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I read online that Subnautica has a fixed map. However, I've beaten the game and started a new one (both Survival). The map is clearly different. For instance my previous base had a thermal vent right next to it, but in my new game, the lifepod doesn't have any heat areas in proximity. There are other obvious differences in the terrain, wreck location and fragments, etc.

Does the map change randomly or was it changed in an ubdate or something?

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The map is the same for all players, and I don't believe the map has been updated since release. However, the spawn location of your lifepod does vary slightly every time you start a new playthrough. It should always be in the Safe Shallows near the center-ish of the map, but sometimes it's closer or farther from the Aurora or the mountain island. This may throw off your directions at first, but I can verify that the layout of the map has been effectively the same since the Primary Containment Facility update went live during early release. I've built my base in the same place in at least 5 different playthroughs.

Wrecks are also always in the same locations. Fragments are a little more random - specific fragments can only spawn in specific wrecks, but their location within those wrecks is randomized each playthrough as well.

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  • I also think the life pod drifts ever so slightly as you progress through the game. It certainly felt that way to me at least.
    – Timmy Jim ♦
    May 23, 2018 at 13:08
  • @TimmyJim I don't think it's supposed to, but yes, it does drift a little bit as the game progresses.
    – Mage Xy
    May 23, 2018 at 14:17
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    @TimmyJim It does drift -- if you don't repair the broken control panel thing, which turns on the "auto anchor" or whatever it's called on that the info screen inside the escape pod. I've had mine drift hundreds of yards or so before I could find a the sulfur powder or whatever it's called to make a repair tool.
    – Tim S.
    Jul 24, 2018 at 13:28
  • Given sets of fragments spawn in randomly chosen 'fragment spawn' locations in biomes specific to these fragments. For example, Safe Shallows and Kelp Forests will spawn seaglide fragments, but you need Floating Isles, Mountains, Crash Zone or Dunes to find Cyclops Engine fragments, all of these similarly nasty (and there are a couple other devices fragments of which spawn within these, so even if you search the moderately nasty Floating Isles and safe shores of the Mountain Island, you're not guaranteed to find any... so Reaper-infested waters it is then!
    – SF.
    Jan 15, 2019 at 12:36

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