TL;DR
Starting Out: Safe Shallows and Kelp Forest
When you begin your journey in Subnautica, you'll wake up in a damaged lifepod. It's crucial to repair the lifepod as soon as possible to enhance its solar-powered cells [5:1]. The Safe Shallows and Kelp Forest are ideal starting points for exploration due to their abundance of resources and relative safety. Collect basic materials like titanium and copper, which are essential for crafting tools and equipment
[5].
Resource Collection and Defense
A knife is an invaluable tool in Subnautica, not only for harvesting resources but also for defending against aggressive fauna. You can use it to collect Table Coral and fend off creatures like Stalkers, which will leave you alone temporarily if slashed [3:2]
[5:5]. Additionally, listening to the sounds around you can be a helpful tactic; louder noises often indicate larger and potentially dangerous creatures
[5:7].
Exploration Priorities
Prioritize visiting the Floating Island early in your exploration. This location offers valuable scans for buildings and grow beds, and provides food sources like melons [5:2]. Scanning objects and collecting data from various locations will progress the storyline and unlock new technologies.
Spoiler-Free Guidance
For those who prefer a spoiler-free experience, many guides recommend focusing on exploration without consulting maps or detailed walkthroughs. This approach allows players to discover the game's mysteries organically [5:6]. However, having a general understanding of the geography can be beneficial, especially when navigating complex cave systems
[1].
Documentation and Research
Some players find joy in documenting their findings, such as cataloging flora and fauna encountered during gameplay [2]. This can enrich the experience and provide a personal record of discoveries made throughout the game.
Crash zone isn't categorized yet, or the cave systems since I'll be covering those in volume 4. I've been extensively working my way through uncovering Subnautica's geology through a video series, which I've just put the third instalment of here - https://youtu.be/PyMU8u_Y4D0?si=mg-lISMiXX72DKOK
Any love is greatly appreciated! <3 Let me know if you're curious about any of my findings!
Just checked my post and realised this accidentally posted 6 times... sorry about that đnot quite sure what happened there
I'm about half way into my subnautica play through and I think I've decided I'm going to start writing and documenting every fauna and flora I discover, think this is a good idea? I'm not really sure how many creatures this game has but I think this would be fun
theres a lot of to discover! good job so far
Hey All,
I know guides are kind of not well received here since the point of the game is exploration and not spoiling yourself and yada-yada. However, having suggested this game to several different friends during it's free-period on Epic Games, and getting their separate reactions and thoughts on the game, I decided that there are many different types of people that play this game, and one of the biggest frustrations for a lot of people that don't have the pure love of random exploration is the game's lack of clear information on what the hell to do.
Also I figure with the release on console, the Epic Games release, as well as hype for Sub Zero, plenty of new players will be trickling in here from time to time, and I aim for this to be a one-stop-shop for newer players that older members here can link to, that is new-player friendly, and a bit more descriptive than "go deeper". Progress in the game can definitely be frustrating, this guide aims to relieve some of the more frustrating areas by providing brief, mostly-spoiler-free (the story itself will never be spoiled here, but some locations as well as different tools and whatnot are named) guidelines.
So without much more exposition, I came up with an idea for a compromise. I will spoiler mark basically everything in this guide except the headers, allowing any prospective help-seeker to come in and obtain specifically the information they want to know if they are stuck. I will keep all story elements out of the game and instead just reference general locations and depths. You'll have to "unspoiler" each paragraph, as I don't think there's a way to spoiler multiple paragraphs under the same spoiler tag, apologies.
For those that want to do most of the game themselves but just need a little bit of a leg-up on where to go, this is for you.
As an aside and a precaution to new players who absolutely wish not to be spoiled on anything, I cannot moderate the comments below. Hours within posting this there are already story spoilers. View comments below at your own peril. This main post will never contain spoilers.
#GENERAL TIPS
I won't spoiler this section as it applies in a general way with no real 'story progress' involved. The general tips anyone on this sub will give you are as follows:
If you don't know where to go, it's a safe bet that "deeper" will probably solve your problems. If you have the tools and resources to dive to 500m but you haven't ventured past 300m, you should go deeper. If you're at 500m, and you're pretty sure you've done everything you need to do at 500m, figure out how to get the tools necessary to go deeper, and then go deeper.
Sometimes a bit of exploration is necessary to figure out how to go deeper, as in sometimes you need to travel further OUT from your life pod in order to go DEEPER as well.
The scans your PDA holds will often point you to where you need to go. Not all of it is lore-related fluff. Particularly if it is a "download" of sorts (several types of downloads exist in the game), it will often give you more information. Certain areas are not blatantly obvious until you look at your PDA, which will mention clues, hints, and even blatantly where to go sometimes.
There are a few tools that are absolutely, soul-crushingly vital to progressing further. One of those is the moonpool and subsequently the vehicle upgrade console (that is only craftable inside the moonpool). You get the moonpool from normal scans. You get the vehicle upgrade console from the "data boxes" you can find inside some of the larger wrecks or the lifepods. The vehicle upgrade console allows you to craft several modules for your vehicles, so if you're stumped as to how to go deeper and don't have a vehicle upgrade console, that's likely why.
