I don't have a guide to building Submarines. I would like to use this space for people to post advice to help people like me with the basics of making a sub you built to function. Any help is appreciated. One question to start with how long does it take to build a sub?

Good resource that was incredibly useful to me when I first dabbled with the sub editor: https://barotrauma.gamepedia.com/User:J ... r_Tutorial

Also a similar thread with some design tips: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7539

In my experience it takes a surprisingly long time to make a sub, and the bigger/more complex the sub the longer it can take but even a small and simple sub is probably close to 2 hours of "work". The process I've used to minimize rework:
1) sketch out the sub layout on some paper, brainstorm what I'm going for
2) build the walls/wallpaper
3) Add "hulls", doors/hatches, and gaps (doors will already generate their own gaps)
4) Add all the "stuff" such as machines (generator, navigation console, pumps, etc), buttons, spawnpoints, player equipment
5) Electrical - wiring it all together. It's important to do this last because it's the pain in the ass to fix wiring after you move a bunch of stuff
6) Once you've got the ship together, load it up in single player and test it. See how the lighting is, that everything works etc. Then tweak it more in the editor and test it again in single player. Go back an forth like this until you're able to complete missions solo with it and feel it's finished.

Hope that helps - happy to answer any questions you come across as you're figuring out the editor. Btw you can also load up other subs in the editor which can be great for dissecting them and learning how they are made.

Ol Stinky wrote:In my experience it takes a surprisingly long time to make a sub, and the bigger/more complex the sub the longer it can take but even a small and simple sub is probably close to 2 hours of "work".

Can't express how true this is. When I built my sub, I was blown away by how long it took. It was fun, but, my God, it is not a quick process.

My process was to start with the crew room with a vague idea of what I was trying to accomplish in my mind, and then build out the other needed parts from there. This worked rather well, but it's important you go in with a theme in mind for what you're doing. I wanted a compact ship for about 6 people where the guns could cover the outside properly, and so that's what I built. I also wanted a central ballast cause that seemed like a fun idea, so I did that.

There's only two things I'd change from my build process.

1) Make a list of the rooms you want before you finish building the room layouts. Adding new rooms once you start adding items and wiring is not fun.
2) Add more junction boxes than you think you need. Wiring is evil. I'd say you should have at least 3 junction boxes being directly fed from the reactor.

In terms of how you build it: Build the crew quarters floor and walls, then build out the other rooms walls and floors from there. After you reach a point where you're happy with the layout, add in backgrounds (though this can be left til later). Then start adding items/furniture. The last thing you should do is wiring (unless you're planning to singleplayer this, in which case, the last thing should be AI mapping. Be thorough, this is hard).

I've built like what, 19 subs + shuttles thus far? What I do, and I'm not saying this'll help everyone but;

1. Have some general 'idea' or concept you want your submarine to be built off of. A heavily armoured turtle? Vertical submarine? 'Carrier' submarine? I don't personally go so-far as to sketch it out on paper and nail where I want every single thing to go, otherwise when you get to the actual sub-making you've already used up the fun of it; Letting your creativity go wild! (Whenever I attempt to make submarines with no concept in mind, just like a 'stock' submarine, they always turn out muddled, confusing and just plain boring. So try to think of something interesting and original to add BEFORE you start making the submarine!)

2. Place down the reactor *first*. An unconscious side effect of this is that the reactor always ends up surrounded by other things, and thus is protected. (It's arguably the most important part of the submarine.) If I'm planning to make a rather big submarine, I usually include a room with size for 2-4 junction boxes to function as main grid. (Protip: do NOT chain junction boxes! If one junction is unwired / flooded, everything proceeding it may aswell be too.)

3. Build your hull however you desire it. I usually put down backgrounds as I build the hulls, as it helps me remember what I intended to go where when building it.

4. Place down all your electrical appliances. This means lights, manufacturing thingies, navigation consoles, weapons, batteries etc. The reason you do this now, is because the lack of Junction Boxes is usually the biggest cause for changing the hull shape. Doing so after hulls & gaps & waypoints are added is just absolutely painful. COUNT the amount of electrical appliances you add, stick that number in yer calculator and divide by 4.2. This'll give you the amount of junction boxes you need when rounded up (unless you're chaining! Just don't chain! Incase you're persistent, the number will then be 2.5)

5. Now, the funnest part. Having that number of junction boxes needed, start placing 'em down. Make sure to add a few extra here and there so that not all of the junction boxes are at 5/5 capacity. This A: Allows you to add stuff later on incase you forgot it and B: Allows players to add their own connections without making room for it. I personally prefer to keep all junction boxes in their own seperate rooms, so in the case that the submarine is flooded nothing will actually break (unless the players are particularly silly.)

6. Hulls, then gaps, then waypoints. This is self-explanatory..I hope..

7. Test, test, test, test, test. Then test some more. For my 8-bit computer, I'm up to save 224. You can never test too much, only test too little.

8. Release! Voila!