Swimming & Helmet?

[Fast Johnny]

Very new player here:

What's up with my character not knowing how to swim, am I doing something wrong?

Additionally, when in the water, I try to use the helmet, by the hotkey, and nothing happens. Am I to understand that my guy has been traveling in space and doesn't bring his helmet? Do I have to craft one?

Sorry for the dumb questions, there is no players manual, haven't gotten to something like that with the tutorial and haven't found those answers in the Community Guides.

[kite008 mike]

Need to craft armor to have a helmet. Hands need to be empty to swim:)

[Erek]

Do you have a helmet? If you started on an arid planet, you should have one, if on an earthlike planet, you must first build a spacesuit, then use a Suite-station, suite-locker - sory, dont know the exact name.
I think both can be built in the mobile constructor. The locker can be place on your base or a wreck (even without core and power, if I remember that right.

[rphillips1986]

For some reason the basic suit you start with doesn't have a helmet, you got to unlock and craft light armor. If you have to cross water before getting the armor, sometimes moving slowly forward you can start to "swim" across the water without going in deep enough to trigger the warning. If you do trigger the warning, press space bar to kind of jump out of the water. It will reset. And swim fast to the other side.

[Fast Johnny]

Yeah, I am kind of questioning the wisdom of traveling in space, leaping into an escape pod and not having a helmet as part of the standard kit. Ehh, I guess it is what it is.

[rphillips1986]

Originally posted by Fast Johnny:

Yeah, I am kind of questioning the wisdom of traveling in space, leaping into an escape pod and not having a helmet as part of the standard kit. Ehh, I guess it is what it is.

Agreed. We used to start on all planets with a light suit. Then we didn't.

[Khan]

Agreed. Also, the whole "you must have your hands empty to swim" part is silly. There should probably be a speed penalty, but you really shouldn't sink like a rock just because you have something in your hand. This can be readily demonstrated in real life.

[Tankfriend]

Yes. You should never be able to swim when you're running around with literally tons of stuff in your pockets. :P

[Underhook]

LOL, Whats that, something shinny in the water and ....... I'm dead