Because of the above, the habitat builder is also a necessary tool. One of my friends was really, really stumped as to what to do, and when I came over to his house I asked him where his "base" was, and he had no idea what I was talking about. He had crafted like 10 deployable lockers and was using those for storage. Even if it's small, even if it's right next to your lifepod, build a small base with actual wall lockers (or the glass ones, if that's your fancy), and eventually build a moonpool. That's all you really need, but you should at least craft those.
The Aurora is explorable and has a ton of great stuff. I'll expound a bit below with spoiler tags, but just understand that at a certain point in the story (which will become evident) early on, you can explore the Aurora.
Listen to any radio broadcasts! Early- to mid-game the radio will send you to several important locales. It acts as soft-progression in the game, as it ends up sending you to places where you can find the tools necessary to progress.
The "F1" key (on PC) will open a debug menu, which includes a LOT of data that is mostly not relevant for you. However it contains two pieces of information that are useful for finding your way around, if you wish to utilize it - nav coordinates (Long, Depth, Lat), and biome name (Safe Shallows, Kelp Forest, etc.). I am not aware of the command for this on the console version of the game, nor if that command even exists, I apologize.
The Nav Coordinates are, as mentioned, (Long, Depth, Lat). A negative Longitude means West, positive is East. A negative Depth is below sea level, most of your depths will obviously be negative. A negative Latitude means South, positive is North.
#HOW TO BEST USE THIS GUIDE
I highly recommend, as I mentioned above, feeling out each 'section' of this guide on your own first. Meaning if you are at, say, the 100-300m portion of progress (you just got your seamoth), explore around and try to figure things out yourself first. THEN, after you are stumped and just don't quite know what to do, come back here and reveal the relevant portions for you.
Just walking through these tips on another open screen or something will severely cheapen the experience for you. If the game did a bit better job of blatantly telling you a few crucial things, there would be no need for this guide, but I know a few of my friends were very frustrated and ready to give up on the game because they just had no clue what to do.
Sometimes that's all you need, and that's what this guide is here for.
Also realize that my way is not the only way, nor is it necessarily the best way to progress. The beauty of this game is that there are several avenues to success. There are very few biomes that exclusively hold that "one" resource you need, you can almost always find that resource elsewhere.
#STARTING THE GAME - 0m to 100m
So you just started the game, your character just woke up with a nasty headache, and maybe you're looking at a fire in your lifepod wondering what to do. I actually recommend exploring a bit on your own first just to get a feel and to at least attempt the game in some form before immediately seeking help, but I know some of you really want a hand-hold at the beginning and then you can take the training wheels off, so to speak, and do the rest on your own. This section is for you! :)
Obviously you should first put the fire out. ;) Note that exiting through either hatch (there's a hatch above you and below you) will both give you different small "cutscenes". The bottom hatch is faster after that first cutscene, though.
Crafting Your Tools
>!First, you need to obtain your basic tools. You're looking specifically to craft a scanner, a knife, a repair tool, fins, and an oxygen tank. You will obtain all the materials you need in two biomes, the safe shallows (the one you're in), and the Kelp Forest (the green area with Kelp stalks (called "Creepvine") you should be able to see close by).!<
>!You're looking for limestone chunks, creepvine clusters (orange glowy blobs on the kelp stalks), Acid Mushrooms (you'll see these everywhere in the shallows), and one (or two) cave sulfur (venture into a cave, you'll find sulfur in the shallow caves). Once you've obtained a good helping of these materials, venture back to your lifepod and craft everything you can, making note of any other materials you may need to finish crafting if necessary. Once you have crafted the knife, you can then use it to slice the table coral (little shelve-like coral formations that jut out of the walls around you) for later blueprints that require more advanced electronics, like the computer chip.!<
>!There are a few other tools that you can technically craft right now, such as the High Capacity O^2 Tank. Feel free to do so if you want to take the time, or move on to the next section and just do it when you have the resources.!<
>!I will not be including most of the tools you will eventually need along your journey. I leave that up to you to use your noggin. The game will warn you if you've dived too deep, etc., and when it gives you a warning like that, it means you need to craft something to have better access to deeper places. Many tools are somewhat "useless" - I had no need for grav traps, etc. - but a little experimentation never hurt anyone! Just note that you only have a limited amount of space in your inventory, and most tools (outside of equippable things like masks, tanks, fins, suits, etc.) take up some of that space.!<
Scanning for new Blueprints
>!Your scanner can be used on a lot of things, but it is a necessary tool for progression because it's the only way you can learn how to craft most new blueprints, many of which are tools that help you survive deeper, longer, or to travel faster. To that end, some of the necessary scans right now are: the laser cutter, the seaglide, the seamoth, and the mobile vehicle bay. You can find all of these scans in the first three biomes you'll encounter - Safe Shallows, Kelp Forest, and Grassy Plateaus. You may have to search for that last piece of whatever for a while, but I promise you'll find it (and then you'll find 100s of them afterward, haha).!<
>!You may have to venture beyond these biomes to find some of the resources for them. The Laser Cutter, for instance, requires Diamond to craft. The story will eventually direct you to an area that has a ton of Diamond, just be a bit patient, and keep listening to radio messages. The breakable rocks (Limestone, Sandstone, Shale) are your friends at this point (and likely throughout the story), as well as quartz and the metal salvage from the Aurora (the ship you crash landed with) you see scattered everywhere. Even if you're a minimalist you're gonna need a TON of titanium.!<
#EARLY SEAMOTH EXPLORATION - 100m to 300m
There are a LOT of things to do once you first obtain your Seamoth. A very large chunk of the game is spent in this "phase", particularly collecting blueprints and data boxes, and even a few story-driven events as well. Only the basics of this is covered here, which should be enough to progress you to the next "stage." Subnautica is a game about exploration and reaching out into the dark, and I suggest you do so - don't just do the things mentioned here, visit a new biome, explore it, dive down a bit, see what's below you, etc. That's how you truly enjoy this game.
