Getting Started
Welcome to the Getting Started Guide for newer players who are having troubles or simply are preparing to survive in Subnautica.
How to get access to the latest build
Subnautica is currently in an early access phase. To get access to the latest build (patched almost every workday) follow the procedure listed here: Steam Subnautica Game Guides: Dev Updates & Progress
Getting started guides around the web
Steam Subnautica Guides:
- Getting Started by Rimu
- Ptk's Beginner's Guide to Subnautica (very badly outdated)
Getting started videos
A great video for new adventurers by MycroftCanadaNS[1], showing you the basics of survival in Subnautica.
Getting started Guide
If you start playing the Survival mode of Subnautica, the main goal after being spawned into the world is to get Food and H2O (Water).
After you spawn you'll sit at a level of 50% Food and 65% H2O - so it's time to hurry up and get the supplies rolling. Firstly, your Lifepod has a built in locker that contains 2 Nutrient Blocks and 2 bottles of Filtered Water. Keep in mind that you should only eat this food when needed. Doing so will allow it to sustain you for a few days, which will be enough for you to start gathering food.
However, before being able to do this, you must extinguish a fire that has started in your Lifepod. Extinguishing this fire acts as a short tutorial to basic game mechanics, so food and H20 don't drop.
Your best bet is to get yourself some fins to increase Swimming Speed and a Survival Knife to defend against predators and harvest Life forms. You will need materials to build them, for example Quartz and Titanium. Titanium is the most common material in the game that is used in crafting, and can be made out of Metal Salvage, which can be collected from the seabed. Coral Samples and Airsack (fauna) can also come in handy to craft what you need, especially filtered or disinfected water.
The game begins in a Biome called Safe Shallows, and it lives up to it's namesake indeed. It still provides you with all the things you need at this point so you don't need to stray off too far yet.
What you need
From the first time you dive you should be on the lookout for a few Materials to get access to necessary items and supplies. Here's two short lists for your focus:
Priority List in Order
- 1x Tank
- Food, especially Cooked Peeper or Cooked Garryfish
- 1x Survival Knife
- H2O, like filtered or disinfected water
- Fins
- To get these items here's what you should watch out for:
Required Materials Priority List in Order
- 1-2 Metal Salvage
- Peepers, Garryfish or other Food fish (about 3-4 for starters)
- 2x Quartz
- 6x Creepvine Seed Clusters (From adjacent biome Kelp Forest)
- Coral Samples (a couple)
- Salt Deposits (for Disinfected Water)
How to get basic supplies
The Lifepod
Lifepod 5 is where the player spawns and where they will respawn if they happen to die. The lifepod will serve as a shelter for much of the early game. An important component in the lifepod is the Fabricator. The fabricator serves as the main crafting machine in Subnautica and new recipes will be revealed when interacting with while possessing different items in your inventory. Also of importance is the storage area behind the ladder where excess items can be stored. It will contain a random few items at the beginning of the game that maybe useful. However items can also be dropped on the seabed under the lifepod if the storage is full. Using the fabricator will slowly drain Energy from the three Self-charging Power Cells on the bulkhead.
Metal Salvage & Oxygen Tanks
Usually there are a couple pieces of Metal Salvage scattered about but be careful not to take it when Stalkers are near. Watch your Oxygen as you look for Metal Salvage and get yourself at least three pieces for your first Tank and potentially a Survival Knife. Then take the Metal Salvage to the fabricator and craft Titanium.
Hint: As soon as you have the 6 Creepvine Seed Clusters, 2 Quartz and Titanium you should craft the Fins and Oxygen Tank.
Pepers (or other food fish) & Food
In the list of food items the Peeper or Garryfish makes for a great choice. It's easy to spot (big yellow eye) and can even be used as a lure to keep Stalkers away. But for now we want it as a food and at this it shines with +32 food points.
The downside: It's fast. But if you crafted your first pair of fins you should be able to catch a few.
If you cannot find or catch any Peepers do not hesitate to catch any other smaller fish around you. Almost every fish in the Safe Shallows is edible.
Hint: When you catch any fish I would recommend taking them to the fabricator to analyze the fish and cook/cure it. If you just eat a normal Peeper you will lose -15 water.
Titanium & your Survival Knife
While you are looking for metal salvage try and see if you can spot a Limestone node. With some luck you'll find Titanium within the first couple of nodes, looking in enclosed areas like in large tubes or caves may increase chances of finding Titanium.
As soon as you get your titanium and 2x Creepvine Seed Cluster= (=silicone rubber) you can craft a Survival Knife.
Coral Samples & Water
As you now have a survival knife, it's time to get some Coral Samples. Look out for a Coral and hit it with the Survival Knife. After you've done that you'll need to craft bleach with the coral samples and Salt Deposit. Now you can craft disinfected water, which adds +40 to H2O.
If you can't make it and it's an emergency - just go after some Airsacks - they can be used to craft filtered water. Not as good as our initial plan but still a solid +20 to H2O.
Dealing with Radiation
Once the Aurora explodes harmful Radiation will spread into the waters surrounding it. The radiation will keep you from exploring large areas near the Aurora but can be circumvented by crafting a Radiation Suit. While the radiation suit requires two Fiber Mesh that can be crafted from two Creepvine Samples which can be acquired by hitting creepvines in Kelp forest with knife, and two Lead Plates. Each Lead plate requires two Batteries which then can be crafted using Copper Ore which can be found in nearby limestone chunks and two Acid Mushrooms which can be founded anywhere in safe shallows. Once the radiation suit is crafted the suit, radiation helmet, and radiation gloves will be acquired. All three of these items must be worn to fully protect against radiation damage. The radiation can be stopped but that is up to the player to figure out how.
You've made it!
If you made it here you'll be able to survive your first days and nights on the alien world of Subnautica. Feel free to keep this Wiki open in case you get lost or need some information - but most importantly at this point - start exploring and enjoying the game. :)
What to do next?
Now that your more immediate needs have been taken care of, you'll want to start exploring - however, your ability to explore is limited by how much equipment you've discovered and built. Here's some suggestions for how to proceed, in no particular order:
- Build a Seaglide to increase your speed and exploration range
- Build a Seabase to store your inventory, grow food, and have access to more tools than the Lifepod provides
- Build a Mobile Vehicle Bay and Seamoth so you can easily explore deeper waters and other biomes farther away from the Lifepod
- Explore Wrecks for Fragments and supplies
- Build a Cyclops as your mobile base
- Explore the wreckage of the Aurora (requires a Radiation Suit)