🚀 15 Beginner Tips & Tricks for Little-Known Galaxy

I made so many dumb decisions when I started the game, so here are 15 beginner tips I wish I’d known when I started playing!

Introduction

Cozy space adventure game Little-Known Galaxy released this week!

If you’re going to be rocketing into the game this week, I’ve put together some beginner tips & tricks from my first 20 hours in the game that I think could really help you.

If you don't want to read this guide and want to watch it instead, there's also a video version 👇

#1 - Breaking Multiple Rocks at Once

Exploration in Little Known-Galaxy is very similar to the mines in Stardew Valley. You have limited stamina and must get as far as you can before it runs out. Your progress saves every 5 levels and each level is procedurally generated and resets each time you visit.

When destroying the rocks strewn around the level, if you stand beneath them and shoot upwards, you can destroy both rocks at once. This can be done for rocks side-by-side and rocks that are on a diagonal.

Also if you get really lucky, you can even smash 3 rocks at once if lined up correctly!

#2 - Forageables

Each planet has at least one foragable that you can collect while exploring that can be consumed to replenish your energy.

The Grey Planet has Space Radishes, which like Cave Carrots in Stardew Valley can be found by digging up the soft sand on each level.

Spoilers for the second planet 👇
In addition to more Space Radishes, the second planet also has Seaweed! This is even better than space radishes because you don’t have to dig it up. It’ll just be sitting on the ground ready for you to pull up and chow down on!

#3 - Vitamins for Energy

When you reach the second planet, you’ll also unlock a Medicine machine, which can be used to craft Vitamins! These are a great way to keep your energy and health up while exploring and only cost 5 minerals per vitamin.

This is a lot more achievable, for me anyway, compared to the costly Energy tonics that you can buy from the Medical Centre!

#4 - How to craft glass, stone composite, and scrap metal blocks?

When I unlocked the furnace, I knew to put my aluminium ores in as that’s what you do in other games.

But I didn’t realise that you can also put your sand, stone, and scrap metal into the furnaces as well!

I spent over 30 in-game days wondering how to make stone composite, glass, and scrap metal blocks.

Don't make the same mistake I did!

#5 - Workbench Chest

Did you know that there’s a chest next to your workbench where you can store your resources?

If they’re stored in there then the game will automatically use them in crafting, which saves you running around to external storage chests trying to find them!

#6 - NPC Locator

The devs have kindly added a locator function, which tells you which floor of the spacecraft you can find a specific crew mate on!

All you need to do is navigate to the person in your menu and press the locator button on their portrait and it’ll tell you which floor of the spacecraft they’re currently on!

#7 - Shop Opening Times

When you’re on the map and viewing the different levels of your spaceship, you can actually interact with the map and it’ll tell you not only which day the stores are shut, but also their opening and closing times.

#8 - Rations

Early on in the game you will need to find some Rations for a quest and it’s not immediately obvious where you come across these, unlike the other quest items.

For anyone who is confused, make sure to head to the Chip’s Canteen! You can find it on the left-hand side of the Plaza, which is located on the fourth floor!

He sells Rations at 100 credits, which can be a little pricey early game but not too bad!

#9 - Bulletin Board

There is also a Bulletin board in the Plaza, where your crew mates can leave quests for you to complete. These can range from killing specific enemies, catching microbes or delivering resources to them.

If you ever see a quest on the board that requires buying something from either the general store or the canteen, I’d definitely recommend doing it!

They can seem expensive, but I’ve found that they always return more money than you spend on them, which is really helpful as I find that money is very hard to come by in this game.

#10 - Changing Seeds

One thing to be aware of with the general store is that the seeds that Robert sells there changes depending on which planet you’re orbiting.

I’d recommend buying a few of each seed and stockpiling them!

#11 - Travelling Time

When you leave one planet for another, you'll actually be travelling for 3 days!

This can really affect your planning if you want a certain item from a different planet.

#12 - Plant Labels

If you’re like me and you always forget what seeds you’ve planted already, there’s a quick little way you can find this out.

On the top of your planter, there’s a little label and that’s not just for aesthetics or decoration to make it look more realistic!

You can actually click on the label and it’ll tell you what plant is growing in that plant pot.

