Game Theory: You KILLED the Planet! (Subnautica) #TeamSeas

Well Theorists, it's finally happened. I'm doing a theory on Subnautica. This is something I've gotten messages about for YEARS and it was only a matter of time before it reached the top of my to-do list. So, I'm going to RUIN this game for all of you environmental hopefuls out there who have played through and thought you saved the day... because you DIDN'T!

Need Royalty Free Music for your Content? Try Epidemic Sound.

#Subnautica #SubnauticaBelowZero #SubnauticaTrailer #SubnauticaTheory #TeamSeas #MatPat #Theory #GameTheory

More THEORIES:

Credits:
Writers: Matthew Patrick and Tom Robinson
Editors: Tyler Mascola, Koen Verhagen, and Jerika (NekoOnigiri)
Assistant Editor: Caitie Turner (viridianrosette)
Sound Editor: Yosi Berman

[ignaciog]

"You killed the planet!"
Me with the haunting memories of the deep monsters and environments from the game: *good*

[tomlin]

MatPat- “you killed the planet!”

Me- “ah yes, tell that to the big gun that shot us and our rescue ship down.”

[milanbeerepoot]

The water bottles in subnautica are actually not plastic. You only need a bladderfish to make a water bottle, meaning that the bottles are fully biodegradable.

[person]

MatPat: the crash likely killed all life near the aurora
Reaper Leviathans: "its about drive, its about power, we stay hungry we devour"

[MyVouge]

"You killed the planet"
Me, systematically hunting down leviathans and punching them to death with a big stompy robot: No, I conquered it. There's only room on this world for one apex predator.

[andreygusev]

Matpat: the problem that the game doesn't address
Literally the game: "the aurora drive core will have devastating effects on the ecosystem if not contained within 24 hours"

[novacorponline]

MatPat: "YOU doomed the world of Subnautica, so recklessly crashing down onto the planet. Shame on you!"
Anyone who actually played the game: "Well maybe I wouldn't have crashed down onto this planet if our ship wasn't SHOT OUT OF ORBIT!"

[alduinfr]

MatPat: *exits the lifepod*
also MatPat: that's enough research

[tyeburch-bowser]

Matpat, a couple of minor things about the aurora. The crash size was probably affected by a few things not stated in the episode. The captain's log makes it clear that he was still steering the ship when it went down with the intent on trying to minimize damage to the ship. He knew it needed to remain intact for a rescue to be possible. This, combined with the fact that the game takes place on the top of an inactive volcano instead of the ocean bottom, could account for why the damage was as small as it was. The aurora might have hit water first and then hit ground after slowing down.

[kiebahow]

Matpat: “the radiation would probably kill all the sea life near It instantly.”
Reapers: “Is that a challenge?”

[mikoajciemiega]

"You shouldn't crash here"
"Sorry, next time we will ask the alien weapons to not shoot us down"

[BulletTooth]

MatPat: "At last! I have found the Scroll of Truth!"
Scroll of Truth: "Subnautica's in-game lore proves that the Aurora's crash will not cause the death of the planet."
MatPat: [yeets the Scroll] "Nyehh!!!"

[ahumanoidtroodon]

“The radiation probably killed the animals in the vicinity immediately”

Reapers, actively travelling en mass to the irradiated zone: *I have no such weaknesses*

[GrandGourd]

The player: Cures a virus that would've infected the entire planet and killed everything
MatPat: We are not a net positive for this planet

[pef_v]

"You killed the planet"
Damn guess it's my fault that aliens built a giant gun to shoot ships out of orbit because they got too close

[CountCoffee]

The creatures in Subnautica are already used to (small amounts of) radiation. Here’s my proof: in most deeper biomes you can find radioactive crystals exposed underwater. The PDA talks about the radiation, and when you pick them up you can hear a Geiger counter make a radioactive sound. Reapers and Sandsharks thrive close enough to the Aurora even right after the explosion where the effects would be highly fatal for us without the proper equipment. Even jellyrays which have barely any protection behave normally in high doses of radiation. We might have killed a lot of the wildlife, but certainly not most of it.

