The First 10 Minutes: A Guide For Survival Mode
scubamatt
Georgia, USA Join Date: 2016-05-22 Member: 217295Members
Georgia, USA Join Date: 2016-05-22 Member: 217295Members
I always try to obtain the basic gear for survival in the first ten minutes of the game, and this short guide explains one way to do it.
As soon as you complete the intro cut scene and put out the fire, the PDA boots up to speak to you and the game officially starts. After that, every second of real time that passes, your hunger and water levels will drop until you reach 0% in either one – and die. Another little problem is that in a little while, about fifteen minutes of real time, the Aurora is going to blow up. This will create a huge radiation zone that can kill you in a hurry, if you don't have the right protection and swim into it by accident. You start with one piece of gear (the extinguisher), a moderate wound to the head, you're really hungry and a little thirsty.
First, let's stow that useless extinguisher and see what the lifepod has for supplies. Open the locker under the big computer display, and put the extinguisher inside. You'll see we start with 2 flares, 2 bottles of water, and 2 tasteless but powerful nutrition bars. Don't bother with any of them right now, there's plenty of food and water around. If something goes wrong, and your food level drops below 25%, eat one of the nutrition blocks to fill up, but you should have plenty of food soon. Besides, they taste like sawdust and old sweat socks.
Next thing, let's fix that head wound. Bleeding in the water is probably a bad idea, right? Open the First Aid Dispenser on the wall to your left, and grab the kit from it. Open your inventory and use the kit to heal yourself to 100%. Don't worry about using it up, it makes a new one every thirty minutes of game time, for free. That's going to be really helpful later, trust me.
Alright, let's see where we are. You can hit F1 to see the debug display and it will give exact coordinates (handy if you have printed off one of the blank maps from the Wiki). The coordinates are displayed in a X/Z/Y format for some reason. That's how far you are East/West of zero, how deep from the surface, and how far North/South you are of zero. So if your location is -100, 0,-100 you are 100 meters South and West of the center of the map, on the surface. If you aren't into maps, math and precise numbers, just climb up the ladder to stand on top of the pod.
The big wrecked spaceship is the Aurora, and the middle of its hull is due East of you. Notice the pod is roughly square shaped around the waterline. Compare that to the Aurora's direction and you can use the pod's sides (which have either ladders or big painted numbers) to give you a rough heading when you swim off from it. If you want, take a screen shot of the Aurora now, because its never going to look that nice again.
TIME TO GET WET
Jump into the water on the side away from the Aurora. Take a moment to look around and get your bearings. Most importantly, look for immediate hazards like Gasopods swimming very nearby/under your pod, or holes/tunnels in the rocks that may have Crash Plants. Both of these can kill you if you aren't careful, but at least the Crash Plant gives you a useful material (Crash Powder) after the little torpedo fish chases after you and explodes. You have to swim to the (now empty) plant, and grab it from the center of the empty petals. if you have a lousy starting position, full of threats right next to the pod, you might want to restart, just to save some hassle. Your call, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.
Look at the small fish swimming around. The ones that look like rainbow colored stingrays are harmless, and useless as food. The big pink fish (Airsacks) are great sources of water. Any of the other small fish are edible, but the ones with the big eyeballs (Peepers) are the best for food. You want to grab a couple of the Airsacks and any of the other game fish whenever you get a chance, but its not urgent right now because you have food/water in the locker. All small game fish are sluggish or asleep at night, so they are really easy to grab after dark.
Look around for Quartz (big crystals), Scrap Metal (big chunks of metal), and Limestone Nodes (lighter colored hunks of rock, sticking to the sides of pillars and coral formations). All of these are important to you, but right now you need to look around and see if you can spot any Kelp Forest areas, and specifically the glowing yellow fruit in the Kelp areas. These are the most important thing for you in the first five minutes – the yellow Creepvine Pods will let you make better gear, and there are usually dangerous predators somewhere near them. Your starting position is always random, but there are generally Kelp Forests to the West, and to the South, from any starting position. Do NOT swim towards the Aurora, because after it blows up that area will be dangerous for you until you get better clothing. (Tip: If you are near a thermal vent, which erupts like a volcano every thirty seconds or so, you are in a good starting location, and all the resources you need to survive are nearby. Lucky you, but stay out of the volcanic eruption if you want to live.)
