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Metro 2039Base Building
In Subnautica 2 you build bases with the Habitat Builder, a tool unlocked by scanning two fragments at the Welcome Center near the Lifepod. Rooms, corridors, hatches and a Moonpool cost mostly Titanium, and a base needs power before its hatch supplies oxygen.
Base building in Subnautica 2 starts with the Habitat Builder, a handheld tool made from Titanium x2, Glass x1, Basic Battery x1 and Copper Wire x1 once two of its fragments have been scanned, which Destructoid found at the Welcome Center about 85 m southeast of the Lifepod (May 14, 2026, the launch build). With it in hand, the build menu opens with the Open Menu key (right-click on PC) and offers rooms, corridors, hatches, windows and a Moonpool, mostly for Titanium, then machines, storage, lighting, furniture and farms. The system is new for this game: Unknown Worlds' Mar 12, 2026 Dev Vlog "Building Bases" shows its "new procedural approach to designing and creating bases" (Unknown Worlds), and the guides and patch notes since describe pieces that are enlarged after placing (the Moonpool) and cut back with a Shrink mode. A base needs power before its hatch supplies oxygen, so a Solar Panel on the roof is the first thing to add (Game Rant, May 14, 2026); power is on Base Power and where to build on Best Base Locations. Kysen's May 14, 2026 guide, on the launch build, builds a first base of four rooms about 120 m from the Lifepod at a bearing of 105, puts the hatch on a corner to leave room to grow, and breathes inside once one roof Solar Panel shows 8 power in against 2 used for oxygen.
Quick facts
| Tool | Habitat Builder: Titanium x2, Glass x1, Basic Battery x1, Copper Wire x1 |
| Unlock | 2 fragment scans, at the Welcome Center about 85 m southeast of the Lifepod (Destructoid) |
| Room | Titanium x5 |
| Corridor | Titanium x2 |
| Moonpool | Titanium x5, expandable after placing |
| Oxygen | The hatch supplies it only once the base has power |
| First machines | Power, Fabricator, storage, Processor, Scanner Station (Game Rant's order) |
| Recipes from | Destructoid, May 14 and 16, 2026, the launch build |
Sources: Destructoid (Madison Benson), May 14, 2026; Destructoid, May 16, 2026; Game Rant (William Parks), May 14, 2026.
How do you get the Habitat Builder in Subnautica 2?
Scan two Habitat Builder fragments. Destructoid found one in a metal box by the Welcome Center sign and the other in a container inside, next to the Oxygen Tunic, reached through a hole in the floor (Destructoid, May 14, 2026). Other launch-day guides place fragments elsewhere: Game Rant's Habitat Builder guide points to the Gene Donor about 160 m at 20 degrees and a cliff-top base about 225 m out (Game Rant), and its progression guide to the Welcome Center and a platform near the Angel Comb (Game Rant). There are more fragments than the two needed, so any of them works. Destructoid also advises putting a Basic Battery in the Welcome Center's wall panel early, which powers its Biolab and starts NOA's base-building lesson. The first steps of a run are on Beginner's Guide. Kysen's May 14, 2026 guide, on the launch build, scans the same two at the Welcome Center: one at the front, to the right, and one down in the middle of the building.
How do you build a base in Subnautica 2?
Pick a spot, place a Room or Corridor, add a Hatch to get in, then a power source; Game Rant's suggested order after that is a Fabricator, storage, a Processor and a Scanner Station, then the Moonpool with its Vehicle Fabricator and Tadpole Dock for the Tadpole. A Biobed (the respawn point), a Biolab and a Battery Terminal are optional extras. The Lifepod's own Fabricator is damaged and cannot make some recipes, so a base Fabricator is the reason most players build early (Game Rant). Pieces placed but not finished show as "ghosts" until their materials are added. In IzPrebuilt's May 20, 2026 guide, on the launch build, one Titanium is enough to place a corridor's ghost, the support pillars a piece adds can get in the way later (so he builds from the bottom up), and a corridor with a hatch has no air until the base has power.
