Genesis Alpha One Newb Talk

[Huntn]

Just started this game by choosing and launching the tutorial at the start of a mission.
According to the in-game tutorial I added a greenhouse, tractor beam, and maybe a reactor.

I ended up on the deck, promoted to Captain. I was told I could follow the tutorial or could explore the ship myself. I see a label across the upper center of the screen a rectangle that says Tutorial Objectives: See Survival Guide. So where is the Survival Guide? I looked around the bridge, looked at the controls to see if there is a key for "Survival Guide", don't see it. 🤔

[CyanDoomdragon]

It's one of the options when you bring up the laptop/inventory.
The middle one in the transmission section: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2127933435

[Huntn]

I found the Survival Guide, it's on the PDA (T key).

For the first time though the tutorial, it will have you build a tractor beam,, then a workshop, then pick up a turret (located in Weapon Rack) to place in the tractor beam module to protect against infestations. There will be an infestation in this tutorial from the debris you beam aboard, even though is says low danger. And if you take your time reading through stuff or figuring out how to do something, if you are not expeditious about getting the turret to the tractor beam and placing it (3 key), the ship will be infested and destroyed, causing you to restart the tutorial. At least that is what hap[ened to me.

Best thing to do is keep the game on pause as much as you can while trying to figure something out or taking notes. When the turret is placed, it will take care of any infestations, in the tractor beam, module.

Tutorial Comment 2: I'm working through the tutorial and after building a hanger, it has me send a harvester out. Not too hard, but then it tells me to join the expedition. On the work station screen, I don't see how to join the harvester. It turns out, you select "launch expedition", a countdown starts, and you exit the workstation screen (S) and quickly run on board the harvester before it leaves. On the planet you will be attacked by little bugs.

Tutorial Comment 3- The tutorial sucks. While you are trying to learn how to run your ship, just like before and the infestation if you don't get the turret placed, other bad things will happen as you are trying to do the tutorial. Modules breaking down, coming. apart at the seems, no longer able to enter a module without seeing that it is exposed to space and the particular clone if you enter that area, will promptly die. You basically get stuck someone where and end up waiting to die, clones die one by one until the tutorial/game ends. Is this how they planned it, its trial by fire? :P

I did not get a chance to see if I could repair modules from the build menu. That's a maybe. From this first shot at the tutorial, if there is a way, I'd try to build turrets, and place them in every module, or maybe there is some other maintenance thing going on, but the tutorial does not say a peep about it.

I'll try again tomorrow after I get over my frustration with this BS.

[CyanDoomdragon]

Originally posted by Huntn:

I found the Survival Guide, it's on the PDA (T key).

For the first time though the tutorial, it will have you build a tractor beam,, then a workshop, then pick up a turret (located in Weapon Rack) to place in the tractor beam module to protect against infestations. There will be an infestation in this tutorial from the debris you beam aboard, even though is says low danger. And if you take your time reading through stuff or figuring out how to do something, if you are not expeditious about getting the turret to the tractor beam and placing it (3 key), the ship will be infested and destroyed, causing you to restart the tutorial. At least that is what happened to me.

Best thing to do is keep the game on pause as much as you can while trying to figure something out or taking notes. When the turret is placed, it will take care of any infestations, in the tractor beam, module.

Tutorial Comment 2: I'm working through the tutorial and after building a hanger, it has me send a harvester out. Not too hard, but then it tells me to join the expedition. On the work station screen, I don't see how to join the harvester. It turns out, you select "launch expedition", a countdown starts, and you exit the workstation screen (S) and quickly run on board the harvester before it leaves. On the planet you will be attacked by little bugs.

Tutorial Comment 3: The tutorial sucks. While you are trying to learn how to run your ship, just like before and the infestation if you don't get the turret placed, other bad things will happen as you are trying to do the tutorial. Modules breaking down, coming apart at the seams, no longer able to enter a module without seeing that it is exposed to space and the particular clone if you enter that area, will promptly die. You basically get stuck someone where and end up waiting to die, clones die one by one until the tutorial/game ends. Is this how they planned it, its trial by fire? :P

I did not get a chance to see if I could repair modules from the build menu. That's a maybe. From this first shot at the tutorial, if there is a way, I'd try to build turrets, and place them in every module, or maybe there is some other maintenance thing going on, but the tutorial does not say a peep about it.

I'll try again tomorrow after I get over my frustration with this BS.

The biggest flaw of the tutorial is that unlike the tutorials in every other Rougelike game ever, the tutorial in this game is not predetermined or fixed. The tutorial is just as random as everything else in the game. In my first playthrough of the game I didn't get any infestations from the Tractor Beam during the tutorial.