Remember that you swim fastest when you have your hands empty, so always swim with any tools put away, if you can. Holding the space bar will make you rise towards the surface, no matter which way you are facing. Swimming towards the surface (aiming for it and moving forward), combined with holding down the space bar, is the fastest way to reach the surface. Most predators will stop chasing you, if you reach the surface or swim far enough away from where they started chasing you (their 'leash' distance is exceeded). When trying to grab fish, it is easier if you approach them from above/below and grab them when they try to turn away from obstacles like rock pillars or coral tubes.
FIRST TRIP: STRAIGHT TO THE KELP
Don't swim too deep from the surface (you want to be able to quickly replenish your air) but head straight for the kelp area and those yellow Creepvine Pods. Try to pick out a clump that doesn't have any Stalkers swimming nearby (really big, long fish – you'll know its a predator when you see it, trust me). Grab six of the Creepvine Pods, and then head back towards your pod, avoiding any predators. On the way back, grab 2 Quartz and 1 Scrap Metal that you saw earlier. If you get the chance to grab an Airsack and/or a couple of the other small game fish, do it but don't worry if you can't just yet. If you see any of the Limestone nodes on the way back to the pod, crack them open with your hands and see if you can get a couple of Copper, Lead or Titanium from them.
Get back in the pod by entering the hatch underneath, or swimming up to the sides where the ladders are and climbing on top (the hatch is easier, but if there are hazards close below the pod use the ladders).
Use the Fabricator and turn the six Creepvine Pods into 3 Rubber, turn the two Quartz into 1 Glass, and convert any Scrap Metal into Titanium. Now craft a set of Fins (2 Rubber), a Knife (1 Rubber, 1 Titanium), and an Air Tank (1 Titanium, 1 Glass). If you did catch an Airsack, use the Fabricator to turn him into a bottle of water and drink it. If you caught other small fish, use the Fabricator to cook them into a meal and eat them. This should raise your hunger/thirst bars a lot. Dump everything except your knife into the storage locker. You now have extra air, a tool to cut Creepvines, and fins that help you swim faster. Time to go back to the Kelp Forest for more resources.
SECOND TRIP: RIGHT BACK TO THE KELP
Same method as before, but this time you need some of the plain Creepvine, the ones that don't have yellow clumps of fruit on them. You'll have to get close to them and slash them with your knife to collect samples. You need at least 4 samples, but get as many as you can carry because you will use them later for more advanced clothing. Remember to avoid the Stalkers, and head back to the pod. Along the way, try to grab some Airsacks and other game fish for water and food. Again, watch for nodes, and crack them open to try and get Copper, Lead, and Titanium. Ideally, you want a total of 2 Lead and 2 Copper from nodes, as well as some more Titanium from nodes or Scrap metal.
Back in the pod, use the Fabricator to convert all the Creepvine Samples into Fiber Mesh. This will make a lot of room in your inventory. If you captured any Airsacks, convert them to bottles of water. Don't drink the bottles until your thirst is low enough that you won't waste any water. If your thirst bar is at 90%, and you drink a bottle of water that gives +40 water, you just wasted 30 water. Wait until your thirst bar is at 60% to drink a +40 bottle. Cook and eat fish if you need to eat (see the comment on wasting water above, it works the same way for wasting food). If you don't need to eat right now, DON'T cook the fish, just stick them in the locker. They don't start to spoil until you cook them, so save them for later and you'll never have to eat those awful tasting nutrition blocks.
