Tips, Tricks, and other gameplay information

UPDATED 6/24/18. This guide is a collection of observations I've made during my time playing the game. More or less "things I wish I knew sooner".

Introduction

This guide will be formatted as a large bullet list of observations I've made in the dozens of hours I've played this game. I will try to categorize tips into sections as best I can. Read this guide with the idea of quick tips, tricks, "things I wish I knew sooner" mindset. This isn't a spoiler-filled walkthrough, achievement, or how-to guide. As I play more I will add to this guide, especially when I try the other ships. If I got anything wrong, please let me know in the comments and I will correct it as soon as I can.

What is Everspace?

Everspace is a Rogue 1st or 3rd person procedurally generated space survival shooter with basic RPG elements. Rogue means you will die. This game is designed to kill you and it is very good at that job. Think back to Diablo. When you died, you returned to town with none of your equipped items. This game is like Diablo, but in space.

As of this writing:

• Everspace version 1.3.0.x
  
• about 75% of my gameplay has been with the Interceptor, the first or default ship.
  
• I've only played in 3rd person view. I have not tried 1st person view yet.
  
• I only play with keyboard and mouse. I have not tried a controller.
  
• I've only played Hard difficulty once with the Gunship.

Initial To-Do's:

• BUY THIS GAME. It is very fun and addicting.
  
• BUY THE DLC. It adds new voiced characters; adding more depth and personality to the game. Space is lonely so the more the merrier. On top of that these characters give you missions and pay lots of credits, allowing you to upgrade everything sooner.
  
• The DLC also adds a new ship, weapons, and other gear. More toys equals more fun.

High level game tips

Game

• This game is GORGEOUS. There's many times where I just like to casually fly around and enjoy the scenery. If possible, max out the graphic options to make it super pretty.
  
• Press ESC to pause the game and bring up the menu. There's an Action Freeze option. This is the free camera mode which strips the HUD, allowing you to take screenshots and observe your surroundings.
  
• This game is a random generated "dungeon crawler". Every jump point you travel to is randomly created. Every time you start a new game or jump to a new waypoint, it will be different. Over 30 hours in and I'm still discovering new environments for the first time. The only consistent jump points are ones with Ancients. Even Jump Gates at the end of each sector are randomized.
  
• When you die or complete a run:
  -You keep any collected credits, Viridian Energy (DLC exlusive I believe), Ancient Glyphs, and Subroutines.
  -Everything else is lost.
  
• SPEND ALL YOUR CREDITS! When you start a new run, buy all the perks you can. Anything you can afford will have a green + on the icon. Whatever credits you don't spend are lost when you start. BE GREEDY!
  
• There's 7 Sectors total in the game, each with multiple jump points. Sector 7 is the only sector with one jump point (aka the final level/battle).
  
• I am a collector/hoarder so I like to fly everywhere, shoot everything that moves, and pick up anything I can. I've noticed my average completed run time is about 2 hours.
  -So if you want to complete a run in a single sitting, plan on 2 hours (grab a drink and a snack).
  
• The game autosaves at the beginning of every jump point. So you can quit the game to play later and it will pick up at the beginning of the jump point, or level you are currently flying around in.
  -So technically if you get into a bad fight you are about to lose, quit and resume and you should pick up at the beginning of the jump versus blowing up and starting over.
  
• Anything in the Ship's inventory can be changed during a run. That means weapons, gear, devices and consumables. Anything you pick before starting a run such as Ship, color, and enhancements CANNOT be changed once you start. So choose wisely.
  
