How To Play Guide For The Long Journey Home

Introduction
Welcome traveler! It seems you got lost in space and are now looking for guidance? DON'T PANIC! This guide will teach you the basic rules, behaviors and tricks you need to survive and eventually find back home. Since the galaxy is a very random place and one can not foresee which direction your journey will go, this guide will be split into different sections of interactions, that you can look up as they occur. Every time you feel panic coming up, just pause for a minute and think "DON'T PANIC!" and open up this page. Then just navigate to the situation your in aaaaaaand bingo you will master all problems...(disclaimer: mastering all problems takes experience and time, so you probably will die horribly). So have fun on your journey!

Starting the journey
Before you can leave port you have to assemble a crew and pick your ship as well as your lander. You might think: "Wow I didn't even start yet and have to make difficult decisions!" if that is the case, then either turn around and go home or "DON'T PANIC!" and read on!

Crew
There are 10 people to choose from and to be honest, it's mostly a choice of whose story you would like to get to know, but not to totally leave you hanging, here is the recommended crew: Alessandra - because she has the ability to open some wrecks you otherwise couldn't open and can repair systems, with some scrap items. Malcolm - for easier lander controls and lander repairing with scrap items. Siobhan - for analyzing some items and better ruins exploring. Miriam - so you have a person that can socially interact with passengers and also the distress beacon is pretty handy for somebody new to the game.

Ship
You have the choice between 3 ships for your journey: ISS Ulysses - Your basic good in everything bad in nothing ship. ISS Discovery - This ship is squishy as hell but fast like lightning. ISS Endurance - Very Slow but huge cargo and strong hull.

I recommend you pick the ISS Ulysses if you don't know what you are doing, since both the other ships need a specialist strategy to be successful.

Lander
You have the choice between 3 landers for your journey:

ISV Serenity - Basicly good in everything and not especially bad, but with disadvanage: Landing-Feet, cumbersome because of its shape)

ISV Pathfinder - A bit more agile, small cargo, weak hull.

ISV Odyssey - Strongest Hull, best at drilling

I recommend you pick the ISV Odyssey lander if you don't know what you are doing. The ISV Serenity is the best lander in my opinion, but the Landing-Feet make it hard to land with it if you have no experience.

Seed
The seed is basically the genetic basis code of the universe you will be stranded in. Each time you enter the same code, the galaxy will look the same inhabited by the same aliens, so quests could differ because they are generated randomly regardless.

You can choose and type here what ever you want... But if you have no idea seems to be a good start for beginners.
 * urukai - This now has a player-made guide. See list for default and player-made guides.

A list of the seeds for default and player-made guides can be found here. This list contains information such as races/ quests available in each seed and links to the guides.

Start
There are 2 things to decide here:

Difficulty
Story mode: Added in a patch shortly after the game's release, story mode is easier than adventure mode, with easier planetary conditions, lower prices for reparations, higher prices for resources, reduced damage and a larger autopilot zone, among other things.

Adventure mode: Originally called Explorer mode, this is the game's standard mode.

Rogue mode: In this mode there are some changes to the game:


 * 1) Your resources fill less fuel, em fuel and hull
 * 2) The rewind function is not available
 * 3) You start the game with 2 injuries instead of one
 * 4) One of your systems starts damaged
 * 5) The starting system is not generated friendly and can have some pretty bad and hard planets

Obviously, story or adventure mode are recommended for beginners.

Type of Start
You have 2 choices here:

Normal Start: You get to see the full story and get a tutorial starting the journey from earth.

Quick Start: This skips the whole beginning and starts you off after you already stranded and right after you picked up the keystone.

If you play for the first time, regardless if you know the controls pick normal start to get the full story experience. Otherwise pick quick start even if you are still a beginner. Should you be reading this guide along your first playthrough then please finish the tutorial and come back here after you picked up the keystone.

Space, lots of Space
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Daedalus-7. Stranded approximately 37000 parsecs (~120000 light-years) away from the Sol system, in the corner of an obscure galaxy. You must now navigate from system to system within the galaxy, traveling closer to earth. To bridge the distance between sectors, there are space stations which allow connections for a price. On this journey you will need to manage your resources, engage in diplomacy and adventure into ruins and other weird places. The following sections will provide you an overview how to start out with the travel.

Resources
Captain: How long does the repair of the warpdrive take? Mechanic: Sir,... thats about 3 days Captain: You have 3 hours! Mechanic: Okay Sir, i do it in 2!

Resources are your indirect Life force, They come in 3 types:

Minerals - Minerals are used to refuel your jump drive, they are marked in green on the minimaps on planets and in your cargo bay. Metals - Metals are used for repairing your ship and landers hulls, they are marked in gray on the minimaps on planets and in your cargo bay. Gases - Gases are used to refuel your regular fuel tank, they are marked in blue on the minimaps on planets and in your cargo bay.

