Riptide

The Riptide is an attack class vessel with a stylish design and the powerful Kolgomorov Vortex Generator at its disposal - geared more towards strategic maneuvering rather than raw fire power and destruction - the Riptide is a more than capable vessel

Some Information on the Riptide

Equipped with four fire-rate-reduced coilguns providing exceptional coverage and a top mounted railgun for finishing attacks, the Riptide is more than adequately equipped to deal with the hostile fauna of Europa

Two large engines and a command-toggled reverse engine allow for rapid transitions in speed. Complimenting the engine setup is a temporary ballast that doubles as the central passageway, and is the only way from the front to the back. When in use as a ballast, the passage locks preventing access. a toggle on either side allows access, but only from the command console can the ballast be reactivated. Once activated, a five second alarm signals the impending locking of the passage - don't get locked in!

The shuttle attached to the Riptide is known as the "Torrent" and is designed for quick engagements - armed with a depth charge tube and a coilgun - speed is its biggest advantage. The power for the shuttle is activated by a button on its command console.

The Riptide also comes equipped with a special engineered Kolgomorov Vortex Generator - based off the works of late Soviet scientist Andrey Kolmogorov and created by the great Barotrauma engineer Working Joe - that can temporarily boost the sub well beyond its normal capabilities, given that the mechanics operating the coil don't tell the captain to turn it off before they can't manage it, and it fries the whole grid.

"Ah yes, the Kolmogorov Vortex Generator. Pretty neat device. Somehow manages to harvest the turbulent energy of the surrounding waters to amp up the currents through the shock coils by insane amounts. Boosts the engines and pumps as well, great for defensive manoeuvres. It's magic to me, but I got it up and running." -WorkingJoe

Some more info on the Kolmogorov Vortex Generator

The Kolmogorov Vortex Generator installed on the sub is designed to boost the vessel's maneuvering capabilities by gradually increasing the speed at which the engines and ballasts can output. Additionally, the sub will periodically release an defensive shock at decreasing intervals while the Vortex Generator is enabled.

- The feature itself is managed through a mini-game located in the reactor room with in-game instructions located in a log-book in the reactor room. The goal of this game is simple:

- The yellow lights on the right side of the control board are meant to stay yellow - not red not green, yellow.

- The right side lights will automatically fade between the three colors, so its up to the engineers to keep them all yellow and to keep the discharge coil in the sub from going unstable.

- This is done by wiring a light from the left side of the board to the right side of the board, in an attempt to "equalize" the outputs.

For instance - say a light on the right was red, well then one would simply wire a green light from the left side to that red light, causing the red and green to balance out back to yellow.

If a light is in danger of going out, it will begin a short phase where it will toggle on/off 3 times, after which it will become disabled until the mini-game is restarted.

"Maintaining the Generator is a pain, though. You have to manually connect the feedback paths in order to keep the coil stable. Red to green, green to red. The longer you keep it running the faster the sub goes. You'll have your hands full pretty quickly." -WorkingJoe

In the end, if the Vortex Generator cannot be maintained and 3 of the 6 lights go out, the discharge coil in the reactor room will go unstable and fry the entire sub's grid. in short DON'T LET THE VORTEX GENERATOR GO UNSTABLE. The captain has control of the Kolgomorov Vortex Generator from command, and only from there can it be disabled before all goes to hell. Remember, good communication is the key to success!

"Make sure to read the manual, 'cause if you don't do it properly, the feedback paths will burn through and the subs entire grid will be fried. Let me show you, it's in the locker below to the reactor - hold on, is that a clown handling the feedback circuit?" -WorkingJoe, moments before disaster.