I could not find a concise thread to provide tips/walk through for Scuba. So, I thought I would make one. Good notes so far:
1. via "TharosTheDragon" Here's a list showing the dirt cost of every item in Scuba. I'm proud to say I did all the calculations in my head.
Dirt - 1 Weed - 5 Sediment - 2 Glow Bulb - 4 Mushroom - 25 Gas - 100 Stone - 2 Wood - 19 Energy - 37 Coal - 96 Iron - 140 Mechanical Part - 183 Gold - 601 Diamond - 1439 Air tank level 1 - 821 Air tank level 2 - 2239 Air tank level 3 - 5997 Air tank level 4 - 13933 Suit level 1 - 425 Suit level 2 - 1071 Suit level 3 - 2553 Suit level 4 - 5505 Boots level 1 - 239 Boots level 2 - 306 Boots level 3 - 1565 Boots level 4 - 4500 Laser level 1 - 111 Laser level 2 - 333 Laser level 3 - 1535 Laser level 4 - 4413 Light level 1 - 53 Light level 2 - 201 Light level 3 - 2605 Light level 4 - 3029 Air Cabinet - 1121 Light Energy Charger - 119 Crafting Station - 259 Lantern - 41 Motor - 34807
2. My Strategy (best time 14:34) Order of upgrades: Mining Laser 1 Mining Laser 2 Swim Fins 1 Swim Fins 2 Scuba Tanks 1&2 Mining Laser 3&4 Fins 3 ... etc. Flash light last.
Also, deep dives are almost worthless in means of time spent. My dive deep once on last run.
Total number needed to craft all items (and if crafting all gold and diamonds): diamonds 9 screws 6 gold 12 (21) iron 42 (86) energy 42 (78) gas 32 (50) oil 38 glow bulb 37 (58) weeds 9
Sorry dude, your numbers are off. The gold total is too low which in turn makes the iron total way too low.
Crafting gold sucks. You need too much of it and the iron cost is too high. Crafting diamonds sucks too but they're harder to find and you don't need as many.
motor = diamond x2 + part x3 + tank4 + helmet4 + boots4 + laser4 + light4 tank4 = diamond x1 + gold x4 + part x1 + iron x22 + gas x32 + coal x32 + energy x15 helmet4 = diamond x2 + gold x2 + part x2 + iron x4 + coal x4 + energy x3 + dirt x4 boots4 = diamond x2 + gold x2 + coal x2 + weed x9 + energy x4 laser4 = diamond x2 + gold x2 + glow x1 + energy x9 light4 = gold x4 + glow x36 + energy x13
diamond = gas x2 + gold x2 + energy x1 gold = iron x4 + glow x1 + energy x1
Total number needed to craft all items (and if crafting all gold and diamonds):
diamond = 9 gold = 14 (32) part = 6 iron = 26 (154) gas = 32 (50) coal = 36 glow = 37 (69) weed = 9 energy = 44 (85) dirt = 4
Jump into the water and dive as deep as you can without dying. Swim to your left and look for your shopping list. You'll almost always find the coal right away and the weeds soon after. Finding energy is harder. If you hit a big patch of open water, try doubling back to see if any beasties spawned behind you. Once you have your shopping list, dive down to your death.
Dive 2 - Surface mining
Goal: Tank 2, Light 2, Helmet 3, Air Cabinet, Light Charger, Crafting Station x2 Shopping List: Iron - 38 Gas - 40 to 54 (39 is the bare minimum) Coal - 40 Energy - 15 Glow Bulb - 8 Wood - 8 Stone - 12 Dirt - 4 Time: About 5 minutes
Now we need to gather all of the things that are plentiful on the surface but not so much down below. Swim to the left along the surface of the water cutting a path through the dirt. Any time you see Gas, Iron, Coal, or Energy, go get it. Actually Iron and Coal aren't really worth detouring for a single unit but Gas definitely is.
Swimming along the surface conserves your air and you avoid hitting a big stretch of open water that wastes your time. Swimming is easier than trying to jump over all the surface terrain and it helps you see Gas lurking further below.
Keep going until you hit the edge of the map then dive down and die. Repeat to the right side. If you haven't filled your shopping list before hitting the right side of the map, well, you're unlucky. Cross your fingers and hope to pick up the rest on the next dive.
Dive 3 - Down, Down, Down
Goal: Tank 4, Helmet 4, Boots 4, Laser 4, Light 4, Engine Shopping List: Gold - 30 Energy - 33 Mechanical Part - 4 Weed - 4 Glow Bulb - 33 Time: As long as it takes
Dive straight down until you find Gold. Your air supply will be almost gone so clear a space to drop your Air Cabinet, Light Charger and a Crafting Station. After you refill, swim directly to the left looking for Gold. When your air gauge hits the 1:00 mark, dig up about 8 squares and head back to your Air Cabinet. Don't push it or you'll drown. Do it again to the right.
As you gather Gold, upgrade your Laser first to help with beastie killing, then Boots to speed you up. Once you've mined out the immediate area, tear down the Air Cabinet and Light Charger and dive down again to the very end of the redzone on your pressure gauge. Drop the other Crafting Station here and rebuild your Air Cabinet and Light Charger. Down here you'll find Gold plus the occasional Diamond to speed things up a bit. If you're short on Energy, swim back and forth along one of your tunnels killing beasties.
Once you have everything you need just put it all together to get the Engine. Make sure the Helmet is the LAST thing you put in place. Taking off your Helmet this deep will kill you in 5 seconds or less. Click fast and get that Engine in your inventory. Once you die, hit "E" to install the Engine and win the game. The End.
I should mention that my best time is 10:50. I could probably cut that down a bit if I were willing to craft more (crafting stops the game clock) but I find large-scale crafting to be a huge pain in the ***.
That said, don't freak out if you're short a few Gas or Iron or whatever. This strategy digs a lot and you'll end up with hundreds of dirt, enough to craft a few extra of whatever you need.
don't go deep, it costs much time and you can craft everything from materials close to the surface and don't delete your extra dirt, just make something out of the dirt what you need
