1583

I’ve never bothered with any of the defensive or offensive modules in any of my playthroughs. The only creatures that are a real threat are the leviathans, and those systems don’t do much against them. Better to give the limited vehicle slots over to modules that increase all-around utility.

I just discovered in my last game that cargo modules stack. I’d always assumed that you only got the one side pod, but if you install another three of the same module, they each sprout another pod dotted all over the Seamoth. Actually pretty useful for making titanium runs.

1584

While there’s some nifty to find out there, you can absolutely complete the game without going to that area.

1585

So, there are deep spots you go in to. Like literally go in and there is akin to an airlock. If you have found none of those, start going to the clues you’re given about deep Degasi bases, then anything marked as alien whatever.

Also to describe two specific spots to you that are semi-spoilerish:

  1. The Degasi base that has the Squid/Octopus that strobes and puts the lights out has key things you need to find. It’s also near one of two dropoffs that goes to a very deep … end area.

  2. You had a radio beacon for a pod that was a commanders pod I believe. it was very deep and near it were those long blood kelp vines that have red nodes growing on them (blood oil) and nearby deep mushrooms. It’s a much better spot that you can slowly maneuver the cyclops down to, all the way to the bottom where that pod was. Within about 150m of that is the other entrance that slowly drops off into that same area mentioned above. Jump out of the cyclops in your prawn and go exploring. If anything big gets near you drill or claw it until it runs, then keep moving on. When you get in a quiet spot, jump out and fix your prawn. There are a TON of resources down there and usually the ones needed for upgrades to any vehicles for depth. You’ll need them.

1586

Yes, I’ve been here, this is probably my latest base discovery. I went through the base pretty thoroughly I think but I don’t remember an actual airlock. Not a functional one, anyway. I don’t remember what I found there though.

Yes, been there too. I know I grabbed some blood oil because I needed it for benzene. I probably didn’t go as deep as you’re describing because I don’t recall any new or unusual resources. I’ll take a closer look next chance I get.

1587

Both of those places are very near the next phase, if you will. That phase is deeper. Go to either and look around for a large cave opening gradually going down.

There will be things in the next phase. You say you aren’t afraid?

1588

Isn’t that the end of the map? I thought it was completely empty hence the large number of leviathans so you dont go to an empty place.

1589

That was kinda my assumption, that the game was gently guiding me away from something that might not really be anything anyway. On another day, that might have goaded me into exploring further just to find out for myself, but there are so many other spots that actually do have things to find that I just went, eh, ok let’s go.

1590

If that’s the place i think it is they constantly spawn leviathans until you die.

1591

The Dunes gives a warning about multiple life signs and asks if you’re sure what you’re doing is worth it.

Going off the edge of the map spawns endless ghost leviathans. That warns about entering an ecological dead zone.

1592

The last radio transmission for Pod 2 literally puts you right in front of an entrance. It just takes a little exploring around it but not much at all. It is very close by. You don’t even need to go deeper. The Degasi base is near the side/middle entrance but you have to go deeper down to find it naturally.

There is also kind of a back entrance but less likely to be found first. It’s near the pod in the bulb zone you are sent to much earlier. The problem is it is a bit further and over/under a hill, and shrouded in almost total darkness. I believe players are less likely to plunge into a black pit at that point in the game.

There is finally a secret forth entrance you are never sent anywhere near via audio logs or radio transmissions. It’s south of the dunes. Finding it would just require dumb explorer luck.

1593

This is very, very incorrect. A fully charged Seamoth defensive blast is enough of a smack on the nose to run off a Reaper (or to cook several smaller threats), there’s literally no more valuable defensive system in either Subnautica game. That the Cyclops can’t mount a giant version of that is just one more reason it’s useless.

1594

All right, let’s catch up. Over the last couple of days I’ve worked on following the general advice of ‘ever downward!’ since I’ve got everything pretty well set up at my base, and now have a Prawn and Cyclops to play with. Since I was lacking a few critical elements to make them more seaworthy, or at least more depth-worthy, I kept exploring with the Seamoth until events would prevent me from going further.

So for the last couple of days I’ve been exploring the Lost River. It’s an interesting place - I had made an initial accidental foray into it a little earlier, but it being so full of scary glowing creatures, and my inability (at the time) to go lower than 500 meters, I didn’t explore very far. This time I could go much farther and find much more. Like an alien base that was apparently intended to explore this disease I’ve caught. And is now causing my skin to have glowing green spots, which I have noticed occasionally on other sea creatures. I’m hoping this isn’t terminal, or at least that I don’t now have a time limit on my exploring. I do certainly have a little more motivation.

And having moved around and used the Cyclops a bit more I’ve discovered that I … kinda hate it. It’s like driving an 18 wheeler, and since my downward exploration is taking me through ever-narrowing caverns, the Cyclops is even more difficult to get through intact, especially since it’s also apparently a fucking reaper magnet. Not a lot of fun seeing one coming knowing that you can’t dodge it, so trying to go to silent running (which I’m still not sure actually does anything but drain power) and then hope it will leave me alone long enough to patch the hull and get the hell out of there.