• Okkar forces jump in to chase you away in each jump point, about 5 ships at a time. This is done to keep the game moving. I have not used a stopwatch to time it exactly, but I guestimate roughly 10 minutes after you jump in (Normal difficulty). Whenever I see the warning I immediately jump.
  -EXCEPTION: There are jump points with a warning "Sensors Impaired". Okkar don't jump in here so you can fly around and explore forever.
  -With a Gunship, I was able to repel the Okkar forces jumping in. After a few waves of 5 ships, Capital Ships jumped in a-la Star Destroyer style. If this happens:
  
  
  
• Energy is the primary resource for your ship. It is the green bar under your crosshair. Boost and primary weapons drain it, but it auto-regenerates over time (fairly quickly too). The red bar next to it is devices that require a set amount of energy to run, such as shields and adaptive armor.
  -If you equip too many devices that require a set amount of energy (red bar bigger than green bar), you won't have much energy left for boost or weapons. Thus turning you into a sitting duck. Keep this in mind when you upgrade your weapons and devices. Upgrades make the item better, but at a greater energy cost.
  
• If you buy the DLC, you can pick between two of the four ships. I recommend picking one and sticking with it until you can consistently complete a run. This will allow you to get comforable with the game.
  -It also focuses your perk upgrades on one ship, increasing your survivability.
  
• The other two ships cost 10,000 credits each. This will be hard to obtain in one run early on. Save your money and upgrade perks first.

Ships

Colonial Gunship

• Costs 10,000 credits to unlock.
  
• Drives like a tank with a sail attatched. It accelerates, brakes, and turns slower than the other ships. A lot more "floatier" to fly.
  
• Flying this for the first time: brake sooner and be a bit more careful around structures. If you collide with something, it hurts a lot more.
  
• The other ships brake and turn on a dime compared to the Gunship.
  
• Only shield is a front-facing circular shield. Invincible, but has to be deployed as it is an active device.
  
• Drives like a tank, but it can take a beating like one too as it has crazy amount of hull hitpoints.
  -Unfortunately it takes A LOT more nanobots to repair all those hitpoints.
  -Careful as this ship is so tanky you may feel invincible but all those hitpoints can disappear quickly in a tough fight, especially on Hard difficulty.

Colonial Interceptor

• First/default ship selected.
  
• Good starter ship to fly with. Decent all around stats and maneuverability.
  
• Feels like it doesn't have much energy so you will be using Energy Injectors frequently
  
• Great speed and acceleration. Allows you to enter and leave quickly (dogfights, lightning fields, etc).

Colonial Scout

• Costs 10,000 credits to unlock.
  
• As of this writing I have not flown this ship.
  
• Looking at the size and stats, I would call this the "glass assassin" ship.
  
• Only ship that can equip cloaking device.
  
• I would say it flies incredibly fast and agile. "Hit n run" tactics to be used with this ship. No sitting arround in dogfights or you're asking for a quick death.
  
• Looks like a Tie-Fighter

Colonial Sentinel

• DLC Exclusive; unlocked with purchase.
  
• I've flown this ship a few times and it handles roughly the same as the Interceptor.
  
• Starts with DLC gear and weapons
  
• Only 1 primary weapon slot
  
• Can hack things faster than other ships

Gameplay

Gameplay

• Press TAB to open the Ship menu/inventory. THIS ALSO PAUSES THE GAME! You can craft new gear, upgrade weapons, repair your ship, "catch your breath" all during a battle!
  -For example during some fights I run out of energy to fire my weapons. I press Tab, craft an energy injector, use it immediately, and continue delivering death to my enemies bwahahaha.
  -Build and deploy a combat drone during a battle to take some heat off you.
  -Build and use damage limiters or boosters to increase your survival chances.
  -Craft a Device Charger to reset cooldowns.
  
• I've noticed when salvaging items, you get ore and scrap metal from everything. Yes even from an ARC-9000. You will not get the same materials back needed for crafting it on your own.
  
• Common enemy aggro seems to be around 2km. So if you want to avoid them, safe minimum distance is 2km.

Weapons

Primary Weapons

• The best weapons for shooting down incoming missiles and minefields are the Beam Laser and Scatter Gun (space shotgun).
  -Beam Laser you can sweep the screen as it fires continuously, making it easier to pick off missiles from a distance (~1km).
  -Scatter Gun has enough pellets to take out missiles, but it has limited range (<750m) so accuracy is important. It's not a wall of pellets so it may take more than one shot.
  
