The Seamoth is a fast, safe mode of transport, but remember that swimming is good for your glutes and endorphin levels.
― PDA, Dialogue
The Seamoth is a small, versatile one-person submersible and spacecraft capable of sustained high-speed travel over considerable distances. It boasts an omnidirectional propulsion system that allows for lateral and vertical movement that gradually increases to a maximum of 11.25 m/s in any single direction. The speed in any direction is independent of other directions and can be added together using vector addition. Thus, if going forward and upward the maximum speed is 15.91 m/s (11.25 * √2) and if going forward, upward, and sideways the maximum speed is 19.49 m/s (11.25 * √3).
As with the Cyclops and Prawn Suit, the Seamoth comes equipped with a locator beacon that produces an image on the HUD showing the distance of the vehicle from the player. It can be fitted with multiple upgrades and modifications that enhance performance and durability. These can be crafted in a Moonpool equipped with a Vehicle Upgrade Console.
Before the Seamoth can be constructed, its fragments must first be scanned. The player must scan three fragments before acquiring the recipe. Several can be found in the numerous Wrecks in the Grassy Plateaus surrounding Lifepod 5, and two in the Seamoth Bay of the Aurora.
Overview[]
The Seamoth can be used to transport the player quickly in long-distance expeditions, greatly increasing the player's effective exploration distance and adding a bit of protection alongside. It is capable of diving to considerable depths, especially with depth modules equipped, allowing the player to safely explore much of the map. Even though the Seamoth has little armor, various upgrades can be used to increase its capacity to evade and defend against hostile fauna.
The Seamoth is an electric vehicle and requires Energy from a Power Cell in order to function. It generates its own oxygen supply. When exiting while the vehicle is moving, the Seamoth will preserve its momentum and place the pilot behind it or in front of it. The pilot should be careful not to exit while quickly moving or with dangerous creatures around, as the Seamoth may move away before the pilot can get back in, leaving them vulnerable to attack, or because the Seamoth might hit the player.
As for its energy usage, the Seamoth consumes one unit of energy approximately every 15 seconds. A standard power cell, holding 200 units of energy, can power the Seamoth for 3,000 seconds. At a speed of 11.25 m/s, this gives the Seamoth a straight-line range of 33,750 meters.
Spoiler alert: The following section contains story related material. |
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An Ion Power Cell can also be used to power it. |
Recipe[]
Controls[]
Action | Mouse & Keyboard | Xbox One | PlayStation 4 | Nintendo Switch |
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Enter Seamoth | ||||
Exit Seamoth | ||||
Toggle Headlights |
While the maximum speed of the Seamoth in any single direction is 11.25 m/s, strafing by holding multiple direction keys will increase its maximum speed to 15.9 m/s (2-directions) and 19.2 m/s (3-directions). Navigation in this mode is awkward, requiring the destination to be on the edge of the screen strafing in two directions, and in the corner for three directions, depending on the field of view setting in the Options menu. Hostile creatures like Warpers, Ghost or Reaper Leviathans, or Crabsquid have a good chance of targeting a Seamoth that moving in only one axis, strafing in two or three axes can often evade them, perhaps because they cannot keep up with the greater speed, or their tracking is confused by the motion.
Hazards[]
The Seamoth has a hull integrity of 100, displayed in the HUD, which will decrease if it is attacked by hostile creatures, collides at moderate to high speed with objects, including Seabases, a Cyclops, Moonpool docks, many plants, and creatures both large and small, or is exposed to temperatures greater than 70°C, or exceeds its maximum crush depth (200, 300, 500 or 900 m for depth upgrades 0 through 3). Even harmless looking schools of small fish can be a serious hazard at high speed. Bumping into things at low speed is generally safe. Being hit by a Seamoth hard enough to damage the vehicle will generally kill smaller animals, and does moderate damage to larger creatures. Being struck by a Seamoth will force a Warper to teleport, aborting any attacks or actions they were about to make.
Reaper Leviathans are able to grab the Seamoth, dealing constant damage until it explodes or the Reaper releases it after about 10 seconds. It will instantly release a Seamoth if the player briefly activates its Perimeter Defense System, if equipped. The player can not exit the Seamoth until the Seamoth is released or is destroyed. An unarmored Seamoth at 100% hull integrity can usually survive one such Reaper attack, but the damage will be enough that if grabbed a second time it will likely be done for.
After exiting the vehicle, player can repair damage with the Repair Tool. A Hull Reinforcement Upgrade can reduce damage from terrain collisions by 50%. The Hull Reinforcement upgrade can stack up to 3 times, further reducing damage by 75% and 87.5%,. The acidic brine in the Lost River deals periodic damage.
If the player gets out of the Seamoth at high speed without waiting for it to slow, they will usually be placed directly in front of the moving vehicle and can be struck for damage of 1/4 to 2/3 of their health. With practice, a quick exit at speed can be done safely by executing a quick turn just before exiting, so that the momentum of the Seamoth is in a different direction than the player's motion.
The Prawn Suit is also capable of damaging the seamoth, either through striking it, drilling it, or landing on it hard enough.