The reason the tutorial is so "bad" is because it's a throwback to the way game tutorials used to be, where they would give you only the most basic minimum info that you needed to be able to play the game and everything more advanced then that you had to figure out yourself via observation, thinking, and experimenting.

Modules don't breakdown on their own there is always a cause, most likely it was an infestation from the materials you brought back from the planet with the harvester. Every module that you can build has a certain number of energy points in or under it (hallways for example have one under the floor), here's what they look like (the blue thing on the wall behind the tub): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2122425111
If more than half of them are taken offline the room shuts off and then starts to breakdown, to fix a room you need to go into it and turn the energy points back on until more then half of them are fixed then the room will start repairing itself. Modules also start to breakdown if they are cut off from the Bridge, so losing a single hallway piece in the wrong spot could slowly destroy your entire ship, but hallways are free to build so you can easily just replace it.

[Huntn]

Originally posted by CyanDoomdragon:

Originally posted by Huntn:

I found the Survival Guide, it's on the PDA (T key).

For the first time though the tutorial, it will have you build a tractor beam,, then a workshop, then pick up a turret (located in Weapon Rack) to place in the tractor beam module to protect against infestations. There will be an infestation in this tutorial from the debris you beam aboard, even though is says low danger. And if you take your time reading through stuff or figuring out how to do something, if you are not expeditious about getting the turret to the tractor beam and placing it (3 key), the ship will be infested and destroyed, causing you to restart the tutorial. At least that is what happened to me.

Best thing to do is keep the game on pause as much as you can while trying to figure something out or taking notes. When the turret is placed, it will take care of any infestations, in the tractor beam, module.

Tutorial Comment 2: I'm working through the tutorial and after building a hanger, it has me send a harvester out. Not too hard, but then it tells me to join the expedition. On the work station screen, I don't see how to join the harvester. It turns out, you select "launch expedition", a countdown starts, and you exit the workstation screen (S) and quickly run on board the harvester before it leaves. On the planet you will be attacked by little bugs.

Tutorial Comment 3: The tutorial sucks. While you are trying to learn how to run your ship, just like before and the infestation if you don't get the turret placed, other bad things will happen as you are trying to do the tutorial. Modules breaking down, coming apart at the seams, no longer able to enter a module without seeing that it is exposed to space and the particular clone if you enter that area, will promptly die. You basically get stuck someone where and end up waiting to die, clones die one by one until the tutorial/game ends. Is this how they planned it, its trial by fire? :P

I did not get a chance to see if I could repair modules from the build menu. That's a maybe. From this first shot at the tutorial, if there is a way, I'd try to build turrets, and place them in every module, or maybe there is some other maintenance thing going on, but the tutorial does not say a peep about it.

I'll try again tomorrow after I get over my frustration with this BS.

The biggest flaw of the tutorial is that unlike the tutorials in every other Rougelike game ever, the tutorial in this game is not predetermined or fixed. The tutorial is just as random as everything else in the game. In my first playthrough of the game I didn't get any infestations from the Tractor Beam during the tutorial.

The reason the tutorial is so "bad" is because it's a throwback to the way game tutorials used to be, where they would give you only the most basic minimum info that you needed to be able to play the game and everything more advanced then that you had to figure out yourself via observation, thinking, and experimenting.

Modules don't breakdown on their own there is always a cause, most likely it was an infestation from the materials you brought back from the planet with the harvester. Every module that you can build has a certain number of energy points in or under it (hallways for example have one under the floor), here's what they look like (the blue thing on the wall behind the tub): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2122425111
If more than half of them are taken offline the room shuts off and then starts to breakdown, to fix a room you need to go into it and turn the energy points back on until more then half of them are fixed then the room will start repairing itself. Modules also start to breakdown if they are cut off from the Bridge, so losing a single hallway piece in the wrong spot could slowly destroy your entire ship, but hallways are free to build so you can easily just replace it.

Thank you for the info I appreciate it.
* Every time I tried to enter a damaged module, exposed to space I screamed a little as I floated around before dieing. Can you repair the module from the door on the outside? Can you pull up the map and direct repair from there?

Can you p[ut on a helmit to enter a decompressed space or does the happen automatically7? I ask because the image of clones seem to not have helmets. Do they automatically put on helmets as needed? When I went to the planet, I don't remember having to put on a helmit, so I'm a bit stumped why I died a fairly prompt, gruesome death when entering a decompressed module. (during the tutorial). Were bugs eating me?

