Can I control the lights in my Subnautica base?

Question

I'm a big fan of A E S T H E T I C in the survival crafting games that I play, and I like spending time making things look nice. One of the bigger annoyances for me is how BRIGHT my base is, with every room being lit up like the sun at all times.

Aside from my base losing its power source, which comes with other rough tradeoffs like a lack of oxygen, is there any way to control the light sources in my base?

Answer 1

Not in the vanilla game (other than losing power.) But you can install the light switch mod and use e.g. the lamp from the decorations mod to provide "mood lighting", or "outdoor" lights shining through windows - or bioluminescent flora in the ACU.

And of course you can customize Cyclops into a base. It has an interior light switch.

Answer 2

It is possible to do this without mods, at least when using the Steam Deck update on PC (build Mar-2023 71288). I think this method worked before that update, but I don't have a test system for any other version.

This approach makes use of the fact that, when constructing new habitat compartments, the new compartment will "snap to" a grid aligned to an existing compartment, iff the new compartment is close enough to an existing one.

The crucial bit is that even though the new, disconnected compartment isn't connected to an existing compartment, the new one is considered to be part of the existing base, and will share power, lighting state, hull integrity, etc. However, the flooded state is not shared.

For I-compartments, you can place the new one as far as three away in the X, Y, or Z dimension, or IIRC up to a total of five units away, summing all dimensions.

Then you can build from that new compartment in the same way, getting farther and farther from your main base, removing closer compartments after you build the next one farther away.

Simple steps:

1. Build a distant compartment that's not connected to your base; you can hide it in a cave or behind an outcrop if you like.
2. Damage the new compartment, by colliding a vehicle with it, drilling on it, etc.
3. Now, for the entire base, the lighting state changes to "flooded", which means no glare.
4. Just be aware that it'll be harder to find your base if you rely on light shining through windows :-).

Additional notes:

• If you repair the distant, damaged compartment, the whole base will change to the undamaged lighting state.
• You can place reinforcement panels in a distant compartment, and avoid an eyesore in your main base.
• Similarly, you can place power generation in a distant compartment, so you can have a nuclear reactor without its loud hum.