Tips for new players:

[Solace]

Starting perks -

1. Gardens and other economy modules
2. Ship combat upgrades for evasions/accuracy (HP ones are optional)
3. Ship weapon upgrades
4. Other ship module upgrades
5. Crew members (Do not buy the security drones as they usually cause a xeno deficit or rat soldiers)
6. Other modules/nukes you feel is necessary (Usually storage modules for myself and other things I can salvage for resources)


Modules of importance in order for early game:

1. Gardens - You want a few of these housing roughly 5-10 crew members which are better than Cryosleep as you can use food to heal and just sell off the excess and there is no cool down time to be combat ready if caught off guard.

2. Cryosleep modules -Aim for 4 or bigger modules. The 4 slot biotech one that generates credits is best for the economy. Other smaller ones can be used but is a waste to purchase

3. Labs - Last resort for economy due to the fact you consume food to produce income is less efficient and food is of more importance. If your full on food these are more beneficial otherwise just use Gardens. The only real benefit here is you are uncapped on the amount of xeno data you can carry.

4. PD turrets - You want roughly 3 PD turrets and eventually 4 late game. Commercial and Bio are the best but your more likely to find Terran ones that are just are just about as good. The importance of these at specific stages of the game is unforseen by many.

5. Shields - Ideally get either a secondary shield module or battery asap to tank early game lasers. Dual shield modules are better and more sustaining for longer fights if you are weaker on the DMG output. Sky shield module and the T1 are most efficient for energy:shield ratio I believe

6. Weapons- Regardless of your ship early game you want to rush a 5th weapon to have shorter battles to reduce damage intake and conserve resources. You roughly want 1-2 Shield damaging lasers and 4-6 regular. Top laser weapons are the insectoid laser (20hp module), medium laser 3 and Intellipoint lasers that only cost 1/2 energy that are 2x1 4 second cd time. If opting for Projectile weapons the 5x2 Intellipoint platform or any fast projectiles with 19+ accuracy are ideal.

7. Storage modules - I usually have 2 ESM-2 and a FEO + one other of any type to have a decent pool of metal/synth/fuel/org to sell off at stations

8. Power Modules - The most important of all, ideally you want to hit 80+ energy for a easy ride lategame. Aim for fusion reactors whenever possible but do not be afraid to use common biotech reactors that give +20 as you can just swap them out if in danger.

8. Bridges - Opt for highest amount of crew members always, get the biotech bridges that gives +3 armor and has the lowest energy usage if available

9. ECM turrets - The most important module of all but not as important early game as your absorbing weaker fire early on. Aim for the ECM turret 3 which gives ship HP and 7% evasion each. If energy is an issue aim for the 6% 1 energy biotech module. These stack and you can get 100+% evasions and watch enemy ships kill each other.

10. Engine - The Unknown biotech engine is one of the best in the game. I thin only one other engine beats its evasion. Equip something around 15% evade and 35 or less consumption. The higher evasion or ship hp is mega not worth the higher fuel consumption in most cases.

11. Any other modules - Nukes are on demand for harder fights, any healing modules are on demand, sensors should be a priority early on depending on your economy as it helps you find resources but I do not see it as a necessity as most lategame instances I found myself in abundance of resources. I am unsure as to if stealth detection even matters in this game other than the one SOS event where stealth ships approach. Its not really worth pursuing unless related to some events which I do not believe exist atm. Maybe if new quests or perk unlocks were specific to stealth ships this would matter more.


Crew related perks - Depends on how many modules you expect to have on your ship related to the role.

1. Bridge - Designate 4 in case one dies as evasion is important and enough for Trio bridge
2. PD Turrets - Designate 2-5
3. Weapons - Designate 4-8
4. Shields - 2-4 Three is ideal 4 is a backup
5. Repair - 2-4 These guys with 50% buff maxed out is a blessing late game if you get sniped
6. Firefighters - 2-4 Usually bots do the job here since not all can repair or do much else
7. Sensors 1-2 Maybe 2 for a backup
8. Gardening/Lab - Match module count when not in combat - DO NOT scale this over combat traits if a crew has both until combat trait is maxed.
9. Warp drive - 0-1 I use pets for these and only put someone in the drive as I have never had to run from a fight. Also your warp drive is even disabled in some cases so why even bother.


Advice in fights -

1. Position your PD on the edge of engagement even if flanked
2. Equip max evasion according to your power output, if a power generator is damaged they are they are first to turn off anyway. Weapons are the last
3. Have roughly 30+ shields for most encounters with 2x Shield modules to handle small arms fire. EMP rounds will eat away at you either way but it saves you time to disable one enemy ship before this happens
4. NUKE EM, do not be afraid to spam mass nukes on a enemy ship in dire situations or on bosses. You can easily acquire or make a full payload between major fights. Only save nukes like the Monolith or other rare nukes for big bosses.
5. Focus your fire on important things and weaker ships first. Usually aiming for reactors is more efficient than other modules as some ships may even have a single power supply for 2-3 turrets on the edge of the ship that are hard to hit. The closer the ship is to your guns to more accurate your shots are which is why its recommended to use those accurate fast shooting dual lasers.
6 Avoid projectile weapons as late game this is costly. The only instance i had projectiles late game was getting 2 of those 5x2 missile launchers and syncing their shots that would rip any defenses apart and did not consume a ridicules amount of explosives since they were accurate with a good explosion radius
7.Have 200+ of Metal/Synth for repairing modules/ship in fights. The more the better
8. The enemy will ALWAYS nuke the center of your ship. I lost many men thinking this was a strategic location for them lol


