How do you know where your base is?

[Tungsten Whitmarsh Cadow]

I went to a different planet to get iron. Found it. Built a big base. Realized I needed tungsten from a different place and so took off. Once in orbit I realized my base had no distinctive marking. All the potential landing spots look the same to me. i want to go back down and get something but I don't want to land on one of the other, undeveloped bases that are on this moon.

I thought for sure that once I was orbiting I'd see some tiny structure. I even built a landing pad thinking that would guarantee some kind of label but there is nothing. I can't believe it. Seems like the bubble should be an explored color but even that is the same color as all the other bubbles.

[Johnno]

You can place a beacon, they're visible from orbit (and last I played even from other planets). Not sure if the new shelter has a built in "home" beacon like your starting base, haven't tested one yet (only returned briefly for the Apollo update).

Thinking, believing, expecting and hoping really can't replace testing and learning. Chalk it down to a learning experience, build a bunch of new rocket engines (or fuel) and go check out all the sites, and bring a beacon this time.

[Ewanc]

When this happens I usually save scrub; go to my save directory, make a copy of the save game, then reload the game and try all the landing sites until I find my base. Sometimes I can remember the topography of the area, by where the gateways are or the mountains or craters. Don't quite the game while in orbit without alt-tabbing and copying your save game, it will autosave and probably brick your game.

Bases, rockets and beacons all emit a marker, and if you build a base far from the preassigned landing bubbles be sure to make a landing pad so you have a new bubble to land at.

[Geauxboy]

When you explore an area, you will surely (hopefully) discover wrecks and other objects. Then, when you take off of the planet and orbit, you will see those objects from space. This is a sure fire indicator of where you have landed and explored. This should narrow down your search parameters when trying to locate your landing pad bubble. Don't forget to lay a beacon this time.

[Tungsten Whitmarsh Cadow]

The backpack has about a tenth of the space of inventories in the other games I play like Factorio and Terraria. That's why its so easy to forget something like a beacon that has limited value on a mountainous area with deep craters. Most games i play let me save multiple times. Developers are obsessed with creating these fatal mistakes in gaming.

I was distracted by not knowing which planet I was on last night. There's no way of knowing what planet you're on when you're not in space. There are other things i don't know like do I have to have a trade platform on a planet in order to get resources from it. Nothing i could do anyway. I didn't have the tungsten to build a trade platform on the planet I left, but the next moon i go to I should be able to build a trade platform. Will I be able to send for iron from that base i left or does the trade platform only work with explored areas with beacons?

[DarthNemesis]

Originally posted by Hangasnake Onarakerong:

There are other things i don't know like do I have to have a trade platform on a planet in order to get resources from it. Nothing i could do anyway. I didn't have the tungsten to build a trade platform on the planet I left, but the next moon i go to I should be able to build a trade platform. Will I be able to send for iron from that base i left or does the trade platform only work with explored areas with beacons?

The trade platform doesn't actually let you send your own resources to other planets, it lets you trade in scrap (that you get from shredding things) for any natural resource (no restriction on what you've already discovered).

[Your Future Ex]

Beacons, habitats, and shuttles all show you where they are from orbit. Use that information to make your future games better.

[Tungsten Whitmarsh Cadow]

My tool insists on burning hydrazine if there is any. Sometimes there isn't much and I'd rather it burn organics. How do I prevent my tool from using the wrong resources to power itself?

[DarthNemesis]

Originally posted by Hangasnake Onarakerong:

My tool insists on burning hydrazine if there is any. Sometimes there isn't much and I'd rather it burn organics. How do I prevent my tool from using the wrong resources to power itself?

Which tool? Hydrazine only gets consumed by a Hydrazine Thruster. Small Generator can't use anything other than Organic, and Terrain Tool mods run off of backpack power.

[Tungsten Whitmarsh Cadow]

My digging tool uses all the hydrazine I find. It puts it in that slot on the back of the tool and burns it to do more digging I guess.

[Rodos]

What digging tool? Your handheld terrain tool only uses power from your backpack & batteries, and drills on the vehicles draw power from the machine they're attached to. I've never tried it, but I'm sure the crane doesn't run on fuel either. The generators can't even use hydrazine because they use organic and carbon respectively. Also nothing goes on the back of the terrain tool, stuff comes out of there, unless you're talking the slots on the side and above. The ONLY time the terrain tool spouts fire is when you're digging without canisters, or the canisters are full. Canisters are distinctly different than Hydrazine in appearance now, so it's much easier to tell them apart.

[DarthNemesis]

Originally posted by Hangasnake Onarakerong:

My digging tool uses all the hydrazine I find. It puts it in that slot on the back of the tool and burns it to do more digging I guess.

Hydrazine isn't findable (outside of wrecks anyway), it's crafted from Ammonia and Hydrogen. The terrain tool doesn't consume any resources to dig, but can consume soil from Canisters in add/flatten mode. The back of the terrain tool only shows its internal inventory, where it stores partial amounts of every resource type until you collect enough to pop out a full stack of it. You don't lose anything when the back of the tool switches to showing a different resource type, it's just saved internally.

[Tungsten Whitmarsh Cadow]

This is a revelation. It had always appeared to me that the digging tool was using a resource in the inventory to power itself. I guess that explains why you can't put anything in that plug. Its where stuff materializes as the result of mining.

I think I started calling those flowers hydrazine because at some point I was making hydrazine with them or something. I don't know. I played this game for short periods over the last 3 years.

You ought to understand that you don't need to constantly fact check. I'm not selling securities. I don't know or I get things wrong. That's why I ask questions. I'm not putting you on.

[Your Future Ex]

Your tool just sucks stuff up onto your packpack. If you see flames shooting out the back of the tool that just means there is no room left on your backpack for soil and the canisters on your back are full. All it uses is energy from your backpack IF you have attatchments that use energy.

[Shukra]

Important notice; Read documentation before playing. Thanks much.