How to build a base in Subnautica 2

Subnautica 2 base — (Image credit: Unknown Worlds)

Jump to:

How to unlock base building
How to build a base

It's usually pretty obvious how to build a base in a survival crafting game, but less so than you would've thought in Subnautica 2. In order to construct your underwater habitat and get out of the cramped Life Pod, you'll first need to unlock a specific tool called the Habitat Builder, and you do this by scanning two of them in a variety of locations around the map.

Once you have your Habitat Builder, you can construct your base wherever you want, large aquatic predators willing. Below I'll show you where to find two Habitat Builders and explain the basics of base building.

How to unlock base building in Subnautica 2

First off, you'll have to unlock the Habitat Builder tool in order to construct a base, and that requires you to find and scan two such devices out in the world. You'll want to craft a Scanner in the "Personal" section of the Life Pod fabricator for:

2x titanium
2x quartz
1x basic battery

You can craft the battery in the 'Resources' section for two copper and one Acidic Raion Pouch. Once that's done, I suggest that you head to the Welcome Center colony ruin just to the southeast of the Life Pod, as there are two Habitat Builders to scan here. You can see their locations in the video above or find:

One in an open crate just to the right of the entrance by the Welcome Center sign
Another in the cave below the building if you salvage the metal blocking the hole in the floor, swim down, and look in the crate at the bottom

You only need two Habitat Builder scans to unlock it as a tool in the fabricator. You can craft it with:

2x titanium
1x glass
1x basic battery
1x copper wire

If you're wondering about the copper wire, as with the battery, you can craft it in the 'Resources' section for two copper a-piece.

Also, make sure to return to the Welcome Center later with a battery to unlock Biomods.

How to build a base in Subnautica 2

Subnautica 2 base from outside — You'll want to build a base with space underneath to accomodate your Tadpole dock (Image credit: Unknown Worlds)

You'll need titanium, quartz, and copper to construct your basic base. At first you'll only have corridors, since you have to unlock rooms separately, but the best base location you can pick will have space to expand, be close to essential resources like titanium, copper, and fibrous pulp.

I'd also recommend that you build your base close to a natural current (the things that pull you in a direction when you swim into them). You'll unlock the Hydroelectric Turbine to place in them later, which is a far more reliable means of producing power than Solar Panels, which have reduced output at night. Though you will have to connect them to your base with Power Transmitters.

Now, to build your base:

Open your menu and move your Habitation Builder into the hotbar
Select it with the appropriate number (or d-pad on controller)
Press right click (LT on controller) to open the menu and select what you want to build
If you want to remove a structure and refund its components, press Q then left mouse button (or Y then A on controller)

The most important thing is making sure you build Solar Panels on the roof to provide power for your base (and therefore oxygen). You can see your base's power output and draw at any time in the top left by simply getting close to it.

Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.