Each type has 3 rarities:

Common - Fills very little of the appropriate Bar and sells for very little price at stores. Uncommon - Fills little of the appropriate Bar and sells for medium price at stores. Rare - Fills medium of the appropriate Bar and sells for high price at stores.

As you can see from this list it's almost always preferred to sell your resources instead of using them yourself. Except for common resources, those can be used to stay alive a while longer till you can sell the valuable resources and fill your tank as well as hulls at a spaceport. Minerals form an exception to this rule as well, since EM fuel for one jump is very expensive (100).

Gathering Resources
Resources can be mostly won in 2 ways: Landing on planets and searching an asteroid field.

Let's start with the easy one:

Asteroid field
I assume you played the tutorial, so you should already been in the asteroid field of the big sphere. This is basically similar you enter a belt by hitting it on the space map(you don't have to orbit it like a planet) and your ship will enter the asteroid field. In there a white arrow will lead you to some strange looking asteroids, that you can shoot with your weapons and they will drop small orange drops, that are resources. Just fly over them and they will be added to your cargo.

Orbiting planets
Before you can Land on a planet you need to orbit it, i recommend watching the video tutorial. Else the tutorial should have given you a good overview how to achieve it. Fly near a planet try to stay in the yellow ring and hold your autopilot button till it locks you in.

Landing on planets
Before you throw yourself at a planet you should always check the top right summary of a planet. Not every planet is intended for you to land on without having the right upgrades. For a beginner i would recommend not to attempt a landing when one of the following is true, since it is very likely you loose more from it than the planet will give you:


 * Very High or Extreme gravity - You will crash into the surface like a stone without the right upgrade.
 * Searing or Infernal Temperatures - Without the right upgrade you will take very high damage to your crew and lander.
 * Earthquakes - As a beginner it is really hard to avoid the earthquakes while mining so i don't recommend landing, if you are able to avoid them it's fine.
 * Strong/Violent Convection - The wind makes it very very hard for beginners to land on such a planet, if you still feel like landing remember to boost down while mining so the wind doesn't push you away.

If your planet is safe to land or you decided you still take the challenge because there is a rare resource or a ruin or something down there you hit land and the lander mini game starts. I recommend watching the video tutorial for that here.

Inventory
"Boy, it's lucky you have these compartments." "I use them for smuggling. I never thought I'd be smuggling myself in them. This is ridiculous."

You find your inventory in your lab view. From here you can use all the items you start with and that you gather on your journey. Each crew member is able to do different things with an item, so its always worth selecting a new item and hovering over all crew members to see what they can do with it. Some crew member will also comment on an item and what do to with it, so it's also worth reading their comment to an item, as that text can have valuable hints, like if an item is worth much or if it can be used to start a quest.

Sometimes when you enter an encounter like searching a ruin or a wreck. The game will ask you for a certain item to raise your chance to be successful and since nearly all items are a one time use, it might be worse to keep some of them around.

Besides using items in the lab or at an encounter, they can also be shown to other aliens and be sold in a store, look at the diplomacy section later in this guide to get more information about that.

Diplomacy
The enemy of my enemy is my friend - in order to become friends with a race again, you can shoot its enemies and your relationship improves.

Morph's Winning strategy
WORK IN PROGRESS

Resources
You want to sell all your metal and gas resources, as well as any rare minerals, because it is cheaper to buy hull repairs (100 on the Ulysses) and refueling (50 on the Ulysses) than to use resources to fix up the ship. If you're in a pinch, you can use the common resources, but never use the rare/uncommon metals and gases unless you're about to die.

Jumping
Look at the Galaxy Map any time you jump to a new cluster. Find any nearby starports and choose the jump gate you will be heading towards. Then jump from starport to starport; this is essential because you want to refuel only at starports and jump gates, not with resources or fuel tanks. Stay away from black holes and pulsars; white and brown dwarfs are great for refueling exotic matter. Find systems with lots of asteroid fields; these are literal gold mines, giving you lots of rare resources, minerals, and therefore credits without having to risk a landing. The last cluster will be filled with enemies, so make sure to have 4 jumps in EM tanks (even the Mizzurani one will do), minerals, and the ship EM tank to get through to Earth.

Exotic Matter
Plan your trips; if you need more exotic matter than you have to get somewhere, fill up your tank at a nearby white or brown dwarf by flying within the red circle around the star. Don't dip in and out of the radiation zone; try to establish a circular orbit. You can do this while you're in the red zone by boosting, not thrusting, radially towards the center of the star. This is because you take radiation damage not just while you're inside the red zone, but also when you're flying close to it. Collecting the EM in one go minimizes this wasted damage. Radiation shields are very helpful with this strategy. If you are at a starport system, it's often worth it to dive into a white/brown dwarf rather than pay the 100 to get one jump's worth of EM fuel.