Venturing Beyond the Grassy Plateaus
>!Once you have crafted your Seamoth, getting around the ocean is a lot easier. It provides you with a replenishable source of air close by, as well as safety up to 200m deep from the get-go. Your first goal is to get the scans for a moonpool, as well as the data box containing the Vehicle Upgrade Console. Note that the NEXT SPOILER-MARKED MESSAGE BELOW contains the locations that contain that data box. DO NOT REVEAL THE NEXT SPOILER if you want to explore and find it yourself. Again the only reason I include this, and not other stuff, is because it is so vital to progression and can be very hard and sometimes frustrating to find.!<
START OF SPOILERY PARAGRAPH >!Grassy Plateaus Wreck (400-500m N-NE of lifepod, about 70m deep), Mushroom Forest Wreck (700-800m NW of lifepod, about 120m deep), Sparse Reef Wreck (~700-800m SW of lifepod, about 210m deep). Two of these wrecks have multiple data boxes, but they definitely all have the VUC you're looking for, just keep searching, you likely missed an air duct or something. Also note that the lifepod actually has a somewhat random spawn location, it doesn't spawn right at (0,0,0), it can spawn anywhere within about 2-300m of the very center of the map, you may have to search around a little bit if you feel you are close to my directions.!< END OF SPOILERY PARAGRAPH, feel free to reveal anything below! :)
>!Once you have crafted these two vital things and have docked your Seamoth in the moonpool, you can craft a depth module for it allowing you to dive to 300m, as well as storage modules so you can store more stuff on your journey! Hurrah! At this point it might be helpful to set up a more permanent base.!<
Your First Base
>!So you've crafted a Moonpool, but it might be in a weird location, or perhaps you've picked up the scanner room blueprint (if you haven't, go searching for it, it's a great addition to any permanent base!). Your next goal is then setting up a base that has access to several key biomes, as well as good access to many types of resources. I will suggest two locations, see below:!<
>!First, the Safe Shallows near your lifepod is a perfectly fine area to build a base. Many beginner players do so and I did on my first play through and it worked really well. It gives you easy access to water, table coral, copper, titanium, as well as close proximity to the Kelp Forest which is a good source for Sandstone outcrops (Lead, Gold, and Silver), and more titanium salvage, as well as Stalkers (the things with the really long mouths), which are important for a specific, hard-to-see resource that will be necessary later on.!<
>!Second, the Southern Grassy Plateaus is another fantastic area to build a base. My second play through I built one here, and it has access to later-game resources, is still pretty close to the Kelp Forest (and marginally close to the safe shallows, though it's a bit more of a drive than I'd like, but you end up not needing much from there later on), as well as other later-game biomes which I won't spoil here. Most importantly, it has direct access to a very important biome called the "Jellyshroom Caves". More on this a bit later.!<
>!The essentials to any permanent base include: A moonpool with a vehicle upgrade console, a scanner room, a power source (duh), and if you're playing on survival or hardcore, an indoor growbed, and a bunch of wall lockers (or glass lockers). If you don't have the indoor growbed yet, the story will lead you to a location that has them, as well as a plant called "Marblemelon" that will make your life a whole lot easier (whack them with your knife to get the seeds, replant them, profit). If you're wondering whether or not you've "passed" that point in the story yet, I'll ask you a question - have you received an actual 'timed' event yet? One that put a clock on your display? If so, then yes, you have. If you still don't have the growbeds and marblemelons it means you didn't explore the area it sent you to well enough. Go back there! If you haven't received that event yet, then worry not, you will eventually receive it, explore thoroughly! :)!<
>!Other than that, get as crazy as you want with your base! Build a monstrosity that covers a whole biome, or have a minimalist base that just contains all the essentials, whatever you want! I would just suggest having it in a relatively open space so your vehicles can access it easily. Having an outdoor growbed "garden" with resources from other biomes (such as creepvines from the kelp forest, plant the orange globs, not the green plant samples) is another way to help you with crafting, etc.).!<
Obtaining Magnetite
>!Very quickly into building a scanner and some of the vehicle modules, etc. you'll notice you lack a resource called "Magnetite." This little guy can be somewhat difficult to find, unless you know where to look! There is a reason I suggested the southern Grassy Plateau area as a base suggestion above, and it's because it is close to a "hidden" biome called the Jellyshroom Caves (the story actually will eventually send you there if you are diligently exploring other areas you are sent). This is a completely self-contained biome that is actually pretty large, but it is underneath the grassy plateaus, kelp forest, and even the safe shallows! The easiest way to find it is to go to the border between the grassy plateaus and the kelp forest, and drive along it until you see some purple, glowy mushrooms above a cavernous hole. Dip down into the hole and be amazed! I'll try to include a picture of the location later, I'm currently at work.!<
