What causes the first infection

[Gary Childress]

Up until a certain point in the game self scans come up negative. Then I got a message telling me there was a bacteria in the water or something and from that point on my self scans showed an infection. My question is, what triggers the game to introduce the infection? I really don't want to tangle with warpers so I think I would just like to avoid the whole infection thing.

My character started noting the infection when I built the Cyclops.

I wish there was a sandbox mode to this where we could just do survival mode for as long as we want without having to advance the story. Otherwise the game is just gettnig more frustrating as I go along. Frustration is no fun.

[dreamrider]

Here is the most thorough, game mechanics / code level study of Kharaa infection and Warpers that I have found in a couple of years with a bit of obsession about it.

(It was a bit hard to find, because the (very thorough) investigator happens to have a pet peeve with the usual tenor of dedicated game forums, and doesn't usually frequent them.)

https://www.reddit.com/r/subnautica/comments/lmpbqy/spoilers_the_definitive_post_on_infection_game/

Summary:
1. Going into the water DOES NOT infect your avatar, at least in game mechanics terms.
2. Your character can play a great deal of the surface game without getting any Infection Level at all. (Which means Warpers will ignore you.)
3. Even the first Infection Level, as the game tracks it, will not provoke Warper hostility.
4. The primary means of reaching Infection Level 1 ONLY, is to ENTER (not "build") a Cyclops or PRAWN.
5. There are some secondary triggers. A big one is getting bitten by an infected creature.

Edit: 4. & 5. See Ignis' explanation of Infection Level 1 triggers, 3 notes below.
Notes:
- that information is hard to find. Thanks, Ignis.
- Infection Level 1 does NOT trigger Warper interest / aggression in the avatar. You just get that first PDA message that something microbial is going on.

6. In many cases, avatars may go directly to Infection Level "2", in game mechanics terms. This is triggered by entering the Aurora, or entering the Mountains biome, INCLUDING the Mountain Island. (I have done some additional experimenting. You can get pretty close to the Island on the west and southwest without triggering an Infection increase. But grounding on the Island at all WILL certainly take you to Infection Level 2.)
7. At Infection Level 2, the Warpers DO become interested in killing you. However, at Level 2 the aggro range is very limited.
8. Eventually, even if you have carefully avoided reaching Infection Level 2, the game engine may decide that you should be more infected due to the time gone by, and raise your Infection Level. This takes a long, long time, however. I have done it.

Edit: After recieving new info from Ignis (See below), I have accordingly edited the misinformation out of this post. I have chosen to leave the post, rather than removing the whole thing, because I think that the balance of the info is still useful. It enables a somewhat different approach to the early/mid game, namely deliberately keeping Infection Level, and therefore Warper aggession, low for as long as possible.

I removed my 2nd post, that talked of testing some of the Infection trigger mechanics, as misleading and OBE after Ignis' explanation.

[Ignis]

There are a lot of misinformation in the reddit post in general. It's quite amuzing with that title "definitive post on the infection".

Getting bitten by a creature doesn't affect your infection level, neither does going below some random depth.

Also, I'm pretty sure you are safe when entering the vehicles. To prove it, you can spawn one at the start (or be in creative mode), and scan yourself afterward.

The infection levels are increased by story goals and story goals only. You can't really avoid it, as there are mainly biome goals, which means entering a biome for a certain period of time will trigger it.

And there are also fail-safes to make sure you can't bypass them.

[dreamrider]

Edit: Original text removed by poster.

OBE.

See either the edit note on my post above, or Ignis' explanation of Infection Level 1 triggers below.

[Ignis]

Again, being bitten by a creature doesn't affect your infection level.

There are two triggers with the infection level 1, it's two biome goals. When you stay 200 seconds in the Kelp Forest or Grassy Plateaus.

Nothing about entering the prawn suit or the Cyclops.

[KippenKaasBaas]

Interesting info.
I was also under the impression that list that Dreamrider posted was accurate.
This also means the Wiki is wrong.

[Ray Robertson]

Can’t build a vehicle without scanning MVB fragments, most of which are found in the kelp forests.

[dreamrider]

Originally posted by Ignis:

Again, being bitten by a creature doesn't affect your infection level.

There are two triggers with the infection level 1, it's two biome goals. When you stay 200 seconds in the Kelp Forest or Grassy Plateaus.

Nothing about entering the prawn suit or the Cyclops.

Aha. I was beginning to wonder if it was something like that.
It fully explains the inconsistant results I was getting when testing the vehicle entry assertion.
Also explains the apparent bite result in my earlier game, since that Biter was, of course, encountered during Grassy Plains activities.

I have corrected my 1st post here, because I believe that with the corrections it is still useful, enabling a "low infection" early game. I have eliminated the body of my 2nd post, as OBE after your explanation.