• Fully charged Shock Rifle (sniper rifle) can one-shot almost any drone. Good for picking them off before taking on the main enemy as it has a range of 4km. A good "thinning the herd" gun.
  
• Flak Cannon shoots explosive bullets (AoE damage), but you have to target an enemy first for each shell to detonate. It is near impossible to shoot containers or mines with it.
  
• Thermo Gun does low damage, but fires homing projectiles. Good gun to keep enemy shields from charging during a fight.
  -Also good if you are in a bad situation, such as sensors or inertial dampeners are damaged and you can't quite aim at the enemy.

Secondary Weapons

• Light Missiles are good for wearing down shields before taking out the target. A good annoyance weapon to assist with the quick kill.
  
• Heavy Missiles can one shot most common enemies (below MK3).
  
• If you are hit by a Heavy Missile, it also overheats your secondary weapons (missiles), temporarily preventing you from using them.
  
• Seeker Missile Battery is almost cheating. It only does 4 less hull damage than Light missiles, but does DOUBLE the shield damage, TIMES TEN. Yes it fires 10 missiles, aka swarm missiles.
  *The description doesn't say if the stats is per missile or if all 10 hit the same target. Based on usage I say per missile.*
  -So if you have a bunch of enemies beating you up, fire this once or twice and watch them all disappear.
  -This is the best weapon against the Okkar swarm fighters as it one-shots each of them.
  
• Corrosion Missiles ignore shields and causes DoT to hulls.
  -Okkar enemies have lower hull stats than Outlaws. One of these will take out Okkar in a few seconds, especially in the first few Sectors.
  -5 to 7 of these can take out an Okkar Corvette (regular. MK2 and Elites take more). Probably fewer with a damage booster. Great for taking out the ones with shield drones. Same for the Outlaw Drone Carriers.
  
• ARC-9000. Heh if seeker missiles are like cheating, this is almost game breaking.
  -Notice the name, specifically 9000? Yeah it takes inspiration from Doom's BFG. Operates pretty much the same too.
  -You need to charge it to fire, like the Beam Laser (and BFG).
  -AoE is 500m. DO NOT FIRE POINT BLANK.
  -Can one-shot Corvettes.
  -Fire it length wise along Okkar Frigates (from front to back or vice-versa) and it will take out almost all the gun batteries and energy coils on that side.
  -They are rare drops, so cherish them and save them for the big enemies.

Perks

General

• Whatever credits you don't spend here are lost when you start the run
  
• The ones with a green plus symbol means you have enough credits to buy it.
  
• Perks are permanent and always active.
  
• Perks always cost credits. Some require multiple investments before leveling up to the next tier.
  -You can tell which ones these are as they have two categories on the right, Spent and Cost.
  -For example the Bonus Resources perk costs $5500, but the first level is only $500. Cost increases per level up to a total of $5500 to get to level 2. It is usually 5 upgrades per level.
  
• Pilot perks affect the pilot (duh). This means they are active no matter what ship you select.
  
• Ship perks are per ship only.

Pilot

• I strongly recommend you max out the credit loot bonus first
  -Trust me, the first several runs you do you are going to die. The more credits you collect and faster means the more you can invest into perks sooner.
  -After maxing out the perk, I completed a run with a hair over 69,000 credits. That's a lot of upgrades.
  
• The next perks I worked on were all the damage and repair ones; increasing nanobot efficiency and reducing ship damage chance.
  -I remember one run I barely found any nanobots. They were rare and it was weird. Then another run, I was always maxed out. These perks makes every one count.
  
• After those you can pretty much invest in whatever you want:
  -Upgrade the Map perk to help plan your route.
  -Upgrade Critical Hits perks to kill enemies faster.
  -Upgrade Weapons and gear to carry more items to make you more situationaly ready.
  -Upgrade Resources perks to decrease materials needed for crafting so you can craft more per run.

