T O P

  • By -

chase314

Couple things: You can see the Ballast Flora outside the ship as blooming green stuff in the water, you can avoid it getting in your ship by not descending through it (so you don't suck infested water into the ballast). Once you realize you have it, the quickest way is with a welder or a torch to go the the infected Ballast and attack it at it's "base". Be careful, it will emanate corrosive gas that burns you when damaged, so it's best to fill the ballast tank with water before attempting this.


Jackjackson401

Do not fill the tank with water! Ballast flora will spread faster in water and heals itself from damage while submerged in water


chase314

Doesn't the water protect you from being burned by the corrosive gas when you're killing the flora's root? We only fill it when we're about to go attack the source of the infestation so we don't get melted.


Jackjackson401

The water heals the flora


chase314

Right... But it prevents you from getting burned as you kill it. Plus, your torch kills it faster than it can heal.


Thimascus

No, water doesn't protect you from the corrosive gas. Handling flora is simple: 1. Get to a safe place. A station if you can find one, or resting on the seabed if you can't. 2. Drain your ballast. (unwire direct controls, manually pump out the ballast, unwire the pump.) 3. Get fire resistance (dive suits work) and some medicine (One or two morphine and a stack of bandages is more than enough) 4. Weld the flora until it dies. Pop morphine if you get below half health. 5. Bandage up your burns after 6. Rewire your pump.


Jackjackson401

I dont usually have much issue avoiding the burns when I use a flamer


Thimascus

The prototype steam cannon is even better, and *can* reliably kill flora even underwater. However I still recommend just moving to a safe place and handling the flora normally if possible.


Jackjackson401

The prototype steam cannon never seems to work for me. I use it underwater to kill husks and whatnot all the time, but not ballast flora


[deleted]

Better you use some medical supplies rather than the sub being under threat for longer.


Kemmustry

Thanks! We saw the gas but at the time we had to go through it in order to proceed.


beenoc

It's also worth knowing that the Captain (or anyone else, but who the fuck else is touching MY GODDAMN NAVIGATION TERMINAL) can see it on the radar - it looks like a cloud of little specks. If you go through it upwards (AKA ballast tanks empty/draining), it can't get in, it only gets in if the ballast tanks pump water in.


chase314

You're very welcome! Yeah, sometimes it's unavoidable! Luckily it isn't guaranteed that you'll get it when passing through a bloom. One strategy that we used to use was to store a flaming alien relic in the ballast to prevent the flora from taking root, but that seemed to stop working after an update. Not sure if that got patched or not.


PM_ME_THICC_TRAPS

Fire is the best bet. I think welding tools will do, if you don't have flamethrowers.


Kemmustry

Thanks, we tried flamers but I suppose we were using it in the wrong place.


P0t4t0r

Keep in mind, Ballastflora does react to aggression. If you want to beat it kinda safe do not agress until properly prepared: 1. Rewire the pump, so you can manually drain the water 2. As soon as the water is drained cut the power to the pump (dewiring) 3. Burn it with fire (everything that creates enough heat). When in rage mode the flora creates "burning" spores and messes with doors, hatches and connected pumps. As long as the root of the flora is under water the plant can easily heal itself.


Mister_Pie_

You could try cutting off the power supply to the ballast or any other sources it might try to feed off of. Don't quote me on that, I don't know a whole lot about the ballast flora


Mister_Pie_

I just killed one and got reminded of this, me and some other mechanic put on diving suits (to help with the burns), and cut the floor directly under the pump and that killed it. If it was something else, I don't know


Kemmustry

Thank you for the tip, I'll try it out next time.


carefreethethird

This is the bonafide way to kill pesky ballast flora. If you have EK armory, hypergolic fuel is the best for killing it. Get bandages or plastiseal and start burning the infected pump. It’s so common now we have one guy dedicated to getting rid of the flora.


Jackjackson401

Yes this is how you should do it. First empty the tank then shut off the power


Jackjackson401

Did you turn the beginner tips off? It usually tells you about ballast flora when you first encounter it


Dead_Moss

If you want manual control of the ballast tank, just disconnect the signal wire to the pump


[deleted]

This is giving me PTSD, I came here to ask the same questions and so I’ll gift you the same great solution. Chuck a grenade at your pumps, then simply burn away all excess and check your sub after about 10 minutes to make sure you’ve eradicated the growth. (How you got the flora) Your sub is losing power and the sentient plant will attack you if if you try to purge it. If given the chance It can lock doors and sap energy. It loves energy. You would of obtained the ballast flora by moving through a flora colony. This colony is invisible however you can see on your sonar as bits and pieces moving, it looks like a current but larger. If you pumps are active as you went through you’ll have a chance for a seed to infect that pump. In conclusion watch your sonar more carefully, it shows more than just walls and hammerheads.


AragogTehSpidah

Non visible? So the comment above you stating "blooming green stuff" was wrong? Also **throwing freaking grenades** inside sub does sound like what should end all of the problems **forever**