Subnautica: Below Zero - Tips on Navigation - with Video

Subnautica

The moment you crash on planet 4546B, you are literally on your own. You have no companions, no equipment and no shelter. All of this can be solved, but even if you are sitting in your luxury habitat with a thermal knife in hand, a full stomach and an armored diving suit, there is still one thing missing to make your stay really pleasant: a map. As Arctic explorer Robin Ayou, you have to work very carefully so as not to wander around disoriented and lose your inventory of rare minerals - just because you got lost and did not find your way back to the surface in time.

Table of contents

Page 1 Subnautica: Below Zero Navigation Guide - Basics, Compass, Signal Buoy 1.1 Basic Navigation Facts 1.2 Variant 1: Navigation by sight - Compass 1.3 Variant 2: Terrestrial Navigation - Signal Buoy Page 2 Subnautica: Below Zero Navigation Guide - Pathfinder tool, map, aid 2.1 Variant 3: Terrestrial the second - Pathfinder tool 2.2 Variant 4: Mods for explorers - A map and technical aid Page 3 Image gallery for "Subnautica: Below Zero - Tips for navigation - with video"

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Matching it: Our test for Subnautica: Below Zero

We'll tell you how you can safely find your way back to your base in such situations. A large part of our tips will result in solid preparation. Source: PC Games In this guide we will help you to make your journey through the ice water of 4546B as safe and as fast as possible. On the one hand, we will give you tips on how to use the existing in-game tools efficiently. On the other hand, we also recommend mods with which you can, for example, integrate a working in-game card into the game or expand your scanner room. Oh and of course we also have a self-made card with all the interesting starting points for you! Pack your sextant and orient yourself on the North Star, because today we navigate like real sailors.

More guides to Subnautica: Below Zero

Complete solution

Tips for beginners

How to build the perfect base

Vehicle guide

The bestiary

We have marked the most important blueprints, bases and alien bases for you on our map . Real seafarers find the blueprints with a compass, practically oriented researchers compare our treasure map with the in-game map mod that we will introduce later in the article. Source: PC Games

Basic navigation facts

A few basic things first: In Subnautica: Below Zero (buy now 29.99 €) you don't have an automap that shows your position . You don't even have a static map to call up in-game. The only concession is physical maps that you can find in buildings and that can only be viewed after scanning with the help of your PDA. There is of course a game design reason for the cumbersome navigation: it gives you a feeling of loneliness and vulnerability; the impression of actually being stranded on a strange planet instead of just playing a build-up game with an optional hunger indicator. It was no different in the first part of the Subnautica series. See the lack of a map as a chance to let yourself fall completely into the game.

You can find rustic maps like these either on the wall of various habitats or distributed as PDA in the game world. Get used to the traditional way of navigation as quickly as possible. Source: PC Games Important: In the following, we will introduce you to different types of navigation, which you can combine with each other in the best case. That doesn't always work - in this case you simply rely on the navigation method that is most useful in a given situation.

Variant 1: Navigating by sight - compass

The environment that awaiting you on the planet 4546B is very concise: Luminous colors and deep trenches alternate with wide underwater plains and bioluminescent forests. This variety is of course intended on the one hand to make your visit as varied as possible. On the other hand, the striking landscape serves to make it easier for you to navigate by sight. In plain language this means that you subconsciously absorb your surroundings and then find your way back to your habitat by hanging around in your head along a series of striking landscape features.

The water color and the flair of the different biomes are not just there for entertainment - they also make it easier for you to navigate by sight. Source: PC Games The water color of the biomes helps you to determine your position. If the water turns gray, you are, for example, in the Thermal Spiers, if the water is green you have entered the Lilypad Island and if the water is deep, dark blue, you swim into the Treespires. When the water turns deep black, you have entered the void and should turn back as soon as possible.

Unique landscape features such as this damaged diving cage are pure navigation gold. Use them to orientate yourself easily by sight at the beginning. Source: PC Games Striking landscape features are your friend. Look for two distinctive rock or plant formations and orient yourself on them. You need two characteristics in order to align yourself correctly. "Between these two rocks and then to the left" is a helpful reminder. The supposed help "With this plant on the right" is useless because you can misjudge the orientation of the plant in the heat of the moment.

The most important tool, which will make navigation in the early game dramatically easier, is accordingly Compass. To grab the tool, orient yourself from your escape pod to the east and swim 450 m straight ahead. But wait, we are navigating by sight: Leave your escape pod and turn left. You see three Wendelalraunen; these are the purple corals, with the broad brushes on top. Swim past them slightly to the right and continue straight ahead until you come to a white factory platform. Scan the scout tool here and swim back to your capsule. The tool itself will be important later, at this moment it is interesting for us that you have activated the compass at the same time through the scan.

Swim straight ahead here until the water turns blue and you are in the Glacial Basin . Don't worry, the trip is safe. Look out for a white factory platform and grab the scout tool. Source: PC Games You need a copper wire and a set of cables to construct the compass. The copper shouldn't be a problem because you can find it in all the rock formations around your landing capsule. You can find the necessary silver in the Thermal Spiers: Leave your capsule and look slightly to the left so that your crosshairs are to the left of the glowing blue coral arch. Swim about 450 m straight ahead and you are there. Swim back, build the compass and enjoy yourself, because you've just built your most powerful navigation tool!

Important: The compass allows you to navigate with the help of a single landscape feature. Now a "South on the violet plant" is enough to get to your destination safely.

Especially the safe way back to your escape pod or base is child's play with a compass. Just remember in which direction you are heading and turn the whole thing by 180 ° - that is, if you are exploring from your capsule in the direction of the northeast, the path leads back to the south-west. Of course, these are only rough directions, but those who know the approximate direction for the way home will arrive sooner or later. It is not for nothing that the compass is considered to be one of the most powerful tools in the history of navigation.

Pay attention to the compass needle at the top in the middle: If you want to save resources and get by without buoys for a while, note the orientation in the striking landscape features Style from SW I] [IIIW and finds her way back home that way. Source: PC Games

If you can't turn the cardinal points in your head, just take a quick look back after setting off and make a note of the orientation, including the lines on the compass. Since we can't do anything with nautical technical terms like "two lines aft rather than abeam" and classifications like "south-southwest" are not explicitly displayed, we simply take the pedestrian variant: you write "two lines southwest" something like this on your scrap : SW I] [III W. So you always have a visual aid to orient yourself correctly towards home.

Variant 2: Terrestrial navigation - signal buoy

Now it gets interesting because it is terrestrial navigation that turns you from a shipwrecked person into an explorer. In the real world you would use lighthouses, navigation signs or radio beacons - we use Subnautica's equivalent with the so-called signal buoy. With the help of signal buoys you can set your own navigation points, which are then constantly shown in your heads-up display.

Important: To get the blueprint for a signal buoy, you simply construct the standard oxygen bottle ; the buoy is then automatically activated.