I know a lot of people like longer runs, and I would like to do a First steps at some point, but for a short execution based run there is always a classic Creative Any%? I think the Sentinel ending is the quickest, if allowing terrain glitches.

I threw together a quick route this morning, got a sub-5, could probably go even lower with better reflexes and practice.

That could be interesting - perhaps a Baltic capitals run? As in not just the Baltic states, but all the countries that border the sea, since Denmark and Sweden kind of make sense - Germany and Poland probably do not though.

Originally I was going to add the run as Aberdeen-Istanbul, and even did a run of that route, but the first half or so of the run was basically just the same as Aberdeen-Bratislava so it only got interesting after the first half.

Swapping it around to go the other direction made it more unique, and also increases the challenge by having the skinny back roads of Scotland be at the end, instead of the more easily resettable start.

Hey yeah good suggestion, I have been wondering about that sort of route since TX came out.

My concern is that once you get close to the top it might just be very similar to Roswell/Seattle. For that reason I had thought holding off on something SE/NW for now until we can go across from Florida. Or we just go the other direction, which shakes things up a bit.

Also in terms of "furthest North" I believe the services north of Sandpoint, Idaho, might be closer to the Canadian border? And would be an interesting route through the more recently added states.

Too much remains to be seen around the idea that current runs are "completely obsolete". While the Unstuck feature is powerful, it is far from the be all and end all.

Ultimately games that still receive updates constantly have to consider the impacts of introduced functionality, or the inability to do things that you previously could. This may result in split boards, especially in games with a significant level of activity and interest.

Subnautica is neither of those things, though. We did not split the boards based on version previously when new patches reduced the ability to perform glitched runs to the same extent, and are unlikely to do so for the fact the current patch (which by default has less barrier to entry compared to down-patching) includes the Unstuck mechanic. If new runs displace the current runs on the leaderboard due to that strategy, the option is always there for current record holders to run the game again on the latest version to take advantage of the same mechanic.

Having reviewed the run side-by-side with my own, it was not clear there are any route difference between the versions, and no indication of time calculation differences either. If you are able to analyse specifically where the differences are between the two, that could be interesting to know, but from what I can tell the differences are just in where time was lost vs gained. My crash was practically offset by your fuel stop (which is less about fuel skill and more about only using a 120 gallon tank, and possibly forgetting to turn off Realistic fuel consumption?) and when I made a later mistake it seems it was made up for by a faster later section. I would encourage you to check your chassis choice and fuel consumption options on your next attempt, and look forward to verifying it as WR, as I am sure it would be.

"archaic and obsolete beta version" It is very common for games to be speedrun on older versions. Some will have separate leaderboards, others will not. Steam makes it very easy to swap between versions, and there is a separate app that can be used to find any past version that is not freely available. It is not a barrier to entry if you are dedicated to running for podium placement.

"I'm not even sure about the practicalities of using such an old beta with current/future dlc." When you select the beta version it downloads that version of the game and all relevant DLC. When you swap back to the current version it updates everything again. To avoid the time it takes to update you can just make a copy of the game folder and rename them as needed. Also bear in mind the 'beta' label is technically incorrect, it was the fully released version of the game at that time, that is just where SCS puts things for convenience.

"people should be able to run a recent/current version and run it fairly, no ?" They can, there is no reason someone cannot run the current version, sometimes it works out faster (I believe Redding to Yuma is fastest on a more recent version) and other times slower (as you suggest may be the case of Roswell-Seattle). Ultimately any previously fully released game version can be used.

" I've seen several other posts made about new routes being added, yet not a single route has been added since I first ran the game. I really don't understand the reluctance to update the board when the interest clearly is there from the community, especially for shorter routes." What suggestions? What interest? There is a sticky post on the forum outlining how people can make suggestions for new runs, and it has zero replies. If someone performs a run between new places that a ) brings something different to what current runs represent and b ) has an example run to demonstrate it (so we do not just have empty boards) then I am very open to adding something new. But when suggestions are made they never seem to come with examples.

