The Ultimate SOMA Discussion Thread

[SeanieTheMan]

Looks like a Big Daddy.

[Fortigurn]

You can WALK underwater? Especially that deep? Are you serious? Swimming is completely different to walking in the water. If you can do it without any special equipment I'll give you 1000000000000$.

Of course one possible explanation is Simon has a special suit or something that allows him to walk.

I already pointed out he had a suit. It was even mentioned in the article.

Go to 2:50 you will see that while you are underwater you open a chest and 2 doors.

Yes I saw that. It doesn't contradict anything I said. I never said he didn't open anything while underwater.

[PutraenusAlivius]

I don't think opening a chest or door is that difficult unless you're at the (near) bottom. If the station is built in first two divisions of the sea then lifting several items won't be much of a problem.

[Kein]

As the pressure in the base of the deep sea is really tremendous (+1 atm/10 m) it's impossible to build a base that's at the base of the ocean with that big pressure (IIRC it can squeeze a basketball to a ping pong sized ball).

That's the point. There are two things we don't know about this equation:
1. How deep underwater we are
2. And if we are 100% playing as a basic human being and not robot or monster (whole AMFP I was sure I wasp laying as human; after the ending - not so much) or "modified" human being or whatever.

In short, I don't think this aspect worth so much attention (you get survival horror game instead of diving simulator, oh wow, what a loss!), after all it is not like we are discussing credibility of some historical material a-la moon landing.

[Fortigurn]

That's the point. There are two things we don't know about this equation:
1. How deep underwater we are
2. And if we are 100% playing as a basic human being and not robot or monster (whole AMFP I was sure I wasp laying as human; after the ending - not so much) or "modified" human being or whatever.

And we are looking at a pre-alpha build which is still about a year away from the final release. We can hardly expect this to be representative of the finished product.

[PutraenusAlivius]

As the pressure in the base of the deep sea is really tremendous (+1 atm/10 m) it's impossible to build a base that's at the base of the ocean with that big pressure (IIRC it can squeeze a basketball to a ping pong sized ball).

That's the point. There are two things we don't know about this equation:
1. How deep underwater we are
2. And if we are 100% playing as a basic human being and not robot or monster (whole AMFP I was sure I wasp laying as human; after the ending - not so much) or "modified" human being or whatever.

In short, I don't think this aspect worth so much attention (you get survival horror game instead of diving simulator, oh wow, what a loss!), after all it is not like we are discussing credibility of some historical material a-la moon landing.

Just a theory.

As the pressure in the base of the deep sea is really tremendous (+1 atm/10 m) it's impossible to build a base that's at the base of the ocean with that big pressure (IIRC it can squeeze a basketball to a ping pong sized ball).

When the surface of the ocean is seen just outside the base in a preview video, it doesn't seem that dark, almost like a twilight-ish on the surface. ASSUMING that it's currently daytime in the surface, I would place my guess of the base in the Mesopelagic part of the sea. The Mesopelagic has a twilight-ish color with the depth of 200 - 1000 m. Using equation of the pressure increase, we know that it has the pressure of 20 - 100 atmospheric pressure which doesn't sound that bad.

However, if it's currently night time in the surface, then I would place my bet on the Epipelagic part of the sea, with the depth of 0 - 200 m, with the pressure of 1 - 20 atmospheric pressure which makes it more habitable.

[Alardem]

This is presumably in the future. Building technology has likely advanced.

[Fortigurn]

When the surface of the ocean is seen just outside the base in a preview video, it doesn't seem that dark, almost like a twilight-ish on the surface. ASSUMING that it's currently daytime in the surface, I would place my guess of the base in the Mesopelagic part of the sea. The Mesopelagic has a twilight-ish color with the depth of 200 - 1000 m. Using equation of the pressure increase, we know that it has the pressure of 20 - 100 atmospheric pressure which doesn't sound that bad.

However, if it's currently night time in the surface, then I would place my bet on the Epipelagic part of the sea, with the depth of 0 - 200 m, with the pressure of 1 - 20 atmospheric pressure which makes it more habitable.

This post has great merit when we consider other clues in the video. Firstly, we don't see any of the typical marine life of the Abyssal or Hadal zones. Secondly, we see small fish which are typical of much shallower zones.

Spoiler below!

Thirdly, we see a small crab of the kind found in shallower waters, nowhere near the Abyssal zone.

Spoiler below!

Fourthly, and very importantly, we see a hammerhead shark, barnacles, and common bivalve mollusks (not the giant mollusks found at Abyssal depths).

Spoiler below!

Spoiler below!

None of these are found anywhere near the Abyssal zone; barnacles are only found down to 600 metres, and while one type of hammerhead is found down to 500 metres, another type is found only down to 80 metres.

If the plot is true to these details, we can reliably place the undersea station within the shallow regions of the Mesopelagic zone at deepest, and more likely in the deepest part of the Epipelagic zone.

[BAndrew]

Why would anyone build a station underwater in the first place? What's the purpose?

[Macgyverthehero]

Why would anyone build a station underwater in the first place? What's the purpose?

Ever seen the movie The Abyss? That took place on an underwater oil drilling platform.