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This should be a crash-course primer to getting started in Stationeers. You can find more guides in the Steam community, several of which are linked from the front page of this wiki.

Tutorials

Stationeers has a selection of tutorials accessible from the main menu to explain the basic concepts of the game. It is recommended to do the tutorials progressively as you encounter new mechanics in your game instead of tackling them all at once. To start in Stationeers, the Basic Skills, Construction, and Mining + Fabrication tutorials will give you a solid foundation for the start of the game.

Basic Controls

This is a cheatsheet to the content covered in the Basic Skills tutorial.

• Players interact with the world, items, and structures in Stationeers with an active hand system.
• Your left and right hands are represented in the bottom middle of the screen.
  • WASD movement
  • Left Click interacts with the world using the current hand or tool in the current hand (ex: you can't interact with buttons while holding an item)
  • Right Click starts placement mode when holding a structure (ex: Iron Frames or Autolathe) or toggles the power switch on handheld devices
  • Holding Alt enables the cursor for interacting with the UI
  • F1 opens the "Stationpedia" for in-game recipes and guides
  • Mouse Wheel
    • With an open inventory - changes active slot
    • When placing a structure - changes the mode for an item in placement mode (use this with Cables to change their shape)
    • When using some consoles or computers - scrolls the active menu
  • E swaps current active hand
  • R opens the item in the current hand, or goes to its options
  • F swaps between held items and items in your inventory on the side (accessed through the number keys)
  • Q drops the currently held item in the active hand, holding Q will cause you to throw the item
  • 1-6 will open menus for worn items similar to pressing R, holding 1-6 will cause it to swap with the item in the current hand, or simply go in the current hand - don't do this with the helmet or suit in a vacuum
    • You can swap the Tool Belt and the Mining Belt by holding a belt in your hand and then holding 6
  • Delete, End, Insert, Home, Page Up, Page Down rotate the item in placement mode. C is useful for autorotate when placing cables or pipes.
  • G grab - not the same as drag, which is triggered by clicking on a portable item's handle with an empty hand
  • I quick open the helmet - don't do this in a vacuum. You can lock the helmet in its menu to avoid this.
  • O or Right Click turn held item on or off
  • J turn jet pack on or off. The propulsion tank will last for many hours use, use it freely for building or mining. Still, make sure you turn off the jet pack when not using it, as the jet pack will continue to drain the propulsion tank.

Selecting a World

The first decision you have to make is where to set up a new colony. From the main menu, select the New Game option to come to the world select screen.

For a burgeoning stationeer, there are two main worlds to choose from: the Moon, and Mars. The other worlds have unique challenges which are beyond the scope of this guide. Although either choice is suitable for this guide, it's important to consider the differences between them.

• The Moon
  • Pros
    • The Sun is closer to the Moon than Mars, so solar panels work more effectively here
    • The solar angle on the Moon is 0°, which means that solar panels are easier to set up
    • The Moon has lower gravity, which can make it easier to navigate without burning through your jetpack fuel
  • Cons
    • The Moon has no atmosphere, so all gas must be collected by hand and can easily be lost into the environment. This demands more knowledge of Stationeers atmospherics systems to thrive on the Moon
• Mars
  • Pros
    • Mars has an unlimited atmosphere ripe with CO2, making it easy to set up hydroponics
    • Mars has an Earth-like atmospheric temperature during the day
  • Cons
    • Mars has storms that can ravage the surface, placing higher importance on shelter
    • The Sun is weaker on Mars and is at a slight angle. This requires more complicated solar panel arrays or a loss in efficiency

Ultimately, both planets are good for beginners. Pick one and adjust the guide to match the specifics of your environment.

Surviving the First Night

See also: Starting Gear and Constructing and Deconstructing Walls

When you spawn into the world you will see several crates and Road Flares. There's a lot to take in, but you have some time to get a feel for the controls and explore the crates. You will want to at least get started on a basic platform before sunrise though.

1. Grab the Iron Frames from construction crate 1 by clicking on the lid and letting it open
2. Find a place where the blocks don't clip too much into the ground and place a 2x2 or a 3x3
   1. You can create stairs later, so it's okay if your block is not placed too well right now
   2. You can also deconstruct everything easily later on, only expending battery charge in the process
3. Put the Iron Frames back and grab the Iron Sheets
4. Switch to your free hand using E
   1. Open your Tool Belt by hitting 6
   2. Use the Mouse Wheel to highlight the Welder and press F to move it to your active / empty hand
   3. Press O or R, R, then F to turn the torch on
   4. Hover over the frame until prompted to construct the frame, then left click and hold
   5. You only need to build the first level to be able to walk on it, the second level is considered airtight
   6. Turn off the Welding Torch when you're done, otherwise it will stay on in your belt and either blow up or run out of fuel
5. Put the Iron Frames and Iron Sheets back in the crate
6. Grab the Kit (Solar Panel) from construction crate 1 and place it on your platform
   1. You will need to finish constructing it by holding a Glass Sheet in your hand and hold down left mouse button while it constructs
   2. You can use the Wrench from your Tool Belt to rotate the Solar Panel
      • Basic Solar panels that come in your spacecraft are now fixed mount. You will need steel to craft the adjustable ones. So skip the adjusting till you get your first batch of steel (see below).
   3. The top parts are for vertical orientation, the base of the solar panel can be rotated for horizontal positioning
   4. If you see the sun, make the panel face it! You can see its current generation by hovering over the structure
7. Grab the Area Power Controller from construction crate 1
   1. Place it on the frames and open it with the Crowbar
   2. Grab the empty Battery Cell (Large) from construction crate 2 and place it inside the Area Power Controller
   3. The switch starts in "Off" - make sure to turn it on!
   4. If the light is blinking red - you're running on battery power
   5. If the light is blinking blue - you're charging the battery power from external sources (ex: Solar Panel, Solid Fuel Generator, Stationary Battery)
   • Do not connect the input (raw power) and output from the APC - you will cause a short circuit!
8. Switch back to the Tool Belt and put the Cables in a free hand
   1. Use the mouse wheel to change the shape and delete, insert, home, end, pgup, pgdown to rotate
   2. You can use the Cable Cutters to "pick up" bad placement
9. When your battery runs low, switch it with the battery in the APC, if you do this early enough in the solar day and track the sun, then the battery should be high or full charge by the end of the day

