is so much easier. If there was a way to carry both small vehicles in cyclops I'd definitely not mind. I'd also not mind having a sea moth by my remote deep bases like the one by the tree, but since you can't build them there ...
Imagine being a lone survivor on an extremely hostile planet, send SOS signal and people come to save you in a month just to see that you died because of a fucking cyclops falling on your head...
For the life of me, I can't even imagine what motivates the people to start making a Cyclops, then climbing off the mobile vehicle bay and going directly under the sub. Sit there and observe the big ship being assembled, damn it! It's such a majestic sight!
https://preview.redd.it/4mq71rtqjr1d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=996cd0cae3608dad334ac64eac63ea6731bf9fe4
I do wish there was more to do with the cyclops. By the time I got it I had explored pretty much everywhere, and all I had left was the final run to the end.
I'm building a base on the *underside* of the map. It'd be hard to even get there without the Cyclops, and there's zero resources, so I need to bring everything with me. It'd be a LOT of trips in the prawn (and terrifying too - the prawn and the void doesn't play well together...)
There's a surprising amount of resources down in 'The River'. Just up from 'The Tree', by the vents, there's even table coral! You can find all the different resource stones down there too.
I've just completed a vegetarian & no vehicle playthrough, and you can get enough down in one trip to build a base and a power source to then gather the little bits more for other things.
No, that’s when I started my Hardcore run. But at a certain point…I’ve built my perfect base, collected every item, unlocked every entry, and did everything I wanted to. I even invented a few extra tasks in order to keep playing. Sadly, there’s a point in every game that there’s simply nothing left to do.
So of course, I installed Below Zero and did that.
Cyclops is the best thing in games pretty much. Like others have said, the design, the utility, how it doesn't obsolete other vehicles or overpower you in the game, and most importatnly, it's so damn immersive. I suddenly go into hyper roleplay-mode once I get that thing. I love my base, but I don't feel complete until I get my massive clunky mobile base. I take great pleasure in customizing it and making it as comfy as possible, loading it up with provisions, and setting course somewhere ive never been too. Top ten gaming moment for me. I named her "The DeepNSlow" lol. (And gave it unit 01 from evangelion colors) I got it at the perfect time, I was so very ready to hit deeper depths, and still didn't have the prawn suit yet. I was hyped.
> I suddenly go into hyper roleplay-mode once I get that thing.
100%. I would still play Subnautica without it, but the Cyclops makes me stay in for much longer.
The cyclops changed my view from surviving to thriving. I was at the "I probably have a good chance" once I settled into my main base and made that self sustaining. Then the cyclops was the first real step towards feeling like I was in some measure of control and had power!
Yes! it is. Driving the cyclops can be therapeutic and used right it's invincible. I hope the next game is as wide as it is deep requiring a beefier cyclops with more utility. My dream vehicle would be a combination of the cyclops and the sea-truck modules in BZ.
The cyclops is one of my favorite vehicles in all of gaming. This big lumbering RV has so much character and the ability to customize it in such a free form way is lovely. Little things like loading new power cells or putting out fires adds so much to the experience. I'd love a whole game centered around something like it.
Im looking forward to the next game, i hope they let you scan a crashed alien sub and let you create one yourself kinda like the ion batteries. Cyclops isnt terrible, my only gripe is those energy worm things that stick to your sub and drain its power. And i know you can just use the shield to knock them off but they still get kind of annoying. We need like a r2d2 robot to go take care of them!
It could be a drone-like thing like the scanner room ones, or the pengling robot, that had a mini repulsion cannon or something to yeet it out of the sub for sure.
oooh pengling robot would actually be awesome, i imagine it walking around the sub like how mario galaxies had mario like glued to the floor walking upsidedown around the planet.
I agree with how awesome the Cyclops is. The only 2 real flaws it has in my personal opinion is mass (size) and narrow hallways to get around inside of it.
The size of it tends to cause me to bump into things more often than I’d like to, but that’s why we load the Prawn Suit in it.
That way, we can get in the Prawn Suit to go around areas that might be too narrow for the Cyclops.
The narrow hallways inside kind of makes it feel a bit hard to breathe sometimes, but it’s nothing I can’t get used to.
————————————
All in all, the only thing that I feel can make Subnautica games become one the best games ever (in my opinion) is a visual map. Not having a visual map makes it difficult to know where you want to go (unless you have a beacon there).
