In Barotrauma, finding yourself in a flooded submarine at the bottom of the ocean, surrounded by broken systems and deadly creatures, is one of the worst-case scenarios you can face. Survival in such moments requires quick thinking, situational awareness, and a well-rehearsed response plan. This guide will walk you through how to handle catastrophic emergencies, prioritize repairs, and implement smart prevention tactics.

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Restoring Systems Under Pressure

When monsters are attacking from outside, your first focus should be restoring offensive capabilities—namely, getting your turrets online. Avoid going outside to fight unless it’s your only option. Your best move is to get your ship’s systems running, especially weapons.

Every system is wired into the submarine’s power and command network. You can view this in the submarine editor by entering wiring mode, which shows how energy from your reactor flows through junction boxes to all connected systems. If your reactor or any critical junction box fails, everything else loses power—rendering your weapons and pumps useless.

• Top priority repairs: Reactor, junction boxes linked to pumps and super capacitors
• Use high-quality tools and engineering talents to speed up repairs
• Time repairs with the minigame (click when the white bar hits the repair zone)
• Always ensure at least one fuel rod with power is in the reactor—don’t overload it, or you risk a meltdown

Once power is flowing, focus on getting weapons online and clearing external threats. Then repair the hull, pumps, engine, and finally other systems. If monsters breach the hull and enter the sub, shift immediately to defense and healing unconscious crew. Two functional crewmates are always better than one.

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Exceptions to Priorities

There are rare situations where you must change your repair priorities entirely:

• Black Moloch Attack: This creature emits an EMP pulse that disables your entire submarine. Power restoration is impossible while it’s active. Instead:
  • Turn off your reactor
  • Stay quiet
  • Wait for the Moloch to leave before attempting repairs
• Thalamus Wreck Encounter: If you’re hooked by a flesh gun or impaled by a flesh spike, power and weapon repairs are meaningless until you destroy the Thalamus brain.
  • The brain causes constant breaches and spawns terminal cells
  • Destroying it ends the wave of biological attacks and allows you to resume normal repair order

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Preventative Measures to Avoid Catastrophe

Most disasters don’t start big—they grow out of small issues. Rapid sinking is one of those small issues that can quickly escalate if not handled properly:

• Always close doors and hatches behind you. Open doors spread flooding faster.
• Once inside a breached room, seal it off before making repairs.
• After repairs, open hatches that let water flow to ballast pumps—they’ll drain faster than the submarine’s default hatches.
• As captain, set the sub to an upward motion to help with drainage and slow descent.

If under attack while flooding, try to turn off sonar to reduce monster aggro range. However, keep it active if your gunners rely on it for positioning.

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Defensive Tools: Decoy Depth Charges

When traversing dangerous biomes where enemies are almost unavoidable—like areas swarmed by hammerheads or giant spinelings—prepare decoy depth charges. The moment you detect danger:

• Deploy decoys
• Monsters will typically attack the decoy instead of your sub
• Use this distraction to fire at them or escape the area entirely

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Final Thoughts

The key to survival in Barotrauma emergencies is not just mechanical know-how, but decision-making under pressure. Learn to triage your submarine’s systems: power first, weapons second, hull and pumps next. Know when to break protocol, and above all, prepare for the worst with decoys, sealed doors, and a solid crew.

Stay alert, act fast, and remember—don’t panic.

Until next time, peace beneath the waves.