As a rule, must you have a turret at any location tractor beam, hanger for example to be protected from infestations? What is the rule regarding turrets and infestations, can a single turret in a module handle an infestation or do you need more than one?

When I returned from the planet (during the tutorial) in the harvester, there was an infestation, and I and the other clone shot every bug we saw, but after the hanger started coming apart, I had the distinct impression that crew members can't adequately deal with bugs. Is this impression correct?

[CyanDoomdragon]

Originally posted by Huntn:

Thank you for the info I appreciate it.
* Every time I tried to enter a damaged module, exposed to space I screamed a little as I floated around before dying. Can you repair the module from the door on the outside? Can you pull up the map and direct repair from there?

While I've never had that happen to me, I think it means that the module has already been destroyed and that it's too late to fix it. Sometimes when you deconstruct a module it disappears immediately other times it leaves a half constructed area that's exposed to space. Modules can only be fixed by going to and interacting manually with all of the electrical boxes in the room, you can't do it from outside the room or from the map.

Originally posted by Huntn:

Can you put on a helmet to enter a decompressed space or does the happen automatically? I ask because the image of clones seem to not have helmets. Do they automatically put on helmets as needed? When I went to the planet, I don't remember having to put on a helmet, so I'm a bit stumped why I died a fairly prompt, gruesome death when entering a decompressed module. (during the tutorial). Were bugs eating me?

You do have a helmet with a small air supply that is used automatically, as when a room gets damaged enough one of the things that can happen is it loses all air and the screen goes fuzzy along with a bar appearing that shows how much air you have left and then you start taking damage from suffocation.

Originally posted by Huntn:

As a rule, must you have a turret at any location tractor beam, hanger for example to be protected from infestations? What is the rule regarding turrets and infestations, can a single turret in a module handle an infestation or do you need more than one?

I have multiple turrets in the Tractor Beam and Hanger due to how alien invaders in those rooms work. For the Tractor Beam I have one turret above where the clones walk around and the Human sized aliens appear and one under the floor where small aliens appear. For the Hanger I have a turret at the top of each ramp and a barrier at the bottom to stop aliens from coming up the ramp or running under the floor. One thing that turrets and barriers fail at is dealing with the green gas clouds, they don't do affect them at all and when those green gas clouds land they grow into nests which make alien eggs.

Originally posted by Huntn:

When I returned from the planet (during the tutorial) in the harvester, there was an infestation, and I and the other clone shot every bug we saw, but after the hanger started coming apart, I had the distinct impression that crew members can't adequately deal with bugs. Is this impression correct?

They can fight aliens just fine, they just can't chase them under the floor which is where most of the energy nodes for the Hanger are. Also they won't shoot nests and eggs until they are level three, which is their max level.

[Huntn]

Originally posted by CyanDoomdragon:

Originally posted by Huntn:

Thank you for the info I appreciate it.
* Every time I tried to enter a damaged module, exposed to space I screamed a little as I floated around before dying. Can you repair the module from the door on the outside? Can you pull up the map and direct repair from there?

While I've never had that happen to me, I think it means that the module has already been destroyed and that it's too late to fix it. Sometimes when you deconstruct a module it disappears immediately other times it leaves a half constructed area that's exposed to space. Modules can only be fixed by going to and interacting manually with all of the electrical boxes in the room, you can't do it from outside the room or from the map.

Originally posted by Huntn:

Can you put on a helmet to enter a decompressed space or does the happen automatically? I ask because the image of clones seem to not have helmets. Do they automatically put on helmets as needed? When I went to the planet, I don't remember having to put on a helmet, so I'm a bit stumped why I died a fairly prompt, gruesome death when entering a decompressed module. (during the tutorial). Were bugs eating me?

You do have a helmet with a small air supply that is used automatically, as when a room gets damaged enough one of the things that can happen is it loses all air and the screen goes fuzzy along with a bar appearing that shows how much air you have left and then you start taking damage from suffocation.

Originally posted by Huntn:

As a rule, must you have a turret at any location tractor beam, hanger for example to be protected from infestations? What is the rule regarding turrets and infestations, can a single turret in a module handle an infestation or do you need more than one?

I have multiple turrets in the Tractor Beam and Hanger due to how alien invaders in those rooms work. For the Tractor Beam I have one turret above where the clones walk around and the Human sized aliens appear and one under the floor where small aliens appear. For the Hanger I have a turret at the top of each ramp and a barrier at the bottom to stop aliens from coming up the ramp or running under the floor. One thing that turrets and barriers fail at is dealing with the green gas clouds, they don't do affect them at all and when those green gas clouds land they grow into nests which make alien eggs.