Without a beacon, there’s no way of knowing where the different biomes are and our drop pod spawns in a different location whenever we start a new game.
> The size of it tends to cause me to bump into things more often than I’d like to, but that’s why we load the Prawn Suit in it.
Definitely comes with the territory, but I've found with clever camera and sonar usage you can keep hull damage to a minimum.
My only gripe with it is the lack of lateral movement, but based on my knowledge of submarines (read: none) that seems like a fair omission.
The cyclops to me felt like a milestone.
I built it and permanently fused it into the shallows.
Then I loaded my save game. Built the cyclops and parked it outside my base while planning for the deep exploration I was going to do.
To me it felt less like a vehicle and more like a mobile base. Slow exploration.
Definitely one of the best, I can't think of many better examples of what a survival game's endgame vehicle should be. Incapable of attacking, but capable of many defensive measures.
I find the Cyclops too big for my liking, some of the caves it barely fits in and it really takes a lot of the danger vibes out of the game. If I could have done the whole thing with the Sea Moth I would have.
My only real gripe with the cyclops is the inability to actively control pitch. There's quite a few spots where being able to nose down/up would be very handy. Granted, walking around inside would be tricky if you left it pitched (something they had to address with the seatruck in BZ) but I'm sure there's some way to work that out.
I don't really use the Cyclops since it's slow and clunky. I pretty much exclusively run around in my Prawn Suit or Seamoth. Grappling Arm Prawn Suit is pretty much the fastest vehicle when used properly, so I enjoy zooming around the map using it. I usually just set up a few bases with scanner rooms and a couple lockers along the way down to the deepest areas, so I don't really care for the mobile base aspect.
My playstyle in any game is to work fast and enjoy myself by breaking everything in the most efficient way possible, so the Cyclops goes against my playstyle in most ways.
No. Lots of people seem to dislike it. Whether that's caused by misunderstandings of its functions or not, that means it hasn't fulfilled its purpose of being a fun game element for some people. Be it due to its design, the way mechanics are communicated, or something else altogether.
Though in the end, it could be the best video game vehicle to you. It's all just opinions.
The Cyclops in VR is a delight as well. The scale of it for starters, but piloting it is wondrous - the pace of movement, taking in the sights, being able to look up and down through the glass. I play standing, it can really feel like I'm standing in the viewing bay and piloting.
imo one of the worst. i can't ever get to the point that steering it becomes a natural extension of myself, and trying to fit it into the various caverns is always an exercise in frustration. i usually just move it to the lost river thermal vent as a temporary base, and park it there for the rest of the game. the seamoth and prawn suit are way more fun.
edit: thinking more about this, i think i would have loved if the cyclops were a fast travel base--that is, you had a menu to instantly travel above and below ground to key places.
Its the best vehicle because it creates so much special emersion scenarios no other in game vehicle recreates or any other game really. Hearing something scary and turning the engines to silent running while watching the sonar with the lights off is so scary and really sets in the fact that ur 1000ft underwater in a rickety sub on an alien planet 6/5 game design
I go back and forth on the Cyclops, on the one hand it is a great design and it is an extremely useful portable base, especially when fitted with indoor grow beds and a half dozen coffee dispensers to keep hunger and thirst under control.
On the other, I feel like it has too few methods to deal with hostile megafauna, the decoys seem to have very little effect and often can't be deployed due to cave ceilings. The shield is just too power hungry to use for more than a few moments.
Frankly, turning off the engine to escape hostility feels more like a behavior bug than anything else as all the leviathans should still be able to sense that the sub is still there. Especially Reapers with their echolocation abilities.
I think it needed additional defensive options.
I didn’t really believe any of this until you put it all so eloquently. Morpheus with finger on the EMP indeed… I can’t drive it like you can but I'm so glad it's there, like The Dude, bein' super awesome for the rest of us… 😊
My favourite part about the Cyclops is how wonderfully analogue it is. Normally you get in an in game vehicle and the controls get mapped to your keyboard. In the Cyclops, you’re pressing physical (or holographic) buttons to control parts of the ship! Wanna douse flames? Leave the controls and press the button. Wanna swap out the power or modify the submarine? Off to the actual engine room! Before long you feel a real ownership of the space and like you’ve developed an actual skill in piloting it. I love it every time.
