Barren (Old)

Barren is one of the Planets in Astroneer. Despite being categorized as a planet, it is a moon of Terran. It has low gravity and no weather events. As the name suggests, there are few resources on the surface. This means it is difficult to start a base with little or no shipments from other colonies. However, there are quite a few Artifacts and Discoveries scattered across the planet. While it may be easy to overlook, it may be a good idea to colonize barren right after leaving Terran. The sheer amount of discoveries, low-gravity and abundance of resources makes this an easy and profitable place to explore. Due to its low gravity, certain winds caused by bugs, which in some locations may be near-constant, may pick up Crates, Research items, and even rovers. However, this can be exploited, as unlike storms, they are: reliably active and unable to hurl debris at you or discolor your view. These winds may often pick up any number of artifacts nearby and, if these artifacts are gathered before reaching a certain height, may be researched or simply put into a pit that you can pull them out of without allowing them to drift away.

The average time it takes for a day/night cycle to pass is about 3 minutes, and its average circumference is about 14 stacks of tethers; it takes about 5 minutes to circumnavigate. Due to its size, you may decide to rocket somewhere, on it, then walk back to your base. This is a terrible idea. Do NOT underestimate its size or you may get permanently stuck if you have no fuel.

Resources

 * Common
 * Laterite
 * Malachite
 * Research Item (Rocky)
 * Resin
 * Coal
 * Compound
 * Rare
 * Lithium
 * Titanium
 * Ammonium
 * Wolframite

Cave Resource Finding
The caves of Barren have 2 levels of resources: on the surface, the moon is bereft of anything useful other than Laterite and malachite, but in the caves, at a certain depth, Resin will line the cave walls in great amount. Below this, at the next "level", Coal will be found. This provides a potential energy source other than the abundant Power found in the caves, and can be used with the Medium Generator. The resin provides ample material for building a base without relying on transportation of resource from other worlds.

Escaping if stranded
Barren may seem like a hopeless situation when looking at only the surface, but it is in fact possible to escape. Bases can be built from the resin found underground in bulk, and compound can be found underground as well but less easily. The lack of resources for easy obtaining makes the Mineral Extractor an early priority. A good strategy is to dig down around your shuttle in search of caves and/or resources, though a natural cave entrance is usually nearby and not hard to locate, but if you do not have much in the way of tethers, then use the aforementioned strategy. The Trade Platform is also a useful structure, especially for acquiring the first samples of resources to use in the Mineral Extractor.

Biomes

 * Craters: Barren has gigantic craters that can be found all over the surface; there is high chance for crashed satellite parts to congregate around them. Typically, two or three gargantuan ones generate on the surface. These can often be wider than the mountains.
 * Mountains: While this is not a fully-fledged biome, this is easily visible. Barren sports several mountains.  It is inadvisable to land here, because building will be tricky.


 * "Spiky Forests": Found next to mountains, these rocky formations are known for their spikes and mushroom like "trees". It is possible to find artifacts over them.

Trivia

 * Due to the low gravity of barren, land vehicles drive slower, are much harder to control, and tend to flip.
 * This low gravity can actually cause an unusual event. Upon attaching a single thruster to a large rover, it is possible for the rover to gain enough speed to start flying off the ground, spinning uncontrollably and throwing the player across the moon.

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Désertique