Talk:Guide:Getting started

=Tutorial Section Discussion=

I feel an in depth talk through the tutorial section will help bulk out this section with the information needed and give any new users that are having trouble an extra push. - Soltanis (talk) 13:04, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

=Old Sections Discussion= I feel a lot of these old sections would be covered by an in depth look at the current updated tutorial examples of this are: Tools, Equiping items, Resources, Crafting - Soltanis (talk) 13:04, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

Some of the sections are topics that are not really valuable or too advanced for a "getting started" tutorial, examples of this are the Exposure, Wormholes, Events, Pets and Power Grid - Soltanis (talk) 13:04, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

Night & Day Section I was not too sure about, I felt maybe it could be put into the section about exploration but as a small paragraph warning people that it might get more dangerous at night, but I also feel like those sort of things should be learnt from experience. - Soltanis (talk) 13:04, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

=The Old Sections (please don't edit them)= I kept these for ease of access and discussion above

Your Tools
Now let’s talk about the tools at your disposal in Edge of Space, these are a valuable part of survival!

In Edge of Space, an ArkcoNaut’s best friend is their equipment. The primary tool you will need will be your trusty laser pick. Your pick has two “modes”, one for the foreground tiles, and one for the background. It can also deal minor damage in a pinch, so if you run out of ammo, your pick is there to help you. Mining now works by “heating” tiles, allowing you to work on more than one tile at a time. Move your pick in a sweeping motion over several tiles and you can effectively break them all. You can toggle between modes by pressing tab. This can be done even while holding down left click and continuing to mine. In foreground mode, you will notice that the mining laser is red:

In background tile mode, your laser will turn blue, giving you a distinct visual cue as to which tiles you are about to collect. .

That brings us to your third, and perhaps more valuable tool, your repair gun. This handy gun will repair things on the go, and we’ll be taking a closer look at tile and placeable damage later on. This is what your repair gun looks like:

Accidents happen, and in the heat of battle, you might drop a needed item or tool. Not to fear! If this unfortunate incident should happen to you, you can now return to your master pod The next tool you will use throughout your adventures is the Cutter tool. This allows you to remove trees and other "formations." The cutter is granted to you when you spawn. To use it, simply aim at the tree or formation you are trying to remove, and left click. When the beam makes contact with the item to be removed it will turn bright orange. Trees and other formations can drop valuable crafting materials, so don’t overlook them when you’re exploring, and access the “Claim items” dropdown. This will allow you to redeem a basic replacement tool.

Next we will take a look at is HOW your tools are equipped. The new user interface features a scrolling quick select system. To add items to your quickslots, press R (or the key you have bound it to) to bring up your inventory. Simply add items to the top row of slots, trimmed in blue, and they will be ready to use. To pick up an item, left click it, hover over the slot you wish to place it in, and left click again. Now you are ready to learn about other types of equipment!

Kits
In addition to the other tools you are given, kits are a critical part of your adventures through space. Kits equip your character with abilities to craft, refine, and much more. As the game progresses, you will find other kits which will have effects that you can activate, such as dash, teleport, or even bio-luminescence! These will populate in the toolbar at the lower left hand corner of your screen.

To equip a kit to your character for use, press C to bring up your character equip screen. You will see 2 slots below your avatar, occupied by your crafting kit, and your energy regen kit. If you wish to use another kit before unlocking more slots, you will need to swap out the crafting kit or the energy regen kit for the other you want to use. Once equipped, these kits are accessed with the number keys 1-8.

Presently, the crafting kit is in one of these slots, and your energy regen kit is in the other. These are accessed by pressing 2 and 3 respectively. In the above screen, the refining kit is equipped, returning the energy regen kit to inventory. You will find more kits through power up platforms, enabling you to progress your character to a higher tier.

Placing Items
You’re out adventuring, and you find an amazing spot to build. You set up shop, build a base, and things look alright, but perhaps you feel that something is missing. After all, what is an outpost without an advanced space toilet? You craft your lovely decorations, and now it’s time to place them in the world. Placement in Edge of Space is guided by a hologram of the item you are trying to place. First load your placeable item into one of the slots on your toolbar so that you can use it. Move your cursor to the location you want to use. If the item cannot be placed, the item appears gray at the end of the beam:

If the item CAN be placed in a location, you will see a full color image of the item:

Simply click to place it, and you’re ready to go! But wait! Did you just place your space toilet in your bedroom?? This will never do. You need to remove the item and move it to a more suitable location. To do this, mouse over your item, and press x. You will see a red arrow appear above the placeable:

Press x again to confirm that you really do want to remove it, and the item pops back up so that you can pick it up:x

Now simply collect the drop, and move to the location you wish to place the item, and set it back down. There are a wide variety of placeable items, so be sure to explore them for all of your interior decorating needs!

