Alpha 9 brings "reputation", so don't steal from the Talon villagers if you want to stay on good terms with them. We've been stealing their stuff for years without trouble, but you can't do it any more. Don't shoot their pet crawlers either! The crawlers are like big puppy dogs unless you anger them.
0.9 will alter several starter tips, particularly with mass+volume on. Also several patches and changes to come, so I'll wait a bit with tips.
Based on what I've seen, I question whether one Gun Turret is still enough in Alpha 9. They've made drone attacks more dangerous. I plan to start out with at least two turrets from now on. Also, I believe drones appear to attack our base immediately, which is in contrast with earlier versions. Also, a recent update has changed things so that, supposedly, drones will not attack a player's first base until after they put at least one turret on it. So, if the player is either building a base from scratch or retrofitting a Wreckage or something as a base, it may be smart to first add some fuel and turret ammo before putting turrets on it. That way the turrets can start firing at drones almost immediately. I've done this quite often. Granted, it was difficult to find drones that fell into a lake... back in Experimental A9 while enemy red dots did not appear on radar. But, now that the red dots are back, it's not that hard. What I do is set my HV to hover low above the water and, while standing on top of the cockpit, press F5 to send out a drone to collect the downed drone loot. I don't even have to get my feet wet. It's surprisingly easy and fast. If you are considering a lake base, but going after submerged drone loot still sounds too unpleasant even with the HV method, you could set down a micro-sized turret base (i.e., little more than 1 turret + ammo box/controller + 1 fuel tank + generator and a few protective blocks) to test which direction drones are coming from. Once you know this direction, you can pick which shore of the lake to build on so that drones are almost always shot down over dry land.
Thanks for Quoting me... but those points listed are outdated - June 2018! - now by the implementation of new game mechanics. If I place a base today you may do it WITHOUT a Turret/Gun but as recent Experiences have showed the Drone attack comes anyway, with or without guns. Also the terrible Firing Range reduction does no longer need - when placed near a Lake - 300 to 400 distances from the Shore but only 200. So, just as i said - OUTDATED.
My only contribution is: - The safest is to build your first base underground. Best place is side of a cliff. The drilling gives you rock to use for cement blocks, and the drones can't get to you or your stuff if you're underground. Since the first wave seems to always come before you've got adequate defensive turrets, building underground is the only way I've found for a newcomer to survive easily. Once I got better I was able to build defences fast enough, but even then it's a lot easier to build that first base underground, and I still do.
1. Many plants have medicinal properties if eaten. Learn them, they will keep you alive. 2. Build an HV. A base might seem a great idea, but believe it or not, an HV is actually a better early option. You can outfit an HV with a majority of things you’ll need for long-term survival, including a medical station and a constructor that can produce a decent selection of food. And HV’s don’t draw drones like bases do, so you wind up with a good mobile operation until you have the materials and unlock point to: 3. Build a base. Plenty of people will suggest building underground. Underground is a good option, but it does take a good bit of resources and time. Small, above ground bases are really good, but even better are semi-modular bases, made up of different buildings, not directly connected, but connected by the Build menu. Once you’ve got your core structure built, and I’ll go into this more in a minute, it usually doesn’t take long for the first drone attack to trigger. Once it does, take note of where those drones come from, as subsequent attacks will come from the same direction. This makes your next priority placing at least one or two defensive turrets in that direction, some distance from your base. Even a minigun turret will work wonders for stopping or considerably weakening drones before they reach your base. Your “core facility” will contain your base core, generator and fuel tank. You really don’t need much else here. I recommend placing your core at the lowest point, and building both around and above it. This will keep it protected. Likewise your generator should be placed similar, as this is a drone’s primary target. The harder it is for them to target it, the better. Satellite buildings should contain other facility features - constructors, storage, food and food processors and medical equipment. Hangers and a repair bay can also be made in similar fashions. This spread-out modular design is both easy to navigate and makes it much harder to suffer a tragic loss of a facility. 4. Raid Alien Structures and POI’s. There are a few things you will only ever find, Autominer Cores are one of them. These are priceless. For the cost of fuel they extract vital resources, even while you are elsewhere. You can also find a number of other valuable resources too - constructors, furnaces, weapons, armor and fuel. 5. A good SV is your friend. Small, fast, and capable of getting you to the moon, where you can often find resources not found in your Starter planet. 6. Armor, not just thick skin. Your armor provides protection against the heat, cold and radiation. It provides you with a helmet and with jets. This will get you to places you can’t otherwise reach, as well as access to underwater, where you can find other valuable resources, like Pentaxid, and the Alien Plasmas, not to mention plant proteins for those yummy survival bars. 7. Food goes in the fridge. With the exception of Emergency Rations and a few ingredients, nearly all food will spoil if not refrigerated, so unless you’re planning to need it soon, keep it in the fridge. 8. The WiFi device is your friend. Put one on any vehicle you build, you’ll love it. Need to expand your base but keep leaving your logistics network? Put down another one to extend your range. I build cell-phone towers out of them because they look cool. 9. There’s no such thing as “overkill”. There are plenty of dangerous creatures, many are much tougher than they look, and small arms may not put them down before they inflict all manner of ailments. 10. Use your drone. It can see around corners, pick up items, use your mining drill, multi tool and place blocks. It’s a fantastic tool, and if it suffers a terrible fate at the hands on an enemy, you can always send out another.
