Starting out:
OUCH! That didn't start off too well, did it?
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Once you get your fire put out, take a moment to look around your pod and familiarize yourself with it. Get healed, eat, and drink if needed, then make your way out of the pod through one of the two exits. Please note that as long as you are under 100 when you heal or eat, you can actually pass the 100 limits of the bar with these resources. Water will not let you do this but food will. It's useful for preparing for longer trips away and can save on inventory space.
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It doesn't necessarily have to be the first thing you do, but I suggest making the scanner tool as soon as you can. The battery requirement can seem intimidating at first, but batteries are pretty easy to make, and scanning the nearby small wreckage can net you some needed blueprints early on! To make your batteries you'll need acid mushroom and copper, and copper can be found in limestone deposits.
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At first, forget about the concept of how to progress the story. Your first job is to make sure you can survive in this environment before you attempt to leave the safety of the shallows and explore the ocean. For this reason, I recommend you not leave the area immediately around your life pod until you're in a better position to do so. If you go past the kelp forests, you've gone too far.
O2 Tank
Make at least an O2 Tank at least. The O2 tank will take you from 45 seconds of oxygen to a more respectable 75. later you can upgrade this O2 tank to a high capacity tank that will improve your oxygen to 135 seconds! Mid to late game you'll discover the blueprints for the ultra high capacity tank that will net you 225 seconds of oxygen, but for now just craft the basic O2 tank.
Knife
The knife is what you will use to harvest plant life and even fight off some of the smaller predators. Later you will be able to upgrade this useful tool. The thermal Blade has a heated blade so hot it can cook a fish in seconds! Use it to eat on the fly as you're out exploring the game.
Repair Tool
Getting the cave sulfur can be a bit dangerous (hint: check-in nearby caves), but the result is necessary. The lifepod's secondary system's panel and radio both need fixing and fixing both will help progress the story. Once your radio is fixed, make sure to check it whenever you see the icon in the upper-right corner of your screen. These messages will provide story background, give hints, and even waypoints to other lifepod's and wrecks to explore!
Scanner
Make a scanner as soon as you can! you start out with a limited amount of things you can craft, and the only way to change this is discovering and scanning new things, so scan everything!
This video will help you get started as a new player.
(click the picture to see the video)
This video will explain everything about food.
(click the picture to see the video)
Stepping out to Explore:
Once you are in a more stable position, the only thing left to do before you move forward in the story is to make a Seamoth. This is the main vehicle you will be using in the game. This involves not only finding the fragments for the blueprint, you will need 3 in total, but also finding fragments for the blueprint for the Mobile Vehicle Bay. If you've been looking around for wrecks and fragment boxes, you may have already unlocked this blueprint.
Close outside of the Safe Shallows are biomes referred to as the Grassy Plateaus. You will know you are in the right place by the red grass. Locate all 3 pieces of the seamoth and craft it.
Got your seamoth? good!
Next, we need a compass and we can find the databox containing the blueprint at lifepod 3. If you've got the radio message from Lifepod 3, go there and look around. You'll find the blueprint. The compass is equipped directly on your character and puts a compass under your depth meter. Extremely handy since any directions I give from now will be using the compass.
5 wrecks to explore early game
This video will walk you through 5 wrecks you can go to in the early game and explore. These wrecks will net you tons of needed blueprints.
The 1st Degassi base:
After exploring, farming materials, and wreck diving you may be ready for more, I've got just the thing! Empty your inventory, eat and drink, we are going to explore an island! Hop into your seamoth and turn it behind the aurora, in a southern direction. Please note if you pull your PDA out and face the island, you will see what looks like a cloud glowing, this is the island we are going to. You will definitely know you have arrived when you get close and the clouds clear. There are a few things here that you should scan, explore, and get samples of to grow later.
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INDOOR / OUTDOOR GROWBEDS: important for farming plants for food and end game crafting. There are two locations on this island, make sure you get both.
MULTIPURPOSE ROOM: Largest room you can build besides the Moonpool
PURPLE TABLET: Grab this it's extremely important for the game completetion.
BULKHEAD DOOR: Scan it, it will help keep your base hull strength up.
BULBO TREE: Scan it, use your knife on it, you can eat the seeds for food and water. Make sure you bring one back to grow.
LANTERN FRUIT: Scan it, pick the fruit it's good for food and water. It also can be used in the Bioreactor for fuel.
MARBLEMELON: Scan it, the most powerful food in the game make sure you harvest them with a knife. If you accidentally picked them up before reading that, don't panic. Put the whole melon back in a growbed and then harvest with a knife. You will get 4 seeds.
When you're done on the island, head back to your life pod it's time to make a base!