The base pieces, as Destructoid listed them on the launch build:
| Piece | Recipe |
|---|---|
| Corridor | Titanium x2 |
| Room | Titanium x5 |
| Half Round Room | Titanium x5, Glass x5 |
| Nook | Titanium x3, Glass x2 |
| Hatch | Titanium x1, Quartz x1 |
| Window | Glass x1 |
| Moonpool | Titanium x5 |
| Interior Wall | Titanium x2 (cut to a quarter of its old cost in Hotfix 3, Jun 1, 2026) |
| Interior Arch | Titanium x1 |
| Interior Door | Titanium x3, Glass x1, Copper Wire x1 |
| Ladder | Titanium x2 |
| Habitat Beacon | Titanium x1 (marks the base as a waypoint) |
| Dive Elevator | Titanium x4, Copper x2, Quartz x2 |
Sources: Destructoid, May 14, 2026; Destructoid, May 16, 2026; Hotfix 3; Game Rant for the beacon. Interior Wall's current cost is not published; Destructoid's figure predates Hotfix 3.
Moving, shrinking and refunding
The Habitat Builder has a Move mode, a Deconstruct Mode, Shrink, and "Refund Base", which takes a whole base down and returns its materials (all named in Unknown Worlds' patch notes). Update 1.1 (Jul 8, 2026) raised the maximum deconstruct size and made objects blocking a build show through walls (Unknown Worlds). Update 1.2 (Aug 19, 2026) added alignment guide lines to placement, size snapping for edits so that a room can be fully deconstructed with Shrink, a list of what is blocking a build, and a builder menu that remembers its scroll position (Unknown Worlds). Buddy System Hotfix 1 (Sep 1, 2026) fixed Moonpool shrink mode ignoring collisions and wall-rack items not refunded by Refund Base (Unknown Worlds). IzPrebuilt's May 20, 2026 guide, on the launch build, grows a room by pushing out a wall with the scroll wheel setting the panel size, inside or out, and shrinks it with Q (Deconstruct) then F; a room too big to deconstruct has to be shrunk first or emptied of what touches its walls.
Where you cannot build
Building stops at the orange Early Access fence at the map's edge, and since update 1.2 bases can no longer be built inside the Great Jaw. Creatures interact with bases too: before update 1.1 the Collector Leviathan could make ghost pieces build instead of deconstruct when it hit them, and Hammerheads followed Tadpole lights back to bases until Hotfix 2 (May 22, 2026) (Unknown Worlds). The fence is on Map Edge and World Tree.
Machines and stations
| Machine | Recipe | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Fabricator | Titanium x1, Copper x1, Quartz x1 | Full crafting, unlike the Lifepod's; 2 energy per second |
| Processor | Titanium x2, Mild Acid x1, Copper Wire x1 | Ingots and refined materials; 10 energy per second |
| Biolab | Titanium x3, Copper Wire x1, Mild Acid x1 | Choosing Biomods |
| Modification Station | Titanium x2, Celestine x2, Copper x2 | Tadpole Upgrades and tool modifications |
| Scanner Station | Titanium x3, System Chip x1, Wiring Kit x1 | Tracks one resource type within 300 m; 10 energy per second |
| Biobed | Titanium x3, Glass x1, Copper Wire x1 | Sets the base as the respawn point |
| NOA Terminal | Titanium x3, Glass x1, Copper Wire x1 | NOA in the base; since 1.2 NOA's alerts stop referring to the Lifepod |
| Battery Terminal | Titanium x2, Quartz x2, Copper Wire x1 | Charges 6 batteries |
| Time of Day Display | Titanium x1, Copper x1, Enameled Glass x1 | Shows the time |
Recipes from Destructoid, May 16, 2026, the launch build; power draws and uses from Game Rant's Fabricator, Processor, Scanner Station and battery guides (May 14 to 16, 2026). More on the crafting machines is on Fabricator and Processor; respawning on Death and Respawning.
Storage
Lockers in a base feed nearby crafting stations with their contents, so a Fabricator can use what is stored beside it (Game Rant). Update 1.1 added a storage buildable that does not supply crafting, for items that should stay out of recipes. Update 1.2 made the Trashcan work: items put in it are destroyed one by one after five seconds. It also settled on one name, "Carryable Rack", for what had been called Wall Rack and Hardpoint.
| Storage | Recipe |
|---|---|
| Wall Locker | Titanium x2 |
| Floor Locker | Titanium x3, Quartz x1 |
| Tailing Chest | Titanium x3 |
| Wall Rack (Carryable Rack) | Titanium x1, Copper x1 |
| Portable Locker | Titanium x4 (15 slots, can be carried or attached to a vehicle) |
| Trashcan | Titanium x2 |
Recipes from Destructoid, May 16, 2026; changes from Unknown Worlds' 1.1 and 1.2 notes.