[chrissutch]

Important point (spoiler if anyone cares): blame the “Architects”. The Aurora was shot down, by an automated weapon.

Another important point is time. Time is compressed for gameplay reasons. After all when the Sunbeam attempts to Mount their rescue - they announce they’re more than a week away. It doesn’t take a week before they show.

& of course Sunbeam is also shot down, as was the Degassi years earlier. Humans didn’t doom that planet.

Oh and one more important thing you seem to have missed; the Aurora’s captain stayed aboard to attempt a controlled crash landing. This is why the damage doesn’t match what you claimed would wipe out the whole zone. She didn’t simply auger in at terminal velocity.

[owerio]

"well beyond the scope of our crash site!"
*what's it gonna do, kill one of the infinite dead zone ghost leviathans?*

[Ministrator]

Hello Matpat, excuse my possibly clunky use of the english language.
I was really excited about a Subnautica theory because of the incredible lore this beautiful game has to offer. This however turned out to be more of a TeamSeas ad then a theory. Believe me when I say, I'm a big fan of your theories in general, but this time just a pinch of actual research lets it fall apart. Please see the following evidence:

The Impact of the craft being catastrophic:

Logs you can find in the game (e.g. Lifepod 19 Second Officer Keen's Voicelog) confirm that the captain of the Aurora took over manual control and tried to execute a controlled descent of the ship after the midair/orbital incident. As the Aurora was trying to use the planet for a swing-by-maneuver it's trajectory in relation to the surface would have already been flat and due to its speed the craft would be able to hold this flat approach for a while. This would lead to the Aurora hitting the planet's surface at a much more controlled angle and potentially lower speed in the end compared to a "falling out of the sky" scenario, and therefore much less damage to the geology around the crash site.


The waste of the Aurora being a danger to the ecosystem:

While there certainly will be an impact of some items on that ship, it should be argued that a civilization this advanced will not rely on plastic as the material of their products. The fabricator (one of the game's crafting stations), where you craft the basic versions of the drinkable water items in the game, materializes them, bottle and all, from midair using some magical 3D printing laser synthesizing. Even if the bottle was made from polymer (I personally think they are made from metal, looking at the model, or rather from some sort of completely organic material as you can craft a water bottle using a fish as input material only), trash would not be an issue. A good indicator for this is the buildable trash can in the game. Its description says that it "Permanently deconstruct[s] unwanted items and safely release[s] their constituent atoms into the atmosphere." The same can be said for the similar functioning "Nuclear Waste Disposal" which also permanently deletes Nuclear Waste from existence. This technology exists and Below Zero shows there to be an ongoing human presence on the planet, so accumulating waste shouldn't be a thing.


The radiation (could also insert dissolved chemicals) being a danger to the wildlife of 4546B:

As it has been said, the radiation as a result of the leaking drive core would dissipate after a while, should the breaches be sealed. So there is a finite amount of radioactive material/radiation actually finding its way into the environment, that means it will start to be diluted by the ocean. The map we are playing on in Subnautica is called The Crater and is about 2x2km in size according to the data bank entry (Fun Fact: The actual size of the map is almost double that) with the rest of the planet (excluding Sector Zero) being an ecological deadzone with only microscopic and leviathan life. That would mean that the ocean currents would transport the majority of the radioactive material out of this small inhabited crater's area in no time. Your example of the radioactive material from the Fukushima disaster making it all the way to Canada in a really short timespan proves my point. The radiation spreads out, therefore gets weaker and as there is no source for more unnatural radiation to come from anymore, the affected volume of the medium (the water) will be moved and spare the crater.


I sure hope we'll get a Subnautica episode about the extensive lore in the future.
But hey, that's just a theory. A comment-section theory :)

[niilokolehmainen]

"The game even has a LITTLE bit of story" -MatPat talking about Subnautica