How to Build the Vehicle Fabricator in Subnautica 2

Getting your first vehicle will be a massive quality-of-life help for your exploration in Subnautica 2. You’ll eventually get the Vehicle Fabricator blueprint through progressing and scanning objects, but the even more confusing part is actually building the Vehicle Fabricator in your base.

Here’s a guide showing you how to construct your Vehicle Fabricator, create a Moonpool, and create your first Tadpole vehicle in Subnautica 2.

How to Build a Moonpool in Subnautica 2

Open up your construction menu using the Habitat Builder. Go to the Standard Elements category and first build a room. A room takes 5x Titanium, and once you place it, you have to expand it. To expand the room, just pick the room from the construction menu again and aim directly at one of the walls of the room to expand that size. Depending on the dimensions, you’ll use up around 0.92 or more Titanium per expansion (per click on a wall).

For the vehicle dock, I suggest you place this room in an easily accessible location in your base. Now, your room needs to be expanded at least 7 or more times for this setup to work because a standard room has barely enough room for anything.

Now, look for the Moonpool in the Base Pieces subcategory. Creating a Moonpool needs 5x Titanium, but I suggest having a ton of Titanium in reserve since you can expand this single Moonpool using the Habitat Builder and more Titanium, same as the room.

Build the Moonpool and expand it at least four times, which will be important later.

How to Attach the Vehicle Fabricator to the Moonpool in Subnautica 2

Now, with the room and Moonpool expanded, go to your construction menu and look for the Vehicle Fabricator under the Standard Elements category and Vehicles subcategory. You’ll need 2x Titanium Ingots, 1x Copper Ingot, and 2x Glass.

Most players will have a problem here, since if they don’t expand the room and the Moonpool, it’ll be impossible to place the Vehicle Fabricator even if you have the Moonpool up.

Since you expanded the Moonpool and room already, you can place the Vehicle Fabricator on one of the sides of the Moonpool.

How to Build a Tadpole in Subnautica 2

With the Vehicle Fabricator up, you can finally build your first vehicle, the Tadpole, assuming you have scanned enough Tadpole Fragments to get the blueprint. Interact with the Vehicle Fabricator (on the back side), and it’ll open up a vehicle construction menu. Construct the Tadpole using 2x Titanium Ingots, 1x Glass, 1x System Chip, and 1x Power Cell.

That’s a lot of materials, especially since these are all complex materials now, so you really need to farm a lot of everything, like Copper, Quartz, Silver, and Titanium. You’ll also need Strong Acid and Salt for these, too.

Craft the Tadpole, and it should automatically spawn in the Moonpool. It should also be functional with a Power Cell on the top. The Power Cell will fuel the vehicle, but you’ll also need a way to replace it or charge it.

Eventually, when you progress more, you’ll unlock a Power Cell Terminal for recharging Power Cells similar to the Battery Terminal. For now, you can craft an additional Power Cell for emergency vehicle fuel, which could be costly considering it takes so many resources to craft a Power Cell.

In your Moonpool, you should also craft a Tadpole Dock, which recharges the vehicle as well. You need 2x Titanium Ingots, 1x Silver Ingot, and 2x Copper Wire. The Tadpole Dock should attach to one of the sides of the Moonpool, which is why you expanded the Moonpool 4 or more times to fit these structures in.

The Tadpole Dock and Vehicle Fabricator takes 15 energy per second, so you really should have a Hydroelectric Turbine or Bioreactor for power. With the Tadpole Dock up, you can run your Tadpole straight to the dock, and it’ll automatically park the vehicle for you.