The Thresher is a roaming leviathan: it has no home. It comes to a sub that has been out in open water for a while, anywhere inside the caldera. It never surfaces near a port, and it leaves a sub that is close to a port alone.
How an encounter goes
- Open water2.5–5 min
How long you sail away from the ports before one turns up.
- It surfaces nearby2,000 studs away
Out of sight. It patrols the area for 2.5–4 min and leaves if nothing catches its interest.
- It notices you2.6 s
It turns toward the sub.
- Passes5–9 s
It swims by on one side, then the other.
- The chargeup to 14 s
A run-up from 750–1,700 studs, reaching 180 studs/s. A bite takes 280 hull.
- Through and round3.5 + 9 s
It shoots past and lines up again.
- It leavesafter 2 bites
It has had its fill and swims off. The next one comes no sooner than 4–8 min later.
What it sees and hears
- Sight — 1,300 studs, within ±110° of its bow. It cannot see behind itself.
- Hearing — 1,000 studs all round. It only hears a sub that is moving: a stopped sub is silent.
- Point blank — 260 studs: this close it notices anything.
- The white line is its body at the same scale (1,490 studs). Your Otter, at 35 studs, would be smaller than a dot here.
Can you outrun it?
On patrol it is a touch slower than an Otter, but its charge is nearly three times an Otter’s top speed. It needs a run-up for that: it only charges from 750–1,700 studs away, and only when you are in front of its bow (within ±30°).
It can reach a sub at the surface too: a charge comes up as shallow as 14 m.
How to survive
- Stay close. Inside its turning circle it has no room to build up a charge.
- Shoot. It has 1,600 health. When it is down to 20%, it swims away. That is about 5 hits.
- Freeze and get out of its sight, so that it loses interest.
Size
