With the settlement well on its way and about to get some more development, I took my time today on the train to fantasise. Take this thread as part conceptual and part inspiration. I am (at least not yet) not so fond of starting such a huge new things with parts of the settlement unfinished and surely unpolished. Also with the graphical change ongoing, there is much happening right now.

Nonetheless, I will play out in detail my thoughts on what could be achieved with water. It all started about two or one and a half years ago when I was laying out the concepts of the settlement when someday I made this page:



...but then decided to dump it away until settlement's done. A week or two ago some people on IRC were talking about submarines and so on, so I fetched this sheet and scanned it. But Matthi wasn't content and said to me that I either come up with a lot of ideas and coherent concepts or be gone. Well, that's what I tried to do, at least for a beginning.



First things first: Adventures into the deep sea require a solid base. A ready supply of power is mandatory! Keep in mind that from time to time your base will be without maintenance, so power stations should work on their own for a certain time.



Next, build your pumps! We already have pumps that do pump air into water, right? Well, deep sea equipment is often air powered, as well as your clonks! The generated power gets converted into air and then pumped deep down below where we need it. Diving into the deep should be about spreading your air network.

I'll get into the details now: Items first!

The diving helmet is the standard equipment, allowing your clonk to breath underwater. Simply connect it to the air pipe of a pump and you can enjoy your trip into the blue. I haven't put much thought into how this kind of equipment would be handled gameplay-wise. At a first glance, I'd like if there wasn't any kind of "equipping" mechanic (with another menu or so) but just have it easy: Having a helmet in your inventory makes it available (display on the clonk).
Same goes for shoes:



These could be tricky. Idea is that wearing those makes your clonk heavier, effectively sinking faster. Swimming gets harder. Standing on the ocean ground will be possible with these.



Light-weighted and simple equipment: Makes you swim faster! Are kind of expensive - rubber things probably need oil for production?



Quickly drawn, handy in every underwater situation! Very short stabbing range, kind of last resort or helpful to cut free from anything. I just don't see clonks handling a sword underwater.



Man the harpoons! Standard weaponry, versatile and deadly. Obviously like the spear but made from pure metal, so it keeps its momentum when thrown into water. Bonus feature could be the rope dangling from the eye at the back of the harpoon for quickly retrieving the harpoon (hopefully with a fish attached). Comes in bigger packs, so you can scatter them around.
Throwing them is a good thing but you get more punch when shooting!



The underwater musket! Air-driven! I must probably elaborate: The idea is that the "muzzle" is a pipe. The pressure tank on the back gets filled with air and when the trigger is pulled, the air is released into the pipe, moving the "driver" forward. The harpoon is attached to it and so gets fired. The air will pour out backwards, from the exhaust. Of course, in water you can't fire powder but compressed air is at hand. The harpoon slinger is easily reloaded in the air but deep down you need an air supply (pipe, probably attached onto your helmet). If you haven't one, you get only one shot from your slinger. Better make it count!



The trident is more like a starting equipment. Lightweighted wood (or bone?), sharp tips like needles. Usually thrown from the shore into the water to impale a fish that got too close. Remember the scene from Cast Away: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2g2U_-9H9o



This is more sophisticated and again very versatile. Combine the (basic and more or less useless) fishnet with wood and pluck it into the water to catch fish (but a bait into it, to make it more attractive). Combine it with rocks and you got your throwing net. Attach it to your boat and it gets a nasty dragnet.

Speaking of boats, we come to Vehicles!



I wasn't content with my first boat (First draft), so I thought of this design with a paddle-wheel. The prow is covered in metal and is the toughest part of the boat. Maybe two boats bump into each other?
The first draft had the cannon on its back which probably isn't that smart because you want to fire ahead. So this one comes with a front cannon.
The boat shouldn't drift like it did in CR. This was what I hated most about the sailboat back then!



