If it's the first time you play or you want start easy, start with the tutorial.
Follow the tutorial until you can open the galactic map. If there are less than 2 planets in reach of the first jump, make a new game.

At the end of the tutorial do not jump.

In the tutorial all need and maintnence are disable. This mean your crew will work without problem of any sorts.

Go to the hangar and build a Jumplight projector. Once it's complete start sending a crew to explore other locations. Extract any material or metal you can find. In any location you have explored send the best crew with the best chance of success. Any leadfoot crew member is welcomed.

You can build a Jumplight Catridge to increase the number of the location you can reach and help you in the long run.

Concentrate building on the Quarter Deck. You will spent most of the game there.
In the futures chapter of this guide i'll show how to improve any room.

Ok, first thing: DO NOT PANIC

I know starting with the ship on flame, 20 crewmember wounded and the bad guys 12 minutes from you is concerning but you have all the time.

First of all, you start with enough medical supply you don't need to produce more.
All the tutorial stuff are already on your disposal (light on the medicbay, Algae Crop, jumplight calculator setted on) and you start with a lot of resorces. Close any access on the lower deck, send your ship to find any good staff on the planet you are then jump as fast as you can.

Unlike the tutorial start, you don't have the luxury of time, so don't build a jumplight projector at the start of the game.

The Quarter Deck will be where most of the game will be set. Here are concentrate all activities like powersupply, watersupply, industry and farming.
Let's see them:

If you start with or without the tutorial, the first thing you should consider to edit is the power station.

You start with 2 room each with a fuel-power-reactor. This need to go and this is why:
- This powestation consume biomass. Biomass is not a real problem to produce, but that's mean you always need biomass to produce.
- You always need a technitian to produce electricity.
- Overall, you will end up always with no energy because your technitian or supplier are no where to be found.

So recycle all fuelpower station and combine the two rooms together.

Then replace them with a greener solution: nuclear reactors.
Nuclear reactor are hyper good for this reasons:
- They do not need anything, freeing your suppliers for other stuff to do.
- They operate on their own. Technitian can work too, but if they don't, you will only lose half of the energy.
You can add a third reactor later in the run and you will never have problem with energy ever again*.

It's not a priority, but if you can, replace all the tanks with condensor.

Remove the door and place another Oxygene generator in the room.
Fill up the room with Condensor, you will end up 20, generating 200l of water.
you will see those number go up and down, but for the duration of the game you will be fine.

If you need water you can disable algae crop.

I'll be frank, i don't have made the math on this, so take my word with salt.

In the first part of the game you will find a lot of green planet where you can find food and water. I suggest to take as much as you can from there because green planet in the far space is rare.

So use the other room on the other side of the Algae plantation to create a second farm.
You will use this room to farm food. You can start with tier1 colture like bean crop and pea crop. then i suggest to reach tier3 and replace them with potato and tomato.

Tomato and potato are the most cost and space efficient for your farm.

In the algae room you need just 3-4 of them, so you can place coffee and tea plantation.

In the middle of the quartier deck there is a empty space. The first things i suggest is to unite the deck with a corridors, in this way, your crew can move from stern to bow in a single line.

Then you will end up with two empty space. I suggest to you build a secon galleys here.

Your crew will be hungry for long. That's because they need to eat coocked food.

A Galley in the middle of the Quarter deck can feed crew from any part of the ship, also it's on the same plane of the farm, so is more easy to supply it.

The only problem is the AI.

Build 2 kitchen and place one table. If you find strugling with that place a second table.

In this way the kitchen will be 70% of the time active and people will eat good veggies.

If you have coffee and\or tea you can also build a coffee and tea distributor.

If build correctly you will see less hungry people in the ship and everyone can eat here, even Ham, or the Zutopians.

Place benches on corridors they work as beds for most of the time.
ok, but you can still use a 2x2 room and place some doublebed.

Even if you will make your ship in a Hotel, you will find everybody isolated.
This is because for some reason people do not socialize if they do not play some game, that's why we can use the second empty room as a play room.

Place chess table and play table as much as you can. People will hang up there chilling on break shift and socializing. Only the robot will not socialize, so he will be the only sad bot on the ship.

Until devs will find another way to socialize, this the most efficient way i've found.

At the start of the game, you have 20 injures.
provide medicgel for all of them, then you can sell all but 3 beds.

If you wish you can recycle half of the room for material or build a therapist.
Replacing beds with auto-doc can be a good way to save space for your scientist.

If you scavenge, you don't need producing more medigel. Turn off that machine.

You can build morgue if you are doing a lot of missions.

This room can be useful or useless, depending on your playstyle.
It can be helpful for replenishing small amounts of metals or plastic, but from what I've seen, it's not entirely self-sufficient to the extent of replacing scavenging. The main problems are twofold:

• Crew pathfinding that leaves machines without resources or without operators.
  
• The enormous amount of energy that the machines consume.

It's worth it build any structures?

• You start the game with a metal machine that convert minerals to metal
  
• you can repair the plastic machine that convert biomass to plastic, this could be usefull
  
• you can build a 2d printer and the ammo factory, ammo consume metal and plastic to produce an ammo. If you fighting a lot is good, otherwise with the new patch you can find a lot of ammo just scavenging.
  
• The component machine sound good but there are a lot of requirement before you can build one and consume metal and plastic.

