What it is
The Otter is a small three-crew submarine with a closed hull. Its only window is the bridge in the bow, and the bridge has a real interior: press V to look out of it in first person, with the instrument screens working around you.
It carries everything you need to start out:
- a gun turret on top, the main gun, on Left click;
- torpedoes, on F;
- a mining laser under the bow that cuts ore out of the seabed, on R.
Built to grow
Every part of the Otter can be upgraded twice, from Mk I (what the ship comes with) to Mk III. The numbers in the datasheet show both ends: the ship as built, and the ship with every module maxed out.
The most important module is the pressure hull. As built, the Otter can go down to 450 m. That is enough for the Sunlit Shelf and the top of the Twilight Shelf, but no more. Each hull upgrade takes you deeper. See Upgrades for every module and what it costs.
How it moves
At full speed the Otter does 62 studs/s as built. It dives and ascends at 36 studs/s (Q and E). It picks up speed gradually and does not stop on the spot, so ease off well before a rock — a head-on crash is expensive (Collisions).
The first hour
- Mine near home. Ferrite ore lies on the shallow seabed around the home port. Cut it with the drill and bring it back: ore only counts once you dock. See Mining.
- Upgrade the drill first. A better drill cuts the next tier of ore, and the better ore pays for everything else.
- Then the hull. Each hull level opens the next band of depth, and the richer ore that lies there.