Lighting, furniture and decorations
Most furniture, lights and posters are scanned in labs and abandoned colonist bases (Destructoid, May 16, 2026). Destructoid's list includes exterior and interior lights (Titanium and Copper, the Axum Wall Lamp from Celestine), chairs, tables, a bed, crates and signs (mostly Titanium), Tailing furniture (jars, a drum, a rug, from Fiber, Salt and Coral Shavings), Axum jars (Glass and Copper), roof pieces and wall units, and ten posters at Titanium x1 each, among them Keep Calm, Just Keep Swimming, Zezura, Pioneer Program and Lost River. Three decorations came from events: the Reaper Leviathan statue, given to every player after the game passed 5 million wishlists (Unknown Worlds, May 11, 2026); a Seamoth Statue from a Twitch Drop for the May 9, 2026 showcase; and the Lost River Poster. Update 1.1 added the World Tree Relic seen in the trailer as a buildable decoration, and 1.2 stopped some Axum and Tailing furniture being buildable outside a base. Spyro ZA's May 24, 2026 guide, before update 1.1, finds the Axum lights by scanning Tailing and alien pieces in the hot biome.
Farming in a base
Growbeds (Titanium x1) grow plants, and the Metal Farm grows a chosen resource on base power; both are in the builder's Cultivation section. They are on Farming.
Frequently asked questions
How do you unlock base building in Subnautica 2? Scan two Habitat Builder fragments, which Destructoid found at the Welcome Center about 85 m southeast of the Lifepod, then craft the Habitat Builder from Titanium x2, Glass x1, Basic Battery x1 and Copper Wire x1.
Why is there no oxygen in my base in Subnautica 2? A base's hatch supplies oxygen only while the base has power, and oxygen goes offline if the base's machines draw more than its power sources make. Add a Solar Panel or another source.
How do you build a Moonpool in Subnautica 2? Place it with the Habitat Builder for Titanium x5 (Destructoid, launch build), make it large enough for the Tadpole, then add a Tadpole Dock and a Vehicle Fabricator on its edge.
Can you move or take down a base in Subnautica 2? Yes. The Habitat Builder has Move, Deconstruct and Shrink modes and a Refund Base option that returns materials; update 1.2 made it possible to fully deconstruct a room with Shrink.
Where can't you build in Subnautica 2? Outside the orange Early Access fence, and since update 1.2 inside the Great Jaw.
Do lockers work with the Fabricator in Subnautica 2? Yes, lockers supply nearby crafting stations. Update 1.1 added a storage buildable that does not, for items you want kept out of recipes.
Sources
- Subnautica 2 - The Ultimate Beginner Guide!, Kysen, May 14, 2026 (video)
- Subnautica 2 How to Build a PERFECT Base, IzPrebuilt, May 20, 2026 (video)
- Subnautica 2 How To Build Better Bases, Spyro ZA, May 24, 2026 (video)
- Subnautica 2 | Update Vlog : Early Access 1.1 - Adaptive Measures, Subnautica, Jul 7, 2026 (video)
- Dev Vlog - Building Bases, Unknown Worlds, Mar 12, 2026
- A Thank You to Our Community for 5 Million Wishlists, Unknown Worlds, May 11, 2026
- Subnautica 2 Early Access Hotfix 2, Unknown Worlds, May 22, 2026
- Subnautica 2 Early Access Hotfix 3, Unknown Worlds, Jun 1, 2026
- Subnautica 2 Early Access 1.1 - Adaptive Measures Update, Unknown Worlds, Jul 8, 2026
- Subnautica 2 Early Access 1.2 - Buddy System Update, Unknown Worlds, Aug 19, 2026
- Subnautica 2 Early Access Buddy System Hotfix 1, Unknown Worlds, Sep 1, 2026
- How to unlock base building in Subnautica 2, Destructoid (Madison Benson), May 14, 2026
- All blueprints and recipes in Subnautica 2, Destructoid (Madison Benson), May 16, 2026
- All Subnautica 2 blueprint locations, Destructoid (Arka Sarkar), May 16, 2026
- What to Build in Your Base First, Game Rant (William Parks), May 14, 2026
- How to Get the Habitat Builder, Game Rant (Mehrdad Khayyat), May 14, 2026
- What to Do First, Game Rant (William Parks), May 14, 2026
- How to Fix "Requires Fully Functional Fabricator", Game Rant (Mehrdad Khayyat), May 14, 2026
- How to Build Processors and Craft Ingots, Game Rant (Mehrdad Khayyat), May 14, 2026
- How to Build a Scanner Station, Game Rant (Hamza Haq), May 14, 2026
- How to Recharge Tools and Batteries, Game Rant (Hamza Haq), May 16, 2026
- Beginner Tips & Tricks, Game Rant (William Parks), May 14, 2026
Moments
Subnautica 2 - The Ultimate Beginner Guide!
