I surfaced next to the Lifepod and the Welcome Center sat dark, like a locked toolbox on a stormy night. My hands were slick in the water, and the build menu still felt out of reach. The ocean pressed like a question mark against the hull.
I’ve spent hours converting panic into a tidy base offline, and I’ll walk you through the simplest path to get access to base building in Subnautica 2. You’ll move faster if you treat this like a short scavenger hunt: craft a couple of basic tools, scan two prototypes, then fabricate the Habitat Builder and open the menu that lets you place corridors, rooms, and machines.
A cluttered workbench tells you what tools matter. How to build a base in Subnautica 2
First: you need the Habitat Builder tool in your Fabricator to access base pieces and furniture. The Fabricator contains the recipe only after you collect two blueprint components and the core tools used to scan them.
How do I get the Habitat Builder tool?
You’ll need two tools before you can scan those blueprint fragments: a Survival Multitool and a Scanner. I make the multitool as soon as I hit the beach; it’s cheap and removes a lot of friction.
- Survival Multitool: Titanium x3
- Scanner: Titanium x2, Quartz x2, Basic Battery x1
Glass (for later) comes from quartz. Basic Batteries require copper gathered from caves. Once those tools are crafted, you’re ready to find the two Habitat Builder prototypes and scan them.
Where are the Habitat Builder scans located?
The game kindly gives you a short tutorial: travel roughly 80 meters southeast of the Lifepod and you’ll find the Welcome Center. It’s out of power at first, but inserting a Basic Battery into the wall panel brings the Bio Lab and NOA online, and NOA explains base building briefly. I recommend following NOA’s prompts; they point you to the two physical scans.
- Outside: next to the “Welcome Center” sign is a small metal box containing one Habitat Builder prototype.
- Inside: dive into the hole in the center of the building’s floor to find a second prototype inside a metal container near the Oxygen Tunic.
Scan both components with your Scanner. Once both blueprint fragments are recorded, the Fabricator will present the Habitat Builder recipe.
What materials are required to craft the Habitat Builder?
Once the blueprint appears in your Fabricator, craft the tool with these ingredients:
- Titanium x2
- Glass x1 (made from Quartz x2)
- Basic Battery x1
- Copper Wire x1 (from Copper)
Gather titanium near the Lifepod. Copper will take you into small caves; use the Multitool to pry open resource pouches on smaller fauna like the Acid Raion. Assembling the Habitat Builder felt like finding a carpenter’s blueprint in a flooded attic: messy, but exactly the map I needed.
Shelves in a hardware store are organized by need. All base building and furniture blueprints in Subnautica 2
Hold the Habitat Builder in your hotbar and press the Open Menu key (right-click on PC) to see categories: Base Pieces, Furniture, Power, Production, Plantables, Storage, and more. Scan items around the world to expand your options—NOA tips, wreckage, and other structures hide many recipes.
Here’s the complete list of buildable components and furniture you can craft. Use them to plan a compact survival hub, a research lab, or a showy base with a moonpool.
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Corridor | Titanium (2) |
| Room | Titanium (5) |
| Hatch | Titanium (1)Quartz (1) |
| Window | Glass (1) |
| Nook | Titanium (3)Glass (2) |
| Half Round Room | Titanium (5)Glass (5) |
| Moonpool | Titanium (5) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Dining Chair | Titanium (2) |
| LabChair | Titanium (2) |
| Stool | Titanium (1)Rubber (1) |
| Dining Table | Titanium (3)Glass (1) |
| Single Bed | Titanium (2)Fiber (3) |
| S Shelf | Titanium (2) |
| Trashcan | Titanium (2) |
| Small Crate | Titanium (1) |
| Sign | Titanium (1)Copper (1) |
| Reaper Leviathan | Titanium (1) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Pent | Pent (1) |
| Macaron Sponge | Fibrous Pulp (3) |
| Mimic Pylon | Fibrous Pulp (5)Copper (4) |
| Freesia Flower | Fibrous Pulp (3) |
| Acid Raion | Medical Gel Sac (1) |
| Cradle Shootroot | Lucifer Rotsac (1) |