Once destroyed, Upgrades and Customization will be lost, along with any cargo. The broken seamoth pieces cannot be scanned, though they do possess collision.
Installing Charged Power Cells[]
Outside of the Seamoth, there are panels that open. The power cell is replaced by accessing the installed unit under the jet engine. When selected, a menu will appear allowing the technician to choose a new power cell from inventory.
Upgrades and Customization[]
The Seamoth can be customized with the Vehicle Upgrade Console, which the player can use to craft upgrades and change the vehicle's name and color scheme. Upgrades can be installed and swapped via a panel on the left wing. Opening this panel reveals four slots. The Storage, Hull Reinforcement and Engine Efficiency modules are compatible with the Prawn Suit.
Seamoth Depth Module |
Increases the vehicle's maximum crush depth, enabling it to survive greater pressure. Each successive module doubles the maximum crush depth of the last. This effect does not stack.
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Installs a 4×4 (16-slot) storage compartment in a position on the Seamoth corresponding to the slot used. Each additional module installs another 4×4 compartment, but space isn't shared across lockers (two lockers side by side can't store 3×3 objects).
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Strengthens the chassis with a diamond lattice, increasing hull durability. Decreases collision damage by 50%; each successive module adds half the damage resistance of the last. Damage from aggressive fauna remains unchanged. Effect stacks with up to three modules.
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Increases maximum battery life by recycling engine thermal waste and decreases total power consumption by 15%. Effect stacks with multiple modules.
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Replenishes the onboard power supply by harnessing photonic energy. The charge rate is affected by the time of day and depth of water.
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Generates a localized electrical field to discourage and repel aggressive fauna. Has a chance of killing smaller aggressive species. Activate by pressing the assigned hotkey on PC and Mac, or by selecting the upgrade on consoles (Xbox One and PlayStation 4:). | |||||||||||||||||||||
Standard-issue underwater payload delivery system that has been adapted to fire torpedoes.
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Scans the topography of the surrounding terrain with sonic pulses and displays the data on the HUD. Activate by pressing the assigned hotkey on PC and Mac, or by selecting the upgrade on consoles (Xbox One and PlayStation 4:). |
Data Bank Entry[]
The seamoth is a one-person vehicle with an independent, replaceable power cell fitted in the rear and a fully customizable design. Low power, multi-directional thrusters enable it to function equally well in sea or space environments. Most long-range vessels carry at least two vehicles of this class to facilitate the exploration and exploitation of small astronomical bodies, however they can also be fabricated at a standard mobile vehicle bay. Ratings: Seamoths may be modified by installing upgrade modules to the access point mounted on the wing. These include: NB These modules may only be manufactured at a moonpool outfitted with a vehicle modification station. 'The Seamoth: It goes anywhere but land.' |
CORRUPTED |
Achievement[]
Spoiler alert: The following section contains story related material.
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Personal Propulsion Construct a Seamoth
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Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The old Seamoth Pressure Compensator (Depth Module) has the same crush depth of a Cyclops Ultra Hull Reinforcement Module. However, it is now unobtainable, having been replaced by the Depth Module, and cannot be upgraded. If a player has one, it is considered a separate item from the Pressure Compensator.
- Similarly to the Cyclops' secret boarding audio, the Seamoth's AI used to occasionally say "I love it when you come inside me" instead of "Welcome aboard, Captain." upon entering. This was a joke/sexual innuendo slipped in by the sounds producer, Simon Chylinski. After discussing the line with the dev team, Simon removed it as a lot of minors and families play Subnautica. The audio file can be heard here.
- The Seamoth bears a striking resemblance to the real-world C-Explorer 3 submersible, produced by U-Boat Worx, although the Seamoth has a more streamlined appearance.
- The Seamoth appears on the cover art for the Subnautica OST, along with the Reaper Leviathan.
- According to Alterra Citizen Testimonials, as the name suggests it was designed for water, but Max Zoinkoff created a company to develop custom code so it could operate in space. In the ten years since he sold his company to Alterra, the Seamoth became one of the most widely used vehicles in the galaxy.
- The Seamoth is never shown to be used in space in-game.
- The deepest biome that can be explored by the Seamoth is the Lost River.
- However, a glitch can be performed by briefly opening the inventory while entering the Seamoth, while holding a repair tool. This enables the repair tool to be held while inside the Seamoth, allowing it to maintain integrity well beyond its maximum crushing depth and thus explore deeper biomes. This bug is shared with the PRAWN suit.
- The Seamoth Sonar System, despite being sound-based, does not attract attention if used, thus making it useful for spotting aggressive fauna, such as Reaper Leviathans, at a distance.
- The Seamoth can be driven onto land with enough momentum, where it will be stuck and unable to move, or turn in any direction.
- The Prawn suit can be used to move the seamoth off into water by walking into it.
Bugs[]
The Seamoth has a chance to get stuck in the ground of the main beach of the Floating Island, if left in the shallow pool, upon return, the Seamoth will have clipped into the ground, usually with only the antenna visible, unable to be accessed. This can be fixed by picking up a Floater with the Propulsion Cannon near where the Seamoth is, causing it to attach itself to the Floater above ground. This can also be avoided by parking the Seamoth over open water instead of on the beach.