>!If you don't have the first depth module for the Seamoth, you'll basically have to hug the ceiling (the ceiling is at like 190m, haha), but you can still explore it, just be careful of the nasties in here. However, the most important part of this cave is the abundance of magnetite it contains! Magnetite looks very similar to Lithium (which is also in this cave), and even looks similar to Shale (contains Diamond, Gold, Lithium) from a distance (which is also located here), but it is littered all over in this cave! Take some time in here, you'll discover a few really neat things, and load up ~10 magnetite which should keep you healthily stocked for a long time. Magnetite isn't used in too much stuff, but some of the stuff it's used in makes life much more convenient, like the range upgrades for the scanner room, as well as the HUD chip so you can see resources the scanner is picking up on your screen, instead of guesstimating them on the map in the scanner room itself. Probably the most important is the MK2 depth module for your Seamoth, which allows you to reach 500m. Going deeper is always your goal.!<
Story-Related Stuff
So doing a spoiler-free, story-related section is somewhat difficult, but I'm just including it here for completeness, because some of you will be very quick in getting stuff and may 'get ahead' of the timed events that happen in the game. No 'blatant spoilers' for the story are included anywhere in this section. >!I've mentioned these story-related events here and there already in the guide, so if you haven't run into them yet, don't worry! The game will eventually lead you to these events as long as you are listening to the radio when a new message is announced on your screen. The 'timed' event (gives you 40 minutes or so on a timer on your screen) in particular is very important both story-wise and progression-wise. Be sure to immediately go to the location it gives you on your screen. You'll understand why when you get there. Also just go to locations the radio sends you to in general. Always fully explore every area the game sends you, when it sends you (assuming you have the ability to go there, at least. Sometimes things are too deep), as it's likely relevant to progress as well as story. Something to note is that if a pinged location disappears from your view after arriving, you can reactivate it in your PDA's "beacon" section, which will allow you to find that area again.!<
>!Another story-related event is the exploration of the Aurora. The next section gives more detail on it, I have this here just in case you don't want to spoil anything about the Aurora at all.!<
Care before revealing this section, reveal the one above first. >!The game will hand you a specific blueprint that will allow you to "safely" explore the Aurora after about 45 minutes of play time, you'll know it when it happens. You can explore it at any time past this event, but just know that you need quite a few tools to fully and completely explore the Aurora, as well as get through a hefty number of radio messages, as one of the messages gives you vital information for fully exploring the Aurora as well. The Aurora exploration is the only area of the game in which I "don't not recommend" spoilers and looking up the direct guide, as it is the only puzzle element of the game, and not much story-wise is spoiled by doing so, and there are a lot of rewards and areas that are easy to miss if you don't know what you're doing. With that in mind the wiki page on the Aurora is the only page on the entire wiki that I recommend you visiting on your first play-through, if you just want to "get it over with." If you enjoy a good puzzle, I strongly encourage you to figure out everything there yourself, then once you are done, check the wiki page under "Resources" and see what you missed, if you just can't find them, then look at the guide. Alternatively, if you want to be brutal on yourself, just don't look at it all! :) There is only one vital item on the Aurora that is actually only obtainable on the Aurora, the game will tell you what it is when you're exploring it. The other stuff just helps shortcut a bit of progression, or acts as neat, unique decorations.!< End of 'dangerous reveal' section. ;)
#LATER SEAMOTH EXPLORATION AND THE PRAWN - 300m to 1700m
Whoa, that's a big drop in depth! Yup! As I stated in the above section, a very large portion of the game is spent in the 0m to 300m areas, for many reasons. Firstly getting your feet wet and understanding how the game plays and works, secondly a lot of story-related events as well as no real familiarity with the landscape, and thirdly because you have a lot of things to scan and craft in the early game, and this slows down (as far as progress goes, at least) later on.
As a 'stat check', of sorts, before starting this section you should have the Seamoth Depth Module MK2, have the blueprints for the PRAWN, and you should have started on the blueprints for the Cyclops, more than likely. This will be the last section, and things move faster from here, you ready?