Ship

• These are all pretty self explanatory.
  -Hull and energy increase your survivability
  -Primary and secondary weapons increase the number you can carry at once.
  -Engine increases your speed
  
• Jump Drive perk I believe is the least important. Fuel is abundant enough in game that I have yet to actually not have enough fuel for a jump. It is also very expensive at 10,000 credits for the first tier alone.
  -Fuel drops from enemies, even drones.
  -You can mine it from skinny asteroids.
  -Drops from fuel storage tanks.
  -You can buy it from service stations or sometimes traders.
  -Also can be found in containers.

Glyphs

• Enhancements are divided into Glyphs and Subroutines.
  
• 3 slots total each ship. Mix and match them.
  
• You have to invest in the Device and Consumable Perks before unlocking the Enhancement Perk.
  
• Can only be selected at setup screen.
  
• Once collected it is permanent.
  
• Read the description before selecting one.
  -Almost every Enhancment has a negative side-effect.
  -These are not mild side-effects either. They are usually game changing, hesitation-when-choosing one side-effects.

Glyph Acquisition

• Ancient structures are their own jump points. No other enemies or structures (abandonded buildings, outlaw bases, G&B stations, etc) are there.
  
• Glyphs are collected from Ancient structures. You know when you find your first one as there's a conversation about it. Also when I first found one, nothing happened so I had to jump out. It wasn't until the second time when things got exciting.
  
• You have to defeat the Ancient guarding the structure. Good luck.
  
• The first few I defeated it was just the guardian. Later "lesser" Ancients appeared as well. These are the pulsating orange blobs that sap your shields and hull if you get too close.
  -Also don't kill a lesser Ancient up close. They seem to behave like massive bombs. Kill them from a distance, >0.5km.
  
• Ancient Guardians:
  -Protect the structures.
  -Again, good luck.
  -Safest/best weapon to use is a Shock Rifle.
  -Primary attack similar to the Thermo Gun, but more bullets and absolutely wrecks you.
  -Easiest way to avoid it is to boost forward briefly right before they hit. You can strafe to dodge the first few, but the last several will hit.
  -If you get too close, it charges up and does a flash bang type attack, blinding you. Doesn't matter what direction you are facing. Doesn't do damage, but conveniently does so during a primary attack.
  -Oh and they teleport after every attack. They also teleport to dodge missiles.
  -When they die, they bestow an orange glow on you. This acts as a key to unlock the structure. Entrance is at each glowing Glyph.
  -DO NOT KILL ONE POINT BLANK. I won't say why as it will spoil the fun and excitement.

Glyphs:

I have acquired all the Glpyhs. Below I will list and review them.

• Ancient Structures: Display all Ancient Structures on the Star Map.
  -This was the first Glyph I received. Probably applies to everyone.
  -Good to have to help plan routes on the Star Map to acquire all of them.
  -Once you have all the Glyphs (it's a Steam Achievement), this one is useless.
  
  
• Headstart: Start in Sector 2
  -I've never used it.
  -Good for speedruns or achievements (complete run in less than 1hr I believe)
  -Also I think there's a challenge to not take damage until Sector 2. Not sure if you can cheat by using this.
  
  
• Low Profile: Okkar and Colonial forces will not jump in anymore, but every location has a jump suppressor.
  -This is good for just casually flying around and enjoying the scenery as you won't be chased out of every jump anymore.
  -Depending on the Sector you are in, jump suppressors can be heavily guarded. So you may have to fight and use more resources to make the next jump.
  
  
• Predetermination: Okkar and G&B are hostile to eachother; can't choose jump points anymore.
  -Instead of everyone being your enemy, everyone is everyone's enemy now.
  -G&B forces are still neutral towards you. Just don't shoot them or their property.
  -The Diplomacy Pilot Perk is unaffected by this Glyph.
  -This is also good to get Ancient glyphs as the jump points are a straight line now on the Star Map, instead of being scattered and inter-connected. So you are pretty much guaranteed to find one or more during your run.
  -Equipping this and the Ancient Structures Glyph is a waste. One or the other.
  