You will now probably survive the first night. But that's not exciting.. you're here to build cool stuff!

Surviving the First Week

During the day, you will want to aggressively find Ores since visibility is very low at night.

1. Find ores such as Iron Ore, Copper Ore, Gold Ore
   • You can ignore Silver Ore, Nickel Ore, Lead Ore, Ice, and all others for now
2. Setup the Battery Charger to recharge small batteries for your tools such as Hand Drill and Mining Drill
3. Setup your Arc Furnace by connecting Cables from your Area Power Controller
   • You can turn it on by clicking on the switch to the left (it will turn green)
   • Insert the ore and click on the 'activate' button
   • If it stops working immediately, then your power is not consistent - did you skip setting up the APC? Is the battery in the APC out of power?
   • In this case, you will need to rely on the Solid Fuel Generator to power the APC
4. Setup the Solid Fuel Generator for emergency power until a Stationary Battery can be setup
   • Make sure you hook it up to the input side of the APC - do not mix the networks!
   • The Solid Fuel Generator eats coal quickly, so try to move to solar asap

During the night, if you need to get minerals, use the Tracking Beacon!

• The Tracking Beacon uses a Battery Cell (Small) which can be taken from the Hand Drill or Angle Grinder
• A Cartridge starts in the player's suit inventory and can be inserted into the Handheld Tablet
  • Heads up: the tablet uses power if left On when put away

Goals

1. Setup the remaining structures: Arc Furnace, Solid Fuel Generator, Autolathe
2. Get the materials to produce an Electronics Printer asap
   • Print out a Battery Cell (Large) from the Electronics Printer so you don't have to swap suit power with the APC and can charge it with minimal interaction
   • Print out a Battery and hook it up to the incoming side of the APC
   • Use Heavy Cables to transfer a higher wattage to the Battery
3. Setup a basic room with an Airlock and a Gas Tank Storage to collect some oxygen if low

Getting Steel

Here's the first obstacle in your way: getting your first run of Steel.

1. Create a Furnace from the Autolathe - nice
2. You will need the following items to start the furnace
   • 2 volatile ice
   • 1 oxite ice
3. You need a ratio of these items to get steel
   • 3 iron ore
   • 1 coal
   • you can double check the ratio with the Cartridge (eReader) in the Handheld Tablet
4. Insert 2 volatile ice and 1 oxite ice into the furnace (this will be easier to do at night otherwise the ice might melt)
5. Insert iron ore and coal at a ratio of 3-1 (3 iron - 1 coal)
   • Check the contents view on the furnace and you should see hydrocarbons and iron listed
   • Hit Activate and enjoy the light show
   • Pull the lever and enjoy your Steel - 100g lasted me for a long time 😎
   • You can run multiple batches as long as you're in the right pressure & temperature range
6. Warning ore cannot be recovered from the Furnace unless you use a Centrifuge - make sure you measure it out!

Surviving Forever

Once you've gotten past the early part of the game, the world is your oyster. Here's some overall goals:

1. Create one or more Battery units to store power more consistently
2. Automate solar power collection using Logic Circuits and a Daylight Sensor - use the Solar Logic Circuits Guide to get started
3. Create a hydroponics system to extend your supply of food indefinitely - the Guide (Farming) is a good place to start (but don't forget you will eventually need another source of water!)
4. Use Chutes, Conveyors, and Stackers if you're interested in the ol' Factorio feel
5. Create an actual ship! (Using Furniture, Rocket Engine, Stellar Anchor and some other parts)
6. Create advanced ingots such as Solder, Invar, Electrum, Constantan
7. Create more advanced life support systems, like automated heating and cooling, automated air filtering, and automated farming, to not only survive but thrive!

Multiplayer

"tbd - but yeah, Don't grief!"

Tips

• Your starting Oxygen will last you for more than a week, so oxygen recovery can wait
• An Area Power Controller will effectively "split" a power & data network
  • Power and data are transferred on the same network - no need to run parallel power lines
• The waste canister can be used to power the jet pack - simply switch the canisters over for an emergency fix
• A locker holds 30 items and is very useful in the early game
• Ice will melt in hands, in the world, or in lockers - ice will 'not melt inside of a Mining Belt or in a cold environment.
• Help, I can't deconstruct something! - check that the Hand Drill's battery is not Empty
• A battery will charge twice as fast in an Area Power Controller than in a Battery Charger (Nuclear is only 73% faster) according to this helpfull reddit post by u/Chrisbitz