Getting further and further and deeper and deeper
>!Part of the allure of the game is the fear of the unknown. Running into a new biome with new creatures, new, creepy-looking plants, and maybe a darker atmosphere is by game design. That fear of the deep â thalassophobia â is an integral wall to progress. Getting over it, putting your big boy/girl pants on, and deciding to âtake the plungeâ, both literally and figuratively, is how you beat the game and sometimes even your own fears. In these next few sections weâre going to be doing exactly that, and in doing so, discover some new, perhaps scary biomes, explore them a bit, get used to their feel, and perhaps meet a few nasties along the way!!<
>!I want you to travel due west from your lifepod until you get to the grassy plateaus. Explore the western edge of this biome - careful not to wander into the dunes - until you see a large, dark, mega-creepy trench. Take the plunge. Go to the max depth your trusty seamoth can handle. Explore this little area fully and completely. It has literally everything you need for now. Scan things, pick up new resources - you have new mushrooms here, new little purple balls, a few new ores, etc. Are there a few new nasties lurking here? Absolutely. Have fun. :)!<
The Pressure Reactive Armored Waterproof Nano Suit
>!After the above section, you should have all the resources you need to build the P.R.A.W.N. The only thing you might be missing is enameled glass. For that you need Stalker teeth, which, you guessed it, you get from Stalkers in the Kelp Forests. Stalkers will grab titanium - their favorite toy - and they have a ~15% chance to drop a tooth every time they do! The teeth are insanely hard to see, so you may need to search for them with your handy-dandy Scanner Room.!<
>!The PRAWN is an interesting vehicle because of the different arms you can attach to it, all of which you need to find and scan first. I have only ever used the Grappling Arm and the Drilling Arm, but don't underestimate the value of no attached arm - the PRAWN's punch packs quite the wallop! You can find all sorts of upgrades for the PRAWN but for now all you need, if you wish to use the PRAWN instead of the Seamoth, is the grappling and drill arms. Resources you drill are automatically added to the PRAWN's inventory (which you can expand with the same modules you use on your Seamoth), and using the grappling arms is a bit awkward at first but actually makes the PRAWN the fastest way to get around in most areas. That Trench I sent you to previously? The PRAWN can handle its FULL depth. Make sure you have grappling arms first, then again - TAKE THE PLUNGE! Have fun with it. Getting mass resources should be much easier once you have the PRAWN. Just set up a scanner room and go out drilling from those large resource deposits you couldn't do anything with earlier.!<
>!Later on you will reach depths that the Seamoth cannot handle. I found the Seamoth to be the easiest to control for obvious reasons, but you'll eventually have to abandon it for either the PRAWN, the Cyclops, or both.!<
A New Biome!?
Don't worry this whole section is spoiler free, unless you consider the 'reveal' that you will find an ambiguous new biome a spoiler, I suppose. >!If you went to the trench I previously mentioned, you likely stumbled upon an interesting new biome. You'll definitely know it when you see it (drastic color change is the obvious sign ;)). Follow my advice in previous sections, constantly seeking new resources to add, and new story-related areas to visit (again, you'll know them when you see them). This area is rich with story-related content, be sure to explore it fully and scan it thoroughly. Are there nasties in this biome? Of course! >:D!<
>!This new biome will be the access-point to both of the deeper biomes as well. You will know the 'entrances' to these other biomes when you see them, they're obvious.!<
Nickel
>!Like Magnetite, Nickel can be very hard to find, and it is required for multiple upgrades as well as several other late-game blueprints. It looks almost exactly like outcrops, bubbles, fish, the walls and floors, basically everything. So be sure to search thoroughly, but this newly discovered biome has this resource, I promise you. It might be worth setting up a scanning room near a thermal vent here (I hope you picked up Thermal Reactor scans along your journey!), just to help you find it.!<
The "Best" Tools
>!Note that this is just advice mixed with my personal opinion, but as you traverse the game it gives you several options for several different types of tools, such as O^2 tanks, power sources, and different modules on your vehicles. No need to read this if you want to feel these tools out for yourself, and/or not get spoiled on some of the 'later game' tools. Again there are no story spoilers here, just the tools.!<
>!I made it all the way to the end with only the basic tools in my actual inventory (Scanner, cutting tool, thermoblade, repair tool, etc.) and a seaglide. There are a lot of peripherals like the stasis rifle or propulsion cannon that you can fill your inventory with, but I never found them that useful. If you want to go reaper-hunting (I did this on my second play through, kind of fun), then the stasis rifle makes this much simpler. Other advanced tools just kind of bloat your inventory, so I would only suggest ONE advanced tool, the basic tools, and the seaglide.!<
>!As far as bases go, the absolute best sources of power are solar panels near the surface, and thermal reactors underneath. Thermal reactors restrict you to specific areas of heat, but those are common the further down you go. A lot of people suggest nuclear reactors as well, I've never tried them, but they do give you plenty of power for a long time, and the resource to refill them is plentiful and pretty easy to find, when you know where to look. Bio Reactors are suggested by some, but to me it's too much hassle. You have to regularly refill it, and it becomes relevant at the same time Thermal and Nuclear reactors do - why not just have an infinite or near-infinite power source?!<