Credits
Spend your credits wisely; it's not worth it to fix everything that you can. Only patch up the hull when it's low and refuel when fuel is at or below 30%. Frequently visiting starport systems allows you to do this with low risk; if you're not going to be going near starports soon, then you will have to fuel up beforehand. Do not spend money fixing useless things like the "adsorbers" or "fuel gauge." Your first priorities should be fuel, hull, lasers, shields, jump drive. You will need to stock up on credits because you may encounter a cluster with few resources and will have to run a deficit through that cluster. So don't spend everything.

When dealing with merchants, negotiate. Don't just take the price they give you; increase it by 50% and see if they take it. If not, decrease it by 10-20. Some merchants will be annoyed, but since you're encountering starports quite frequently, there should be plenty of Glukkt traders (if you have them), starports, and jump gates for you to sell to. Jump gates have two ends; if the first end won't deal with you, try the other side after you jump through. If you need further help with how merchants work you should take a look at Trade with a step by step example.

Ship Upgrades
Radiation Shield - If you see this, get it immediately. It will halve your EM refueling costs (in terms of hull, burns, etc.) and save your life near black holes/pulsars.

Lasers - Any improved weapon (except perhaps the Plasma Harpoon) is better than your crappy mining laser. Buy these if you have any spare credits after refueling and hull repair. Do note that the Laser Array goes to 20% effectiveness after it takes damage, which could cripple your defensive capabilities.

Shields - Get the ones with improved side shielding, or the all-around 2 levels; two levels of shield is enough to kill most enemies without a scratch (with an improved laser). Three levels is just a cake walk.

Subspace Scanner - Situational; the 20% boost to jump range is often not worth the high price. But if you find yourself consistently buying EM (instead of scooping) it may be worth it.

Impulse Driver - Very useful for combat and asteroid mining.

EM Tank - Gives two extra jumps in the exotic matter tank. Not useful for either the Ulysses or Endurance, but possibly good for the Discovery, especially for the last cluster.

Lander Upgrades
Aerodynamic Compensators - Absolutely invaluable for planets with moderate+ convection. You'll save so much on lander repair.

Antigrav Generator - Hugely useful on gas giants and large planets; very high gravity is difficult to deal with in the beginning, but not with this upgrade!

Heat Shield - Essential for mining rare metals off molten planets. This one pays for itself with just two planets of mining rare resources.

Impact Dampener (not Shock Absorber) - Helps if you are bad at piloting the lander.

Lander device slots will be filled up with these, so if you get a Yggdrasil Pollen Collector, you should remove it when you get these upgrades.

Landings
Don't be a fool; landing on an "Inferno" planet without the proper equipment will only lose you credits in the long run. Only land on planets if you have the correct equipment; Aerodynamic Compensators for violent convection, Heat Shield for molten planets, Antigrav Generator for extreme gravity, etc. Lightning isn't a guaranteed death, but it's probably best to be safe and skip those planets unless there's a compelling reason to land. Land on risky planets only for rare resources; don't land on a molten planet if all it has is copper or gas, even if you have a heat shield.

Aliens
Mizzurani - Don't use their EM Tank unless absolutely necessary at the end of the game; the infestation will eventually kill all your crew unless you're lucky enough to have it cured. Don't land on planets with worms; your crew will be infested for just being in the atmosphere.

Wolphax - The Squire Mol quest gives you 600 at the start. Absolutely worth doing.

Glukkt - If you take the money from Mendarch, you will need to avoid him for several clusters, since nobody in their right mind would pay back 800. These guys also charge you for docking at their starports and jump gates if you don't buy something, refuel, repair your hull, or open the gate. So don't dock for no reason. They also offer work at their starports; delivering a parcel yields 100-200.

Ilitza - Slavers who give 150 for every captive you trade them, and who become your friends. Farming Raxact ships for their captives to sell into slavery is such a good credit source, particularly with improved weapons and shields. If you trade enough captives to them, they'll become your allies and will occasionally give you a free EM tank when you visit their ports.

Raxact - Free credits if you have good weapons and shields. First take the "Coin" option to milk the 50 out of them, then exit the encounter and immediately re-encounter them. Destroy the ship. If you're lucky, you'll get another captive to return to the homeworld or sell at a Raxact Black Market (if no Illitza) or to sell into slavery (if Illitza). That's anywhere between 200 and 300 (you get more for returning them than for selling, but it can sometimes be a long way). Raxact Black Markets on average offer the best prices for resources.

Crew
Don't just pick the crew who bring the most stuff.

Ash is invaluable for synthesizing medicine from biological samples and vine flowers. Literally the cheapest cure for diseases out there.

Siobhan can extract very valuable relics from ruins. The crystal skull can be worth up to 200 as well.

Alessandra can fix a lot of things. She brings a valuable toolbox and can loot wrecks without a Salvage Kit. She also assembles Nanobots from the Rattling Device; these repair your hull for cheap fuel.

Miri can talk to alien stowaways.

Kirsten has cancer; she might die before the end unless you can find the quest to cure her. Not the best choice.

Official Tutorial Videos
Developer-produced tutorial videos are available here.