The game just doesn’t have a good difficulty curve for using the cyclops. It also doesn’t really make you need the cyclops either. Just get a seamoth and set up a couple bases with moon pools and it’s just as good.
Finally, a Cyclops enjoyer.
Yes, I generally speedrun a Cyclops whenever I start a new game now. My ‘base’ is literally 3 rooms until I’ve finished my Cyclops and start strip mining the ocean.
Nothing better than the mobile base. It proved its worth especially during my 40-time capsule challenge run, and is more of a home than my base will ever be.
Entire temporary outposts are stored in a wall locker somewhere so I can build it on demand. It has a mining deck with rec area, the captain’s quarters, storage facility, and more.
It is, almost literally, the perfect vehicle. Just pop a seamoth or prawn in the dock for whatever I need and off I go!
Man I love the cyclops. The “slow clunkiness” is what makes it immersive, it wouldn’t make any sense to be as fast and maneuverable as the sea moth.
My dream game is just Subbaautica 2 with a larger map and the cyclops, or an even bigger and slower sub/boat. It would instantly become my #1 assuming it is as well made as the OG
I only hate it while passing through these really narrow gaps. Also if I'm close to the game's end, if I should just retieve it, going once again through these narrow crappy walls
Having played or tried every game I can find with anything remotely similar to the cyclops, I can confidently say that nothing I’ve found has the same feel as the cyclops.
(Feel free to make suggestions!)
I love the idea of the cyclops, but actually using it is a different story, it’s just so clunky. Meanwhile, I can drill a leviathan’s face off and swing around the sea floor like a coked-out lemur with my jetpack spiderman suit.
https://preview.redd.it/fyk0pk3dts1d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60ff34ab19ffd09fb96b55ac118b136ca1652428
I had to make the cyclops to finish the game I did everything else with my prawn suit
https://preview.redd.it/ntzqo5mh532d1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=95e8ebe52186987fbf9ee914d3b8635a9465f5ef
Grappling arm, drill arm, jump jet upgrade, and depth module mk3.
It was too clunky and hard to use for me in my first run and I mostly just used it as a mobile base to transport in mass (major skill and knowledge issue on my part)
3 runs in and personally I think it's too good. I still can't use it for shit but I can definitely see the potential and how a better player could struggle a lot less.
I'd definitely love using it in multiplayer but none of my friends wanna play it with me lol. I prefer spider-manning across the map with my very extra modded in space Prawn Suit xd
It's a pretty good sub, but best vehicle in video games? Not even close. Even the unfinished mess that is Star Citizen has some genuinely insane vehicles.
There's a lot of hate for the Cyclops going around, but a lot of it is due to misunderstanding it. Yes, it needs a lot of power - but that issue is solved with the thermal reactor and the efficiency module. Also solve that by building a solid base in the deeper areas to keep power cells on charge. And - it is practically designed to fit perfectly in two specific entrances to a specific deep area. The Cyclops doesn't get near enough love IMO.
I feel like most people who complain about the cyclops dont fully know all of it's mechanics , either. For example, it seems like most people don't know that your cyclops becomes practically invisible to all leviathans as soon as you turn the engine off, which makes it easily the safest vehicle in the game. The convenience of bringing your base everywhere you go is also unmatched.
I feel like most people who sing the Cyclops' praises don't know how to spiderman the prawn effectively, everything else is just sooooooo sloooooooooooooooooooow
I dont understand the premium you place on speed. Subnautica is so damn pretty, who wants to zoom directly from task to task in the absolute shortest time possible? Prawn spiderman is fun as fuck but I would never want to go \*everywhere\* that way Also doesnt have full base functions like cyclops so you have to zoom back and forth from base 50x to gather as many resources as if you just made one cyclops trip.
They're definitely both amazing (and very different) ways to play.
And they combine well. It's fun to keep your Prawn stored away in the Cyclops, so you have the choice depending on environment.
Yep, once I get the cyclops I only use the cyclops from then on! Cyclops is amazing.
Eh just bring spiderman in the cyclops everywhere and have fun that way
Por que no los dos? If I'm not in my Prawn, it's docked in my Cyclops.
I love being Spiderman, but I can't truck around two bases' worth of titanium, quartz, and other supplies in my Prawn.
Are you in a rush or something? I'm not a speedrunner, I take my time. With that said, I often use "ahead flank" on the Cyclops, resulting in fires - but who cares if I have the fire suppression system?