So I’ve decided, and spent a decent chunk today following through, on a new plan - I’m going to build a second base down in the Lost River. I can hang down there with the Cyclops and Prawn (needed because there’s lots of mining) and see what else I can find down there. I’ve found another big hole I may need to jump into, and see what else is down there. I’m still having a lot of fun with this.

1595

OK, I finally get it. For a while I lost the thread on the game, just kind of lost in exploration and discovery. And not really minding it! But oh yeah, there actually is a plot going on around me and a purpose for all this exploration and we’ve finally closed the loop. I think this last bit of story I’ll just leave unmentioned - I guess I could spoiler blur it, but those of you who have played probably know where I’m going with this and those who don’t probably don’t need the temptation of all those spoilers.

Let’s just say I went deep and I found … something. And it was pretty wild, as I’m sure you can imagine. But now I’m going back up, back to my original base. Building that second base turned out to be the best decision for me, as I had to do a fair bit of construction and fabrication once I got to, you know. And there are probably people who just managed with the Cyclops but that was mainly a ferry for me, a way of transporting materials down where I needed them until I didn’t, and then I brought them right back up. I guess I may need to go back down but, well, that’s less of a problem now too. And my seamoth can actually get to my second base, it’s just outside the 900 meter crush depth.

So, now that I’ve had my knuckles rapped and been told hey! Remember what you were doing? Maybe get back to that! Well, maybe I’ll get back to that. I think I’m on the downhill slide here, unless something unusual rears its head. Always a possibility, now that I think about it.

1596

This is the classic second base location. Which entrance to the lost river did you find?

1597

Yeah I was going to say the same as roguefrog, you came to the exact same thought process as many of us once we hit the lost river. Easier to build a base there to foray deeper for the story. Upon a second playthrough, I used my cyclops a lot more as I found out if you get down to the lost river you can just silent run through there, rubbing on to things along the way until you break out further down. It’s not really made for it, but you can do it. Still, the easiest way is a base down there. Almost like they put all the thermal vents there just for that reason.

I think the problem is the disconnect between when you get all the radio updates that push the story along to the dead time when you need to find the river. I don’t remember if I got a beacon for the stuff down there so I was just meandering along for quite a while until I found that area.

1598

My second base always ends up by the purple tree. I just love that spot. It’s so serene and beautiful down there, and there is danger right outside the entrance which just makes that particular spot feel even more safe.

To @Skipper 's point, I think there is a pod update that is right outside the main river entry, Pod 2 or 6 or something? I don’t recall.

1599

It’s 2 I think. Commander such-and-such if I recall. But when I went there the first time I didn’t see the river entrance nearby. Upon wandering back I did find it.

EDIT: Looks like it was lifepod 2 and the occupant was CTO Yu.

1600

It’s kind of funny but I had independently discovered two entrances to the Lost River before I really got down to the business of exploring it. The main entrance I ended up using most frequently was the one near CTO Yu’s lifepod, as @Skipper mentioned. Once I had a self-sufficient base set up and running I hung out there exclusively as I made forays deeper into the, uh, depths.

That would have been a really good spot, in retrospect. My base ended up being not terribly far from there, especially since that’s pretty much the gateway to the deeper parts where the rest of the game is. I ended up making mine back near the ribcage - initially when I went there, I ran into a translucent reaper, I think they’re called ghost reapers? But for whatever reason it disappeared, so I put a base there. I liked it for the heat sources so I always had power.

But while it didn’t seem so at the time, I do agree the base option ended up being kind of a no-brainer. I’m sure people who can make more effective use of the Cyclops could get by with that, but I liked having a room for farming, and also a scanning room so I had easy access to materials was really useful. I ended up making a moonpool too, though that wasn’t really used much after I got the upgrades to power the Cyclops and Prawn on thermal power.

1601

In my first playthrough I only used the Cyclops to move base materials from my main base to the lost river / tree area to build a second base. That became the Cyclops permanent home.

The voyage there was not uneventful because I got attacked by the Deep Degasi base monsters.

1602

My first Cyclops trip down to the Lost River was a disaster. I mean I made it, but I got attacked by two different ghost reapers. One time it pushed my Cyclops up against a wall and I had to jump out and start repairs while the reaper is bashing against my Cyclops trying to go through it to get me. Oddly enough, my return trip was quite uneventful. I think the reapers bugged out or something.

Which reminds me - as enjoyable as I have found the game to be, I’ve run into a fair amount of bugs. Usually not game breaking, more often just odd. Every time I load a game from inside a base or the Cyclops (which is pretty much every time) the game thinks I’m underwater. I can swim through the air and my air tank even ticks down. Going to the hatch and trying to exit resolves the bug so I’m not terribly bothered by it. I see fish swimming through my base - right now I’ve got a cuddlefish hanging out inside my base because I accidentally hit the ‘play with cuddlefish’ option through the base’s wall.

A bigger problem was getting stuck in the walls during, well, let’s just say during the one of the fairly climactic larger areas at the end of the game. I think the walls were getting drawn in as I was swimming and I just happened to be on the wrong side of one of them. I had to reload, lost 30 minutes of game time, so more annoying than really disastrous.