Events
Events are things that occur at random intervals in the game world. Some will help your character, others will be dangerous. There are two basic types of events, world, and local. Local events take place in the general area your character is standing in. Examples of local events would be supply drops, anomalies, solar storms, and even space pirate attacks. When an event is about to take place, you will see a notice on screen:

In this case, it was a supply drop. This means a random chest has spawned. You will want to search around you, as these can happen in any direction from you. Awesome! We found the chest!

Other events, such as solar storms, will drain your energy, or even deal damage. There will be various ways to escape the effects of those events as the game gets further along. It’s important to notice the alerts that an event is starting, and learn to match them with the effects they have on the world.

Further in development, the game will also have world events. These will be triggered by certain conditions being met in the world, and won’t be contained within a set area. As these come into play, we will add more information on them.

Night & Day
With night and day cycles now in place, players will need to think more carefully about protecting themselves after nightfall. During the day, the top part of the proto-life biome, around your master pod, is a dead zone, void of mob spawns. During the night however, it is far more dangerous. Night specific mobs go roaming, and they can be quite daunting.

The game world becomes very dark, making light a critical factor. Before setting off at night, one should be sure that their inventory is well stocked with torches, an Arklight gun, or other means of lighting the way. You can carry a torch in your hand to give off light, but it’s recommended that you place torches as you go, especially if you’re venturing a long distance. You will want to be able to defend yourself at any time. Without lighting, you can quickly find yourself lost and overwhelmed by enemies you weren’t aware of.

Don’t be afraid to box yourself in at night if you find that you are getting overrun with mobs. It’s better to survive and craft ammo, equip the healing kit, or even craft new armor that can help you escape the trap when daylight comes. Night time mobs will despawn if you run and they go off screen, so if all else fails, wait for the sun to rise and make a run for it!

Tech Upgrades & Stats
Tech upgrades are a critical part of character progression through Edge of Space. These platforms unlock valuable schematics, as well as giving permanent stat boosts to your character. Tech upgrade platforms will be found in the interior of larger land masses, so be sure to explore caves, and even dig out areas where the land is very solid. The first hint that an upgrade platform is there, will be the appearance of a room made of structure tiles:

To activate the upgrade, mouse over the platform and press F to interact with it. You will then see a screen showing the rewards for the upgrade you found.

In this example, two new schematics were given, plus a max health increase. The schematics are already unlocked on your crafting menu, and you can access them from this point on. These upgrades are the primary form of advancement for your character, along with schematics found through other means. They can be tricky to find, with the presence of red jellies and crabs lurking in the caves, but are well worth the effort. You’ve found that sought after platform, but where can you view it’s effects? First, you will want to take a look at your stats screen. Access it by pressing C to bring up your character page. Stats are another very important aspect of progression. Whether it’s permanent boosts through tech upgrades, or changing ones like armor and pets, stat boosts make a big difference in helping you survive. Here you can see the max health improvement from aluminum armor, and the +50 from the tech upgrade:

As you gain better stats, it becomes less dangerous to roam the world at night, and to venture deeper into the world. In addition to your stats screen, you will also want to refer to your Tech screen. This is done by pressing L. Here you can see that Science tech has advanced 1 level:

Not only can your tech upgrade screen tell you what level you are in each area, it also allows you to check what the next level will unlock for you. Mouse over the blue exclamation mark icon, and you can see exactly what that tech will earn you.

Equipping Your Character
Space is a dangerous place! You know you won’t get very far without armor and a good weapon at your side. First, we will talk about the character screen, how to equip yourself, and then move on to how to craft these essentials. Let’s start with a look at the character screen:

Here you can see the slots for your armor on the right. The far right hand row is for vanity, the left one is for your standard equips. Your armor can give you valuable stat boosts, and make your journey far less perilous. As you progress, you will find and craft better and stronger armor. Time to get suited up! Taking a piece of armor from your inventory, you left click to pick it up, mouse over the slot, and left click to place it.

Once you are equipped with any armor you wish to wear, it’s time to grab a weapon. Guns are not equipped on the character screen, but instead through your toolbar. Press R to bring up your inventory. Select the weapon you wish to equip, and place it in one of your quick slots.

