Manta

Current Maps
Cogmap2 · Cogmap1 · Nadir · Clarion · Oshan Laboratory · Atlas · Kondaru · Donut 2 · Donut 3

Named after the distinct shape of its hull, Manta is the second underwater-themed map to arrive on Goonstation and the first ship map to be set underwater. Created by admin & spriter Azungar with the help of several other admins, coders, mentors and community members, it was released to the public in September 2019 after several months of teasers and tests.

Manta is currently undergoing some revisions! They were heralded by an admin event on the Goonstation Roleplay server, where the Manta started out wrecked due to Syndicate attacks, with several walls and windows missing. Now, a repair ship, the Sea Turtle, has arrived to fix up the damage and do some renovations. They've given the Security area some new stucco-style walls and have cleared out the old Mining area to make way for some relocations and expansions. As a result, the Miners have relocated to the Sea Turtle and now do their work there. More is to come, stay tuned!

Though the NSS Manta is a slick new vessel, it still needs tuning and fixing from time to time. If you notice something missing or malfunctioning or want to make a suggestion, however small, however big, be sure to visit the Official Manta FIX THIS SHIT! thread.

September 14, 2019 to Present

As with its stationary cousin Oshan, Manta heralded many new features and firsts, namely being first to:

Simulate ship movement! See below for more details.
Feature an actual communications system and hire a Communications Officer to protect it.
Forgo a Plasma Research area in favor of the ship torpedo system.
Have its own map-specific random event, which involves...
Use junction boxes, which can sometimes malfunction.
Feature functional display cabinets, shelves, and racks, the latter of which are prominently used in the Garbage Garbs clothing store, another new addition.
Have coffeemakers and dispensers.
Include a roulette wheel & table in the bar.
Incorporate a rock worm farm, located, naturally, in Mining.
Have loudspeakers, prominently featured in Engineering.
Substitute the Captain's bonsai plant with something else, namely the ship in a bottle.
Utilize several new flooring sprites and unfortunately purely aesthetic pieces of furniture, such as clocks, posters, toilet paper, diploma frames, ATM covers, and, many, many more.

Ship Movement Mechanics

In real life, submarines require highly-advanced hydraulics and other mechanical systems to move, but here in the comfortably soft sci-fi universe of SS13, you start and stop the Manta through a simple computer, called the lever console, that's locked to Heads of Staff and is located in the Bridge. There's a big server-wide announcement every time the ship stops and goes, accompanied by a brief screen shake, and once you pull the lever, you can't touch it again until at least five minutes have passed, so drive with care.

When the ship is moving, technically the ship itself doesn't move; the game isn't changing the location of the ship. Instead, it simulates the ocean moving around the ship, thus creating the effect of things moving relative to the ship. Any people and any objects in the water that aren't properly anchored will start moving southward towards the lower edge of the station z-level, shifting left or right if there's an obstacle. If something reaches the edge of the Manta ship Z-level, it'll fall into the trench. No matter what side it's coming from, it'll always fall in the same section of the Trench. However, this section can change from round to round.

When you are in the ocean, you receive the Slowed status effect, which, naturally, significantly slows movement unless you have a jetpack with thrusters active. In addition, all the sponges, seaweed, kelp, coral, and other flora and fauna disappear. They're actually still there, just invisible; you can cut them if you right click the tile there's on and choose Interact and such. Also, the eight propellers become active; currently, they don't consume any power or anything, but it is a Bad Idea to go near them. Finally, explosions can't make holes into Trench like they do on Oshan. Speaking of which, like Oshan, while you still need air when exploring the water, the water's shallow enough that you don't need a diving suit, and flippers make you swim through it faster.

When the ship is still, it's basically like playing on Oshan Laboratory. You can see coral, seaweed, and other sea life, explosions create holes to the Trench, all that jazz associated with the Seafloor.

Safe Movement

To safely transverse the seas when the ship is moving, you need to either:

Be in a minisub. The sub is completely immune to the sway of the currents, but be careful when exiting it, for you can still be dragged away if you get out on a seafloor tile or lattice.
Have a jetpack or equivalent with thrusters activated. You'll still feel the pull of the currents, but you won't be carried away if you stand still. The magnetic tether also needs to be active.
- Also, unless you have aquatic genetics, you can't breathe in the ocean, so you should also have internals.
- Cyborgs can safely propel themselves through the currents with propulsion thrusters. Ghostdrones and the AI's small eggbot/eyebot shells it starts with have built-in thrusters, so while they still have to fight the tug of currents, they don't have to worry about being dragged away.

If you're out in the ocean while the ship is moving, and you don't have the correct equipment on, you're gonna get swept away by the current. Immediately scream over the radio, activate a crisis alert for Medical, and/or try to send a PDA to someone to rescue you or the Command staff to stop the ship. The current's slow enough that you can probably afford to do all three.

If you can't get anybody to help you in time and fall into the trench, there's still some hope. If you haven't called for help through any of the aforementioned methods, do it now. Stay put while waiting for rescue. You always wind up in the same part of the Trench no matter what part of the map you fall off of. When people attempt to do the same to find you, they'll spend less time searching for if you just stay where you are.

If you have the diving equipment or equivalent and internals, you could try going to the Tunnel Snake Mining Rig. However, the path to it might have sharkdrones, fishdrones, and other hazards, and you might not even be able to get to it without mining tools, so if you're not prepared for either, it's better to stay where you are and call for help.