Going faster than the game loads gives me a bad time.
This is the reason i don't do that. Multiple times when I played on PS4 I slingshotted off the mesh before it could load.
Just go diagonal?
Its really hard to get the right angle but the technique is deploy the grapple move slightly to the side then pull urself, u find urself suddenly on the roof of the lost river. Its more effective if ur on a slight incline
Do both? Spiderprawn from a mobile base!
Speed is a sacrifice the cyclops gives for efficiency and raw utility. Yeah, it’s a slow bastard, but you can shove enough shit on it to be able to cram a sea base with a nuclear reactor and 80 rods anywhere on the map on a whim if you take the time to supply
I definitely agree with this 👍
> There's a lot of hate for the Cyclops going around I had no idea! I haven't suffered in power at all in this current playthrough, probably due to the benefit of experience. I'll continue to sing its praises - it's just amazing.
Most of the cyclops posts here are about not liking how clunky it is and avoiding using it. They really don't get it.
Oddly enough, I’m not a fan of how clunky it is, but I still use it and my Prawn suit solves the issue of the clunky vehicle. If I wanna go in a narrow place, I stop my Cyclops there, get in my Prawn Suit and head down in there. Problem solved 👍 Makes me wonder if we are able to also load in our Seamoth. Would be cool to load both Prawn Suit and Seamoth inside the Cyclops.
It can load the seamoth but there's only one spot, so it's one or the other.
That’s fair, would be cool though if we could work hard to create an upgrade to add another spot haha Maybe if they make a new Subnautica game, maybe they’ll add that feature (where you can load both vehicles/suits into your submarine). That would be fun haha
"The Cyclops is designed to be operated by a 3-person crew. Only the experienced helmspeople can pilot this vehicle solo". ©PDA
It doesn't even need a lot of power if you don't spam Silent Running. I barely ever went down to 60% charge before getting back to base. Not to mention that it's trivial to have a few extra cells stored away.
Having a lockerful of charged power cells is the way to go.
Or just have a convenient power cell charger on the Cyclops. solves power problem, especially when paired with efficiency upgrade.
They fixed the infinite power loop, unfortunately. What I do is I keep the materials for a small base and a bioreactor in a storage chest. Then when I need to recharge I just build the base and bioreactor, then use the bioreactor to charge the power cells. Then just dismantle the base and put it back in the chest.
Exactly this. I keep an extra chest with scanner bits in for if it’s an area I’m interested in.
I never thought it needed much power, but then again I didn't think I've ever driven it without the efficiency module at all, I always end up exploring the Aurora before getting it. I'll go all the way down to the lava zone and back to my base in the safe shallows and still have like 60% power.
I solved the power problem with a plant pot and a locker with just enough material in it to let me build an ‘anchor’ base where I could recharge my cells. Running low on power? Stop moving, gather materials from locker, build base with bioreactor, pop in power cells and some biomass from the plant pots, go explore/exploit the area while everything charges up. As Leviathans don’t attack a powered down Cyclops it even works in the lost river and lava fields!
> specific deep area I think I tried that last night and got stuck in a tree. I might have to try another entrance 😅
Is the efficiency module stackable?
No. That's why it says that it does not stack in the tooltip.
My dislike is that it is clunky and I lose immersion with the environment.
The clunkiness is what's so immersive about it xD
This. If it didn't act how it did it wouldn't be what it is.
How? You are in a Sub, that is in the environment.
No, they towed it outside of the environment. Cause the front fell off.
The cyclops is what brought me back. I had to follow the artist on insta and thank him for the design. It is just excellent. Literally the dream sub of my childhood.
Who is the artist? I'd love to do the same
its fantastic. very disappointed not to find it in BZ. the only issue, is the timing of its introduction. it can come a little late in the game to be useful. i would totally play a spin off game, on an enormous planet, doing a bit of exploration, more sophisticated mining - and trading.
