Zeppelins are automated cargo-transports, manufactured by Dockend, which are used to swiftly ferry heavy-machinery and personnel over the expanses of the plateau on which PATHOS-II was built. In SOMA, they are referenced on numerous occasions, and Simon is required to ride one to reach Theta.
Description[]
According to a robot repair file found in Omicron, Zeppelins are 740 cm tall including the freight platform, weigh 525 kg and have 7 sensors. Zeppelins can reach a maximum speed of 11 m/s and have a freight capacity of 7000 kg.
Appearances[]
In SOMA[]
- In the fields near Upsilon, Simon finds an abandoned Zeppelin platform just outside the comms center.
- In Delta, Simon uses a Zeppelin to reach Theta. If Simon attempts to call Zeppelin 216, he will make contact with the brain-scan of Alan Waldeck, an engineer stationed at Omicron, who panics about being surrounded by water and drowning, before the Zeppelin malfunctions and ceases to respond.
Cut Content[]
An unnamed Zeppelin (with its red-colored lights swapped for neutral-colored lights) can be observed above the underwater tunnel of Site Upsilon in the YouTube video "SOMA Safe Mode Launch Trailer". This encounter never happens in-game; its odd placement in the game does not correlate well with the relatively calm pacing of SOMA's early game and the initial Construct encounter build-up. Seeing an entity as visually imposing as a Zeppelin during this early section, particularly in the place where the player first discovers that they are located underwater, indicates that this location in the game may have had a different purpose or/and a different place in the game entirely at some point during the game's development cycle.
In theory, the Zeppelin platform in the fields near Upsilon could be seen as a remnant of this conceptual Zeppelin encounter surviving into the game's release version. This platform does not otherwise stand out too much as, in-universe, it would make sense from a logistical perspective to have a cargo transport method available to and from Site Upsilon. However, there exists no confirmation for this theory.
The conceptual nature and purpose of this cut encounter is currently unknown.
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