this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2023
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I’m working on a indie video game that’s set on a large ship and I’m looking to have it be a very hidden and elusive boat. (Speaking vaguely to avoid spoilers)

Where could it possibly be sailing through to avoid detection? Like no radars, land signals, etc..

There are slight sci fi elements that could explain it avoiding detection but want to make the location as believable as possible.

I’m not very familiar with oceans and the technology behind detecting vessels. Would love to be pointed in the right direction if anyone is knowledgeable.

Edit: Oh damn, this got a much bigger response than I expected. Thanks so much for all the awesome suggestions!

Edit2: Wow you guys have fantastic ideas! Just to clarify this is a real game project and not a joke or a cover for gold smugglers 😂

I am leaving hits and teases in my replies. Partially to have fun and build the world a little but also maybe get a bit of a community game going with a bread trail to follow. 😉🤫

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The Pacific Ocean is massive and if a ship turns off its transponder it is invisible unless you have satellites in your game. Ships can easily disappear in the Pacific even with modern search and rescues when people really really want to find a ship[ in trouble, they sometimes can't. I have a friend that sails those waters and there are endless small islands, often uninhabited where he stays in small bays and inlets.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does he have any stories of weird/strange things he saw/heard on those small uninhabited islans?

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Nothing strange about the islands apart from him raving about the stunning beaches, waterfalls, and colorful wildlife. He once found a bale of weed, he kept it and never returned to that particular island. The strange stories he has all occurred out on the ocean. Swimming in bioluminescent water. A massive shape nearly 100m long surfaced his bow in the middle of the night and paced him for hours. It turned out to be a sub.
He has many stories about the ocean, he is convinced he saw UFOs, not necessarily aliens but definitely unidentified and very unusual crafts and he saw them go into the water. I believe him, he is not the type to be into conspiracies or make things up. He embellishes his stories a little but that is just him being a good storyteller. He was in the military and navy for 40 years so he knows the ocean well. The Pacific Ocean is an enormous space, there are military outposts but due to its size, they are few and far between. The Arctic is much much more surveilled due to all the big countries wanting a piece of it and with climate change opening the Bering Strait, this becomes very valuable. Good luck with your game, may it fare well and be profitable to you.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I think a submarine, even of a hostile country, is probably your best option for a 100m-long underwater shadow rising in front of your boat. Much better than any living creature.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Damn! Those are some amazing stories. Thanks for sharing.

There will likely be fancy sci-fi technology that would explain why the satellites can’t find the ship. Maybe a light reflecting cloak but I want to make it grounded whenever possible.

You’re given me a lot to think about.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Maybe there were so many satellites that at some point two collided and caused a bunch of space debris, which makes sending up satellites incredibly difficult and satellite usage limited to mostly communication?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

How about an NPT-style treaty? The satellites got sensitive enough to detect ballistic missile submarines (or the arctic ice melted so that they can't hide under the ice). Everyone realised that it would be catastrophic for nuclear nations not to have to worry about a retaliatory strike, so the nations made an agreement that none of them would scan the oceans with satellites.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

satellites got sensitive enough to detect ballistic missile submarines

HOW?!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Well if it was a flying object that was unidentified it was indeed a UFO, but if it went swimming it was a USO or a UDO.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Pacific Ocean is massive and if a ship turns off its transponder it is invisible unless you have satellites in your game.

So it seems like the key will be some combination of deactivating the transponder, getting away from other ships, being low profile in various EM wavelengths (difficult if it's also large), traveling with a significant cloud cover (hurricane?), escaping detection by military submarines and other sonar sources, and ending up in a place and condition where they're sheltered from all of the above. This seems very nearly impossible if everyone is already hunting for our intrepid vessel, but if there's some reason for people not to be looking right away, I can imagine plausible scenarios where the data takes long enough to come together for the necessary storytelling beats to play out.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Anywhere on this map that isn't full of boats. South Indian Ocean woukd be my guess:

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh wow! Didn’t know that existed. Thanks for sharing.

South Indian Ocean has been mentioned a few times now. 🤔

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Might also want to prioritize areas of low military significance - even if there are no commercial ships, you don't want areas where spy satellites are likely to be looking around for unknown vessels

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Literally anywhere outside the shipping lanes in the Pacific would do it. Even with satellite coverage, a large ship is still a tiny dot.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Fair enough. The ocean is fucking huge.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yep. There is even a part of the Pacific that is on the opposite side of another part of the Pacific. The Pacific is also home to Point Nemo with is the place on the ocean farthest away from land.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Absolutely bonkers how large it is.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Pretty close there. 🤫

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It depends what you are hiding from. If you want to avoid notice from random encounters, you would want to head out to sea. So long as you're over the horizon from any shipping lanes, you're as close to invisible as you can get.

If your goal is to evade an active military search, you want clutter, and a lot of it. Military radar can sweep vast areas quickly. Satellites can spot ships at sea, so long as the sky is clear enough. Islands and coastline can mess with these however. Get into an out of the way bay, and throw up camo netting, and your ship is now just another bit of rock to the satellites, and it's part of the noise to radar. The cost of this cover is that it is also attractive to random tourist boats, or fishing boats.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maybe some place off the coast of Antarctica? It’s got a very low population of researchers. You could probably find a fairly hidden bay or harbour to park in.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

That’s a strong contender. Could also possibly be a gameplay mechanic with the outside of the ship being freezing and holes possibly let that cold in.

Overall I’m leaning more towards it being set in warmer waters for the sake of some elements like being able to coral dive in the surrounding waters for potential puzzle solutions.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Point Nemo. It’s the farthest point from land in the world.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They use silver nitrate injection to control hurricanes then travel in their eye

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Travelling in a hurricane’s eye is pretty damn awesome.

Realistically wouldn’t a 24/7 twister in the ocean not draw a lot of attention? Or do those exist?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They only need them when they need to travel.

The trouble then becomes crossing the equator since (a) there’s probably a lot more satellite coverage at the equator and (b) hurricanes don’t cross the equator

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

That’s true. Could be some kind of emergency system or a last minute resort when they are on the verge of getting caught.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Most of the ocean you won't be detected in. There's just nobody looking for anyone out there. So stay away from eezs and littoral zones and you ll be alone in no time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Thanks! Haven’t heard of those. I’ll look em up!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

It would be invisible to radar once it’s over the horizon, but ships are always visible to satellites, the larger the easier to spot.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Was going to say...it's impossible to not be seen by space.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I don't think the north and south poles have much satellite coverage due to how orbits work, so maybe in the arctic or antarctic oceans, but they're pretty treacherous, so probably somewhere in the Pacific or southern Indian oceans?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Thought this was a play on that "sovereign AI ship" article from earlier.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I suspect the motive of the protagonist will affect the answer to your question. What are they doing out there? If the goal is to catch fish, for example, maybe don't go somewhere with no fish, right?

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Part of it would depend on whether or not it has, as required of all self propelled ships above a low threshold GRT, an AIS transceiver. If it's got one, and it's on, I can find the ship in seconds (access to multiple large terrestrial and satellite AIS systems at work).

But I guess if they never intend to go anywhere near Port State Control, they could just turn their AIS off. People do it all the time to violate sanctions, avoid pirates, etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Ok that’s a lot of info I wasn’t aware of. Thanks!!

So this ship doesn’t want to go to port so to remain as hidden as possible. I’m imagining smaller vessels would deliver supplies to the ship along its route. So any laws won’t be really an issue if no countries know about the ship.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

underwater?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What are you trying to smuggle bruh?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Just trying to have a fun time without interruptions. 🍾🎊

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The classic bermuda triangle.

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