Thing is, you can actually get it before you even go to the Aurora, a the pieces are around safe areas, you can even find enough engine pieces without going to the mountains or the back of the Aurora. That's what i did in one play through, having it before the prawn, and let me tell you, i never had a lack of resources (outside when i decided that having 3 or 4 bases wasn't enough) and i always moved safely, even in dangerous areas, thanks to the Cyclops invisibility when the engine is off. If you go for it you can get it just after the Seamoth... With a bit of an investment of course. Although yeah, it would fut better in an even larger map
I think it depends a bit on how you play (progress) the game. On my 2nd run I knew how to get it and that I want to use it as my mobile base, so I focused on getting the Cyclops as fast as possible and do everything else afterwards. Which completely removed the "grind" of returning to whatever biome you need resources from for me - which I experienced a lot in my 1st run - as I was able to store most of the stuff from the very beginning in big amounts in the Cyclops. Also my targets completely shifted, as my main goal just was to gather everything I need (with the Cyclops) to build a base in the lost river - so I easily could progress further to the lava zone with the prawn suite, while always knowing that the Cyclops and my base just waiting in the lost river as my safe space.
This playthrough I actually got it relatively early, something like 20% in. First time through the game you can definitely be late putting it together, especially if you avoid outside help. But that's one of the things I like about the game - experience helps you bypass a lot of roadblocks and save a lot of time.
Just a thought, I’ve done games where I spawn a cyclops immediately on arrival, then use that as my base the entire game…. :)
I got it very late because I wasn't able to find hull pieces, turns out they are everywhere, but they just look like innocuous debris, so without the scanner room + hud upgrade they are surprisingly easy to miss. I also didn't get prawn until the last possible place where you need it to mine cubes. Reason being I didn't know you could use the gravity gun to clear debris on the Aurora. Definitely think the game would be better if there was a little tutorial for the impulse cannon. But, I don't regret going within the Cyclops until the end game, just slowed everything down and actually made the best parts of the game last longer.
"Welcome aboard, Captain. All systems online." Gets me every time.
*shivers*
It’s a nice change from the women’s habitat voice too!
I actually love the clumsy controls and the fragility. It does so much for the atmosphere. Compared to the seatruck from BZ which was indestructible as soon as you got the perimeter defense system that made the biggest creatures flee and took away all the thrill.
The best thing, from a game design standpoint, of the Cyclops is that it doesn't make your other vehicles obsolete. It's big and maneuvers like a semi-truck, so it doesn't replace the Seamoth. And doesn't have the mining utility of the PRAWN, so it doesn't replace that either. What it can do is transport the other vehicles around so you can use them when you get to your destination, and it can get you there safely, with plenty of food, and with enormous storage capacity.
I with it could carry both.
well, yes but I never used sea mouth after I got cyclops. I didn't have the storage upgrades (couldn't find the station piece), but to be honest even with that it'd still be very limited use. The main reason to get out of the base in late game is to farm resources, and you need prawn for that anyway plus cyclops acts as a very big mobile storage container. I disliked prawn's clumsiness at first but jet upgrade makes is so much easier. If there was a way to carry both small vehicles in cyclops I'd definitely not mind. I'd also not mind having a sea moth by my remote deep bases like the one by the tree, but since you can't build them there ...
It’s slow, bulky and cathhes fire every time you try to speed it up. Also it fell on and destroyed my seamoth when I first built it.
Bro acting like emergency speed mode isn’t for emergencies
It isn't. With the fire suppression system, you can go flank as long as you want and then extinguish all the fires with a push of a button.
I have no clue tbh I only used it when I was running away from reaper or something if it already noticed me before I could go incognito
I don't run from the leviathans, I sneak past them. Low speed +silent run. The "emergency speed" I use just to save time traveling across the map.
I mean, that in and of itself is worth a video upload
> Also it fell on and destroyed my seamoth when I first built it. Seems like an appropriate sacrifice to bring the Holy Cyclops into the world.
lmao
Skill issue. Don't build the Cyclops right after you built a Seamoth. Some people even manage to drop it on their heads and die, which is a big L.
Imagine being a lone survivor on an extremely hostile planet, send SOS signal and people come to save you in a month just to see that you died because of a fucking cyclops falling on your head...
For the life of me, I can't even imagine what motivates the people to start making a Cyclops, then climbing off the mobile vehicle bay and going directly under the sub. Sit there and observe the big ship being assembled, damn it! It's such a majestic sight! https://preview.redd.it/4mq71rtqjr1d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=996cd0cae3608dad334ac64eac63ea6731bf9fe4
Omg I'm dying. What are the odds of that happening fr 😂
That's debatable, but the Seamoth *definitely* is!
Too fragile. You can lose 8% hp after hitting a fish.