Also redesigned from the first draft but I'm not sure which one I like better. This ones meant to be a big barrel with round metal plates at both ends. The design doesn't matter, really. What mattered to me was that you get a *compact*, small and handy sub. Not like the bulky one from CR. It should move quicker and maybe handle like the plane (I like the control of this).
The turnable, 360° cannon will make underwater battles or mining easier. It shoots anything but is best fitted with harpoons and torpedos!

The submarine does need air, otherwise you won't last long in there.



A buoy which floats around whereever you set it in the water. At the bottom there is a rope or chain or whatever that holds a container (that why I called it the underwater chest). You can use that just like the chest on land to stash your stuff. You can also grab the container and pull it up or down to fit your needs; it has a winch.



Submarines and/or buoyage could work as stationary air distributers!

Weaponry



Nothing much to say on the torpedo. It's the explosive at hand when in a sub! It attracted by metal objects and will steer towards them.
I fooled around with possible propulsion techniques. Like a screw at the end or like the last one of these which Matthi suggested. Or just your regular propeller.

Maikel(?) suggested that the torpedo might be the boompack. I'm not sure about that one!



I guess everyone has seen one of these sea mines: http://4eyes.code66.se/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/mine01.jpg
It waits there on the ground for any metal object to pass by above. As soon as the prey is detected, it detaches from the chain and rises up pretty fast, exploding on contact.
Attracts torpedos!

May be shot from the boat for deployment.



A depth charge. The main weapon you wanna have when on a boat and a submarine is nearby. Just scatter them into the water and they do the job. I made it look like a barrel with a cog wheel sticking out. The wheel might turn as it slowly sinks down like it's measuring the depth.
Also attracts torpedo, so a great defense against them!



This is like an underwater scooter. You hold on the handles and can travel very fast. It's also air-driven. I was thinking that on the middle axis you have your rotor blades and also two pipes that work like the Aeolipile where the air comes out.

For this and the bouy-chest a swimm-hold animation for the clonk would be nice.

Critters and creatures occupy the vast sea! Now, this one's your regular fish, preferred prey of everything! We might spent some time to get these fish some kind of swarm intelligence. E.g. they stick together and burst out when something's swimming through or so.



The crab walks around, eating this and that. Sometimes a fish! Nasty little claws do hurt when they pinch your clonk. Crabby meat is very tasty but hard to get. Crabs aren't killed that easily. Objects bounce off them, the harpoon is useless. Only a driven harpoon from the slinger can do the job (well, explosions work as well).
Crabby meat is a great bait for fishnets!



Seaweed grows everywhere! It might very long to pose for a better threat. It entangles your clonk. You will either struggle a little bit to get free or just use your knife.
Also, seaweed is the preferred hideout place for underwater creatures. Crabs and fish will try to hide in there.



Jellyfish are a real threat with their poisonous tentacles! These are very long, too. Also, shooting them with a harpoon will kill them but they continue to float around (instead of swimming), deadly as ever.



The snail doesn't do any real harm, it justs crawls around. Also, the shell is extremely tough. Only explosions kill it, so forget your harpoons and slingers. When a crab gets hold on a snail, it first eats it and then uses the shell for protection. Now you need an explosive for that crab!

Snails might walk around on clonks or submarines, making them heavier and harder to steer.



Deep down below hunts the Lurker, Horror of the Deep! You don't kill the lurker, you don't see lurker. It's a shadowy mass, sprouting tentacles in every direction. These things will smash your submarine and surely smash your clonk. Shooting a tentacle with a harpoon will fend it off but not realy harm the Lurker (just making it angrier!).
What might scare the Lurker is light. But not for long!



The nasty little spawn of the Lurker will come in hundreds! They try to eat you or try to eat through your subs hull, so better rise fast or have a knife and / or many harpoons ready!

I have a thing or two more to say but not the time right now. But I'll continue posting later!

Just stumbled over this again. Man, how I would love to see this one time in OpenClonk! This could be like the Clonk Mars+FarWorlds DeepSea of OpenClonk.