---

Scrap every comfortable assumption you've ever had about survival. This is not a sandbox. This is a finely-tuned machine designed to test your will. Your body is a fragile resource, and the universe is waiting for you to mismanage it.

Every timer is a threat. Every choice has a consequence. Forget what you knew. This is how you survive.

From the moment your pod cracks open, you are in a race against two invisible timers: Thirst and Hunger. Thirst will claim you first.

Your first and only priority is Ice.

You do not have hours. You have moments. On barren worlds like Mars or Pertam, this is the Great Filter. Your scanner is your only friend. If you cannot find a vein of ice before your throat turns to dust, your journey is over. Do not build a base. Do not mine iron. Find. Ice. First.

If you are unlucky, you will die. Accept this. Begin again. Luck is a part of the equation.

---

You are an engineer, not an animal. Thou Shalt Sit.

Eating or drinking while standing is a fool's errand. Your body is under stress, and it will punish you for it.

The cockpit is a trap. It is not a dining room. It is a cramped, stressful box that magnifies your body's worst reactions. Eating there will bloat you into oblivion and offers almost no sustenance.

Your first act of true survival is to build a Chair. A simple chair in a pressurized space is the difference between life and death. When you sit, your body relaxes. It accepts nourishment. It rewards you.

• Food eaten on a Chair gives double the nourishment.
  
• The "side effects" (the Bloat) are cut in half.

Remember the commandment: He who eats on the run, dies on the run.

---

You will build your Algae Farms. You will be tempted to craft the "clean" KelpCrisps.

Do not. This is a trap for the unwary.

Your only path in the early game is the gray, unappetizing BioPaste. It is your lifeline, for it holds a secret: It is the only food your body will never get tired of.

It is a pact with the devil. You will eat it, and you will survive. But you will pay a tax. This tax is the Bloat. Your body will swell, sicken, and protest. If you push it too far, you will vomit, losing everything—food, water, and health.

The BioPaste is your key to survival, but it is a key that slowly poisons you.

---

Why is BioPaste your only choice? Because your body is smart, and it hates repetition.

This is the most important lesson you will ever learn: Your body remembers what you eat.

• Eat a delicious Steak Dinner, and your body thanks you.
  
• Eat a second Steak Dinner within the next few hours, and your body scoffs. It will grant you only half the nourishment... but it will give you all of the Bloat.
  
• Eat a third, and you are practically eating ash.

This curse applies to everything. KelpCrisps, Fruit Bars, Spaghetti, everything... except the humble BioPaste.

Trying to survive by spamming one "good" food is a guaranteed road to starvation.

---

How do you escape the BioPaste Pact? How do you overcome The Great Forgetting?

Diversity.

You are no longer just an engineer. You are a Farmer. You are a Hunter. You are a Chef.

Your mid-game goal is not a bigger ship. It is a bigger pantry. You must cultivate Grain, hunt for Meat, grow Vegetables, harvest Fruit, and farm Mushrooms.

To survive on the hardest worlds, you must manage a logistical chain. You must have four or five different, high-end meals ready at all times. You must rotate your diet, constantly eating something new, to trick your body into giving you its full reward.

This is the only way to thrive.

---

The Medbay is a liar.

It is a stabilization tool, nothing more. It will patch your holes in a pressurized room, but it will never make you whole. It will only ever bring you back to 75% capacity.

True healing—that last 25%—is not given. It is earned.

Good food (like a Steak Dinner) doesn't just fill your stomach; it grants you Recovery. This is a slow, powerful buff. To use it, you must rest. Lie in a bed or sit in a chair while the Recovery buff is active, and only then will your body truly mend.

Damage is no longer a simple number. It is a debt that must be paid with resources, time, and rest.

---

• The Unblinking Eye: Your exhaustion is your greatest foe. Ignore your sleep, and you will face the "Sudden Slumber." You will collapse, instantly, without warning, often in the middle of a fight or a flight. Coffee can keep you awake, but it comes at the cost of Fatigue, making your sleep decay even faster tomorrow. Rest is not optional.
  
• The Visor is Your World: Your HUD is projected onto your helmet. To eat, drink, or simply see the world without a filter, you must open your visor. This means in a vacuum, you are blind to your stats or you are starving. Choose wisely.
  
• The Crypt is Your Only Refuge: The Cryo Chamber will not save you from yourself. If you are logged in and idling, the world does not pause. You will still hunger. You will still thirst. It is a bed, nothing more... with one exception. It is your only true stasis. Logging off from a Cryo Chamber is the only way to pause the clock. Use it to safeguard your progress when you leave.
  
• Respect the Atom: Uranium is death. Carry it in your pocket, and it will silently kill you. Store it in a simple box, and it will poison your base. It demands respect. It demands shielding. It demands distance.

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Survival is not a given. It is a daily, brutal achievement.

Good luck, Engineer.