The thing I keep seeing is posts about needing Promethium to fuel Bases/Vehicles. Biofuel can be used to power ANYTHING that has a Fuel Tank. It has to be manually added in the Fuel interface screen. Either through the Console (P) and "Manage" under the Fuel section or the new Logistics (F4) Third dropdown box fuel option. Also can use F to access an exposed fuel tank. You can withdraw the fuel as Small Power packs in the fuel Interface too by inputting a number in the box with the arrows pointing to the Player inventory. The reason I posted this in a thread for NEW players. When I first started, I didn't bother with building a base or vehicles BECAUSE I believed Promethium was the ONLY power source. It almost ruined the game for me. I hope my post can help new people avoid that. For a more Detailed Explanation see Thundercraft's Reply (post #70.) Edit for clarity.
This is true, though Biofuel is extremely inefficient. Solar power can also run a base, but takes some serious planning. Thing is, Promethium Fuel packs are pretty common drone loot, so it’s not that hard to run a base on drones - no promethium deposits required.
When I first started, I didn't bother with building a base or vehicles BECAUSE I believed Promethium was the ONLY power source. It almost ruined the game for me. If my post can help new people avoid that efficency be Da####.
This is both very true and not quite accurate. For the most part, this is true. And it's a very useful piece of advice for those who don't know this. However, there are a few things in the game where Biofuel can NOT be used for fuel. Specifically, there is no feasible way to use Biofuel to power either the MultiTool (T1 or T2) or the later tiers of Drill (T2 or Epic). For those tools, you MUST either use Promethium or either find the MultiTool Charges or Drill Charges as loot or purchase them from an NPC. There is no alternative. Myself, though: I try to always build my bases with the maximum number of solar panels, allowing me to operate them practically without fuel. And I like to have a large greenhouse to grow enough stuff to produce a steady supply of BioFuel for my vehicles. Even so, because Fusion Cells are such a compact source of energy and because it's so difficult to produce enough BioFuel for power-hungry CV's, I end up producing Fusion Cells by late game. This does require Promethium. Though, each Fusion Cell has far more energy than, say, a Large Promethium Pack. Fusion cells are indispensable for equipment like Auto-Miners and Water Generators because it allows leaving them unattended for many, many hours. If you only used BioFuel or small Promethium Packs for those, you'd have to come back to check on them and refuel them every few hours, which is a real hassle when far away from your base or away from the planet! Otherwise, your Auto-Miners and Water Generators will run out of fuel while you're away.
Amended my post for Clarity I only meant the Base/Vehicles. So I changed it to "ANYTHING with a Fuel Tank."
May contain spoilers. Reflects MY game style alone, but adapt to your own needs. 1. Leave 2nd (spare) Survival Tool in suit constructor (saves retrieving it from back pack after dying) 2. Dig tunnels to avoid drones (you can take them out with a shotgun - I got 3 of the 4 like that) 3. Powering up a Base attracts Drones. I won't activate a base till I have 3 turrets they draw drones when you power up - 4 Drones on one guy is a bit much! 4. Gather rocks with survival tool. (They have Iron, Copper & Silicon [near lakes for silicon]) AND USE YOUR DRONE to drill out ores. (Then you don't get stuck in the hole!) 5. Build Portable Constructor(s) asap. (Remember, they don't need power, so use them to the max, carry a spare with you.) Get constructor to make cement (from all that stone dust), then concrete blocks in preparation for your base. 6. Make shotgun & cartridges asap, Chainsaw too. 7. Make Multitool asap (gather wood... put in constructor... make fuel... put in fuel tank.... withdraw fuel... Hey Presto! ...instant promethium to power multitool) 8. Make HV asap - equip with harvester & turrets asap. (Use Creative mode to learn to build & create blueprints to spawn, rather than construct components and assemble in-game while starving and being attacked.) 9. Tour world ... fly with sun to circumnavigate world in daylight ( I ringed the entire planet in the dark zone on opposite side from the moving sun. (doh!) Anyway this clocks up POI's & gets XP. NOW you know where to mine! Consider recycling your HV to SV (& back) for this task. 10 FIND TITAN MIDDLE!!! .... use multitool to examine blocks to find core, destroy and replace with your own. (Aha!... THIS is the key to riches!) use P to show components on HUD & go straight to them, but dig out ALL of it (if you can stand it) Tip:- Always look UP in elevators (combine with 10) [winks] Tip:- Portable Constructors (even bases) can be rezzed on dirt (or ground) inside buildings, so can tent & water/O2 thingy.
