The Crash

Every new game opens with your lander on its belly and pieces torn off it. What broke is random for every new world: one wreck loses a wing and its tail, the next is nearly whole but has nothing left to power it. So the repair is different every time.

The nose never breaks. The ship's computer lives there, and it keeps a checklist of what the ship still needs. Holographic outlines show where each missing part can go. They're a suggestion, not a rule: you can put parts wherever you like, as long as the ship still meets the requirements to fly.

What's in the wreck

• The computer in the nose: your repair checklist, and later the ship's log.
• A supply chest beside the console with whatever survived the landing.
• A salvaged journal: the approach survey you wrote on the way down. Reading it is the first advancement.
• Cracked plate: split hull lying around the crash site. It crumbles to nothing when you break it, but it's worth breaking: the pieces torn off the ship came down on top of things, and a cracked plate can be hiding a spare Thruster or a chest of supplies underneath. Check under and around the wreckage.

Fixing her

Nothing about the repair is scripted. You fix the ship with the ordinary game: Metal Hull blocks to fill the gaps, a Door in the doorway, and some Thrusters on the tail. Only the cabin has to be airtight to fly; the wings and tail don't count towards the seal. Your First Hour walks you through getting the materials, and Building a Ship explains everything a ship needs before she'll fly.

See also