Barotrauma: Looting Wrecks for Dummies

Wrecks are basically the remains of the submarines whose crews weren’t as lucky as you. They can be found in every biome of the game, and there is almost always one on each map. They are always on the seafloor, and appear as the same dark blue outline given off by alien ruins. Looting wrecks is not always safe, but is a very good way to save money that would normally be spend on buying supplies from outposts.

Wrecks have three main dangers, all of which can be (mostly) avoided if you know what you are doing.

– Running out of oxygen: A simple, but oddly frequent one. You’ll likely spend more time in a wreck than you expect. Remember that taking multiple trips into a wreck is always better than having to restart the mission.

– Sea Creatures: Namely, Husks, Crawlers, and Mudraptors. These are best dealt with by luring them out into view of your sub’s ventral (bottom) guns, but if that is not an option SMGs and Harpoon guns are your best option. Remember if damaged by a husk, get to a medic ASAP, regardless if you think you’re infected. Husks appear as the vast majority of creatures spawned, and mudraptors appear the least.

– Thalami: Occasionally, a wreck will be a thalamus, which basically means you shouldn’t bother looting it, as it’s not worth the medical cost. To avoid being forced to deal with one, approach a wreck from the SIDE instead of the top.

Different loot can be found in different container types, with each loot type basically being in the same type as where it would be if it was a sub you just bought; e.g. Reactor rods in the reactor, Medical supplies in the medical cabinet, etc.

The different kinds of loot in subs:

Emergency Supplies (White):

The same things you find in your sub’s emergency supplies crates, like welding tools, o2 tanks, and basic meds like blood packs and morphine. Don’t count on them having o2 when you’re running low.

General loot (Blue):

Mostly crafting supplies like copper, steel, and the like, but you also get things like wiring, various tools, and, most importantly, alien metals like incidendium and physicorium. No oxygenite shards though.

Reactor

Various kinds of reactor rods. Electrical engineer has a skill to get bonus stuff from here.

Medical Supplies

Better-quality meds like Plastiseal, Antibiotic glue, and even Deusizine. The Kastrull also has an intact toxin cabinet with poisons.

Diving Gear

Full O2 tanks and Diving gear. Useful in a pinch.

Armory and Weapons

The most valuable room in the sub. Contains ammo for guns, grenades, and most importantly, legendary gun variants, including the deadeye carbine, the best gun in the game that can be put on a belt.

As with most things in this game, it is helpful to go with another person to help back you up, and rescue you in case you get hurt.

Needed per person:

• Diving suit (combat suit preferred) + at least 2 or 3 o2 tanks
• Plasma cutter with an extra o2 tank
• Some kind of handheld gun that can be stowed in a belt – Deadeye carbines are best, but smgs, and harpoon guns are also useful if you dont have one yet. The AR and Autoshottie, while powerful, cannot be stowed on a belt, making exploration much slower. if using something with an SMG mag, take an extra.
• Underwater scooter, best with fulgurium battery.
• A Toolbelt
• A few basic meds, e.g: 1 morphine, 1 plastiseal, 1 blood pack

Choosing who goes on the expedition

It really depends on what perks each person has. Security officer can be good for fighting hostiles, but mechanic and electrician can both get extra loot. There’s no real reason to take an assistant or a captain (unless your captian has high medical/combat skill)

Below are some useful maps on how to loot each wreck, with both a guide on a planned route and marked rooms and enemy spawns. Keep in mind that dead crew’s ID tags can save you from having to cut open some doors. Do note that monster spawns (Red) and dead crew (Light Blue) are optional, and they’ll only spawn in some of their spawnpoints. Also do keep in mind some monster spawns will rarely spawn two monsters instead of one.

Unsure what sub this is, as it’s not ingame. Looks like some kind of beta remora that got axed. Note that the door in the armory room has a wiring that’ll open on the player getting near and can spook you if you’re not ready for it. It contains a reactor cabinet, but no reactor itself. It’s weird. As for the suggested route, you can skip the one in the upper two optional rooms if you don’t want to tangle with an extra enemy.

The wrecked dugong has the same layout as the player’s, unlike the pirate one. There isn’t too much to note on it, other than that the red room (o2) has literally NOTHING in it, so there is never any reason to open it. The upper optional room has no monsters blocking it, so there’s no reason not to loot it.

Sadly, we aren’t able to loot the whole Berila, so we have to settle with the back half. The middle room with three blue lockers is one of the best places to get crafting materials ingame. Weirdly, most of the monsters spawn in the rightmost rooms, which have no loot anyway. It’s armory is fairly lacking though, so don’t loot it looking for guns.

The biggest wreck with the most loot, but also the most dangerous to loot. You will 100% need to take extra o2 tanks for this one, and taking extra ammo and medical supplies is also good. This is the wreck that I got most of my legendary guns from.

This one isn’t really worth looting, but I’m including it for completion. I just skip it if I see it, as the tiny amount of loot combined with loads of monsters makes it just a waste of time and resources.