THIRD TRIP: SALT, SHROOMS, AND SIGHTSEEING
Get back in the water, and start searching around near your pod. You're after the final ingredients to make batteries and more food/water. Grab four Acid Mushrooms, and remember to pick them up with your hands, DON'T slash them with your knife! If you haven't been able to grab Airsacks before now, you're probably getting low on water and you should grab Salt wherever you see it – it is usually right next to the Acid Mushrooms, and you will want at least four or five pieces of it. You're going to want 3 Salt to make a piece of Magnesium, later, but right now its useful for making drinking water. Take some samples from common coral. Use your knife on the big coral tubes nearby to collect a few samples of common coral. One salt + one coral sample = a bottle of bleach, which makes a bottle of water. If you have encountered a Crash Plant and avoided getting blown up by the fish it launches, be sure to grab the powder from the center of the empty flower. If you see quartz, grab two more pieces to make another piece of glass. While you are gathering up all of these things, be on the lookout for a good place to build your future undersea base, and watch for anything that looks like a Fragment (currently, they look like little Safes, but in the future they are supposed to look like pieces of the item they represent, like Solar Panels etc). You'll be returning to those fragments soon, to scan them. As usual, if any Airsacks or other game fish make themselves an easy target, grab them to stock up on water/food. All small game fish are sluggish or asleep at night, so they are easy to grab after dark.
Back to the pod, and time to assemble the rest of your basic gear.
Two acid mushrooms and one copper makes a battery. Make two of these.
A battery and 2 Titanium makes a Scanner (critical tool). Make one of these.
If you are having water issues, make bleach with the salt and coral, then make water and drink it.
If you are good on water, use 3 Salt to make 1 Magnesium, save the rest for bleach.
Use 2 Fiber Mesh and 2 lead to make a Radiation Suit (it will automatically equip itself to you). Congratulations, the radiation zone around the Aurora can't hurt you now.
Make another piece of glass from the two quartz, and then make a second Air Tank. This should be all you need for air tanks for a long time (more than this will slow you down too much while swimming).
MAKE A WELDER AND REPAIR THE POD
One magnesium, one crash powder, and one titanium makes a Welder (critical tool). As soon as you have a the Welder, use it to repair the pod (aim it at the sparking wall panel and activate it to repair it, then do the same to the communications relay). If you don't have crash powder yet, don't worry about it too much. Just keep an eye open for it and make a Welder when you can. The welder is used to repair the pod and any vehicles you build later.
SECURE THE POD
Use 3 Titanium to make a set of Pipe (There 5 pieces in a set) Equip the pipe on your hot bar, and go back outside the pod. Swim to each of the four sides of the pod, and place a single piece of pipe as close to the side of the pod as you can, without touching it. You'll end up with four vertical sticks around your pod, sort of fencing it in (the pipes don't need to connect to each other). This keeps the pod from floating off later, if you haven't repaired it with the Welder, or the gravity anchor in the pod fails.
TEN MINUTE MARK: CHECK YOUR GEAR
If you have been hustling, you've now got everything you need to survive, and its taken under ten minutes real time to get all of the basic gear you need to survive. You should have:
NEXT STEP: FIND SOME SILVER
From here, your next goal should be to find at least 1 piece of Silver, so you can make a Habitat Builder tool, and start creating a proper base. Silver comes from Sandstone nodes, which look very similar to the Limestone ones you've been collecting. Silver is probably the most important resource in the game, because its uncommon and you need it for so many things. The best two places to find Sandstone nodes are within a thermal vent (stay out of the volcanic eruption in the center of the vent) inside small caves that line the walls of the vent, or in the grassy plateau areas (near the kelp areas, but its flat and has red grass everywhere). You only really need 1 piece of Silver right now (so you can make the Habitat Builder tool) but if you get more you can make a Fabricator (for your new base), and a Still Suit (so you can conserve water). It takes 3 silver to make a Fabricator (making a wiring kit takes two, and making a computer chip takes one). It takes 2 silver to make a Still Suit (with 2 fiber mesh), which is handy for everywhere outside the Radiation Zone, as it actually creates free water for you while you wear it. You can also make a Rebreather (a wiring kit takes 2 silver) to combine with the Still Suit, if you have enough silver left over. I always build a Habitat Builder tool first, then the stuff for a Fabricator, then start a basic base, before I build the Still Suit and Rebreather.
