Pressure alarms were stuttering; a shadow the size of a reef slid past my viewport. I sat there with a hand on the hatch and thought, no single set of flippers can buy you time. You’ll want to treat vehicles as more than toys—these are survival tools and map-makers.
I’ve logged hours with Subnautica 2, patched through early builds, and chased footage for outlets from IGN to YouTube creators. I’ll tell you what each vehicle does, where to meet its fragments, and how the Moonpool and Vehicle Fabricator fit together so you can move faster, carry more, and stop getting surprised by leviathans. Read this as field notes from someone who’s lost a module and lived to rebuild it.
List of All Subnautica 2 Vehicles
You’ve noticed how a city feels different once a new transit line opens—routes change and people explore further. Below is the compact inventory of vehicles confirmed in the current build, how to find their blueprints, and the numbers that matter when a creature appears in your wake.
Here is a full list of all the vehicles in Subnautica 2, along with how to unlock them and their stats:
| Name | How to Unlock | Stats |
|---|---|---|
| Tadpole | Scan 3 Tadpole Fragments | Health: 100 Hull Integrity: 250 Hardpoints: 1 |
What vehicles are in Subnautica 2?
Right now the roster is small but focused. The Tadpole is the only rideable vehicle available in this version—built for single pilots, made for tight caves, and useful when you want to bring cargo back to base without losing time to long swims. The Tadpole is a pocket submarine.
How do I build vehicles in Subnautica 2?
There’s a real-world parallel: you don’t park a car in an alley and expect it to be safe. In Subnautica 2 you can’t just craft vehicles anywhere—your base must have a Moonpool with free space beneath the floor. Once that platform exists, the Vehicle Fabricator becomes available to construct Tadpoles and, later, additional frames. The Vehicle Fabricator is your in-base factory for chassis, hulls, and modules.
Find Tadpole fragments—two are commonly reported in the Tadpole Pens near the Life Pod—and scan three to get the blueprint. I’ve found that Discord communities and Steam guides (and developers at Unknown Worlds Entertainment) map fragment clusters fast; use those channels to skip aimless searching.
How to Build and Upgrade Vehicles in Subnautica 2
When a mechanic’s garage smells of oil, you know upgrades are coming; the same applies in-game. The Moonpool must sit over empty water so your crafts can be deployed and retrieved without clipping into base geometry—a subtle but game-stopping detail I’ve learned the hard way.
After you erect a Moonpool, place the Vehicle Fabricator on top and craft a Tadpole. Add a Vehicle Dock if you want the craft to rest safely inside the pool. From there you can attach upgrade parts: a chassis for extra speed, a hauling station for inventory, and modules built at a Modification Station to increase depth rating or resilience. The Moonpool is a garage for the sea.
How do I upgrade vehicles in Subnautica 2?
Upgrades arrive in two forms: attached parts (chassis, hauling stations) and modular chips made at a Modification Station. To fit a module, walk to the Tadpole’s rear and manually insert it. Upgrades that raise depth rating and hull integrity are most valuable; speed modules are fun but won’t save you from a focused predator.
Community tools like the Subnautica 2 Wiki and Steam Workshop threads are useful for planning parts before you waste resources. For video walkthroughs, creators on YouTube and posts on Reddit’s r/Subnautica2 often show exact fragment spawn locations within the current patch.
Final note: treat your vehicle as an extension of your survival kit. It gives you reach, cargo capacity, and a margin of safety—but it’s not indestructible. How far will you push a Tadpole before you test its limits?