  
• Leech: Killing an enemy repairs 20 hull hitpoints. Nanobots can only be used for component repairs and crafting.
  -If you are good at offense and evading, this is a good glyph to use. I am not.
  -This only works on enemy ships. I remember having this enabled and fighting an Ancient and it did not repair me after I killed it. That was prior to 1.3.0.x update though.
  -Prepare to be frustrated as you cannot repair with nanobots anymore. Only options are to craft Nano Injectors or find a service station.
  -If you haven't found the Nano Injector blueprint yet, then I recommend not using this Glyph.
  
  
• Equalizer: After each jump, hull hitpoints set to 50%, no exceptions.
  -Yup, whether you have 1% or 100% hull, every jump resets it to 50%.
  -Unless you consider yourself really good at this game, I recommend against using this and the Leech Glyph.
  -Forces you to use less nanobots as you don't want to repair above 50%. Unfortunately elite enemies have stronger weapons so you actually may be repairing more often.
  
  
• Beserker: Boosting (shift key) makes you invincible, but not killing an enemy every 40 seconds results in DoT to your hull.
  -Self explanatory. Kill everyone in an area and you don't want to hang out long before jumping.
  -Forces you to quickly kill everyone and jump, not allowing for much exploration.
  -I haven't used it so I cannot say how much DoT it causes.
  
  
• Ancient Friends: Ancients will infrequently spawn and help. Similar to a G&B beacon.
  -Infrequently is the key word. I've used this and haven't noticed them.
  -Just like with G&B forces, accidentally shoot them and they turn hostile.
  
  
• Bullseye: Every critical hit charges your shield 10%, but won't damage the enemy anymore.
  -Combine this with the critical hit chance pilot perk to improve potency.
  -Unsure if this is like Leech Glyph and only works on ships or organic enemies too.
  -If you shoot a missile and wonder why the enemy didn't die, this Glyph is probably to blame.
  
  
• Ancient Weapon: High DPS Shock Rifle that increases DPS as your hull decreases. Unfortunately it causes hull damage with every shot and no other weapons can be used.
  -Gives you a crazy powerful gun that hurts you, but it's the only weapon you have (primary or secondary).
  
  
• Splitter: Secondary weapon splits into two after firing. Only have 1 secondary weapon slot the entire run.
  -This is my favorite Glyph. It's a 2 for 1 deal. Fire 1 heavy missile and get 2. Fire 1 ARC-9000 and get two. My favorite part...Fire 1 swarm missile and get two! 20 missiles!
  -Equip this and swarm missiles to make your enemies bow to their new god bwhahahaha.

Subroutines

Subroutines

• Found in derelict space stations, aka abandoned floating buildings.
  -They can easily be identified by looking for a large building with shields on the largest openings.
  -Also if your scanner finds a "special tech container". This usually means a Subroutine is in the same room.
  -When you get close, try looking through a burned out hole in the wall. If you see a glowing, spinning, blue cube roughly the size of your ship, then you found a subroutine.
  
• Sometimes these buildings have two special tech containers, one in each room. So be careful and scout the rooms before unlocking the door. I've unlocked the wrong door several times to much frustration, inconveniently with my last key too >.<.
  
• These rooms are only accessible via an Access Key. So scout the room to make sure you open the correct one.
  -Access keys are collected by defeating elite enemies.
  -Access keys unlock red doors in these buildings by flying really close to one.
  -These are rare so use them wisely.
  
• You collect a Subroutine by flying close and scanning it.

[/list]
Subroutine example:

• Sensory Overload: Pro: All enemies and loot visible on radar. Con: Enemy health not visible.
  
• This is equivalent to hacking a comms hub, but permanent. So you can save time and resources by skipping any comms hubs you come across, as they are usually guarded. Or don't skip it as there's usually a container or two nearby. Up to you.
  
• This one is great for tracking down Subroutines as you will immediately see any Special Tech Containers.
  

Environment

This section will cover the environment, or space you fly around in each Sector of the game. This will be a general summary of things to be aware of, or watch out for during your journey.