Advice for exploring -

Asteroid Defense is not as vital as you think, get 50% or so and you should be fine
Maintain 20% of your metal/synth when moving around to avoid excess dumping and allow for resource accumulation
Maintain 400+ org/fuel when unable to see stations over the next few hops or something you can salvage in your inventory. Generally keep your inventory full until you need resources or can sell at a station.
That sensor guy makes a huge difference when exploring each area in each sector and may net you that free nuke from a planet that you may have missed otherwise
Abuse stations to become combat ready if you get caught off guard
Do not warp to close systems to generate more money and save on fuel. You make more by taking the detour across the universe


I think i covered most basic tips. Some are slightly arguable and some others are just due to preference but this should help most others who are struggling to beat the game. I have only failed once at the final level due to EMP rays eating my shields quickly and also blasting my power supplies up. You also can just farm SOS beacons once you get defensive enough to deal with easier ships with enough PD turrets and shields.

[Pomelowe]

Hi Solace! Thank you for this very nicely written quick guide to get new players started. Maybe you could consider posting this as a quide over at:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/812040/guides/
I would personally recommend naming it something like Quick Start Guide for New Players because this game is quite extensive but your tips are a solid summary :) Hope you have a great weekend!

[Solace]

Corrected a bunch of errors and published.

Pretty decent game, hope it gets expanded on over the next few years like FTL did.

[mhzmark]

Well. It is easy to say that tips: you should have more weapons slots. that you should grew a lot of food, that you should always have a few PD and shields battery. But then you start the game with weak Tiger ship and you lose in Sector One or Sector Two and you are wondering what you did wrong...

I have read many similar tips before. I won that game after 100 hours... before I understood the game logic. I won the game a few days ago before "rebalance logic" and without option "all the ships are unlocked".

And honestly. Do you want a real tips?

1. Unlock out the permanent perks which improve your ship (evasion, deflection ,etc.) - probably you use out most of your fate points. And what? Just lose as fast as possible and you will start again with 30 fate points again :)
So basically, unlock permanent perks to improve your ship permanently...

2. If you are not a "best player" then you need a better ship than Tiger/Nuke (they are really weak). You need at least Atlas ship or Bluestar ship to win the game. So at the beginning focus not on to win the game but to access sector 4 or 5 to unlock the Atlas/Bluestar ship... Scrap all your modules in the storage but unlock that ships!

So now - you can start the game with strong ship with permanent perks and probably with a bunch of fate points :) So now:

1. Start from sector 1 (not from sector 3). You need to build your ship :)
2. Use your fate points to buy: additional PD (two PD give you great defend against Rat ships).
3. Buy also backup bridge; then scrap it :) - it will give you 10 exotics (needed to upgrade hybrid slot to weapon slot).
3. Tend to use "Recharge battery" instead "Shield battery" modules. One point of shield defend You against laser weapon!
4. Buy some drones and crew with fate points. After every sector you can upgrade your crew (but not drones) so the faster you have crew the faster you can upgrade them.
5. In sector one and two - expect to have one enemy which is much stronger than you. You can recognize it - it is much stronger that usual ship. Just escape... It is not worth to fight if you lose more you gain (even if you win). However - I never pay taxes, etc.

And that are the initial tips... Then you can apply the @Solace tips. In my opinion you need

2 PD
5 weapons slots after Sector 2 and 6 weapons in the final sectors (6-10).
Decide about your strategy: Evasion/Shield/PD. I do not have any point for that. I noticed that on the beginning your Evasion is poor so you need to invest on PD and shield. After that I remove shield and get Evasion modules. In the end I have around 20 shield points (but with recharge modules) and 2 PD with around 85 evasion. I tend to have around 6 weapons.
3. You need around 23 crew. Get as many drones as possible because they do not eat :D.
4. Get 3xbridge and improve your crew - it will give you more evasion.

And remember one important thing. In the first sector you must take care for the resource (like organics). In later sectors you have more of them... Don't hesitate to scraw unused "foodl/lab" modules :) You don't have to visit all planets (in the later sectors) to win. In the first sectors visit/fight a lot of planets to improve your ship and escape only if it is necessary :)

[Solace]

You are correct that what I have so far is not quite for first runs. I can add a bit more detail later.

[Leviathan]

Hmmm. Interesting tips.

I've just started and find I either run out of food or fuel..so have to restart. Crew is basic... not even 10 in total. I love the concept of the game, but maybe there is a bit too much going on, making it too complex and hence not enjoyable to start with.

But I shall persevere.

[Solace]

you gotta learn to micro manage the hell out of your resources. the tutorial should emphaize more on the economy if anything for newer players.

[Solace]

after you figure out the economy the game is pretty easy if you score a few rail guns or lazers or scale up enough ecm turrets to 100+ base evasion (which will probably get capped off in the future or have diminishing returns)

[kitkasatka]

the best tip for the game is to have 2 designs for a ship: economy mod and battle mod. Replace all war moduls with economical one for the travel and visa versa.
But have a question: does it matters if you place a high sience crew member in a cryodream recorder? will there be more credits for recording dreams?

[Solace]

Its just rng i believe. Pets generate creds too