The Tadpole is a 100% Vanilla submarine intended for Vanilla/Vanilla+ gameplay.
Specs
These numbers do not take into account any upgrades or modifications.
- Class: Tier 1 Transport
- Crew: 1-4
- Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate
- Price: 3499 mk
- Crates: 36
- Weapons: 2 Chainguns, 1 Depth Charge Tube, 1 Electrical Discharge Coil
- Total Max Battery Capacity: 4000 kW
- Total Max Battery Output: 2000 kW/min
- Horizontal Speed: 25 km/h
- Descent Speed: 14.7 km/h
- Ascent Speed: 17.7 km/h
- Dimensions: 34 x 15 m
- Total Hull Volume: 1,266,548 units
- Optimal Neutral Ballast Level: 0.4839
Features
- Real airlock
- Garbage disposal for name tags and trash
- Four-state, lockable doors*
- Fabricator, deconstructor, and medical fabricator
- Security cameras and searchlights
- Simple manual back-up battery system
- Battery and ammo counters
- Plenty of non-crate storage
- Detailed rooms
- Other RP features
*Most doors (excluding hatches) on the Tadpole have four states. The state the door is in is determined by the state of the door’s two switches, located either to the left or right of the door. When the top switch is off the buttons are enabled, and when the bottom switch is off motion detection is disabled. You can see the four states below (TOP/BOTTOM):
- ON/ON: The door is motion-operated only.
- OFF/ON: The door can be button-operated, and closes when you move away.
- OFF/OFF: The door is solely button-operated.
- ON/OFF: The door is locked in its current position.
Many of the submarine’s systems (backup batteries, depth charge, and electrical discharge coil) are not accessible through the captain’s quarters, which I hope encourages communication between the captain and crew members. The electrical systems have been intentionally left very basic for players who want to build their own.
Sub Editor Info
Excluding equipment:
- Items: 1550
- Structures: 1131
- Walls: 67
- Lights: 251
- Shadow-casting lights: 50
Do not re-upload this submarine to the Steam Workshop without my consent, even if you modify it. Thank you.
Content
Airlock
4-State Doors
Garbage chute
Weapon RP elements
Lore
Following an incident where a Berilia transport was commandeered by its crew and used to destroy a military outpost, the Coalition wanted to create a transport submarine that would not be capable of being effectively weaponized against them. They also wanted a solution to rising labor militancy within their workforce. Prior to the Berilia incident, Coalition workers formed crews that largely stuck together in between jobs. Combined with the political and economic turmoil of the time, these factors created the perfect environment for camaraderie, solidarity-building, and revolutionary politics to grow.
To the Coalition, the Berilia incident revealed that they needed to be more oppressive, and thus the Tadpole was born. From this point on, crew members were assigned to different submarines at the end of each job. Aside from being under-gunned and under-equipped for long expeditions, the Tadpole’s crew were heavily surveilled. Pay was frequently docked or withheld and workers who retaliated against the Coalition were sent on expeditions with one or no crew members or were fired.
Northstar Shipyards was granted the contract to design the submarine as a part of an ambitious underwater highway network that the Coalition planned to construct through a combination of drilling new tunnels into Europa and modifying its pre-existing network of caves. Prior to starting construction on the infrastructure project, the Coalition ordered a fleet of the submarines. However, their eagerness to see them finished was undercut by their lack of preliminary geographical surveys of the surrounding caves.
By the time the first fleet of Tadpoles was in service, the Coalition had already exceeded its budget expectations solely because of the costs and difficulties of drilling. Further, there were several dozen deaths and sinkages due to mismanagement and the unexpected and aggressive response of the local fauna that had established breeding grounds in the caves. These factors led the Coalition to shutting down the infrastructure project permanently, but the Tadpole wasn’t dead yet. However, without dedicated and protected infrastructure, the relatively undergunned Tadpole was outcompeted by larger and better equipped cargo ships and another fleet was never commissioned. After the infrastructure project was shut down, reporters uncovered evidence of corruption and negligence within Northstar Shipyards and the local Coalition government, but no charges were ever filed. Following the start of the civil war, several of the involved executives were found dead.
The existing fleet of Tadpoles was put to work carrying cargo between local stations near the surface, but most of the remaining subs were decommissioned, destroyed, or sold for personal use once the brewing hostilities erupted into a civil war and helming a small undergunned transport ship made you an easy target. Years later, the Tadpole attracted the interest of some collectors and hobbyists that recognized its potential once it was freed from the constraints imposed on its workers by the Coalition. While there are more armored subs, the Tadpole is double-walled around much of its exterior, which can make it deceptively resilient. Its stacked cargo bays and crane made it very efficient at loading and unloading cargo. These qualities proved to be very valuable in the gig economy style environment that many ship crews find themselves in today, even considering the Tadpole’s weaknesses. While it may be a rare sight now, the Tadpole still makes a reliable starter ship, especially for smaller crews.
Testimonials
“****in’ ****bucket. ‘Semi of the Sea’ my ass. **** you and **** the Coalition and **** the Turdpole. [String of expletives].” - Citizen on a Separatist station
“Two awake, two asleep. That’s why there are only two beds. Cheap bastards. I knew some blokes who preferred disciplinary shifts ‘cause you didn’t have to share a bed. Me? Everyone ****in’ stunk either way.” - Former crewman
“Mate of mine took his shower bag into the ballast and had a dip ‘cause the shower broke. I think he stunk worse afterwards.” - Former crewman
“I think I actually got scurvy. Like for real. I refused to eat the packaged crap so all I could have was hardtack. Yeah, like a pirate. I started drinking energy drinks as a substitute for limes. That’s what they used to use, right?” - Former crewman