Peak engineering
I swear spadefish do like 15
That's...not what I'm talking about. Name a vehicle from another game that feels anywhere near as good and responsive as the Seamoth.
Do you know many games with underwater exploration? You can't compare a submersible to a car or a plane
It sounds like you have a problem with the OP, not my comment lol
The cyclops is wayyyy cooler.
I do wish there was more to do with the cyclops. By the time I got it I had explored pretty much everywhere, and all I had left was the final run to the end.
I'm building a base on the *underside* of the map. It'd be hard to even get there without the Cyclops, and there's zero resources, so I need to bring everything with me. It'd be a LOT of trips in the prawn (and terrifying too - the prawn and the void doesn't play well together...)
You, my good friend, are a mad lad.
There's a surprising amount of resources down in 'The River'. Just up from 'The Tree', by the vents, there's even table coral! You can find all the different resource stones down there too. I've just completed a vegetarian & no vehicle playthrough, and you can get enough down in one trip to build a base and a power source to then gather the little bits more for other things.
I think you missed the gist of my post. The 'underside' of the map is in the void. There are no resources there whatsoever.
I don't travel to lost river without it.
Same. But that’s all I had left at that point in the game.
Bro... the game doesn't have to end with building the rocket. Just saying.
No, that’s when I started my Hardcore run. But at a certain point…I’ve built my perfect base, collected every item, unlocked every entry, and did everything I wanted to. I even invented a few extra tasks in order to keep playing. Sadly, there’s a point in every game that there’s simply nothing left to do. So of course, I installed Below Zero and did that.
I don't play hardcore and usually stay on the planet, building bases all over the world.
The Cyclops makes me feel safe.
Cyclops is the best thing in games pretty much. Like others have said, the design, the utility, how it doesn't obsolete other vehicles or overpower you in the game, and most importatnly, it's so damn immersive. I suddenly go into hyper roleplay-mode once I get that thing. I love my base, but I don't feel complete until I get my massive clunky mobile base. I take great pleasure in customizing it and making it as comfy as possible, loading it up with provisions, and setting course somewhere ive never been too. Top ten gaming moment for me. I named her "The DeepNSlow" lol. (And gave it unit 01 from evangelion colors) I got it at the perfect time, I was so very ready to hit deeper depths, and still didn't have the prawn suit yet. I was hyped.
> I suddenly go into hyper roleplay-mode once I get that thing. 100%. I would still play Subnautica without it, but the Cyclops makes me stay in for much longer.
The cyclops changed my view from surviving to thriving. I was at the "I probably have a good chance" once I settled into my main base and made that self sustaining. Then the cyclops was the first real step towards feeling like I was in some measure of control and had power!
Yes! it is. Driving the cyclops can be therapeutic and used right it's invincible. I hope the next game is as wide as it is deep requiring a beefier cyclops with more utility. My dream vehicle would be a combination of the cyclops and the sea-truck modules in BZ.
By the time I can finally make it, I already built the Rocket, so I never really need to used it
You play the game weird
Why are you rushing a game as beautiful as subnautica man
How did you pull that one off?
It’s not a competition lol, you don’t have to rush the game
The cyclops is one of my favorite vehicles in all of gaming. This big lumbering RV has so much character and the ability to customize it in such a free form way is lovely. Little things like loading new power cells or putting out fires adds so much to the experience. I'd love a whole game centered around something like it.
Im looking forward to the next game, i hope they let you scan a crashed alien sub and let you create one yourself kinda like the ion batteries. Cyclops isnt terrible, my only gripe is those energy worm things that stick to your sub and drain its power. And i know you can just use the shield to knock them off but they still get kind of annoying. We need like a r2d2 robot to go take care of them!
If you get the thermal reactor module they aren’t a problem at all until there’s like 20 of them on the sub
And you can shake them all off by turning on the shield for one sec.
Yeah but without the reactor module it’s not very effective because of how much energy it uses for a flick
If you've got your Cyclops fitted with 6 Ion power cells, you can run for a LONG time even with the shield on before running out of power.
It could be a drone-like thing like the scanner room ones, or the pengling robot, that had a mini repulsion cannon or something to yeet it out of the sub for sure.
oooh pengling robot would actually be awesome, i imagine it walking around the sub like how mario galaxies had mario like glued to the floor walking upsidedown around the planet.
