Gameplay tips

Here are the various 'stages' of the game. These are not officially mandated stages, just what has emerged in play.

Tutorial:
This is the part of the game that holds your hand, and is in perpetual daylight. All the major parts of your base are at the bottom of big black columns of smoke.

You start with a building and controls tutorial, before having your first fight. in the latest version, there is an option to opt out of the tutorial, and it puts you right in the game.

If you putter around for a while, markers will show up to lead you to them. If you don't want to wait, just charge off to the black smoke.

The first item you get is a solar generator and repair bubble to fix your damaged cab. Tip: avoid any enemies until you can get repaired, as you are quite vulnerable.

There will be an unarmed guardian holding your radar, but he is very slow, and gives lots of blocks when you kill him.

When you've picked up the radar, solar/repair bubble, and battery, you will finish the tutorial, and enter the main game.

Tip: Stay on the grass. The day/night cycle starts when the tutorial ends OR when you leave the grasslands. Additionally, there are no invaders on the grasslands.

Levels:
As you progress through the game, you will earn Experience for the different factions. XP is earned through killing techs and completing missions. as for now, there are certain level caps to different factions;

GSO: Lvl 5

GEOcorp: Lvl 3

Venture: Lvl 3

Hawkeye: lvl 3

Better Future: lvl 3

Early Game:
When you finish the tutorial, the day/night cycle will begin. Night will eventually fall, and your solar generator will shut down, and you will be left to battery power. Repair bubbles will not drain power unless they are actively healing you, so no need to worry. Once you get a shield bubble, it will slowly drain power passively, as well as drain significant power when protecting you from damage.

One of the first missions you come a cross is the trade-station unlock mission. Pitting you against a "trader troll", who is reasonably strong, make sure your battery is charged, and stay at long range, peppering him with lasers. When he dies, the trading station will unlock, allowing you access to mission boards and trading. Make your camp right at a trading station until you can find a scrapper and a payload terminal.

Tip: make the Crafty Business and Licence missions a priority, as both will bring you new blocks to play with.

Invaders: These are usually community vehicles that lay claim to an area, and will attack you if you don't leave, or attack them. These invaders are tailored to your vehicle's size and composition, to a degree.

According to Zanzistar (Dev), each block of your vehicle has a value, and an enemy is selected that approximates your total value. However, you will occasionally get a vehicle that is a lot bigger, or is particularly dangerous, so watch out. If the invader is too much for you, run away. The red circle on the radar is the area that the invader will attack you in, so if you get outside that circle, and don't shoot them, they'll stop chasing you.

Mid Game:
You should be relatively strong now, preferably with Geo blocks and maybe even a little venture. At this point, you should make finding the GeoCorp batteries a priority. Shields are your strongest defense, and battery capacity is a must. Very little can get through shields, aside from the occasional stray shot, or weapons that use splash damage, such as the venture or Hawkeye missiles. Make separate scrapping bases for each corp, and camp near a trading station so you can get missions.

Late Game:
Look out for Mr. Money Bags (you!). At this point, you're basically done. some fun challenges to do is try and find some of the naturally-spawning structures, such as mountain temples, desert ruins, and giant anvil-shaped rocks. build bases, experiment with different designs. the salt flats are a great place for fast techs. have fun, knock yourself out.

Basic Game play tips:
Techs do NOT like driving on other techs, such as bases. This is because the wheels do not recognize blocks as "ground", and they think that they are flying. If you insist on building a base, before you try to drive on it, swap out your tech's wheels with GSO cabs. Also, test the wheels in creative mode. Some wheels do work, some do not. There are plans to fix this, but that's for the future.

Vehicle handling:

Vehicles with a wide wheelbase turn well when stopped, but have trouble turning in motion.

Long narrow vehicles turn easily while in motion, but have trouble turning on the spot.

If you find that your vehicle gets caught on the terrain a lot, either hollow out the belly of the vehicle so it doesn't catch, add wheels in the middle, or switch to a bigger set of wheels, like GeoCorp.

Flyers/ Hovers:

Use rudders. without rudders, you will have next to no control, and your tech will slide all over the place. Also, if possible, add turning hovers and side-facing fans. Rudders only work at speed.

normal weapons have a lot of trouble hitting targets with the auto-aim while on a fast tech. use hawkeye and venture missiles, as they can seek. Venture missiles are on a rotating turret, which makes it easy to hit with, but do less damage.

Fun Fact:
If you have access to wireless chargers and attach them to a solar panel they will charge you at the rate of the one solar. So, to charge quickly, attach multiple solar panels and multiple batteries on the ground and then add multiple wireless chargers.

Jumpstart: The all-out fastest way to get the bulk of the goodies is this: (OLD!!!)


 * 1) Find the 'Lift-off' plane. It's randomly placed just outside your starting biome, as in, you can see it while sitting on the grass. Grab the parts and click 'em to make sure they're in your parts log and you can buy another if necessary. Pressing the camera and getting a screenshot on the plane when you're able to control it is preferable, although not necessary.
 * 2) Fly the plane using the instructions below, on the guide "Flight"
 * 3) Do a spiral search around your start position, keeping the little blue arrow on the left or right.
 * 4) Find the bases.
 * 5) Figure out where they are in relation to where you started.
 * 6) Go home, preferably not getting blown out of the sky while doing so.
 * 7) Come back with tank.
 * 8) Blow up defenders.
 * 9) Claim base. If the base doesn't turn blue on the radar, go find the missing Guards/harvesters or blow it up very carefully. Try to take out the anchor/cab if possible.
 * 10) Run home with parts.
 * 11) Craft like a mad gnome with access to power tools.
 * 12) Profit!

Get Big Quick!

GeoCorp blocks are great for building big. GEO Techs spawn often in the mid game.

How to:
Make a generator work: Small and medium generators take in fuel (Such as Fibre Wood, Carbite, and Oleite), and output power for batteries and bubbles. They output the same level of power, regardless of the fuel used, however more potent fuels last longer.

Flight: Ok, key point: the vehicle controls work differently on the ground than they do in the air.

When you're on the ground, 'W' is forward and 'S' is back. Any propellers and fans will thrust in whatever direction is needed to help move or turn.

Building your flier so the nose naturally faces up (raising the front wheels) will help it take off.

In the air, 'W' is pitch down, and 'S' is pitch up up. And A/D is roll that direction. And 'Shift' is thrust.

Tip: Using jets is unreliable, as they can run out of fuel. use mostly props/rotors, as they provide constant thrust, which stacks with more propellers.

In the air, each prop will thrust in whatever direction is 'forward' for it. So if you build a plane with rear-facing 'pusher' props, it'll take off fine, and then reverse and crash.

To take off, hold shift, and drive forwards until you take off. A hill is often handy for this. When you're in the air, the 'W' control locks, to stop you immediately nosediving into the ground. Let go of 'W' and it will unlock so you can pitch.

Fliers