In addition to your armor and weapons, you will also equip pets to help you along the way, and kits which will grant abilities and helpful actions for your character. These and the tech upgrade system will be a critical part of gearing up to face the lower tiers of the game. We will cover each of these in another section.

You will notice that you can also see your characters stats on the equipment screen. There are a number of ways to increase these stats. You will find upgrade stations along your quest which will help you to further your character. These upgrades will permanently affect your character’s stats, as you will see in the stats screen on your character sheet. We will go into this further a little later on. Now that you know the basics for gearing up, let’s move on to how to craft what you need to survive in Edge of Space.

Crafting
Knowing how to craft the things you need to survive is a critical part of Edge of Space. Everything from weapons, to armor, to advanced space toilets rely on your ability to craft. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to do, you start with the basic crafting kit. Begin your adventure by gathering a wide variety of materials from the world around you. Every material has a purpose, even dirt and rock, and that will remain true right up to endgame. Once you have a variety of materials, it’s time to do science! Access your crafting kit by pressing 2, bringing up the crafting menu:

At the top, you see the default category, “Tools/Weapons. This is a dropdown menu. Clicking on it will show you the other categories available to you, offering a variety of things you can craft. These range from critical to your survival, to decorations for your home. Click on the name of the schematic you are interested in crafting. On the right hand side you will now see the requirements needed to make that item:

In this example, you need 15 raw/mineral/metal/aluminum, and 25 raw/mineral. It can be any material that meets these requirements. To find out what you have on hand, click the dropdown under the item slot.This will show anything you are carrying that will work for this slot.. Mousing over the various materials you have on hand will bring up tooltips for it, including the crafting categories that are satisfied by that material.

You can see that quite a few materials can be used for this craft. Click on the stack you wish to pull from to fill the slot. The schematic will pull the needed amount. For refined materials, we recommend that you only refine what you need, as stacks take on random stats and will no longer stack together. These can be put through the matter recombiner, which we will talk more about later on. When all the schematic slots are full, simply click Science, and then complete, and you will have your item. Tier 1 crafting, for the earliest schematics, will require only raw materials. Tier 2 moves into refinement. Let’s take a closer look at refining, and how to start making more advanced items.

Refining
While basic crafting can keep you alive, refining materials to move on to Tier 2 schematics is a big step toward moving on to more difficult areas. Refining will cause your materials to satisfy the requirements for schematics that take materials not classified as raw. First, you will need to craft yourself a refining kit. This kit requires you to have a workbench, so you will start by crafting and placing your crafting table. This can be found under the “Facility” category, under “base.” Once your bench is placed, go to the kits section of your crafting menu. Once you have your kit, you will need to swap it into the slot where your crafting kit or energy kit is, or find tech upgrades to open another slot.

Take the material you wish to refine, and place it in the open slot on the left.

Press start. You will now see the finished product. Mousing over your new material will show you details about it. You will see the crafting requirements that your newly refined material can satisfy.

Future crafting tiers will introduce using the randomized stats given to materials, but for now, you know the basics. Time to talk more about the different kinds of resources available to you.

Resources
Resource gathering is an important part of properly equipping your character and increasing your chances of survival. In Edge of Space gathering won’t just be limited to what you can mine. You will want to spend plenty of time killing mobs to obtain drops of various materials that can only be obtained in that way. Plants and formations such as trees will also drop materials. Additionally, crafting materials can be found in chests and supply drops. Here are some tips to follow to ensure you have what you need, when you need it:
 * If you see a deposit of ore, snatch it up! You might not need it now, but you certainly will at some point. Remember, you can mine in both the foreground and the background; you will get 1 resource for every block you mine of that material.
 * Have your goals in mind when you explore. If you want a specific item, be on the lookout for the materials to craft it.
 * Always stockpile the resources for cryorods, these are your lives, and if your pod runs out, you could lose your items! Cryorods need 10 Raw/Chemical and 10 Raw/Organic materials. There are multiple blocks that fit this description, keep an eye out!
 * Everything is valuable! Even dirt! Be sure to keep dirt and rock on hand for torches and other basic craftables.
 * Learn the materials by sight! This might seem daunting at first, but once you gather items, mouse over them in your inventory for a description. Soon you’ll be easily recognizing the various ores and materials by sight, and you’ll realize there are more of them around you than you thought.

Exposure
In a sandbox game, players usually feel the need to explore as far as they can, as fast as they can. In Edge of Space, it will take a little more thinking and preparation to go lower down into the world. Exposure warning means several things in the game world. The most easily noticeable will be the radiation, which triggers an exposure warning. This warning will be displayed to the right of your health and energy meters, and the exposure bar will steadily climb until the player either leaves the area, or is killed. You begin to lose health as soon as the radiation meter fills.

