Subnautica now features underwater bases. They are available now, and allow the construction of habitats on the sea floor. Bases are composed of modular units such as compartments, windows, and hatches, bases allow you to create an outpost from which you can go forth and explore Subnautica’s vast ocean.

Bases are the biggest new feature we’ve added to Subnautica since the Cyclops submarine. Like the Cyclops, bases are unfinished, buggy, and rough around the edges. Subnautica is an Early Access game, and we aim to give you the latest stuff well before it is truly ‘finished’ – Game development is more fun this way!

Despite being incomplete, bases are tremendous fun to muck about with. To build a base, craft a Builder tool at a Fabricator. Then, right click while holding the tool. You will be presented with a crafting menu that offers various different base components.

Base construction requires lots of resources, particularly Titanium, so pick your site carefully. In the screenshots in this post, the bases have been built on sand in safer coral areas. You don’t have to follow that lead: Bases can be built just about anywhere – Including inside caves!

There are a wide variety of base components to choose from, including L junctions, T junctions, X junctions, windows of various shapes and sizes, hatches, and foundations. Compartments can be stacked on top of each other and connected with ladders to create multiple decks.

When building bases, it is necessary to manage hull integrity. Placing lots of compartments, or weaker components like windows, lowers hull integrity. The effect is more pronounced the deeper the base is built, as water pressure increases. Placing hull reinforcements can increase hull strength, and allow the placement of more windows and hatches before hull integrity fails.

If your base has low hull integrity, it might flood. Flooding can be stopped by restoring hull integrity and repairing hull breaches. To restore hull integrity, place more reinforcements or remove weak components like windows. To repair hull breaches, use a Welder tool on the breach. Once all breaches have been repaired, the water will be drained by the base artificial intelligence.

Some base components, like Fabricators, require power. Place a power generator outside a base to give them the juice they need to function. If you don’t have a power generator, you will see a big red ‘Power’ warning at the top of the head-up-display.

Remember: Bases are, like the rest of Subnautica, a work-in-progress. They will break frequently and sometimes with disastrous (or hilarious!) consequences for gameplay. This is the fun of Early Access, shaping a game over time rather than just throwing a finished product at people and hoping it works. Leave us feedback notes via the in-game F8 feedback system, talk to us on the forums, (here or on Steam!), Tweet at us, do whatever you can to tell us what you think. Your feedback will shape our work on bases, and help make them better and better as development continues!