You're going to need a power source or you will have no oxygen in your base. If you built close to the surface of the water Solar is a great choice early on, you may also wish to use a bioreactor in place of solar or in conjunction with solar power. Later you will be able to upgrade your power source to thermal power, or nuclear.
You will need a Habitat Builder before you get started! The following video will show you everything you will need to know about base building in the game of subnautica.
{click the image to watch the building guide}
The Aurora
Before we go to the 2nd Degassi base, there are a few things we need to do first. The Aurora is one of them, we will also need the moon pool, vehicle upgrade console, and modification station but we will get to those later.
Eat drink and empty your inventory. Do not take any food or drink because there is so much of this on the Aurora you won’t go without.
FIRST THERE ARE A FEW THINGS YOU WILL NEED BEFORE YOU GO.
Radiation Suit: the Aurora’s engines are leaking radiation and need to be repaired. So until it is you will need to wear the full radiation suit and mask.
Laser Cutter: you will need this grab it before you come.
Repair Tool: you will need this to repair the damaged panels near some doors to access the room. Above that you need this to repair the Aurora’s drive core. Once the drive core is repaired wait a few days and the radiation will disappear.
Propulsion cannon: You need this to move debris in order to access some areas.
Scanner: look there are a ton of things to scan in here grab your scanner and get scanning.
Fire extinguisher: needless to say the Aurora has a few fires to put out as you progress. Make sure you grab yours from your life pod. If you lost yours keep an eye on the ground as you explore, you will find some laying around.
Doors will either be blocked with debris, damaged needing repair or cut open, or will need a code to open. These codes can be found in your pda if you’ve been exploring and checking your radio broadcasts. In case you missed a few here are all the aurora door codes you need to know.
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Cabin No. 1: 1869.
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Captain's Quarters: 2679.
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Cargo Bay: 1454.
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Lab Access: 6483.
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Robotics Bay: 6666.
In the seamoth bay you will find a free mk1 depth module grab it. While exploring the Aurora make sure you scan all 4 prawn suits in the prawn bay this vehicle comes in handy in deep depths.
There is a lot to explore on the Aurora, a lot of story to uncover here. Whatever you do once you’ve filled your pockets full of loot and scanned everything you can head home.
AURORA MAP
Degassi Base 2:
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This Degassi base is in a cave system close enough to the Aurora, that if the radiation from your drive core repairs has yet to clear, then you’ll need to wear one. I personally like to enter this cave system from one location near the rear of the Aurora. This drops me in right above the Degassi base.
Littered around the ruins you will find a number of scannables. Things like
Thermal plant fragments:
Nuclear plant fragments:
Modification station fragments:
Battery charger fragments:
As far as inside the base I would like to take a moment to warn you. Look for this hanging from the ceiling of the base. These jellies will sting and poison you if you touch them. The poison ticks fast and hard and will most likely kill you. A medical pack used while the poison ticks may just keep you breathing oxygen.
Look for these things while exploring inside the base
Water filtration machine: generates a large water bottle and salt.
Double bed: sleep to past the night fast
Ultra high capacity O2 tank data box: this is all the way in the back, be careful! Once you make this it will net you 225 seconds of oxygen!
Grab your loot and go outside but don’t leave yet! There are a few resources you’ll need to grab first. Lithium, magnetite, diamond are needed resources so fill your pockets.
I suggest to in the very least grabbing
2 magnetite, 2 diamonds, and 6 lithium. These resources are needed to craft your ultra high capacity tank, and seamoth depth module. As long as you’ve found enough modification station fragments to unlock the blueprint. Without the modification station you can’t craft your shiny new O2 tank or upgrade your depth module. Whelp off to the mushroom forest!
(CLICK THE PICTURE TO SEE THE VIDEO)
Mushroom Forest:
easily recognizable from their mushroom like appearance, can be found in the northern part of the map. There is in fact 2 separate mushroom forests. The first is near the Aurora, about halfway up the left side of the Aurora. I’d like to add a side note here the Aurora is covered with A leviathan predator called a reaper. They are easily aggro’d and highly aggressive, you’ll know one when you see them. There are multiple reapers to the rear near the engines, and many to the right side of the massive Aurora. In fact, on either side of the mushroom forest is a single reaper patrol. It’s possible to stay in the middle and safely search for what you need.
Look for these blueprints while you're here
Moon Pool: recharge your seamoth and prawn suit here. Allows you to upgrade, and customize your seamoth and prawn suit.
Modification station: you will need this for many gear and vehicle upgrades.
Among these items, you will find 2 of the 3 separate sections for the Cyclops a large submarine. Each piece of the cyclops needs 3 fragments to unlock it.