There are a couple of different ways you can counter the radiation level in an area. The first of these is armor. Improving your armor gives you a higher exposure ranking stat, allowing you to progress to lower biomes. Before venturing too low, it’s definitely recommended to have at least some armor equipped. Secondly, you can utilize O2 generators. These are currently disabled, but will be a valuable tool later on. As you progress lower, you will be able to begin to close in areas, including the back tiles, and place atmosphere generators. You will see the area fill with gas, and your exposure indicator will inform you when the area is stable. In this way you can work your way down to areas that your armor might not be quite adequate for on its own. Eventually, the world will be able to be terraformed to a safe and liveable state, but for now, let’s talk a bit more about staying alive on your adventures.

Wormholes
We talked earlier about events, including wormholes. Here we will take a more in depth look at wormholes, and what you can expect from them. Wormholes are gateways to other locations. Currently, they lead to collapsing worlds, giving you a chance to dash in, grab ore and treasure, and occasionally even have a run-in with Edge of Space’s famed laser sharks. You will know a wormhole has appeared when you see the event notice that an anomaly has been detected.

This tells you the area it’s in. Search the sector, and try to locate the wormhole. When you find one, mouse over and press F to enter. This is what a wormhole looks like in the world:

Entering a wormhole will eventually bring you to dungeons, boss zones, and even other world maps that you can revisit. For now, they take you to a temporary world, with a countdown timer till it collapses. We call these unstable wormholes. Once inside, the time left will be displayed:

You will want to move quickly, and grab up all the loot you can before exiting back to the regular world. Chests in wormholes can contain rare schematics, so those are a good thing to race for before starting to mine anything else. It is recommended to have at least some armor and a good gun before venturing in, in case you encounter laser sharks!

Pets
Space can definitely be a lonely place! Don’t worry, ArkCo has you covered. In the game world you will find a variety of companions to help you along the way. These little friends will have various abilities that can buff your character, heal you, or even light up those dangerous caves. The first pet you will meet in Edge of Space is the Defense Drone. He is a craftable pet, one of several ways you will find them in the game. Defense Drone gives you a buff to your stats in several areas.

Once you have crafted it, you will need to equip your new friend. Press C to bring up your character screen. Note that there is a slot above the avatar’s head. This is where you place the pet to have it join you.

Eventually you will also be able to find pets in chests and other ways, but for now you can tackle the dangers of space with Defense Drone tagging along for the ride.

The Power Grid (PIOS)
The power input/output system, or PIOS, can seem quite intimidating at first. Luckily, the very basics are not difficult. We will use powering a light as a basic tutorial on getting started with the power grid. First, craft yourself a bright lamp. You definitely want your base bright and cheery! You will notice that when you place your lamp, it does not give off light yet. This is because it needs to be powered.

The next step will be crafting yourself a patchwork generator. This will be the first one you are able to craft in Edge of Space. Once you have your new generator, place it somewhere in your base. Now you are ready to enter power mode by pressing P. You will notice that each item that interacts with PIOS has nodes:

The generator has a blue node, signalling that it can power other items. The turrets and the lamp have pink or red nodes, showing that they need power. The turrets at your master pod are automated, and do not need to be hooked into PIOS. Any additional turrets that you craft will need to be powered. Let’s hook up our lamp. First, right click on the blue output node on the generator. You will now see that this generator has 4 slots:

Click on one of the plus signs. You will notice that the generator’s node now glows. Next you will right click on the red node for the lamp. This will show you the slots that need powering:

Notice that the lamp requires two inputs to be powered. Left click on the first node to power it. You will notice that node go from red to blue, and a wire appear between the two, because it is now receiving power. Since we need to power both nodes, right click on your generator again, and select the second node. Connect that to your lamp’s second node. You will see the large red node go blue, and both wires connect. Your lamp is now powered!

Press P again to exit power grid mode, and you are on your way! The PIOS system has a great deal of depth, and for those who wish to dive in deeper, it is capable of making even simple computers in game! For more information on all of the gates and options available, you can refer to the Wiki article on PIOS. While the GUI for it has been updated since the Wiki was done, the explanations of the various gates and functions are still accurate.

We call this system “opt-in difficulty.” Learning to power the things you need in game to survive, such as doors and lights is simple, and beginners can catch on quickly. Advanced players can do far more, but that advanced knowledge isn’t required to succeed in normal gameplay.