#13 - Retrieving sold items

Sometimes you can accidentally give something to Bin Bot and not realise you need it for a quest.

But the good news is that in Little-Known Galaxy you can take back any of the items you’ve put in Bin Bot before the end of the day! This includes if you’ve sold multiple items.

For example I accidentally sold a cabbage then realised I needed it to complete my quest for Lin. But when I went to get it out of Bin Bot I accidentally added another item to the bin!

#14 - Upgrade your Tools!

I’d definitely recommend upgrading your tools as soon as possible.

Each tool has a different upgrade effect, but the upgrade for the Microbe Detector that you unlock after leaving The Grey Planet is so useful! It gives you more leeway when it comes to errors making it easier to capture microbes. I know I had some difficulty with the harder microbes, so I’d definitely recommend this upgrade.

But if you are going to upgrade your tools, please be aware that they do take a few days so time them carefully!

I usually upgrade my blaster while I’m travelling between planets as I won’t need it then but I have accidentally done the same before with my Microbe Detector and had nothing to do while travelling.

#15 - Microbe Money

In the Science Centre on Floor Two there is a Microbe Research Machine. I found this pretty early on in the game by accident but it is very easy to overlook!

By collecting and selling your microbes you earn money from Francis, but this Microbe Research Machine also has targets for you to achieve. For the first 10 of a particular type of microbe that you catch and then sell you can earn yourself 100 credits.

The goal then increases to 25 and I’m assuming that will also award you with some sort of monetary reward! This is a great way to top up your cash, especially when you’re travelling between planets and light on things to do.

Conclusion

There’s so much more I could talk about regarding this game, but these are the tricks that I wish I'd known when I got started!

If you have any questions, drop them below in the comments and I'll do my best to help.

[puan]

For anyone curious about what fruits/vegetables you can put inside of different food-machines you can go to the holo-deck library to read about the different machines.

(And there are also a lot of other tips and tricks for other game mechanics)

[Nikopol]

Re: furnace, I knew that IRL glass is made from melting sand (I visited a glassblower factory, once; also, look up "vitrification", it's cool - I mean, it's hot work), so that one was obvious to me, but OTOH, melting stone into stone composite... I had to look up that one.

[President T]

Another tip - you have interactable reach. As long as your hand cursor is highlighted over any interactable object, you can interact with it. Like enter your house or Xeno Pod from a distance by clicking the door

[Keeper Of Monsters]

@Maksquared
You made vinegar in fermentation tank, from rice or apples.
Rice can only be bought from general store, you can't grow it.
Apple tree you will have to grow anyway.
Fermentation tank recipe (craftable at the workbench like all other machines) unlocks when you progress further in the game (if you haven't unlock it already).

[Maksquared]

Anyone know how to make vinegar? I’ve literally tried everything.

[Isohie]

@THE HIDDEN HERMIT
(PART 2) The mini game is hard because it is timed with pulses and each one is different with varying times. You basically have to click when the moving circle is over the stationary circle a random number of times. You can repeatedly get "good" and still fail it. The update that just dropped today made it so that you can change the difficulty of the mini game or even turn it off. This setting is in options on your menu. I turned mine off because I could only ever catch the super easy microbes.
Hope this info helps!

[Isohie]

@THE HIDDEN HERMIT
(PART 1) You use the microbe detector the same way you would any other tool. I play with a controller, so I am not sure if the keys are different on the keyboard. On the controller, it is the action button (A button) that I use for every tool/gun. You will mostly have the red dot pop up when scanning, but you just have to keep walking around the area. You will eventually see a yellow dot with an arrow. This means you are near the microbe. Follow the arrows until you get a green dot and then the mini game will begin.

[THE HIDDEN HERMIT]

Please could you expand on the microbe section to explain how and where you use the detector, what you should see and how to respond. I am locked in progress because I cant figure this out. It doesnt help that every post I read says its hard, but not how to do it.

[The Cozy Gaming Club]

Thank you for pointing that out @pmg4realz! I'll fix that :D And thank you @Drakloryn too! I missed that spelling mistake.

[Drakloryn]

Excellent guide and video! On #12, might remove the 'e' on Planet so that it shows "Plant Labels". Spent a little while looking through that one until I realized it was for plants instead of planets. XD Best wishes! <3