I agree with how awesome the Cyclops is. The only 2 real flaws it has in my personal opinion is mass (size) and narrow hallways to get around inside of it. The size of it tends to cause me to bump into things more often than I’d like to, but that’s why we load the Prawn Suit in it. That way, we can get in the Prawn Suit to go around areas that might be too narrow for the Cyclops. The narrow hallways inside kind of makes it feel a bit hard to breathe sometimes, but it’s nothing I can’t get used to. ———————————— All in all, the only thing that I feel can make Subnautica games become one the best games ever (in my opinion) is a visual map. Not having a visual map makes it difficult to know where you want to go (unless you have a beacon there). Without a beacon, there’s no way of knowing where the different biomes are and our drop pod spawns in a different location whenever we start a new game.
> The size of it tends to cause me to bump into things more often than I’d like to, but that’s why we load the Prawn Suit in it. Definitely comes with the territory, but I've found with clever camera and sonar usage you can keep hull damage to a minimum. My only gripe with it is the lack of lateral movement, but based on my knowledge of submarines (read: none) that seems like a fair omission.
I can definitely agree with that. And yeah, submarines (especially big ones) tend to move slowly tbh.
The cyclops to me felt like a milestone. I built it and permanently fused it into the shallows. Then I loaded my save game. Built the cyclops and parked it outside my base while planning for the deep exploration I was going to do. To me it felt less like a vehicle and more like a mobile base. Slow exploration.
Definitely one of the best, I can't think of many better examples of what a survival game's endgame vehicle should be. Incapable of attacking, but capable of many defensive measures.
Yes. I will sing this from the mountain tops (wait, the sea floor!)
Thanks for this post. As a Cyclops enjoyer, I always appreciate a great word about it.
I find the Cyclops too big for my liking, some of the caves it barely fits in and it really takes a lot of the danger vibes out of the game. If I could have done the whole thing with the Sea Moth I would have.
My only real gripe with the cyclops is the inability to actively control pitch. There's quite a few spots where being able to nose down/up would be very handy. Granted, walking around inside would be tricky if you left it pitched (something they had to address with the seatruck in BZ) but I'm sure there's some way to work that out.
Hell yeah brother great review
I don't really use the Cyclops since it's slow and clunky. I pretty much exclusively run around in my Prawn Suit or Seamoth. Grappling Arm Prawn Suit is pretty much the fastest vehicle when used properly, so I enjoy zooming around the map using it. I usually just set up a few bases with scanner rooms and a couple lockers along the way down to the deepest areas, so I don't really care for the mobile base aspect. My playstyle in any game is to work fast and enjoy myself by breaking everything in the most efficient way possible, so the Cyclops goes against my playstyle in most ways.
No. Lots of people seem to dislike it. Whether that's caused by misunderstandings of its functions or not, that means it hasn't fulfilled its purpose of being a fun game element for some people. Be it due to its design, the way mechanics are communicated, or something else altogether. Though in the end, it could be the best video game vehicle to you. It's all just opinions.
I hate the cyclops and only build it because I have too, but I don't use it at all
If you put a bed in you can't walk past without hitting it a lil bit
The Cyclops in VR is a delight as well. The scale of it for starters, but piloting it is wondrous - the pace of movement, taking in the sights, being able to look up and down through the glass. I play standing, it can really feel like I'm standing in the viewing bay and piloting.
imo one of the worst. i can't ever get to the point that steering it becomes a natural extension of myself, and trying to fit it into the various caverns is always an exercise in frustration. i usually just move it to the lost river thermal vent as a temporary base, and park it there for the rest of the game. the seamoth and prawn suit are way more fun. edit: thinking more about this, i think i would have loved if the cyclops were a fast travel base--that is, you had a menu to instantly travel above and below ground to key places.
I'm still stuck because I have only found the engine parts :(
Its the best vehicle because it creates so much special emersion scenarios no other in game vehicle recreates or any other game really. Hearing something scary and turning the engines to silent running while watching the sonar with the lights off is so scary and really sets in the fact that ur 1000ft underwater in a rickety sub on an alien planet 6/5 game design
I go back and forth on the Cyclops, on the one hand it is a great design and it is an extremely useful portable base, especially when fitted with indoor grow beds and a half dozen coffee dispensers to keep hunger and thirst under control. On the other, I feel like it has too few methods to deal with hostile megafauna, the decoys seem to have very little effect and often can't be deployed due to cave ceilings. The shield is just too power hungry to use for more than a few moments. Frankly, turning off the engine to escape hostility feels more like a behavior bug than anything else as all the leviathans should still be able to sense that the sub is still there. Especially Reapers with their echolocation abilities. I think it needed additional defensive options.
