For possibly the first time in Netrunner's history, HB's cards for following up on brain damage actually look kinda decent. At 2+ brain damage, Ontological Dependence is an easy score and you now have in-faction tagging (Distributed Tracing) which can set up a usually fatal End of the Line. You now have much better options for cerebral destruction than ever before. This ID does not look to be one of them.

We've seen terrible marketing from HB before*, but if you think people are coming to live in bone-crushingly pressurized waters in the freezing depths off Siberia for "safety", search your heart and get somebody better to write the ads. And, also, you probably want something safer than the runner losing ~2.5 clicks and ~5 credits over the course of the game. This will inconvenience ~2-3 agenda steals with no impact whatsoever on the game-winning steal. Although, it does make Hangeki far more intrusive than it ever was in Jinteki. (Hangeki allows you to push a runner to access an agenda at a time when they have no spare clicks, which is of particular interest to Thule).

*EVE CAMPAIGN 1.0: "We hear metal corpses are in this year."
EVE CAMPAIGN 2.0: "This time, you'll swear we've seen a woman before."
EVE CAMPAIGN 3.0: "Love in a bedroom / or in the alley / You'll learn to love / the uncanny valley".

I heavily disagree, and think this ID is very powerful (and one of the dominant IDs in startup).

The question isn't "Is 1 click and 2 credits a heavy tax ?". It's "will you be able to pay for that tax after paying for everything else ?".

Manegarm Skunkworks is still a staple. Mr. Hendrik, all the bioroid Ice, Pulse. There are many, many in-faction ways to make the runner count their clicks. The psychological impact of this ID is quite strong as well. Just like Jinteki: Personal Evolution, it makes the runner slower and more cautious in their runs. It makes the runner jack-out mid-run because you rezzed a Pulse, and they no longer have any clicks remaining for the tax.

It's also worth mentionning that this ID fires every time a steal is made. This is especially important in, say, an Esâ Afontov: Eco-Insurrectionist match-up. Once agendas begin pilling in Archives, running that server becomes very dangerous, because if you don't win instantely, you are at risk of taking several core damage (including from Nightmare Archive).

I think Thule's popularity is the reason you barely see any Deepdive decks (because Deepdive was guaranteed to get core damage from this ID). Which is, in itself, a sign of its impact, considering how popular Deep Dive was in the first half of Borealis.

This Haas-Bioroid identity is middle of the road in term of power. It does the reverse of what usual HB identity does : it slows the game rather than accelerate it. The identity is made to use Ontological Dependence by design. If a runner takes the core damage, Ontological Dependence is that much easier to score. This encourage the corp player to have "smaller" agenda like Élivágar Bifurcation, to have more opportunity to trigger the ability. Usually, Thule Subsea: Safety Below ability will trigger around 3 to 4 times per game, and that is not much. If the ability had been like Jinteki: Personal Evolution, triggering on scored agendas, it would be much more powerful.

Most runner will not run last click and spend a click and 2 to steal an agenda. This will foil the plan to use Deep Dive to see 2 agendas.

Still, Thule Subsea: Safety Below combine very well with Mr. Hendrik, every bioroid ices, Nightmare Archive, Manegarm Skunkworks, Warden Fatuma and Tempus.

Because the identity encourage doing Core Damage, Dr. Vientiane Keeling combine well as a doomsday kill package.

As long as Haas-Bioroid: Precision Design, Asa Group: Security Through Vigilance and Sportsmetal: Go Big or Go Home are in the meta, Thule Subsea: Safety Below will be far behind in the HB faction, competitively.

The art is stunning and has probably inspired the quote (or was it the reverse). An interesting identity in the faction.