The best solution would therefore be to activate it only in the midgame or early game, where the scavenging time is reduced.

The hangar is the most important part of your ship.

It formed by 2 parts: the runway and the tower controll.

The tower controll is where you can place upgrade like the jumplight projector, or a component to unlock a ship.

I suggest to build only one component, like the robotic one.
You don't need to build new ships, your work just fine with 2.

The fondamental part is assembly a crew.
What you want is:
Chance of success, protection for your crew and ship, then time.
Even if you are running against time, it's better have a chance to go back to the ship with the booty than return faster without anything.
Select any crewmember with good traits. If you see a traits that reduce chance of success, then left him at home.

If the best crewmate is one o your officer, replace his officer position with another crew member.

If you have a squad with a good chance send them on taking risky cargo.
So anytime you are in a new location send a scout to find secret cash. When they find it send the expert crew to take the cargo and the greener crew to take the common staff.

In late game you will not have time to scavange, so you need to be self sufficient as soon as you can.

Last note, put a medicbox on the ramp. Your crewman can return unconscious.

At the start of the game, block any door to it.
You don't want your crewmate flying there to reach one way to the other.
If you need more space because you have saved civilians you can place rooms there, otherwise i only suggest to put power and hoxigen to the lower turrets, so in case of emergency, your crewmate can arm them quickly.

This will be the end goal.

Having a good engine room is the difference between reaching the forever star, or dieing.
The Zutopians don't take prisioners.

So you will need 2 Jumplight Catridge for reaching far locations, and the rest anything will accelerate jumplight energy.

I tried automatic and it's a good alternative, not only is cheapest than the manual one, but also it'll always work.

In the bridge i usually build radars and the upgrade that make scientist faster on harvesting jumplight energy.

Also it's fun counting on the countdown

Jumplight in t- 5...4...3...2...1...

So where do I jump?

Far away from the bad guys off course, but where?


I'll report all location down here

• Barren world: good location for scavenge material and metals.
  
• Gas giants: in early game it doesn't matter waiting a little more for scavenge.
  
• Green Planet: scavenge only if you need food or components. your crew will get fever
  
• Deep space: good to scout ahead, expecially if you are jumping in the next region.
  
• Destroyed planet: scavenge if you must
  
• Ice cluster : if you need water or component you can scavenge. you crew will get gelid.
  
• meteorite cluster: Avoid if you can, if you can't try to jump as soon as possible. Yes, there are a lot of metal you can scavenge but you are costantly attacked by meteorites.
  
• Nebulose: Scout ahead first, then enter. It's cool because it slow down your enemy but you cannot see anything outside of it. So good luck for your next jump.
  
• Blackhole: AVOID AT ALL COST. They are in the end game. 50% lightspeed reduction is a
  deathsentence even with all the upgrades. Jump in the next closest location as soon as possible

In any location you want to stay as much as you must. Any jumplight energy unspent is lost, so if your target is close, don't send a ship scavenging for supply.

So in the end, jump when ready. Coordinate your ship to return before you can jump. and you are closer to the star

At the last note: If the enemy reach you jump immediatly to the closest location you can reach.

This is the neat part! You dont.

There are only two treats for now: Zutopians and meteorites. You have a good chance of success if you avoid combat. But if you must, you need to know how it work.

When combat begin on your right you will see a radar. here will be localized your incoming threats like the enemy boarding ships or massive rock moving on you.

First sound the red allert. If you are against the warmongers, 30 second before they meet you.
Your marines will jump on turrets. If you haven't, i suggest to put a powerbank and oxigens in any tower and corridors on the lower deck as well.

For what i understand there are 4 ranges.

• Out of reach: you can only see the enemy ship starring at you
  
• Long range: here you can see an incoming treats but your cannon cannot attack. Only fighters can.
  
• Middle range: here is where you turret can ingage
  
• Short range: This is a blind spot, your turret cannot ingage, so prepare for impact.

Your turrets will shoot a target consuming an ammo.

If you get hit by a meteorite you receive a lot of damage, but your technicians can repair it, unless they are bugged, in that case you remain with those damages.

For the bad guys the song is different, they will board your ship and they have a plan: destroy your core.

For the board combat turn the magenda allarm.
Your objective is eliminate them as soon as possible. They will attack anything at range. Your marines will equip weapons and helmets to defend the ship, so hope they do not kill your crewmen.

The objective of the combat is one and only: To gain time.
If one of your ship is returning or you need to wait for enough energy you just need to gain some time to jump and live another day.

So if you want be good at combat, be prepared long before the fight. Build ammo, make sure the lower deck's turrets are operational and easy to reach. Place some extra ammo and helmets dispenser and most important: Do not let them reach you

I've not the math, but here some numbers

12 marines
20 tecnitians
15 scientist
The rest on supplies

Marines are only focused on combat and scavenge success, so you need at least some that can shoot aliens and meteorites down.

Supplies make your ship work, more you have, less time of inactivity you suffer.

You are free to experiment, leave a comment.

In this phase, there is a 70% of chance your run will be over for a bug.

If you have follow this guide, at least you can reach the last location before the forever star with less problem.

Thank you for reading all this stuff and sorry for my macaronic english, i'll correct this guide later.

If you have any other strategy leave a comment and leave a like if it was usefull.

Good travel everybody!