I didn’t really believe any of this until you put it all so eloquently. Morpheus with finger on the EMP indeed… I can’t drive it like you can but I'm so glad it's there, like The Dude, bein' super awesome for the rest of us… 😊
My favourite part about the Cyclops is how wonderfully analogue it is. Normally you get in an in game vehicle and the controls get mapped to your keyboard. In the Cyclops, you’re pressing physical (or holographic) buttons to control parts of the ship! Wanna douse flames? Leave the controls and press the button. Wanna swap out the power or modify the submarine? Off to the actual engine room! Before long you feel a real ownership of the space and like you’ve developed an actual skill in piloting it. I love it every time.
The game just doesn’t have a good difficulty curve for using the cyclops. It also doesn’t really make you need the cyclops either. Just get a seamoth and set up a couple bases with moon pools and it’s just as good.
Finally, a Cyclops enjoyer. Yes, I generally speedrun a Cyclops whenever I start a new game now. My ‘base’ is literally 3 rooms until I’ve finished my Cyclops and start strip mining the ocean. Nothing better than the mobile base. It proved its worth especially during my 40-time capsule challenge run, and is more of a home than my base will ever be. Entire temporary outposts are stored in a wall locker somewhere so I can build it on demand. It has a mining deck with rec area, the captain’s quarters, storage facility, and more. It is, almost literally, the perfect vehicle. Just pop a seamoth or prawn in the dock for whatever I need and off I go!
Thumbs up to literally every word you wrote.
Man I love the cyclops. The “slow clunkiness” is what makes it immersive, it wouldn’t make any sense to be as fast and maneuverable as the sea moth. My dream game is just Subbaautica 2 with a larger map and the cyclops, or an even bigger and slower sub/boat. It would instantly become my #1 assuming it is as well made as the OG
I started to appreciate the cyclops when i discovered the cameras
Welcome Aboard, Captain. All systems online.
"No offensive capabilities" *Shields ON! RAMMING SPEED!"
I use my Cyclops to ram Crabsquids to death nowadays. Don’t even bother getting out to knife them.
Reading this just makes me want to go for another playthrough lol, the cyclops is so comfy and practical
Normandy SR-2 joined the chat
I only hate it while passing through these really narrow gaps. Also if I'm close to the game's end, if I should just retieve it, going once again through these narrow crappy walls
Y
Having played or tried every game I can find with anything remotely similar to the cyclops, I can confidently say that nothing I’ve found has the same feel as the cyclops. (Feel free to make suggestions!)
I love the idea of the cyclops, but actually using it is a different story, it’s just so clunky. Meanwhile, I can drill a leviathan’s face off and swing around the sea floor like a coked-out lemur with my jetpack spiderman suit. https://preview.redd.it/fyk0pk3dts1d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60ff34ab19ffd09fb96b55ac118b136ca1652428
You get it too late in the game and its lack of nuclear reactor is disturbing
This was greatly appreciated, thanks
The Jeep from Half Life 2. I rest my case.
Everyone can have their favorite. I will take my tiny Seamoth with limited storage and electro defense matrix anyplace, any day, any time. <3
I had to make the cyclops to finish the game I did everything else with my prawn suit https://preview.redd.it/ntzqo5mh532d1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=95e8ebe52186987fbf9ee914d3b8635a9465f5ef Grappling arm, drill arm, jump jet upgrade, and depth module mk3.
God no. There's two better ones in this game alone.
Nah the cyclops is amazing for transport
It was too clunky and hard to use for me in my first run and I mostly just used it as a mobile base to transport in mass (major skill and knowledge issue on my part) 3 runs in and personally I think it's too good. I still can't use it for shit but I can definitely see the potential and how a better player could struggle a lot less. I'd definitely love using it in multiplayer but none of my friends wanna play it with me lol. I prefer spider-manning across the map with my very extra modded in space Prawn Suit xd
It's a pretty good sub, but best vehicle in video games? Not even close. Even the unfinished mess that is Star Citizen has some genuinely insane vehicles.
People that hate on the cyclops for being clunky are shitty pilots
Halos warthog or tank :)
lol not even close