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    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Desigining an underwater city, a la Rapture

    There are a lot of stories based around semi-isolated post-apocalyptic communities. Here's a small list:

    • The City of Ember
    • Fallout 1 (also 3, and every other game in the series features vaults)
    • FreakAngels
    • Bioshock
    • Bioshock Infinite
    • Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
    • Trigun
    • The Matrix
    • Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
    • Half-Life 2
    • Homeworld
    • Mother 3
    • Metroid Prime (Chozo lore logs, also a few of the other civilization logs in the series)
    • Gears of War
    • The Rifters Trilogy (not for anything societal, but for the in-depth description of how the rifters are cybernetically and genetically adapted for deep-sea life)
    • Fine Structure


    As for a city at the bottom of the ocean, I see two problems:

    • Where do you get the power to run your greenhouses and keep everybody warm?
    • Where do you get your air from?


    These can actually be solved together. As you've probably already figured out, geothermal energy is really easy to work with at the bottom of ocean trenches. It can also be directly harnessed to heat habitats, keeping everyone warm. You may also have major temperature variations across a settlement, with places near the power pipes unbearably hot and the less-inhabited outskirts almost freezing cold. Also note that because of the pressure ice will form at much lower temperatures. Ice may be unheard of.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_ocean_water

    There are two ways to get oxygen. One is through electrolysis, which is easy since you have an infinite supply of geothermal energy, and it produces hydrogen fuel as a byproduct (useful if you have fusion reactors, less useful if you burn it or use it as a chemical). The other is simply by having enough greenhouses to recycle your carbon dioxide.
    Last edited by Thomar_of_Uointer; 2012-09-11 at 01:53 PM.
    I make games.

    "...I worry that modern gaming is gradually shrinking the wide spectrum of gameplay mechanics into a single narrow red bar with "KILL" written on it sideways. Exploration, navigation, puzzles, platforming, all gradually shrinking away until only one thing remains, being taken by the hand from room to room, moving on only when nothing remains alive in each one." - Yhatzee Crosshaw