TIP FOR EARLY GAME STORAGE
If you pick up so much stuff than you run out of room in the pod storage locker, you can build Waterproof Lockers for 3 Titanium each, and store up to 16 items in them, underwater. However, they cannot be recycled later, even though you can pick them up and move them someplace else. I never build more than two of these in a game, myself, and only later when I want to prepackage my outpost kits(see my other guide). A simpler/cheaper answer is to pick a nice flat sandy spot near your pod, and just Dig Sand there to make a little pit. Then swim get into or above the pit, and drop the extra stuff you don't want to carry. It will float down and pile up in the pit, where you can grab it later.
SHOPPING LIST
This is my ideal list of material for the early game set up, in case you want to copy it off on a card or something as a handy reference.
8 Titanium (Scrap Metal gives 4 per)
3 Quartz (make 1 glass)
5 Silver (make a computer chip, a wiring kit)
2 Table Coral (any color, but not Common Coral)
6 Creepvine Pods (make 3 rubber, make fins)
10 Creepvine Sample (make 5 fiber mesh)
2 Lead
2 Copper
4 Acid Mushrooms
3 Salt (make 1 Magnesium from these) extra as needed for water (add coral samples)
1 Crash Powder
IMPORTANT RECIPES
First Aid Kit - free from Life Pod
Fins 2 Rubber (4 Creepvine Pods from Kelp Forest)
Air Tank 1 Titanium, 1 Glass (2 Quartz)
Knife 1 Titanium, 1 Rubber (2 Creepvine Pods)
Scanner 2 Titanium, Battery (Copper, 2 Acid Mushrooms)
Habitat Builder 1 Battery, 1 Computer Chip (Copper, 2 Acid Mushrooms, Silver, Quartz, 2 Table Coral)
Radiation Suit 2 Lead, 2 Fiber Mesh (4 Creepvine Samples)
Welder 1 Titanium, 1 Magnesium, 1 Crash Powder
Still Suit 2 Silver, 2 Fiber Mesh (4 Creepvine Samples)
Rebreather 1 Wiring Kit (2 Silver), 1 Fiber Mesh (2 Creepvine Samples)
As soon as you complete the intro cut scene and put out the fire, the PDA boots up to speak to you and the game officially starts. After that, every second of real time that passes, your hunger and water levels will drop until you reach 0% in either one – and die. Another little problem is that in a little while, about fifteen minutes of real time, the Aurora is going to blow up. This will create a huge radiation zone that can kill you in a hurry, if you don't have the right protection and swim into it by accident. You start with one piece of gear (the extinguisher), a moderate wound to the head, you're really hungry and a little thirsty.
First, let's stow that useless extinguisher and see what the lifepod has for supplies. Open the locker under the big computer display, and put the extinguisher inside. You'll see we start with 2 flares, 2 bottles of water, and 2 tasteless but powerful nutrition bars. Don't bother with any of them right now, there's plenty of food and water around. If something goes wrong, and your food level drops below 25%, eat one of the nutrition blocks to fill up, but you should have plenty of food soon. Besides, they taste like sawdust and old sweat socks.
Next thing, let's fix that head wound. Bleeding in the water is probably a bad idea, right? Open the First Aid Dispenser on the wall to your left, and grab the kit from it. Open your inventory and use the kit to heal yourself to 100%. Don't worry about using it up, it makes a new one every thirty minutes of game time, for free. That's going to be really helpful later, trust me.
Alright, let's see where we are. You can hit F1 to see the debug display and it will give exact coordinates (handy if you have printed off one of the blank maps from the Wiki). The coordinates are displayed in a X/Z/Y format for some reason. That's how far you are East/West of zero, how deep from the surface, and how far North/South you are of zero. So if your location is -100, 0,-100 you are 100 meters South and West of the center of the map, on the surface. If you aren't into maps, math and precise numbers, just climb up the ladder to stand on top of the pod.
The big wrecked spaceship is the Aurora, and the middle of its hull is due East of you. Notice the pod is roughly square shaped around the waterline. Compare that to the Aurora's direction and you can use the pod's sides (which have either ladders or big painted numbers) to give you a rough heading when you swim off from it. If you want, take a screen shot of the Aurora now, because its never going to look that nice again.
