How to Not Die v3

Subnautica: Below Zero2.2k views7 favorites5 min readby justpesky_Updated Nov 7, 2020View on Steam ↗

Introduction

Welcome to my Subnautica: Below Zero guide. As you could tell from the description, this is a legitimate and serious version of my guide How to Not Die (v2). That guide contained a lot of errors, typos, and bad jokes, so I decided to make a serious version. This guide will contain:
-What to do to get started
-Helpful tips and advice
-Some story info (Spoiler warning)
Enjoy!
(NOTICE: The game is being heavily updated, and in a matter of months this guide will probably be 100% Obsolete.)

Getting started

Upon starting the game, you wake up to the alarm going off in your base. A meteor shower has triggered an emergency evacuation of the sector. From there, you exit the base and go down the narrow pathway into the ice cave containing a Precursor/Architect base. When the shield inside the facility activates, that's your cue to run for the exit of the cave. The right path will be blocked, so you need to climb some rocks to get up. Run down the path, following it all the way back to the base. Once you're back near the base, an avalanche tumbles down, destroying your only shelter. You need to jump onto the frozen lake, after which the communications tower falls down, shattering the ice. After that, you'll be in the water. Swim through the cave, grabbing air from the little pocket about halfway there. Once you're out, the life pod drops from the sky, and the game has begun. Get plenty of fish and resources. Use bladderfish to make water, and the other fish for food. Peepers are a great source of food, giving lots of nourishment. Use resources to craft tools, and it's a good idea to get your own habitat built. That's all for the start!

Helpful Tips

Here are some tips that will help you survive longer, or just be generally more successful.
-Avoid Leviathans, Cryptosuchus, and other hostile creatures. They're very aggressive and dangerous, and will do a lot of damage. They're also very difficult to kill or neutralize. Avoid at all costs, but if you do end up having to venture into their territory, you'd better be prepared for a fright, and a bit of injury.

-Make sure to always have plenty of food and water. Starvation and dehydration are very dangerous in a game like this, and you'll run out of food pretty quick. It's a good idea to get a Grav Trap to catch fish, so you can always have them readily available. Cured food doesn't spoil, but it takes away some water. The fridge can keep your food fresh for longer.

-Be careful in vehicles. As TheOdd1sOut would say, "Wear your seatbelts!" Except these vehicles don't have seatbelts. Hostile creatures can really mess up a vehicle, and you need to always keep an eye out for sea monsters. Always make sure that before you set out on your journeys that your vehicles are fully repaired and have enough charge to get you to where you're going and back. It's never a bad idea to bring a few extra power cells, just in case. If you don't pay attention to your vehicle's health, it might end up exploding. If you don't have enough charge, you could end up with an unpowered, non-moving vehicle in some very bad places.

-Watch your back. While some things are programmed cutscenes that won't harm you, if you're not careful something could catch you off guard and kill/injure you. Always be wary in the territory of leviathans or other hostiles, as they could end up catching you at a bad time.

Story Content (Spoiler warning) [Hey, I updated it!]

Al-An: Upon going into the alien sanctuary and having Al-An inserted into your mind, you'll need to journey around the map to find the different Architect/Precursor body parts. (Sorry, I'm just nostalgic from the first game in which they were called Precursors.) After they've all been collected, head to the fabricator base in the Crystal Caves. There, you can fabricate the Architect body and get Al-An out of your head.

Marguerit Maida: That's right! She's alive. So, how is she alive? For those of you who don't know, Marguerit Maida was a character from the first game. She was a hired mercenary for the Degasi crew when it crash landed on 4546B, before the Aurora. Here's the story behind her being in this game: Marguerit brought a reaper leviathan to the seabase so that Bart Torgal could study it and figure out ways to cure the disease they contracted. (The Kharaa bacterium!) However, the reaper gained consciousness, and began to attack the base. Bart and his father Paul Torgal died. Marg, however, was fighting the reaper with a piece of metal (or maybe it was a knife) and eventually killed it. Unfortunately for her, after the fight, she ended up in the void, dead zone, whatever you want to call it. The place with the ghost leviathans. She used her survival skills and cut open the dead leviathan for shelter. She was able to find fat and meat in the reaper, and she burned the fat for warmth and to cook the meat. She ate a reaper! After a while, she though she was done for, but then she ended up in Sector Zero, where this game takes place. What are the odds? She survived for ten years, and she built a seabase, stole supplies from Alterra, tamed a snow stalker, and modified a PRAWN suit. She lives in a seabase in a cave, in the Lily Pads biome. After she asks you to sabotage the Security Tower and the tracking satellites, she'll let you know about her greenhouse out on an iceberg. From there, she leads you further into the (still somewhat unfnished) story.

Warp Gate Base: The former shield base is now turned into the Warp Gate base, which will probably open a portal for Al-An to return home.

Sam: Alterra was attempting to weaponize the Kharaa bacterium found in the Frozen Leviathan, so she attempted to cure it using Spy Penglings. She was killed in a cave collapse (Sabotage?) and was unable to cure the Leviathan. You have to find the cure (Enzyme 42) and use it to cure the leviathan.

That's all the story stuff I know of and is in-game at the moment.

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