Originally posted by Huntn:

When I returned from the planet (during the tutorial) in the harvester, there was an infestation, and I and the other clone shot every bug we saw, but after the hanger started coming apart, I had the distinct impression that crew members can't adequately deal with bugs. Is this impression correct?

They can fight aliens just fine, they just can't chase them under the floor which is where most of the energy nodes for the Hanger are. Also they won't shoot nests and eggs until they are level three, which is their max level.

Thanks much for the info! OK, I see there are rooms like the tractorbearm module when you go down a ramp you can see under the main floor. :)

[Huntn]

Question 3: Clones
Is there a way to manage clones by pulling up a list such as can they be assigned to a crew quarters, or do they just automatically assign themselves?
As I get going, I've noticed I wanted to change the location of certain clones. Is there interface to assign or unassigned them from a module?
Is there a way to heal yourself, or does you clone just slowly use health until you die and auto switch to the next clone?

Question 4: Module Colors
How to you color parts of modules such as the doors or floors?

[CyanDoomdragon]

Originally posted by Huntn:

Question 3: Clones
Is there a way to manage clones by pulling up a list, such as can they be assigned to a crew quarters, or do they just automatically assign themselves?

Clones auto assign themselves at random to any open crew quarter spot.

Originally posted by Huntn:

As I get going, I've noticed I wanted to change the location of certain clones. Is there interface to assign or unassigned them from a module?

I believe this is actually covered in the tutorial, at any screen where you can assign clones to do work there's a small screen to the right that you can move over to that shows all of your clones so you can choose which ones you want to assign. Clones assigned to the room you're in are at the top of the list, and if you choose a clone already assigned to another room it auto unassigns them first so you don't have to go to that room and unassign them manually.
The screen: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1546074969

Originally posted by Huntn:

Is there a way to heal yourself, or does you clone just slowly use health until you die and auto switch to the next clone?

There are healing stations on the wall that you can use to get health back, they cost Biomatter to use and you have to interact with them for a little while for them to work. You can ad them to certain rooms with the upgrade chips. The bridge always starts with one and there's one in the Harvester: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2113440309

Originally posted by Huntn:

Question 4: Module Colors
How to you color parts of modules such as the doors or floors?

If you look back at my first comment with the picture of the laptop you'll see that the third option from the bottom is called ship colouring, when you change the colours you have to options change just the room you're in or change the entire ship.

[Huntn]

Question 5: Harvesting with Clones...

Versus doing it yourself, will clones collect the same amount of items as you can?
Can Clones be harmed or killed while on an unsupervised harvesting trip to a planet?
In other words is it more or less dangerous to send clones down by themselves, statically safer than you going, or no difference in possible danger?
Thanks for the help! :D

[CyanDoomdragon]

Originally posted by Huntn:

Question 5: Harvesting with Clones...

Versus doing it yourself, will clones collect the same amount of items as you can?
Can Clones be harmed or killed while on an unsupervised harvesting trip to a planet?
In other words is it more or less dangerous to send clones down by themselves, statically safer than you going, or no difference in possible danger?
Thanks for the help! :D

It's less dangerous (and much quicker) since the planet isn't loaded, the ship and clones just disappear and then roughly twenty seconds later the ship and clones return.
The downsides that I've noticed is that there's more likely to be hostile aliens when the ship returns and more likely to have something hidden in the cargo.

Also you can tell the clones what material to prioritise on the dispatch computer, which makes them gather only that material until either the ship's cargo is full or all the prioritised materials are collected.

[Huntn]

Originally posted by CyanDoomdragon:

Originally posted by Huntn:

Question 5: Harvesting with Clones...

Versus doing it yourself, will clones collect the same amount of items as you can?
Can Clones be harmed or killed while on an unsupervised harvesting trip to a planet?
In other words is it more or less dangerous to send clones down by themselves, statically safer than you going, or no difference in possible danger?
Thanks for the help! :D

It's less dangerous (and much quicker) since the planet isn't loaded, the ship and clones just disappear and then roughly twenty seconds later the ship and clones return.
The downsides that I've noticed is that there's more likely to be hostile aliens when the ship returns and more likely to have something hidden in the cargo.

Also you can tell the clones what material to prioritise on the dispatch computer, which makes them gather only that material until either the ship's cargo is full or all the prioritised materials are collected.