TIME TO GET WET
Jump into the water on the side away from the Aurora. Take a moment to look around and get your bearings. Most importantly, look for immediate hazards like Gasopods swimming very nearby/under your pod, or holes/tunnels in the rocks that may have Crash Plants. Both of these can kill you if you aren't careful, but at least the Crash Plant gives you a useful material (Crash Powder) after the little torpedo fish chases after you and explodes. You have to swim to the (now empty) plant, and grab it from the center of the empty petals. if you have a lousy starting position, full of threats right next to the pod, you might want to restart, just to save some hassle. Your call, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.
Look at the small fish swimming around. The ones that look like rainbow colored stingrays are harmless, and useless as food. The big pink fish (Airsacks) are great sources of water. Any of the other small fish are edible, but the ones with the big eyeballs (Peepers) are the best for food. You want to grab a couple of the Airsacks and any of the other game fish whenever you get a chance, but its not urgent right now because you have food/water in the locker. All small game fish are sluggish or asleep at night, so they are really easy to grab after dark.
Look around for Quartz (big crystals), Scrap Metal (big chunks of metal), and Limestone Nodes (lighter colored hunks of rock, sticking to the sides of pillars and coral formations). All of these are important to you, but right now you need to look around and see if you can spot any Kelp Forest areas, and specifically the glowing yellow fruit in the Kelp areas. These are the most important thing for you in the first five minutes – the yellow Creepvine Pods will let you make better gear, and there are usually dangerous predators somewhere near them. Your starting position is always random, but there are generally Kelp Forests to the West, and to the South, from any starting position. Do NOT swim towards the Aurora, because after it blows up that area will be dangerous for you until you get better clothing. (Tip: If you are near a thermal vent, which erupts like a volcano every thirty seconds or so, you are in a good starting location, and all the resources you need to survive are nearby. Lucky you, but stay out of the volcanic eruption if you want to live.)
Remember that you swim fastest when you have your hands empty, so always swim with any tools put away, if you can. Holding the space bar will make you rise towards the surface, no matter which way you are facing. Swimming towards the surface (aiming for it and moving forward), combined with holding down the space bar, is the fastest way to reach the surface. Most predators will stop chasing you, if you reach the surface or swim far enough away from where they started chasing you (their 'leash' distance is exceeded). When trying to grab fish, it is easier if you approach them from above/below and grab them when they try to turn away from obstacles like rock pillars or coral tubes.
FIRST TRIP: STRAIGHT TO THE KELP
Don't swim too deep from the surface (you want to be able to quickly replenish your air) but head straight for the kelp area and those yellow Creepvine Pods. Try to pick out a clump that doesn't have any Stalkers swimming nearby (really big, long fish – you'll know its a predator when you see it, trust me). Grab six of the Creepvine Pods, and then head back towards your pod, avoiding any predators. On the way back, grab 2 Quartz and 1 Scrap Metal that you saw earlier. If you get the chance to grab an Airsack and/or a couple of the other small game fish, do it but don't worry if you can't just yet. If you see any of the Limestone nodes on the way back to the pod, crack them open with your hands and see if you can get a couple of Copper, Lead or Titanium from them.
Get back in the pod by entering the hatch underneath, or swimming up to the sides where the ladders are and climbing on top (the hatch is easier, but if there are hazards close below the pod use the ladders).
Use the Fabricator and turn the six Creepvine Pods into 3 Rubber, turn the two Quartz into 1 Glass, and convert any Scrap Metal into Titanium. Now craft a set of Fins (2 Rubber), a Knife (1 Rubber, 1 Titanium), and an Air Tank (1 Titanium, 1 Glass). If you did catch an Airsack, use the Fabricator to turn him into a bottle of water and drink it. If you caught other small fish, use the Fabricator to cook them into a meal and eat them. This should raise your hunger/thirst bars a lot. Dump everything except your knife into the storage locker. You now have extra air, a tool to cut Creepvines, and fins that help you swim faster. Time to go back to the Kelp Forest for more resources.