| Necrolei Cyst | Necrolei Cyst (1) |
| Cherimoya Rotsac | Cherimoya Rotsac (1) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Solar Panel | Titanium (1)Quartz (2) |
| Hydroelectric Turbine | Titanium (3)Copper (3)Silver (3) |
| Thermal Plant | Titanium (3)Copper (3)Gold (3) |
| Power Transmitter | Titanium (1)Copper (1) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Fabricator | Titanium (1)Copper (1)Quartz (1) |
| Processor | Titanium (2)Mild Acid (1)Copper Wire (1) |
| Biolab | Titanium (3)Copper Wire (1)Mild Acid (1) |
| Modification Station | Titanium (2)Celestine (2)Copper (2) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Interior Wall | Titanium (2) |
| Interior Arch | Titanium (1) |
| Interior Door | Titanium (3)Glass (1)Copper Wire (1) |
| Ladder | Titanium (2) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Exterior Wall Light | Titanium (1)Copper (1) |
| Spotlight | Titanium (1)Copper (2) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Wall Locker | Titanium (2) |
| Floor Locker | Titanium (3)Quartz (1) |
| Tailing Chest | Titanium (3) |
| Wall Rack | Titanium (1)Copper (1) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Tailing Table | Titanium (2) |
| Tailing Drum | Titanium (2)Fiber Mesh (2) |
| Tailing Barrel | Titanium (2) |
| Coral Jar | Coral Shavings (2) |
| Small Coral Jar | Coral Shavings (1) |
| Tailing Jar | Fiber (1)Salt (1) |
| Hanging Tailing Jar | Fiber (2)Salt (1) |
| Tailing Rug | Fiber (3) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Small Axum Jar | Glass (1)Copper (1) |
| Axum Jar | Glass (1)Copper (2) |
| Tall Axum Jar | Glass (1)Copper (3) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Habitat Beacon | Titanium (1) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Small Ceiling Light | Titanium (1)Copper (1) |
| Rectangular Ceiling Light | Titanium (2)Copper (1) |
| Wall Light Small | Titanium (1)Copper (1) |
| Wall Light Large | Titanium (2)Copper (1) |
| Axum Wall Lamp | Celestine (1)Titanium (1) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Keep Calm Poster | Titanium (1) |
| Just Keep Swimming Poster | Titanium (1) |
| Safety First Poster | Titanium (1) |
| Scout Ray Poster | Titanium (1) |
| Zezura Poster | Titanium (1) |
| New Life Poster | Titanium (1) |
| Painted Tree Poster | Titanium (1) |
| Pioneer Program Poster | Titanium (1) |
| CHBC Live Poster | Titanium (1) |
| Lost River Poster | Titanium (1) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Battery Terminal | Titanium (2)Quartz (2)Copper Wire (1) |
| Power Cell Terminal | Titanium (3)Copper (3)Wiring Kit (1) |
| Bioreactor | Titanium Ingot (2)Copper Ingot (2) |
| Power Storage | Germanium Ingot (1)Titanium (3)Salt (2) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Wall Unit Small | Titanium (1) |
| Wall Panel | Titanium (1) |
| Wall Unit Large | Titanium (3) |
| Wall Vent | Titanium (2) |
| Wall Vent Large | Titanium (3) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Biobed | Titanium (3)Glass (1)Copper Wire (1) |
| NOA Terminal | Titanium (3)Glass (1)Copper Wire (1) |
| Scanner Station | Titanium (3)System Chip (1)Wiring Kit (1) |
| Time of Day Display | Titanium (1)Copper (1)Enameled Glass (1) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Portable Locker | Titanium (4) |
| Beacon | Copper (1)Titanium (1) |
| Portable Oxygen Generator | Titanium (3)Lithium (2) |
| Work Light | Titanium (3)Quartz (2) |
| Dive Elevator | Titanium (4)Copper (2)Quartz (2) |
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Roof Pmp | Titanium (1) |
| Roof Pump Double | Titanium (2) |
| Roof Cylinder | Titanium (1) |
| Roof Panel Large | Titanium (2) |
| Roof Antenna | Titanium (1) |
| Roof Antenna Large | Titanium (3) |
| Roof Listening Dish | Titanium (3) |
If you want to expand beyond the basics, check the game’s Fabricator and NOA prompts for further recipes. On PC platforms like Steam and consoles such as PlayStation, the flow is identical: gather, scan, craft, and then place. Tools like the Multitool and Scanner are your first stops, and learning how NOA guides you will save time.
Ready to stop improvising with seaweed and scrap and build something that lasts—what will you place first?