That is definitely some good advice, there. Though, I'd point a couple things out: Sadly, this won't work the way you say it will. This certainly isn't as simple as "Hey Presto! ...instant promethium". Yes, you can put BioFuel into the fuel tank of a base, CV, SV or HV, then withdraw the fuel. That much does work. However, the fuel you get back is not in any form that you can use to power a MultiTool. Rather the fuel withdrawn from a fuel tank is always in the form of Small Prometheum Packs. But a MultiTool will only accept Multi Charges. Yes, we can make Multi Charges in any constructor, even a Portable Constructor. But making them requires Prometheum Pellets. Granted, in the mid to late game you can use a Deconstructor to deconstruct Small Prometheum Packs into Prometheum Pellets. However, this is quite impractical for just starting out in the early game, especially for a newbie. A Deconstructor has a Level 12 unlock in the tech tree. Also, it requires quite a bit of Cobalt to make, which is in short supply in the early game. You'd have to either get lucky in early game loot, go raid one or two POI's or go to a Radioactive Zone to mine some Cobalt stones. Why the Titan Middle? What makes the Middle so special? Personally, I think finding the "Back" section is more important as it contains two CV "Thrusters L", each made from valuable Zascosium and Erestrum. (In previous versions, the Back section also contained at least two RCS (T2), which also contain Zascosium and Erestum. Sadly, this is no longer the case.) I agree with you that a good HV for starting out would have both a Harvester and at least one turret. I like using the Harvester to harvest trees and bushes of opportunity as I travel to my destination. Wood and Fiber is always useful. Even better, the Harvester makes a decent weapon while saving ammo. The player even gains XP by killing things with the Harvester. Some players do prefer to have their starter HV with miniguns instead of a turret. This does have an advantage in that creatures or enemies you kill with the minigun (or other straight-fire manual weapons) will give the player XP, whereas the turret will not give XP. However, turrets are very nice in that they will automatically aim and shoot for you. This is very useful for protecting you while you mine, deconstruct or loot, especially at night when raptors and other hostile things come out. Also, aiming miniguns and other non-turret weapons on an HV is a pain-in-the-arse as there is no easy way to control the elevation. Aiming left and right is easy. But if the target is higher or lower than your crosshairs, it can be very difficult to stay on target long enough to hit.
you don't have to start on a starter planet. I found this way too easy. I have way too many hour in survival games and was looking for more of a challenge. SO i edit the files so i had an option to start on any planet and so i could start on aplannent with no air and a harsh environment arid. Its been a nice challenge and worth the effort!
1. Read this thread 8^) 2. As of V9 your survival constructor has built in refrigeration (but only two output slots) so leave your spider steaks (or protein bars if you're a virtual vegetarian) in this fridge and eat them directly from there to avoid spoilage. 3. The Zirax hate trees almost as much as you hate them and you can convert trees into biofuel in your parallel portable constructor farm. Therefore consider building your initial HV with a harvester and go directly to greet the Z menace with free forest clearing services with a smile .. run away whenever you encounter patrols and leave their turf on a regular <5 minute rhythm to check out how your relationship is progressing. This grind approach makes sense more in early game since the gap to friendly is in your favor at the start. As an additional plus your unpaid gardening service in the early game function as hover-tank terrain clearing later on when you call out "Alexa! Play "Flight of the Valkyrie!"
My advice is: Do NOT spend too much time gathering resources and looting. Everybody drools over loot boxes... but bro... they aren't always worth the effort. Remember, loot a bit, mine a bit, build a lot. RE: Me spending 1000 hours mining and looting. BTW I love this addition: https://imgur.com/rDg2k9Z
I think this thread needs a reset with A10 -- some of it holds true with the large system updates lets reset this thread to: YOUR top 10 survival starter tips for NEW players with A10!
A10 Tips Plant protein is your most important food. Your Suit Constructor can make energy bars with it which will serve you well in unexpected moments of need. Wrecks make great starter bases. Some are wrecks are better than others. Plan on at least 4 guns. Honey Stalks will repair damaged health. Chainsaw +Wood + Constructor= Biofuel You can make a lot of discoveries on a Bike. Polaris doesn't like spiders. Spiders don't like shotguns Looting Titans will draw a crowd. Be sure your base is prepared. Bring a couple of cores when looting Titans. Drop the cores, own the Titans. Titan Back will shoot drones if it has your core. Armored concrete is your friend. Most importantly SAVE on a regular basis. This is Alpha.
