Gotta hide your pot plants, kids.

@claul -i see. I do not enjoy the Cyclops so just for endgame for me. Seamoth is so much more enjoyable.The Prawn with drill is sort of outdated for me by that time I have so many materials from simply swimming/seamoth/ seaglide and gathering that I rarely need to use drill. Except for Kyonite maybe. Will try the lightstick. Also Stasis cannon is really nice to bring, I have no problem wanting to kill things that bother me like crabsquids and Bonesharks. which Stasis Rifle and Thermoblade make short work of.

@zion6 I was triyng to be brief, but inventory transfer is the main reason i get the cyclops asap. I keep my inv to a minimum until then. On my last try i got a day 8 cyclops after doing aurora. At that poit i had one X compartiment for a base with one full locker. Then i just pick up mats when i go wreck exploring and my base is conveniently mobile and right on top of me.

Lightstick is the best source of light. There is a lot of dark wrecks, caves and dark biomes, so its important. Lightstick is deployable and can be picked back up again unlike flares/flashlight. It never runs out and its a calm glow compared to the annoyingly bright flares/flashlights.

For playthroughs AFTER the first...Agree with doing Aurora sooner, don't have to do anything before it blows up if you make Rad suit. So putting Rad Suit early is needed, not to mention there are scans in radiated areas you need. A combo of Rebreather and Rad Helmet is needed at times to make quick dashes in deeper radiated areas.
Also I don't see why building a second base really, if you place your first on edge of 3 zones (sorta where they come together near starting location (Safe Shallows, Grassy Area and Kelp Forests) , the vehicles etc will get you where you need to go fast enough. I also find having to basically build a base again in the Cyclops is a pain to transfer etc (unless using a mod like Autosort etc which is awesome for taking out drudgery of crafting and making game longer with mundane back and forth crap).

I'm triyng a story playthrough where i try to finish it loosely as fast as possible, while not cheesing. What seems to me to work best is building a basic base near ozzys wreck, getting seamoth, repair and cutter tools, fins, HC tank and rad suit materials before the aurora blows, explore it immediatly, get cyclops blueprint on the way back, build the cyclops, pack up the base, go to the sunbeam event, everything in tow, gate to the floating island if food is a concern, then circle the map gathering all other needed blueprints. Then i build a propper base to outfit vehicles either before going deep under the floating island or just straight up building the base near/at the tree cove and doing some vehicle shenanigans to get both seamoth and prawn down there without drowning, tho its possible to ditch the seamoth before this point. Between island stops and all the nutrient blocks, there's little need for fishing before getting growbeds on the cyclops.

@zion6 alien containment 100%, they reproduce rapidly in alien containment and alien containment is conveniently located in your base.

So farming Reginalds or raising them in Alien Containment?

I have almost been doing this completely backwards

Not sure I agree with your O2 tank in p3, I would say continual surfacing for 02 would be a hindrance, and once you have the HC tank you can gather materials a lot quicker without the constant need to surface.

Besides that people who might need to use this guide should probably like to take their time since they would be new to the game and full of wonder, having something slow them down to me (with about 500 hours of play time) would be an advantage, because the longer it takes to do something in this game the more exposure you have to the wonder that is 4546B... this is just my perspective though.