Kysen
Subnautica 2 How to Build a PERFECT Base
IzPrebuilt
Subnautica 2 | Update Vlog : Early Access 1.1 - Adaptive Measures
Subnautica
Subnautica 2 How To Build Better Bases
Spyro ZA
Photos
Related
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FarmingFarming in Subnautica 2 means Growbeds, built for Titanium x1, that grow plants from a seed item such as a Pent, Lucifer Rotsac or Fibrous Pulp, and since update 1.2 Necrolei Cysts. The Metal Farm, an Axum machine, grows a chosen resource on base power.
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Anemone HillsThe Anemone Hills are Subnautica 2's biome of towering pink-and-green anemones about 300 m northwest of the Lifepod, 0 to 151 m deep, where the infected Heat Tolerance Angel Comb waits behind Bloom you clear with the Sonic Resonator.
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Coral GardensCoral Gardens and North Coral Gardens are Unknown Worlds' names for Subnautica 2's early coral areas around the Lifepod; update 1.1 (Jul 8, 2026) put a second Biolab and more Silver there, and 1.2 gave North Coral Gardens its own music.
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Dolerite SpiresThe Dolerite Spires are a maze of jagged volcanic pillars in Subnautica 2's starting region, shallow to mid depth, with Lithium and Titanium, Quaker's Meetinghouse and two Spires wrecks that All Things How lists for the High Capacity Air Tank and the Rebreather on the launch build.
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GraveyardThe Graveyard is Subnautica 2's hot, orange-watered biome, 0 to 266 m deep, that needs the Heat Tolerance Adaptation; it holds Gold, Salt, Sulfur and Lithium, the Tadpole Pens, Tailings Village, a Cicada Wreck, Nahema's Lab and hundreds of Water Slugs.
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Metal FarmsThe Axum Metal Farms are the far eastern edge of Subnautica 2's Early Access map, about 2,000 to 2,200 m east-northeast of the Lifepod beside the Karakorum Power Plant, the only source of Troilite and Atacamite and where you find the Axum Bacterial Culture to build a Metal Farm of your own.
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Necrolei HillsThe Necrolei Hills are Subnautica 2's infected hills about 300 m northwest of the Lifepod, the main source of Necrolei Cysts for Strong Acid, with Copper, Titanium, Deepwing Egg Clumps and fauna mutated by the Bloom.
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Observatory IslandObservatory Island is Subnautica 2's Axum tower rising out of the sea about 1,000 to 1,200 m east of the Lifepod, with the Alien Ruins (Unknown Worlds' Axum Ruins), the Rosetta Stone, a Biolab since 1.1 and the Axum Observatory, where the Early Access story stops.
See also
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Base PowerSubnautica 2 bases run on Solar Panels (1 to 8 energy per second by time of day), Hydroelectric Turbines in water currents, Thermal Plants by heat vents and Bioreactors burning fuel, linked by Power Transmitters and buffered by Power Storage. Without power a base makes no oxygen.
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Best Base LocationsThe guides' best base spots in Subnautica 2 are a plateau by a water current about 200 m east of the Lifepod for free turbine power, the thermal vents about 630 m east for steady Thermal Plant power, and an outpost near the Alien Ruins about 1,150 m east for the late game.
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Beginner's GuideThe first hours of Subnautica 2 in order, from editorial guides on the Early Access launch build: make Water from Water Slugs, craft the Survival Multitool and Scanner, power the Welcome Center's Biolab, take the Digestion Adaptation, make Fins and a Standard Air Tank, then build a base with a Fabricator and Processor, the Sonic Resonator and the Tadpole. Tips for oxygen, inventory, creatures and co-op follow.
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Great JawThe Great Jaw is Subnautica 2's giant clam Leviathan, about 350 m from the Lifepod at heading 195; it opens as you approach and snaps shut if you touch the red fibers in its core, and the lithium nodules it expels make it a lithium farm. Since update 1.2 you cannot build a base inside it.
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Collector LeviathanThe Collector Leviathan is Subnautica 2's giant squid, found in the trench about 700 m east of the Lifepod past the hot Graveyard waters; it cannot be killed, so you cross its trench low along the bottom in a Tadpole. Scanning it teaches the Sonic Echo Biomod.