Sunbeam

Read at own risk This article contains unmarked spoilers. Players new to the game would want to avoid or be cautious toward this article.

This article is about the Sunbeam. You may be looking for the Aurora or the Degasi.

Sunbeam
Category	Vehicles
Location	Mountain Island
Coordinates	387, 4, 1113

The Sunbeam is a passing cargo ship captained by Avery Quinn that picked up the distress signal sent by the Aurora. It is significantly smaller than the Aurora, with a crew of only six people. The Sunbeam vessel appears to be of Alterra design, though is owned by a small trans-gov based in the Andromeda galaxy.

The player will start receiving transmissions from Avery on board the Sunbeam via the Radio some time after the player has started exploring the planet. The ship alerts the player to its imminent arrival, until it gives a forty-minute countdown of its eventual landing on the Mountain Island. It will give the player a signal with the landing coordinates.

The Sunbeam's Failed Rescue

The Sunbeam had planned to land on the Mountain Island to rescue the player. However, before it can land, the Quarantine Enforcement Platform activates, weaponizing itself and shooting the Sunbeam down, as it did with the Aurora and Degasi. As the Sunbeam is quite a bit smaller than the Aurora, which was relatively intact albeit heavily damaged with a massive amount of debris left behind, the Sunbeam is completely obliterated, its crew members are killed, and its debris rains down afterwards. Upon detonation of the Sunbeam when it is struck by the energy beam emitted by the Quarantine Enforcement Platform, debris can be seen dropping from the sky, but wrecks of the Sunbeam cannot be found on the map, likely falling into the Crater Edge.

However, if the player manages to disable the Quarantine Enforcement Platform before the Sunbeam arrives, Avery Quinn will inform them that they cannot attempt a landing due to large amounts of debris orbiting the planet. Despite the Sunbeam and its crew surviving, their attempt to rescue the player still fails, forcing the player to build the Neptune Escape Rocket.

If the player becomes cured before using the Radio on any of the Sunbeam messages, they are able to shut down the Quarantine Enforcement Platform and save Sunbeam. though the dialogue clearly states Sunbeam sending information to Alterra, no matter how long the player wait, Alterra will not send any help to them.

Dialogue

Radio

	Day and Message Number	Dialogue
	Day 9, Message 1	"This is Avery Quinn of trading ship Sunbeam. Aurora, do you read? Over. Nothing but vacuum. These Alterra ships. They run low on engine grease, they send an SOS; you offer to help, they don't pick up. Aurora, we're out on the far side of the system, it's going to take more than a week to reach your position, do you still need our assistance? Over. I'll try them again tomorrow. Damn charter's going to have us wasting our profit margin running errands for Alterra.  See what the long-range scanner picks up in the meantime."
	Day 13, Message 2	"Aurora, this is Sunbeam again. We just picked up a massive debris field at your location. I didn't know how bad... How many of you... I didn't know. We are now en route to your location. We're going to bring you home. Sunbeam out. What else can I say? The only time I parked a rig this big on a rock that small was in VR, and I blew it Oh, it's a bad option alright, but so are all the others."
	Day 19, Message 3	"This is Sunbeam. Y'know, Aurora, we're from a little trans-gov on the far side of Andromeda, and we have a saying there. There's no bad without the good, no good without the bad. Sounds like you tasted a bunch of the former, but that only means you're overdue a whole lot of the latter. Might just be we're it. We're scanning for somewhere to park as we speak, we'll be in touch when we find it. Sunbeam out."
	Day 21, Message 4	"Aurora, we're approaching the planet now, and we have a landing site for you that's... well, it's better than the alternatives. We've sent you the coordinates. It'll take us a couple of days to align our orbit, we should be able to establish direct contact with you during that time, then we're coming in to get you. Cross your fingers the weather holds, and don't leave us waiting. Sunbeam out."

Final

	Conditions	Dialogue
	Player is present at Quarantine Enforcement Platform	"Survivor, we see you! Man, I don't know how you held out down there. We've broken atmosphere and we're descending towards the landing site. Is that a building down there?! What do you mean you can't identify it? Hold on, no turning back now *Static* Positions everyone, touching down in 10, 9, 8- It's coming from the building?! Change course, set thrusters to (full)- *Static* *Sirens*
	Player is absent at Quarantine Enforcement Platform	"PDA: Picking up orbital transponder signature of trading vessel Sunbeam. Vessel is approaching planet surface and initiating surface scanning procedures. Detecting massive power surge from anomalous contact. Energy discharge detected. Vessel signature lost."
	Player disables the Quarantine Enforcement Platform before Sunbeam arrives	"Aurora survivors, this is trading ship Sunbeam. We've tracked your distress signal, but your ship's left a substantial debris field up in orbit, we can't attempt a landing. We're gonna have to head home. We'll send our data to Alterra as soon as we can. Hold on in there. Sunbeam, out."

Gallery

• Screenshots
• Videos
• Concept Art

The Sunbeam in game

The Sunbeam being destroyed by the Quarantine Enforcement Platform

Badaboom

Work in progress animation showing the destruction of the Sunbeam

SN Sunbeam 09

Updated Subnautica FX

Concept art of the Sunbeam

Trivia

• The original dialogue that played when the player was not present at Mountain Island described the Sunbeam as a "Bulldog Class" vessel.
• Though it was regarded as speculation for a long time, Sunbeam can be saved and there are YouTube tutorials on how.
• a good example of Sunbeam being saved is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2fTurPHlW4

Bugs

This section contains bugs related to Sunbeam. Make sure to only post reproducible bugs, and use appropriate system template ( , , , / ) depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on.

• If the Quarantine Enforcement Platform is shut down whilst the countdown timer is already active, a bug occurs where the Sunbeam's final cutscene plays out anyways. However, only Audio is heard, as the Quarantine Enforcement Platform stays offline. The beam and explosion are still visible, however.
• Seemingly by chance, the Sunbeam can be fully invisible when the final cutscene plays out. There is no specific cause, but it has happened to many on multiple occasions.
• If the player uses the cheat 'precursorgunaim' they will still receive messages from the sunbeam, and the timer for the sunbeam's landing will still start, however it will not end. Instead it will count down infinitely even after going to the negatives.