Tadpole Skimmer Chassis

I have seen a few suggestions for a speedboat-style Tadpole chassis, and thought the idea was really cool. I have had several ideas that might mesh well with it, so I’ve put together a description, advantages, and disadvantages of what a vehicle like that might look like.

The Tadpole Skimmer Chassis is a large chassis that floats on the surface of the water. It can dock one tadpole, and increases the speed of that tadpole to even faster than the speed of the Scout Ray Chassis. It seats 3 divers as well as a pilot, and has three hardpoints, but no built-in storage. Since it has high speed, it should have low engine efficiency, taking significant power, and since it can’t dock directly in a Moonpool or Blister Dock without ejecting the Tadpole from the chassis, this would give a direct use for the Power Cell Charger.

It might function somewhere between a Seamoth and a Snowfox, being a lightweight, low health vehicle used for scouting and transportation. Obviously, it cannot dive, and might be vulnerable to being flipped over by a leviathan or even ocean currents.

Since this bypasses underwater enemies to a degree, maybe create some sort of airborne pr surface enemy, or just allow enemies from underneath attack you even though you can’t see them. This would be terrifying, as the waves obscure the massice creature tipping over your boat, whether collector or shiver or some other enemy.

For upgrade modules, it might include an afterburner or jump module like the Snowfox or Seatruck, a storage module like the Seamoth, or a sonar module like the Cyclops that might work like a mobile scanner station. The Photovoltaic Charger might be overpowered with this chassis, and I’m not sure how to implement balancing, so leave a suggestion if you so wish.

For more speculative features, perhaps the chassis could work like the Seatruck, being able to tow floating modules behind it such as a storage unit, the beforementioned sonar/scanner module, or a portable Dive Elevator (since Dive Elevator has little use right now). Maybe this could be its own vehicle, seperate from the Tadpole. Up to the devs, I’m not here to argue for my own interpretation of the idea, but to give a wide array of possible features and implementations of a concept to spark creativity in the dev team.

All in all, I think a speedy vehicle limited to the surface of the water would be really cool, especially in multiplayer. We speculate about landmasses in the future, which this might be useful for visiting, or just another angle at which you could explore the oceans of Proteus. I hope this idea is cool and not dumb, and I want to sincerely thank the dev team for their hard work on such an amazing game.

I will try and sketch some crappy concept art later, I eagerly await the criticism on my lack of artistic skill :3

Personally, I would also like to see a surface boat, but if it’s going to be a large vehicle, I think it should become available in the mid or late game. I would also prefer it to be a completely separate vehicle with its own surface docking station, rather than using the tadpole concept as a control unit.

A docking function for the Tadpole would be perfectly fine, though. If anything, I imagine something more like a hydrofoil boat that sits lower in the water when stationary, allowing the Tadpole to dock.

I do like many of the features you suggested, especially upgrades such as sonar or a scanner. However, I don’t think those need to be implemented as towed modules. Personally, I don’t think towing equipment is necessary, and I don’t think it fits the vehicle’s design very well.

Instead, I see two possible directions. One would be a fast hydrofoil-style boat focused on speed, evasion, and escaping dangerous fauna. The other, which feels more fitting to me, would be a heavier rescue-style vessel inspired by offshore rescue or lifeboats. It would accelerate more slowly but be much harder to sink and designed around survival and protection from hostile fauna, possibly even with some kind of non-lethal deterrent system. In either case, I think the vehicle should be as reliable and useful as possible, without towing being its primary feature.

That doesn’t mean it couldn’t have both a travel mode and a mobile base mode if its upgraded with storage compartment and a fabricator. It could eventually even deploy a diving bell, or lower a steel cable for a diving elevator function, or use sonar to survey the seafloor.

Of course, that’s just my personal opinion. I would also like to see a smaller, more fragile boat that previous survivors used in an attempt to reach the tree, but ultimately failed, that could be a tadpole chassis. I also support the idea of more thoughtfully designed shallow-water or even island biomes (like your suggestion) with stronger story integration. One or two larger surface vessels could fit into that kind of environment and environmental storytelling kind like my older suggestion https://subnautica2.nolt.io/13479, while still serving primarily as a complement to the deep-sea gameplay rather than replacing or undermining it.

Thanks for your elaborations! I really appreciate it when the community has positive, intelligent interaction that help create cool ideas, especially when half my interactions here are just “ ‘we want murder’ ‘no’ “.

Bro is cooking underwater. I really like to try that one day. The another downside I want to add is it have only two module space and one attachment space so that you have limited access of how you want to use. Solar charger module to use as battery station, scanner module to use as scout or speed module to use as fast travel. Work same as mobile base but same different.