The Astroneer’s Guide to the Galaxy: Starting Your First Base
Now that you’re introduced to Astroneer, it’s time to start building your first base. As the game really doesn’t have a set mission, you’re free to do things as you please.
But if you’re new to the game, it’s best to first follow your backpack’s mission log. That way, you’ll have a rough idea of what you need to accomplish.
Planetfall !— Your First Mission
You can check your Mission Log on your Backpack, but you can also view it at any Landing Pad. Of course, if you want to claim any physical rewards from Exo, you’ll have to open your Mission Log at the Landing Pad.
Since you’ve landed on Sylva, Exo will automatically complete the Planetfall! mission — call it a starting bonus, of sorts. On the right side of your Mission Log screen, you’ll see the mission’s details, as well as the rewards for it.
The rewards for the first mission are an Oxygenator, used for generating the air you breathe, and a Small Printer, which you need to build the rest of your base. Since you’ve completed the mission, you’ll see Ready to Collect blinking right above the list of rewards.
So, head on to your landing site, press F to open the Mission Log, and you’ll see the mission title under Rewards. Ensure that the mission is selected, then click twice on the green button — once to open the safety flap, and the second one to receive your rewards.
What’s Next? Some Astroneering Basics to Get You Going
Once the rewards drop onto your landing pad, head back to your Mission Log to see the next steps you can take. When you open the device, you’ll see that Planetfall! has moved down to complete, and you have two active missions: Astroneering Bas(e)ics and Lights in the Distance.
As said earlier, you’re free to do anything you wish, but starting with the basics is still highly recommended. So, go ahead and read through the instructions of Astroneering Bas(e)ics.
As the Mission Title suggests, it’s about the basics of base setup. So go unpack and install the Oxygenator, then set up the small printer. To unpack (or interact) with any item, just follow the instructions on the pop-up window. The default instruction is to Press and Hold F (Y on Xbox, Triangle on PlayStation, and X on Switch).
Once the Oxygenator is out, select it then drag it into the Tier 2 slot on your Shelter. This device now allows your Shelter to provide oxygen via tethers, letting you venture beyond your base with a virtually unlimited supply of air.
After installing the Oxygenator, don’t forget to set up the small printer. You just need to place it near your Shelter, preferably facing outward, and then connect it via a cable plug.
To orient your printer, just pick it up and press C (LB on Xbox, L1 on PlayStation, and L on Switch) or V (RB on Xbox, R2 on PlayStation, and R on Switch) to rotate it in the corresponding direction. The front of the printer would be the brown/orange dome — this is the side where the items you print will appear.
Of course, your printer needs power so it can operate. All you need is to grab a Cable Plug from your shelter and attach it to one of the two available Cable Plugs on the printer.
If the attachment is successful, you’ll see a cable connecting the two items. Furthermore, if enough power flows towards the item, you should see the color yellow on the cable, indicating there is enough power to run the device.
With that, you’ve just completed your second mission. Head back to the landing pad and claim your rewards — a set of Tethers and 500 Bytes for research. The Tethers will drop onto the landing pad, but the Bytes will simply appear in your Research Catalog (We’ll discuss this in later articles).
Get Some Breathing Space
When you see the Tether on the landing pad, you’ll see F (Hold) Use in the pop-up screen so you can set it up. While you can certainly do that, it’s not awfully efficient. Instead, here’s how you deploy Tethers quickly.
First, pick it up and put it in your Backpack. You can do so by clicking on it, opening your backpack, and placing it in one of the slots. Alternatively, you can press and hold the left shift key and click on the object to store it quickly (LT + Y on Xbox, L2 + Triangle on PlayStation, and ZL + X on Switch).
Once the Tethers are in your backpack, walk a certain distance away from your base until the blue line supplying oxygen to your Astroneer is just about severed. This means you’re now breathing air from the tank in your backpack, and you’re not being supplied from your base.
To restore your air supply, press T (D-Pad Down on Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch), and your Astroneer will deploy a Tether. As the name suggests, the Tether will tether (or connect) you to the nearest base item that has an oxygen supply.
If you want to explore quickly, all you need is to deploy a Tether just as soon as your Astroneer’s oxygen supply is cut. That’s because a Tether has a marginally longer range than your Astroneer, thus restoring the oxygen (and power) connection from your base to your explorer.
If you deploy a Tether too far out, it won’t connect, so you’ll have to pick it up and place it near another Tether. You’ll know it’s supplying oxygen if the Tether lights up and it has a blue line connecting it to your base or another Tether.
Tethers are useful as they can guide you to places you’ve already explored before. They can also serve as markers that lead the way to rare resources you just found. If you want to reuse your Tethers, all you need is to press pick it up and put it in your backpack, and it’s ready for use for another day.
After deploying all your Tethers (or even just one), head back to the Landing Pad and claim your prize! You’ll get a Small Canister and another 500 Bytes. Pick up the Small Canister and place it in your backpack, that way it’s ready to use.
Look Around and See Where Things Are
You’ll also see more missions appear in the Active folder, but we’ll cover that next week. Right now, you can focus first on exploring your nearby areas, and maybe create a guide path to some interesting objects you find.
Who knows? You might find these curiosities useful next week, as you start looking for resources and terraforming Sylva.