SECOND TRIP: RIGHT BACK TO THE KELP
Same method as before, but this time you need some of the plain Creepvine, the ones that don't have yellow clumps of fruit on them. You'll have to get close to them and slash them with your knife to collect samples. You need at least 4 samples, but get as many as you can carry because you will use them later for more advanced clothing. Remember to avoid the Stalkers, and head back to the pod. Along the way, try to grab some Airsacks and other game fish for water and food. Again, watch for nodes, and crack them open to try and get Copper, Lead, and Titanium. Ideally, you want a total of 2 Lead and 2 Copper from nodes, as well as some more Titanium from nodes or Scrap metal.
Back in the pod, use the Fabricator to convert all the Creepvine Samples into Fiber Mesh. This will make a lot of room in your inventory. If you captured any Airsacks, convert them to bottles of water. Don't drink the bottles until your thirst is low enough that you won't waste any water. If your thirst bar is at 90%, and you drink a bottle of water that gives +40 water, you just wasted 30 water. Wait until your thirst bar is at 60% to drink a +40 bottle. Cook and eat fish if you need to eat (see the comment on wasting water above, it works the same way for wasting food). If you don't need to eat right now, DON'T cook the fish, just stick them in the locker. They don't start to spoil until you cook them, so save them for later and you'll never have to eat those awful tasting nutrition blocks.
THIRD TRIP: SALT, SHROOMS, AND SIGHTSEEING
Get back in the water, and start searching around near your pod. You're after the final ingredients to make batteries and more food/water. Grab four Acid Mushrooms, and remember to pick them up with your hands, DON'T slash them with your knife! If you haven't been able to grab Airsacks before now, you're probably getting low on water and you should grab Salt wherever you see it – it is usually right next to the Acid Mushrooms, and you will want at least four or five pieces of it. You're going to want 3 Salt to make a piece of Magnesium, later, but right now its useful for making drinking water. Take some samples from common coral. Use your knife on the big coral tubes nearby to collect a few samples of common coral. One salt + one coral sample = a bottle of bleach, which makes a bottle of water. If you have encountered a Crash Plant and avoided getting blown up by the fish it launches, be sure to grab the powder from the center of the empty flower. If you see quartz, grab two more pieces to make another piece of glass. While you are gathering up all of these things, be on the lookout for a good place to build your future undersea base, and watch for anything that looks like a Fragment (currently, they look like little Safes, but in the future they are supposed to look like pieces of the item they represent, like Solar Panels etc). You'll be returning to those fragments soon, to scan them. As usual, if any Airsacks or other game fish make themselves an easy target, grab them to stock up on water/food. All small game fish are sluggish or asleep at night, so they are easy to grab after dark.
Back to the pod, and time to assemble the rest of your basic gear.
Two acid mushrooms and one copper makes a battery. Make two of these.
A battery and 2 Titanium makes a Scanner (critical tool). Make one of these.
If you are having water issues, make bleach with the salt and coral, then make water and drink it.
If you are good on water, use 3 Salt to make 1 Magnesium, save the rest for bleach.
Use 2 Fiber Mesh and 2 lead to make a Radiation Suit (it will automatically equip itself to you). Congratulations, the radiation zone around the Aurora can't hurt you now.
Make another piece of glass from the two quartz, and then make a second Air Tank. This should be all you need for air tanks for a long time (more than this will slow you down too much while swimming).
MAKE A WELDER AND REPAIR THE POD
One magnesium, one crash powder, and one titanium makes a Welder (critical tool). As soon as you have a the Welder, use it to repair the pod (aim it at the sparking wall panel and activate it to repair it, then do the same to the communications relay). If you don't have crash powder yet, don't worry about it too much. Just keep an eye open for it and make a Welder when you can. The welder is used to repair the pod and any vehicles you build later.
SECURE THE POD
Use 3 Titanium to make a set of Pipe (There 5 pieces in a set) Equip the pipe on your hot bar, and go back outside the pod. Swim to each of the four sides of the pod, and place a single piece of pipe as close to the side of the pod as you can, without touching it. You'll end up with four vertical sticks around your pod, sort of fencing it in (the pipes don't need to connect to each other). This keeps the pod from floating off later, if you haven't repaired it with the Welder, or the gravity anchor in the pod fails.