The best strategy is actually collecting gas pods, stunning them with a stasis rifle, and dropping 20+ (I forget the exact number) in their hitbox. And once you kill one, it is the same process for all the rest - it would be a tedious exercise. There is a Bingo objective for killing a leviathan if you really wish to do so in a speedrunning capacity.

Any consideration would be a category extension, and the same sort of guidelines as previously used for adding new CE runs would apply - we would require a couple of examples by different runners before creating a new board.

Functionally freedom is no different to Survival - the need to eat/drink is never relevant. Even in hardcore, the supplies from the lifepod are sufficient for the majority of the run, or cuttings from plants along the line of the existing route.

New categories (as in new routes) could be considered but there is not any compelling reason to split the boards based on things like game version when it is simple to down-patch.

"effectively enforcing people to use an alpha version from years ago to compete is unfair" It is not any alpha version, especially for runs like Roswell-Seattle, that is a run achievable on any fully released game version since the relevant map DLC was released. Knowing which game version to use and making proper use of the relevant 'slow zones' is just part of the IGT run category.

New Game + runs can use modified settings to the runners discretion. It is assumed that you would have maximum economy skill, have realistic fuel consumption disabled, and road events set to minimum. New profile runs specify that only Truck settings can be changed, meaning road events may randomly occur, but realistic fuel consumption can be disabled (I believe it is by default, and there is no reason you would enable it).

Sure we can consider that. Vehicle category with possibly individual boards for Snowfox, Sea Truck, PRAWN, and All - and maybe include the Spy Pengling for fun.

Well, no, not really, because many do not apply - half the vehicles are different, for example, there is nothing to Interact with, or any Drive Core to Repair... If there are any in particular you have done that you would like added, please call them out specifically.

The speedrunning leaderboards are for the game as distributed by the developers. Nitrox fundamentally modifies the game in ways not officially supported, is not guaranteed to be stable for all users (to an even lesser extent than the base game), and is not available on all platforms. It would not be appropriate to add a category for multiplayer unless officially supported.

Definitely open to suggestions but it must be considered that there are a lot of mods, some purely cosmetic, others that break the game balance entirely. If we were to add any categories, they would have to be constrained to very specific mods and there would have to be a good argument for why it would be special enough to warrant doing so.

Largely though the primary point is this is the leaderboard for speedrunning the game as created by the developer, not as a platform for user customisations.

As per the sticky post: "any suggestion should be accompanied by an explanation for what makes that point-to-point special in some way." Distance alone does not make for an interesting run necessarily. Roswell to Seattle already covers much of the same ground in the opposite direction, I believe, other than the Texas portion itself. Generally larger runs, while nice to have some, also attract fewer people wanting to submit to them.

An interesting idea. For the delivery challenge runs in ETS2 the load must be undamaged rather than applying time penalties, which I would prefer - any damage and you reset. I feel if you are wanting to perform a delivery challenge, then that should be part of it.

Not allowing services though seems irrational. Realistic fuel consumption makes little sense if you are turning off fatigue or road rules - either you are doing it as a simulation, or an arcade run, it seems strange to do it half-and-half.

My main question though is what makes this route (Bellingham to Brownsville) special?

Yes, the Unstuck feature is just part of the game on the latest version, so the use of it as-is cannot be disallowed. However be mindful that if you were to enter into a glitch state as some side effect of using it, then abusing that would not be allowed. e.g. if Unstuck put you out of bounds.

https://www.speedrun.com/subnautica_below_zero_ce?h=Death-Any&x=zd34qxv2-9l756oz8.qvvky3yq

Category added with some sub-category ideas. The basic run seems uninspiring, as just drowning seems to be the fastest way, but maybe there's some fun strats to be found.

Check that you do not have Realistic Fuel Consumption turned on in the gameplay settings - I did not think it was necessary to fill up on fuel even on these long runs (just).

Regarding your comments on despawning traffic via changing graphics settings being "cheating" I can appreciate your point but that is incorrect. Many speedruns use similar exploits. It has been proven to work consistently across systems, and is using in-game mechanics only. It is scarcely different to using the Emergency Warp ability in RTA runs, or abandoning jobs to advance time and refresh the jobs list in Delivery runs.