>!"Equippable" items - the light-weight, high capacity O^2 tank is usually enough, though the ultra-high capacity is fine too. I do not believe the seaglide's speed is affected by fins or "weight" of your tanks, but I could be wrong. Swimming regularly definitely is, though. If you're using your seaglide often, just use whatever. Swim-charge fins are nice for the seaglide as well if you find them, it's basically infinite power for it. I never found a real use for the still suit, and you kinda need the reinforced suit anyway.!<
>!Vehicles - You'll have to abandon your Seamoth eventually, but above 900m it's definitely my favorite. I also use the seaglide everywhere, even the 5m to that resource in front of my Seamoth. Below 900m you can do, as I mentioned above, whatever you want. Cyclops is a bit unwieldy to maneuver in some areas, and it's extremely vulnerable to the bigger nasties, but it is a mobile base which is nice to have, and it's a bit easier to surface with than just the Prawn. If you know what you're doing with the PRAWN it can be pretty quick, but climbing is still somewhat of a chore, and it likes to get caught on everything. Going solo with either vehicle is viable as well. Every resource is obtainable through pick-up, you don't need to drill anything, and every location is reachable with either vehicle (or "outside of" them, you may need to park them somewhere and go to the location with the seaglide). However, if you're taking the Cyclops, you may as well take the PRAWN with it.!<
>!Mods on Seamoth/PRAWN - 3 storage mods and a depth module, done. You don't really need anything else. I carry two drill arms with me and have two grappling arms on the PRAWN suit, two drills go faster, and two grapples give you extra mobility.!<
Even Deeper?
>!Once you've collected your nickel and improved the depth of your PRAWN and/or Cyclops, it's time to venture deeper. Again, if you've thoroughly explored you'll know the location(s) you can do this in. This is where I leave you, the end game is all for you to explore and figure out. You're almost done, there are a few more things to find, and they aren't exactly very obvious. I believe in you, though. You have all the tools you need at this point, it's just about collecting a few new resources and doing a bit more exploring. Best of luck, you'll make it!<!
#CONGRATULATIONS!
If you have made it to the end of the game, then congratulations are in order for figuring out the very end game on your own. You did it! Seriously, congrats. I hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for me, and I hope this guide fulfilled its purpose of guiding you to where you need to go, while not spoiling what you don't want spoiled! Leave a comment below if you're a veteran or a newbie, or if this has aged long enough to be archived, feel free to reach out to me through a PM. I love talking to people about the guides I've created.
Suggestions? Concerns? Angry and/or hate-filled remarks? Leave them below, and Happy Diving! :)
I didnât know that you could get Table Coral with a knife. Iâve been leading âCave Sulfurâ to deposits and collecting them off the ground. đ
Late to the party but thank you so much for this post. I have been stuck not knowing what to do for like a week, this post is godsend
Glad it could help! :)
commenting so i can take a look when frustratingly stuck
Great help, thank you!
Saved. Please ignore.
thank you so much! im on my first playthrough and just got the prawn suit - i would have not understood a lot of things without this guide. and it doesn't take away any of the challenge/fun for me.
(Let me know if this violates rule 5)
Hi r/subnautica, I've been working on making a publicly editable repository of everything that we currently know about subnautica 2 from primary sources. I started it earlier this month and it's been coming along rather nicely; if you would like to help out or just learn more about subnautica 2's development, feel free to check it out at this link
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mPOAg1ijm_HXk6fv47J8-ZnnyN99AVKz5Ysk1IgSMPg/edit?usp=sharing
bro it needs acess i request you as bucy
Love this thank u
Yea yea, theres probably a ton of these things lying around, but i donât care! Epic games launcher is letting people have it for free and it came out 2 weeks ago on xbox and PS4. So iâm going to try and help the newcomers in anyway possible!
I will not be using a map within my explanation, but it is highly recommended you find an updated 2018-2019 map of the area.
one last thing, if you play on survival or hardcore your a mans man...
starting out/safe shallows and kelp forest
So you awake in a flaming lifepod thats half broken. After easily grabbing the fire extinguisher, and putting out the fire, you can begin your expedition to escape a watery hell that awaits you.
So depending on your luck, you could be drifting to the south or relatively close to the stopping point of your lifepods drift path.
If you look around in your life pod, you can see a couple of things, that includes a storage unit, a fabricator, a broken radio, and a medical kit fabricator.
For right now, donât worry about the radio, medical fabricator, or the broken wiring system. Its time to dive!
After getting your feet wet for the first time, you have a couple of options.
If your new, iâd advise just exploring, because at a certain point, the pretty and awe is replaced by pure anxiety and fear.
Once youâve had the time to explore, you need to learn how to hunt and gather resources.
Most minerals are found within outcropings/ little breakable stones. These can be found around walls, ceilings, and in cave systems. You can find 2 types in the safe shallows and kelp forests: limestone and sandstone.
