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How to Get the Seamoth Submarine in Subnautica

Here's how to unlock Subnautica's first proper vehicle.

Subnautica's world is as huge as it is hostile, and sooner or later you'll need more than flippers or a little Seaglide to make it safely across the world. We'll be showing you how to find and build the Seamoth, the one-seat submarine that'll serve as your main mode of transport for most of the game.

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What Does the Seamoth Do?

The Seamoth is a small, one-person submarine that moves faster than the Seaglide and provides a steady supply of oxygen to anybody inside it, meaning you don't have to go up for air at all, a huge benefit. The Seamoth can also be customised and modified later on by building a Moonpool and Vehicle Upgrade Console, including the addition of a torpedo launcher.

How to Get the Seamoth

There's no intact Seamoth anywhere to be found in Planet 4546B, meaning you'll have to build one. To do this you'll need to build the Mobile Vehicle Bay in your fabricator, find broken fragments of the Seamoth spread about the world and scan them for a blueprint, and finally acquire the resources needed to construct that Seamoth.

The Mobile Vehicle Bay can be used to make your Seamoth, as well as other vehicles later in the game. | Joel Franey/USGamer, Unknown Worlds Entertainment

How to Build the Mobile Vehicle Bay

This is the easiest stage of all, as the Mobile Vehicle Bay is built with components that can either be found or built early on without too much trouble.

  • Mobile Vehicle Bay: Titanium ingot x1, lubricant x1, power cell x1

Once you have the bay, take it into the ocean and deploy it, where it will unfold into a small platform that floats on the water and can be stood on, equipped with a screen that allows you to select what you want it to build. Now you have the tools, but you still need the know-how.

The Grassy Plateau close by is littered with Seamoth fragments. | Joel Franey/USGamer, Unknown Worlds Entertainment

Where to Find Seamoth Fragments

Fragments of Seamoth are found mainly in an area marked by dark red grass, referred to by the game as the Grassy Plateaus, which borders on the edge of the Shallows and shouldn't be hard to find if you just circle around the biome's border. This area isn't completely safe, with sand sharks and tiger plants in abundance, but they're slow and a Seaglide should outpace them easily. Stay close to the surface and look for wreckage, which will usually have Seamoth fragments close to hand.

These fragments are too big to fit into crates, so they'll be lying around wherever, usually depicted as round-looking chunks of white plastic and glass, different to the ragged-looking metal carnage around it. Drop down, scan three separate pieces with your handheld scanner, and you should receive a blueprint to bring back to your Mobile Vehicle Bay.

Seamoth fragments all look different, but are generally identifiable by their rounded shape and white exterior. | Joel Franey/USGamer, Unknown Worlds Entertainment

How to Build the Seamoth

Once you have the Bay and the blueprints, you just need to put the raw resources into the Mobile Vehicle Bay. Despite the fragments being found outside the Shallows, everything you need to make the Seamoth can be found close to your pod, the safest area in the game. The full list of components can be found below.

  • Seamoth: Titanium ingot x1, power cell x1, glass x2, lubricant x1, lead x1

Once you select the icon to start building it, the drones that are part of the Bay will fly into the air and assemble the Seamoth in front of you. Congratulations - you now have your own personal submarine!

Your finished Seamoth will take you from one end of the ocean to the other, provided you keep it stocked with fresh batteries. | Joel Franey/USGamer, Unknown Worlds Entertainment

Now that you're ready to see the sea, why not check out our other guides on Subnautica? You can see our explanation on cave sulfur here, as well as our how-to on making titanium ingots over here. Alternatively you can see our full explanation of Subnautica's plot and backstory here.

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