Start Survival in Subnautica: Below Zero

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This guide covers the initial survival steps in Subnautica: Below Zero. Focus on familiarizing yourself with your lifepod, managing hunger and thirst, and crafting essential tools before venturing too far from the starting area.

Walkthrough

1
Heal, Eat, and Drink: Use resources from your pod. Note that healing and eating can temporarily boost your bars beyond 100%.
2
Craft a Scanner: Essential for identifying flora and fauna and their uses. Scanning yourself has plot relevance.
3
Stay in the Shallows: Prioritize survival before exploring deeper areas like kelp forests.
4
Craft an O2 Tank: Increases oxygen from 45 to 75 seconds. A High Capacity O2 Tank (135 seconds) is craftable later using glass and silver.
5
Craft a Knife: Used for harvesting plants and deterring small predators.
6
Make a Repair Tool: Fix your lifepod's radio and systems panel. Check the radio for new messages, which can lead to wrecks with new blueprints.
7
Craft Fins: Increases swim speed.
8
Search for Wrecks and Boxes: Find item fragments to learn blueprints. Kelp forest boxes often contain Seaglide fragments. Scan two fragments to learn the blueprint.
9
Stock Water and Food: Use Bladderfish and Peeper for sustenance. Cooked fish can spoil; cured fish last longer but dehydrate you. Disinfected water is an alternative.

Optional Early Crafting:

Habitat Builder and Base: Build a small base near your lifepod for storage and convenience. A simple tube with a solar panel and lockers is a good start.
Beacons: Useful for marking locations, especially if you find fragments near your lifepod or in nearby wrecks.

Tips

You can swap batteries in tools by pressing 'R' with a battery-powered tool selected.
Cooked fish can spoil; cure them with salt for indefinite freshness, but be mindful of dehydration.
Early bases can be easier with the EasyCraft mod.

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The Beginning: Survival