The most you should be worrying about is limestone drops, but it wouldnât hurt to grab some other resources.
(Depending on the game mode) you need to drink and eat to live. Fortunately theres a great way to do it!
Bladderfish (have huge faint purple air sacks) can be used to filter water at your fabricator and other fish can be cooked or cured.
Focus on grabbing peepers and bladderfish (iâd say 3-4 baldderfish and 2-3 peepers until you get hungry or thirsty.)
After handling your thirst and hunger, and exploring/looting your area, your ready to start actually surviving.
You MAJORLY need 2 pieces of equipment: a scanner and a repair tool.
Its a rule of thumb to ALWAYS have your scanner on your person at all times, not only does it let you scan fauna/flora/etc, it will also give you information on said object and if you can use them for anything! Along with that, you can also scan broken fragments of pieces of equipment you can build and you will need for the adventure.
The repair tool has a couple of uses, but the major one is welding your broken life pod to a unbroken state.
After you make those two, make sure you fully repair your life pod, store any extra materials, and head out in the nearest forest of kelp.
Here you will find your first âscary monsterâ the stalker. but donât worry, they are easy to handle if you prepare.
There are two ways to distract a stalker while you dive and grab/scan materials
Hold a fish in your hand and allow the stalker to eat it. This will make him passive and not attack you for 1-2 minutes.
dropping a piece of scrap metal or titanium will tempt the stalker to âsharpen its teethâ and instead go and pick up the dropped metal. (Note: ONLY titanium or scrap metal, no other metal will distract them.)
After grabbing some materials, head on back to your lifepod and start the final step of the beginners guide.
Build a habitat creation tool and search for a place you want to build your base at! (Blueprints for other buildings and such can be found around the world in wrecks or the sea floor) iâd advise trying to find the floating island (way) past the rear end of the aurora.
Final notes of the first guide: the louder the sound, the bigger and scarier it possibly is. (Except the whales that kinda just moan, theyâre pretty cool.)
Floating island is a priority. Scan building get gun scan grow bed pick melons for food
Thanks for your advice anyway. I never know that repair tool can be used to repair broken lifepods. I always leave after collect data and info. Haha. After playing this game for 16hrs I still feel that I am a new player at the beginning.
Iâm talking about your life pod (lifepod 5) it starts of the main story early and boosts solar powered power cells charge rate.
I should probably specify to fix Your own life pod huh?
Ohhhhhhh I see.
Spoiler free. Tagged spoiler. Hmm
Why is this tagged spoilers if it doesnât contain spoilers? (Is this my fault cause if it is, iâd love to fix it)
I have no idea to be Frank. It plays on the safe side tho so it might auto filter anything that claims to be a guide and tag it spoilers.
If you slash a stalker with your knife it'll leave you alone for a bit too.
> the louder the sound, the bigger and scarier it possibly is. (Except the whales that kinda just moan, theyâre pretty cool.)
i dont even have the patience anymore, i just stab them to make them go away. works well
"will tempt the stalker to âsharpen its teethâ " Nice. I like how you worded it.
I want to replay Subnautica, but as a proper explorer.
I'm not sure how to go about this, any ideas are appreciated. My biggest concern is mapping things out, from the biomes to the caves (including things like the sea treader's path caves)
Not sure if I want to do this Degasi style (hardcore) or survival. But I want to map the world out as I go, I want to explore and catalog this undersea world.
Note: I have played both survival and hardcore already.
I did a baseless run similar to this, and what I did was just farm resources to build a ton of Beacons and Sensor Rooms and try to spread them out evenly or at various landmarks. Use the Beacon names to describe its location, and the Beacon distance indicator to space them evenly. Downloading a beacon mod would probably help simplify this process and improve how to keep track of them.
Makes sense, that's how I played my first run.
But my plan this time is literally to draw out a map as I go. For example, I'll draw a circle around the life pod indicating 200m, then I'll go north until I see the colour of the water change. Then I'll look back at the life pod and mark how many meters I went on my map to indicate a biome change. That sort of thing.
But frankly, I was hoping to find a proper guide on stuff like this.
don;t forget to get the compass so you have a heading to mark. use a polar grid. your map will be slightly distorted and accuracy drops the farther out you are with the in-game compass, but it's handy to have exact headings to specific landmarks and POI's.
If you follow a guide, what's the point?
If I were you, though, I'd make the 0,0 of your polar map something other than the lifepod. The lifepod starts in a slightly different place every game, which means that your map will only be accurate for one game. If you were instead to pick the biggest coral tube or that coral tube that sticks out of the water, or anything else that's static between playthroughs but easily accessible and findable in the early game, your map would still be good if you wanted to start a new game.
I'm actually currently doing exactly what you are tallikg about. I'm hardcore and I havent built radio but I have built a fuckton of beacons. Really becaons are gonna be your friend. Also expect to go on a lot of tangent explorations. I only used wiki once or twice to find a specific mod
Welcome to subnauticry a subnautica parody/inspired map made on the farcry 5 map editor
Explore a vast underwater environment hidden with secrets and mystery.
