Depth decides how much light there is and how dangerous it gets. The shape of the caldera decides what the seabed looks like.
Cross-section
This is the caldera cut from rim to rim. Hover over it, or drag a finger across it, to read the depth of the seabed anywhere.
- The Rim
- A · Sunlit Shelf
- B · Twilight Shelf
- C · Midnight Slope
- D · Abyssal Basin
- The Void
The line is the usual depth of the seabed at that distance from the centre; the pale band shows how much the terrain varies. The vertical scale is stretched about 3.5 times. Drawn from the game’s own height map.
Tiers
The caldera steps down toward its centre. Each step is a ring fault: a wall 260–320 studs high with a ledge on top. Fjords cut back into the upper tier, and a huge natural bridge crosses each one. Detached buttes and sea stacks stand in front of the walls.
The Rim
45–70 mThe reef crest around the whole caldera. Bright and shallow.
Tier A · Sunlit Shelf
185–240 mSunlight still reaches down here. The best place to find your feet.
55–185 mCoral platforms, atolls with quiet lagoons, and grottoes. The brightest, calmest water in the caldera.
110–295 mA forest of basalt pinnacles up to 340 studs tall, joined by huge stone arches.
100–235 mA jade plateau cut into a maze of canyons, with hanging gardens and natural bridges.
70–235 mSand dunes, flat-topped guyots and blue holes.
115–180 mAn underwater forest: giant kelp that reaches almost to the surface.
Tier B · Twilight Shelf
500–560 mneeds a Mk II hullThe light is going. From here on you need your lamps.
350–560 mMk II hullStacked plateaus and mushroom-shaped table rocks.
350–560 mMk II hullLimestone hummocks, sugarloaf domes and pink feather trees.
430–580 mMk II hullTerraced craters packed with honeycomb towers.
410–565 mMk II hullConcentric hogback ridges and groves of sponges.
Tier C · Midnight Slope
860–920 mdeeper than any Otter hullFull dark. The only light comes from crystals and glowing weed.
540–1,155 mTwelve black terraces that step down from the Twilight Shelf to the very bottom.
765–1,035 mbeyond every hullDeep cracks lined with silver crystals, and geodes in the walls.
780–930 mbeyond every hullGlowing meadows of ghost weed, standing stones and ancient ruins.
Tier D · Abyssal Basin
1,240–1,300 mdeeper than any Otter hullThe floor of the caldera: lava, sulfur and bones. Deeper than any hull can take.
1,085–1,320 mbeyond every hullVent towers, lava fissures and the skeletons of leviathans.
1,195–1,305 mbeyond every hullA cracked plain dotted with smoking mounds.
765–1,305 mbeyond every hullThe volcano at the very centre of the caldera, with lava running down its sides.
Beyond the Rim · The Void
1,600–2,820 mdeeper than any Otter hullPast the reef there is no floor. The Void Leviathan hunts here.
Depth zones
Your HUD shows the zone you are in. The zone sets the light, the colour of the water and the fog.
| Zone | Depth | Otter hull |
|---|---|---|
| Sunlit Shallows | 0–300 m | Mk I all the way |
| Twilight Zone | 300–700 m | Mk I to 450 mMk II to 600 mMk III all the way |
| Midnight Zone | 700–1,100 m | Mk III to 750 m |
| The Abyss | 1,100–1,600 m | deeper than any hull |
| The Void | below 1,600 m | deeper than any hull |
The Otter as built reaches 450 m; a fully upgraded hull reaches 750 m. The Midnight Slope and the Abyssal Basin lie deeper than any hull. Depth and pressure explains what happens to the hull down there.
The edge of the world
The map has no invisible walls. At 11,820 studs from the centre, past the rim reef, the floor drops away into the Void. The Void Leviathan hunts there.