Thanks you! :)

Question 6: Ships Building energy. Update: OK Figured out, need a Reactor. :\
At the beginning of the game, I started with like 100 energy, now I'm down to 22 and am starting to get into a bind for building new components, ie short of energy. I've looked online for a reference, but don't see it. How do you increase available energy for building new modules? Granted I'm just starting to get ready on this run, to head down the planet, maybe stuff you collect down there can restore building energy on the ship? Thanks in advance.

[Huntn]

Question 7- I see a choice in the PDA to paint ship options, but have yet to figure out how to paint an area, I see nothing online about it. I don't necessarily want to paint an entire module, but painting walk ways by themselves would be very handy. Also labeling a corridor as say leads to the Turbohaft would be nice too. :)
Thanks in advance! :)

[CyanDoomdragon]

Originally posted by Huntn:

Question 7- I see a choice in the PDA to paint ship options, but have yet to figure out how to paint an area, I see nothing online about it. I don't necessarily want to paint an entire module, but painting walk ways by themselves would be very handy. Also labeling a corridor as say leads to the Turbohaft would be nice too. :)
Thanks in advance! :)

Unfortunately, when it comes to painting you only have two choices; paint the entire module or paint the entire ship. However when you select painting three lines of colours show up, one line paints the walls, one line paints the floor and one line paints the extras in a room, so you could change just the floor line and leave the other two alone. Unless you mean you want to paint just a line/path to follow? In that case, no you can't do that.

For labelling a door/corridor you use the option Ship Naming, under the Ship Colouring option. Pick it, point at a door, and it should tell you what to do. Small tip, the top option is for the side of the door that you're currently on, the bottom option is the other side.

[CyanDoomdragon]

Also, here's something that will majorly help you:

Originally posted by nDervish:

Originally posted by Guizin:

Do good growths spawn aliens? How do you tell the good ones from the bad ones?

There are two that I consider "good". Leven gets green "fireflies" in the air above it when mature and the other (whose name I don't recall) gets red fireflies.

Leven is better, because it heals you when you walk over it, while the red one recharges your active alien ability instantly.

There's also one with blue fireflies which some people consider helpful for blocking out hostile growths, but I dislike it because walking over it teleports you to another random growth of the same stuff, which can make it hard to get where you're going.

Basically, though:

- If an infestation has glowing fireflies when fully grown, it's good and helpful.

- If it has a cloud of fog over it (not spores, but a constant fog, which is generally over a larger area than a spore cloud and may be different colors), it will cause disease in clones who walk through the fog.

- If it doesn't have either, then it will produce mobile aliens; if you have the Awareness alien power, you can see developing eggs as bright white spots in the nest. (This is one way that you can distinguish between egg-producing growths and immature growths of other types if you aren't familiar with their appearance yet. The other way is to listen for the squishy sound the immature ones make as they grow.)

Originally posted by CyanDoomdragon:

Leven is a type of good infestation that you want on your ship. It looks like a round green rock or egg in a dull green slime puddle, when fully grown it has green fireflies around it. It heals you when you step on it and takes up a spot so that bad infestations can't grow.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2120331013

Originally posted by CyanDoomdragon:

Here's a pic of the red one and blue one for reference:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2281830770
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2124907665

[Huntn]

Originally posted by CyanDoomdragon:

Originally posted by Huntn:

Question 7- I see a choice in the PDA to paint ship options, but have yet to figure out how to paint an area, I see nothing online about it. I don't necessarily want to paint an entire module, but painting walk ways by themselves would be very handy. Also labeling a corridor as say leads to the Turbohaft would be nice too. :)
Thanks in advance! :)

Unfortunately, when it comes to painting you only have two choices; paint the entire module or paint the entire ship. However when you select painting three lines of colours show up, one line paints the walls, one line paints the floor and one line paints the extras in a room, so you could change just the floor line and leave the other two alone. Unless you mean you want to paint just a line/path to follow? In that case, no you can't do that.

For labelling a door/corridor you use the option Ship Naming, under the Ship Colouring option. Pick it, point at a door, and it should tell you what to do. Small tip, the top option is for the side of the door that you're currently on, the bottom option is the other side.

Thanks much! :D

Question 8- Greenhouse, I see in the GAO Wiki list of plants only some of those plants create O2. If I have an all human crew, should I just be putting other than O2 plants in there? I did plant a large plant that looks like a mushroom, think they called it fungus and it makes N2O (Dinitrogen monoxide (nitrous oxide) is commonly known as laughing gas.) and I assume I should remove that, but so far, no one is complaining. :0
And I've been messing with the Greenhouse control panel and I see no way to delete a plant...