Hull fragments: you can find 3 fragments inside the mushroom forest.
Bridge: you can find all 3 fragments inside the mushroom forest.
Engine: this can be found inside the Aurora, in a large wreck site in the floating islands, or at the rear of the Aurora.
Side note here: the floating islands have bone sharks, they hit hard and will attack you and your seamoth. The rear of the Aurora has a Reaper so be careful!
These videos will help you not only locate the mushroom forest, but the fragments you’ll need. Beyond those, it will show you where the Reapers are and explain how to avoid them.
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(click the picture to see the video)
The Sunbeam and Beginning the Precursor Story
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So there is a good chance that, if you've been exploring a long time and constantly checking your radio, by the time you get to this part of the guide, the rest of this section may already be irrelevant and you may have already experienced this. If so, skip ahead in the guide.
The Sunbeam's story starts on the radio. You'll get a broadcast from the Sunbeam pretty early on. After a couple of radio broadcasts, you will get a beacon for a landing site and a timer will pop up in the upper-right of your screen for 45 minutes. You have 45 minutes to get to the landing site. This is actually a huge amount of time, so you can certainly take your time with this.
If you decide to go through the forcefield near the landing site, make sure you do so with a LOT of time to spare, as there are some cool things to poke at inside and you will miss seeing the event that takes place when the Sunbeam counter hits 0 if you aren't on the surface a couple of seconds before then. If you're going inside first, start heading back outside with no less than five minutes remaining to stay on the safe side of things. You can also wait until the event is over before exploring.
There is another Purple Tablet somewhere inside the structure, so there should be no reason for you to have to craft another one to reach the farthest part of this base. After seeing the event inside, use your scan tool to do a self-scan to see what on earth the fuss is about. There are a lot of things that give you hints as to why you were shot down and what's going on with this planet. so make sure to explore the base and island well before leaving.
THE LOST RIVER AND LAVA ZONE:
At this point in the game, other then further exploring, there really isn’t to much to do. We need to go down deep into the planet to explore. The lost river, and the lava zone that is accessible through the lost river goes well below 900m deep. Your seamoth just won’t cut it here, you need to make your prawn suit. You should have unlocked this blue print on the Aurora. The prawn suit when fully upgraded goes to 1700m deep and can be upgraded with many attachable modifications. If you're still looking for these I have a few videos that will help you just click the picture to watch the video!
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(click the picture to see the video)
We can dock our prawn suit inside the cyclops just move under it and the doors will open and grab your prawn suit. There are a few things you will need to add to your shiny new cyclops! It’s a good idea to make a fabricator and modification station on your cyclops. This is because some of the upgrades you need to make require materials found only in the lost river and lava zones. Speaking of materials, take enough food and water that you will be able to survive. Personally, I make an indoor grow bed full of marble melons, as well as a few pots full of lantern fruit. The salt I received from my water filtration machine back at my base I take with me and store in a locker. If I grab one piece of coral tube per piece of salt I have I can craft a ton of water, more than I’ll need.
I make a small pop-up base before I go then break this down and store it on my cyclops.
Nothing fancy, I don’t even craft a moon pool! All I really need is a tube a thermal plant to power it and a power cell charger. I find it very hard to progress without the power cell charger before I upgrade my cyclops to recharge in heat. Honestly pack like your not coming back, because it’s painful to forget something and have to travel all the way back to get one single thing!
Ok, so we are packed what now? Well, there are multiple entrances you can choose to enter from pick one you are comfortable with. I have a video that will explain and show every single entrance to the lost river in the game take a look if you’d like to educate yourself before you go.
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Prep Guide
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(click the picture to see the video)
Now personally I like to enter from the floating islands and blood kelp zone. The entrance is right near life pod 2, you may have already seen this during your exploring. This is because just inside the entrance I can find nickel ore I need to craft items, just stay to the left to avoid the ghost leviathan!
I have a full video that does a full walkthrough of the lost river and shows how to get the kyanite you need to upgrade your depth. You may also choose to explore yourself, but just in case I’ll leave that video here for you to watch.
I’ve tried to avoid as many spoilers as I possibly could. I will say, however, that if you want to know how to deal with the lava zone I’ll leave the guide here for you to watch! If not I’ll see you at the surface!
Now that’s done and your on the surface stop and breath that fresh air! It’s time to get out of here!! To do this we need to build a rocket, and I won’t lie it’s gonna be hefty of resources!
One thing you will need 100-% is the cyclops shield generator mod! If you never found it I have a video that will show you where to look!
Once you’ve crafted it and your rocket say goodbye to planet 4546b! Make a time capsule, climb into the chair and take off!
You made it! Congratulations!
(click a picture to watch the video)
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