Subnautica 2 has rolled out a new hotfix, the third since it launched into early access a little over two weeks ago. This particular update is special, however, as it’s the first to arrive following the debate among players about whether or not you should be able to defend yourself from fish attacks, rather than avoid them.
The two competing play styles have created a divide among players of the incredibly popular underwater survival game, and it prompted developer Unknown Worlds to respond.
While a member of the team initially had a flippant response for players looking for more combat options, Unknown Worlds later clarified its stance on the matter. The way the team sees it is that the desire for more defensive/avoidant options is a side effect of the game simply lacking the tools to help players successfully avoid predators.
While Unknown Worlds’ stance on Subnautica 2 being an exploration-based, and not a combat-based game, has not changed, the developer promised to address player concerns in a way that’s aligned with that vision.
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Enter: today’s hotfix. Hotfix 3 is a fairly small one, so don’t expect major changes to defensive or avoidance tools. It does, however, introduce the first of several changes aimed at making certain fish species more straightforward to deal with. Crucially, the patch does not simply make those species less powerful.
The update brings tweaks to Hammerheads, Marrowbreaches, and Nibblers. Starting off with Hammerheads, the hotfix has made it so they no longer attack unoccupied Tadpoles. They will still sniff around them, so don’t expect them to ignore Tadpoles altogether. The good news is that they’re also now more likely to be attracted to Flares, which is currently players’ only real way of warding off predators.
Moving on to Marrowbreaches, they will now deal more damage overall. Lastly, Nibblers have received a decent number of changes, starting with a cut to their perception range. This comes alongside an increase to the time they’ll spend circling players before attacking.
Unknown Worlds has also reduced their movement speed, but increased their damage, as well as their sensitivity to the Multitool. Certainly somewhat of an uneven mix.
Read on below for the full change log for early access hotfix 3:
- Fixed issues that could cause DLSS to crash the game.
- Fixed issues that could cause DLSS settings not to be saved correctly.
- Fixed Frame Generation not being available in certain versions of the game.
- Upgraded DLSS to version 4.5.
- Reduced Interior Wall costs to 1/4 of their previous price.
- Hammerheads no longer attack unpiloted Tadpoles.Hammerheads can still take an interest in Tadpoles.
- Fixed Hammerheads occasionally not being attracted to Flares.
- Increased overall damage of Marrowbreaches.
- Spaced out Marrowbreach attacks to occur less frequently.
- Reduced Nibbler perception range, making players less visible to them.
- Increased the duration Nibblers circle the player before attacking.
- Reduced overall movement speed of the Nibblers.
- Increased sensitivity of the Nibblers to the Multitool.
- Increased overall damage of Nibblers.
- Fixed a rare crash when starting games.
- Fixed Clients (not the game host) reverting to their previous position when rejoining a multiplayer session.
- Fixed Strike Armor modification stacking additively, which could result in a potentially game-breaking state.
- Fixed goggles remaining visible in first-person view when exiting the Tadpole Haul Chassis as a passenger.
- Localized text callout on the Terms of Service acceptance screen.
- Added additional context to crash reports to provide better details for hard-to-reproduce issues.