Natural Hazards

• Black Holes (aka Space Tornado):
  -Self explanatory. It tries to lure you in with dark energy/matter materials. If you really want to get them, have a tractor beam on hand.
  -If you get too close, you will receive a "singularity warning" on the HUD. This will require a good portion of energy to boost out of it. I have not tried to get any closer.
  -I encountered my first one late in the game. After completing a run they started appearing more often.
  -They're not very big, and are stationary. You can tell where the event horizon is by the whooshing air flowing towards it.
  
• Solar Storms (aka Space Sandstorm):
  -You will know it as soon as you jump in. My first encounter triggered a voice chat between myself and my ship's AI.
  -It affects the entire jump point! So determine the source/direction (a nearby exploding star) and hide. It strips your hull fairly quickly.
  -They pulsate. So it dies down for a brief period then starts up again.
  -If you don't want to play musical asteriods with one, just jump to the next jump point.
  -I've only encountered one (I currently have 40hrs playtime) and it was somewhere in Sector 6. So these seem to be rare.
  
• Lightning fields:
  -Clouds of lightning. They usually have materials scattered around in them.
  -Fills up your energy very fast, but at the expense of zapping you every 10 seconds or so, causing shield then hull damage.
  -They vary in size. I've encountered one half the size of the jump point. That was...exciting (not really).
  -Good attack plan is to lure enemies in with you to drain their shields, then hit them with a missile.
  
• Stars:
  -Yes, like the sun. A jump point so close to a star you literally start melting.
  -At first your systems start overheating. So missiles are useless here. Next life support starts failing.
  -Affects the entire jump point. No hiding from the heat.
  -Pretty much leave as soon as possible.
  
• Darkness:
  -Yup, as in lack of stars. Usually it's because of a dense cloud field.
  -Ships don't have headlights either.
  -Only light source is lightning.
  -Very dangerous as it greatly increases collision chances. can't tell where enemies are attacking from.
  -My first Hard run with the Gunship I died here. First jump into Sector 6 was this dark section.

Enemies

• Minefields:
  -Red, flashing proximity bombs. They trigger roughly the same distance it takes to pick up materials or weapons (~0.2km).
  -Individually not a concern. But the blast can push you away and ping-pong you into the next mine, and the next mine, and so on.
  -There's an abandoned structure (looks like a silo) with 1-2 containers wedged in the middle, surrounded by a minefield. There's usually a few mines very close to it. Shoot these first as it usually triggers a large explosion from the structure. I found out the hard way by getting the containers first then shooting the mines to carve an exit path.

[ORDER66]

didn't use it but it helped me get an achievement

[ORDER66]

very nice

[Lobanych]

@giovanni it's futile, nanites cloud damage you after their death from any distance, and their damage is 100% of your hull, so it can be safely killed only using damage limiters

[Lobanych]

Well, Sensory Overload is my favorite subroutine

[nintendogamer192 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.com]

"DO NOT KILL ONE POINT BLANK. I won't say why as it will spoil the fun and excitement." Had to learn this the hard way as I just thought "I probably have to kill and then enter it. When i killed it, Orange light started falshing and i died.

[giovanni]

in a Darkness zone, i encountered nanites clouds
shooting them gives nanobots a lot but they explode and damage you extrememly when they die.

try to kill them at a distance

[Eyezik <3 vio.io]

Fantastic guide for newbies, thank you!

[Lunasa]

I've found that simply listening to the sounds your bullets make when they hit the enemy helps a lot when you're using sensory overload. Hit an enemy with your anti-shield weapon until you start hearing that more metallic impact noise, then switch to anti-hull.

[⫸Lyric Drake 591⫷]

also thanks for telling me about the other enviroment things! i already knew about the lightning and that black holes were in the game, but i didnt know the lightnings timing or what black holes did, i also didnt know about the other enviroment things, thanks for warning me! rn im trying to finish a run for my first time, havent been able to get past sec 3 yet. ( if i hadnt blown myself up with the first and only ark i found, i could probably have finished the game by now rofl.)

[⫸Lyric Drake 591⫷]

I was lucky and unlucky. I got the ark once, didnt know its AOE range, used it point blank, and vaporized myself. I got a laugh out of it after a week or so but was crying for days after having seen its insane stats.