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	Alien Gun Base (where it's being destroyed)
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's significantly smaller than the Aurora, seating only six people.

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 warning 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. 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. No wreck of the Sunbeam can be found on the map.

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.

Audio

When the countdown for the Sunbeam's arrival ends, the Player will receive one of three messages, depending on their location and actions:

WARNING: Audio files are outdated!

Player on Mountain Island

If the Player is present at Mountain Island when the Sunbeam arrives, they will receive this message from their PDA:

	"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. Positions everyone, touching down in 10, 9, 8- *Static* It's coming from the building?! Change course, set thrusters to full. *Distorted static*"

Player Not Present on Mountain Island

If the player is not present at Mountain Island during the arrival of the Sunbeam, they will receive this message from their PDA instead:

	"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 has Disabled Quarantine Enforcement Platform

If the player disables the Quarantine Enforcement Platform before the Sunbeam's arrival, this message will be received instead:

	"Aurora survivors, this is trading ship Sunbeam. We've tracked your distress signal, but your ship's left a giant 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

Bugs

• If the player disables the Quarantine Enforcement Platform and then waits before triggering the Sunbeam event, the platform may still fire and destroy the ship. This can be fixed by walking into the QEP before the Sunbeam's arrival. (As of V1.0)

Trivia

• The Sunbeam destruction event can be viewed by typing precursorgunaim into the console.
• The original dialogue that played when the player was not present at Mountain Island described the Sunbeam as a "Bulldog Class" vessel.
• If the Sunbeam arrives during night time, the sun will rapidly rise when the countdown timer is at about one minute and rapidly set again after the Sunbeam has been shot down but before the gun retracts.