TEN MINUTE MARK: CHECK YOUR GEAR
If you have been hustling, you've now got everything you need to survive, and its taken under ten minutes real time to get all of the basic gear you need to survive. You should have:
- Radiation Suit
- Fins
- Air Tank (plus a spare one in inventory)
- Knife
- Scanner
- Welder (if you found a Crash Plant and got some Crash Powder)
- Food (live fish stored in the locker, to be cooked as needed)
- Water (bottles of water, and/or bleach)
- First Aid Kit (get them free from the Dispenser, every half hour of game time)
NEXT STEP: FIND SOME SILVER
From here, your next goal should be to find at least 1 piece of Silver, so you can make a Habitat Builder tool, and start creating a proper base. Silver comes from Sandstone nodes, which look very similar to the Limestone ones you've been collecting. Silver is probably the most important resource in the game, because its uncommon and you need it for so many things. The best two places to find Sandstone nodes are within a thermal vent (stay out of the volcanic eruption in the center of the vent) inside small caves that line the walls of the vent, or in the grassy plateau areas (near the kelp areas, but its flat and has red grass everywhere). You only really need 1 piece of Silver right now (so you can make the Habitat Builder tool) but if you get more you can make a Fabricator (for your new base), and a Still Suit (so you can conserve water). It takes 3 silver to make a Fabricator (making a wiring kit takes two, and making a computer chip takes one). It takes 2 silver to make a Still Suit (with 2 fiber mesh), which is handy for everywhere outside the Radiation Zone, as it actually creates free water for you while you wear it. You can also make a Rebreather (a wiring kit takes 2 silver) to combine with the Still Suit, if you have enough silver left over. I always build a Habitat Builder tool first, then the stuff for a Fabricator, then start a basic base, before I build the Still Suit and Rebreather.
TIP FOR EARLY GAME STORAGE
If you pick up so much stuff than you run out of room in the pod storage locker, you can build Waterproof Lockers for 3 Titanium each, and store up to 16 items in them, underwater. However, they cannot be recycled later, even though you can pick them up and move them someplace else. I never build more than two of these in a game, myself, and only later when I want to prepackage my outpost kits(see my other guide). A simpler/cheaper answer is to pick a nice flat sandy spot near your pod, and just Dig Sand there to make a little pit. Then swim get into or above the pit, and drop the extra stuff you don't want to carry. It will float down and pile up in the pit, where you can grab it later.
SHOPPING LIST
This is my ideal list of material for the early game set up, in case you want to copy it off on a card or something as a handy reference.
8 Titanium (Scrap Metal gives 4 per)
3 Quartz (make 1 glass)
5 Silver (make a computer chip, a wiring kit)
2 Table Coral (any color, but not Common Coral)
6 Creepvine Pods (make 3 rubber, make fins)
10 Creepvine Sample (make 5 fiber mesh)
2 Lead
2 Copper
4 Acid Mushrooms
3 Salt (make 1 Magnesium from these) extra as needed for water (add coral samples)
1 Crash Powder
IMPORTANT RECIPES
First Aid Kit - free from Life Pod
Fins 2 Rubber (4 Creepvine Pods from Kelp Forest)
Air Tank 1 Titanium, 1 Glass (2 Quartz)
Knife 1 Titanium, 1 Rubber (2 Creepvine Pods)
Scanner 2 Titanium, Battery (Copper, 2 Acid Mushrooms)
Habitat Builder 1 Battery, 1 Computer Chip (Copper, 2 Acid Mushrooms, Silver, Quartz, 2 Table Coral)
Radiation Suit 2 Lead, 2 Fiber Mesh (4 Creepvine Samples)
Welder 1 Titanium, 1 Magnesium, 1 Crash Powder
Still Suit 2 Silver, 2 Fiber Mesh (4 Creepvine Samples)
Rebreather 1 Wiring Kit (2 Silver), 1 Fiber Mesh (2 Creepvine Samples)