Lots of crashed ship parts scattered the ocean to find and explore.
And beware for ancient creatures lurk in the deeps.
(Tip) use your utility and consume your instincts for better underwater visibility
(How to find) Map name - Subnauticry Creator name - Leoleo100
(Idea for map) Wanted to make something very different from my usual far cry maps so here we are.
Awesome. I always wanted a Far Cry game in this kind of setting.
Welcome friend:)
I'm deadly afraid of the ocean but this looks worth the risk of exploring
Some of those creatures look unfriendly âš
Indeed, Leviathan level threats lurk in the depths đą
Ive heard on ocean planets you can find really cool creatures and super deep seas but i cant tell if planets im on actually classify as an ocean planet the closest ive found is a planet with a bunch of smaller islands pls help
You must complete "Interstellar Multitudes" to access the purple systems where you might run across a water world.
[Edit] Stellar Multitudes
Deep ocean planets can only be found in the hidden 4th type of star system. Once you can access those, the game tells you in the planet scan if it's a deep ocean planet.
How do i know if a system is one of those 4th type systems
The guy's being secretive about it for no reason. It's systems with purple stars. At the start you can only travel to yellow stars, then you craft engine upgrades to go to other colored stars, but you can't unlock purple stars before you finish all the main quests
Becsuse you literally cannot see them until the relevant quest
Purple systems only.
No land, or a handful of mountain peaks, so that 99+% of the surface is water.
So far as I've seen, not toxic or radioactive... depths are either hot or super cold. u/TerriblePurpose says he has seen a radioactive ocean planet, so likely there are toxic ocean planets as well.
They can definitely be radioactive:
Ocean planet? Not saying purple systems cannot have toxic or radioactive planets, only that the ocean planets I've not seen any that are.
Ocean biome is the only biome that shows "Lithium" in the list of elements on the discovery page or when viewing the world from space.
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Hey Subnautica community!
I'm new to the game and just started exploring the vast ocean. Any tips or tricks for a newbie to make the early game smoother? I've managed to gather some basic resources and built a small base, but I feel like there's so much more to learn. What should I prioritize? Any common mistakes to avoid?
Thanks in advance!
NUMBER ONE TIP: Get off this sub.
Being blind to a lot of stuff is the best way to experience it for the first time.
With that in mind, heres a few non spoiler tips:
Try to have at least a Seamoth and a repair tool by the time you're going to the Aurora.
You need a Moonpool and Vehicle Upgrade Console to craft upgrades for your vehicles.
See those giant coral tubes in the shallows? Knife them. Use that coral + salt to make a LOT of water via bleach.
Leviathans are NOT more scared of you than you are of them, but generally you see/hear them before they get super close. Avoid them.
You may get a lot of people just telling you to "gO DeEpEr." That's extremely unhelpful to me. If you are stuck, try reviewing some of the data files you've picked up for references to caves.
Build bases where you find beautiful views. This is not a survival tip, though some of the most beautiful biomes do have access to very good resources.
Overall, try to lose yourself in the wonder of the world. This game is equal parts beautiful and terrifying, and experiencing it for the first time is something I will never forget.
The NUMBER ONE tip is to NOT spoil the game experience by asking for tips. Don't look at online maps. Don't ask, "How do I build this?" or "Where can I find that?"
You have one chance to experience the joy, delight and terror that has been carefully crafted into this game.
Having said ALL this, I do have two tips:
While you should save often, dying does not send you back to your last manual save. When you die, you are returned to the last habitat or >!cyclops!< you entered. At the location you died, you drop most of what you picked up since you last exited a habitat or >!cyclops!<. You keep whatever you were holding when you left the habitat.
Yes. I stand corrected! After dying a few times, I just started saving often and then would reload my last save.
Common mistakes: Not exploring the game blindly, going on this subreddit and getting the game spoiled, using a map before you exhausted your alternatives.
Don't be afraid to make mistakes. There nothing you can do that you can't fix later
Hey all. I am new to the game. And I got a quest called 'exploration guide'. But I have tried everything, I can't find the missing parts of creatures, flora and minerals.
It's going to change at each planet you go to. Also a lot of times that means you're looking for something only found underground, underwater, or only in one area of the planet. Last time I got stuck it was a critter that lived in caves and I had to wander around a giant cave system for like 2hrs before it finally spawned in a room I had already visited. đ
Sometimes (not always) if you lob creature pellets around it will make them spawn faster
It never ends, every system and planet resets it.
Its more of a guide that helps you discover new things everywhere you go.
subnautica exploration guide
Key Considerations for Exploring in Subnautica
Prepare Your Gear:
Craft Essential Tools:
Know Your Environment:
Resource Management:
Use Vehicles Wisely:
Explore Wrecks and Ruins:
Recommendations:
By following these tips, you'll enhance your exploration experience in Subnautica and uncover the mysteries of the ocean more effectively!
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