Why is it so hard to find Lithium?

[Arcadian]

I needed lithium and I found two shale outcrops close to each other. I saved and reloaded at least 10 times, and every time I got gold or diamond.

According to Subnautica Wiki the droprates are:

Gold: 30%
Lithium: 31.5%
Diamond: 38.5%

Diamond is rarely used in crafting, so lithium should have the highest droprate. But regardless, something is terribly off here. I have a whole locker full of diamonds that I have no use for. All I need is lithium...

The question is if reloading even helps.

[bongerman85]

there is lithium all over the seabed in biomes of deeper areas, in the caves of the crag field, and on the seabed in the mushroom forests. i think it can also be found in the jellyshroom caves on the ground.. but i cant remember

[rus-ni.peace-da.]

yeah, you can find a lot of Li in the mushroom forest, but the joke is it`s located too deep. so you need good clothes to get Li but you need Li to get good clothes. and there are too dangerous sharks there.
yesterday i did it this way. built butterfly and swimed around the mushroom forest at 190+- meters while found *Shale Outcrop*. then looked around if there is no sharks, went out, crushed outcrop and runed to butterfly. it took me about 1-1,5 hour, but i get enough Li to build Cyclophus. good luck for you!

[Coops]

Tons of lithium in the caves of the mountain island. Its all over the walls. all above sea level. And not inside shale outcrops, its just raw lithium.

[Maviba]

The further your story progress is, the more likely you're about to find bioms with lots of lithium.

[DrLamp]

Like LittleDoctor said, Try checking out the mushroom forest near the Aurora. You can find little chunks of lithium growing near the base of the mushroom "trees". You can find a few on the cliff face there heading up to the Aurora as well. That's where I usually go to get my early lithium.

The seaglide should give you plenty of time to grab a few before heading back up for air.

[dreamrider]

What you cite is, in fact, the proportions of materials in the shale outcrops...
...but the game does not use a simple RNG decision for each shale outcrop as it is hit.
It is a significantly more complicated "resource bucket" and history of discovery tracking system.

(I've searched for over an hour and I can't find the video I've seen recently that explains these behind the scenes game mechanics in detail.)

Ignis, can you help me out?

Suffice to say, save scumming at the same spot, in front of the same lump of shale, could easily never yield you the bit of lithium you seek. Because each time you leave/return, you are resetting the decision process to one that is prejudiced in favor of the other resources.


For what it is worth, if you are far enough along to be able to get down into it, the Jellyshroom Caves are full of shale outcrops and raw lithium. Lithium is also scattered around the Mushroom Forests, often on the sides of the coral "trees", a bit here and a bit there.

[QueenPixxa]

Arcadian, the following might be a spoiler, depening on where you are on your exploration: if you went to Pod 19 it should be ok: there is one place where you will never run out of those crops, and it's the Treaders' Path, west of the two Reef biomes. Follow the Treaders.

[Arcadian]

I was looking for a place not so far from the starting spot, so I went to the mountain island and found some lithium in the caves there. But good to know of other good places. Thank you.

[Arcadian]

I already knew about the mushroom forest but I had already taken some from there.

[Lil Puppy]

Lithium explodes in water so it's probably just deleting itself from your world ;)

[Ignis]

Originally posted by dreamrider:

What you cite is, in fact, the proportions of materials in the shale outcrops...
...but the game does not use a simple RNG decision for each shale outcrop as it is hit.
It is a significantly more complicated "resource bucket" and history of discovery tracking system.

(I've searched for over an hour and I can't find the video I've seen recently that explains these behind the scenes game mechanics in detail.)

Ignis, can you help me out?

You're probably talking about this: https://youtu.be/wFawJ9v2GI8?t=255 Which is indeed pretty accurate. (4:20 in the video).

[Arcadian]

Originally posted by Lil Puppy:

Lithium explodes in water so it's probably just deleting itself from your world ;)

Lol. I just happen to be studying chemistry right now so I had to look that up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTJh_bzI0QQ

So why is it not exploding the second time? Because there is already lithium solved in the water, so the reaction have less impact. The more lithium the solution contains the closer it is to equilibrium for the water-lithium reaction. :)

[s0laris]

The North-West Mushroom forest is a safe place for your early lithium and diamond. Get into the "crack" and check the walls.

[Nikanuur]

I've had the same feeling man. With anything in Subnautica mostly :D But yea, as all others already noted, everything will eventually come in abundance...

[dreamrider]

Except cave sulfur.
Oh, you will have plenty for the bits you need it for, but the source areas are strictly limited.

I believe the Admiral (who has at one time collected all the non-renewing resources in the game) said that all the cave sulfur in the game will fit into 2-3 standing Lockers. About 100 bits.