I agree - Ironman will make you change your gameplay. I wondered about switching out of survival mode because the need for food/drink has been annoying. I've had to stop what I wanted to be doing to grind food/drink. I'll probably just stay with what I'm doing though.
If you aren't using the base in the shallows much then no need to move it IMHO. Solar power (assuming you are using solar) is perfectly fine and cheap to build. I still haven't put down roots in another area yet, I was going to wait and see if I find myself focusing on a particular area of the map and do something there. For now, my base in the shallows will suffice I think.
BTW - you can throw an extra O2 tank in your personal inventory and swap between them to extend your dives. Personally I switch them out when the first one gets down to 30 secs. When the next one gets to 30 secs I'll start heading back to my Seamoth or to the surface if needed. Just make sure you refill both!
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck.” -Robert Heinlein
