Tips

This is a community-written page for anyone that has a game tip; jot them down here to help other users on the Astroneer Wiki.

1. In your Backpack you have 14 spaces for items. 8 on the back facing you when you open it up. 2 on the top to the right and left 1 in the slot used for your personal crafting and 3 on your tool. Any items can be stored in the 10 slots on your backpack while the appropriate material can be stored in the printer. For example, if you need compound to craft tethers while it is highlighted as the next item to be crafted you can store compound in that area. Items will not automatically go in the open sports on the right and left of your backpack you have to manually drag them there. However, it is only in these areas power generation items will function.

2. You can hold shift while left-clicking an item to snap it directly into any of the 8 main slots in your backpack if you have at least one open.

3. When you die any items all the items you had in your backpack will stay in the backpack and you'll have to retrieve them. If you had items in the Deforming Tool's slots, they'll be dropped alongside the backpack and you may need to dig a small hole on the ground to retrieve them.

4. If you die while holding any items (Artifacts, Storages, Seats or simply item stacks) you will respawn at your base still holding them. (will likely be patched)

5. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to stay alive or regain power while exploring, mining an oxygen or power source and keeping the stack in your backpack will allow you to replenish your power/oxygen as needed, automatically. This also works for powering up your base's modules and vehicles, all you have to do is connect the stacks to an open attachment slot.

6. Items you can craft through your inventory can be used on your base or vehicle as well as on yourself. An example would be the Small Generator which uses organic as fuel. This is not as good as the Medium Generator which uses Carbon it stills being an easy and convenient way to power your base, Land Vehicles or Backpack at night.

7. It is not necessary to leave Terran to gather Titanium, Lithium or Coal as Artifacts provide a source for all of these items, readily available on Terran, through research. They can also be acquired through Trade.

8. While building out your base, instead of expanding to the next location your conduit goes to you can expand off of that spot again to have your modules further away from your base. This will also leave you with two connection points open in between. These are great for power generation/storage.

9. Placing one or more Medium Storage s on your smelter is a good way to minimize the risk of running out of space for your resources while smelting.

10. Your Vehicles can be attached together to form road trains, you just have to click the blue translucid conduit that appears between them (this can be undone if you need to).

11. If you are ever walking along your Tether line and it goes dark, just trace your line back until you see the break in the connection. (Sometimes this will require you to trek back to your base as a known bug currently in the game has tether lines randomly malfunctioning. Simply lift and replace the first tether and this will likely solve the problem.)

12. The rock formations that have resources growing from them with the large arrows regenerate resources over time. If you find a resource you need consistently you can place a beacon or build a tether line to it without the need of having to look all over for that specific resource. Knowing that, power spots are valuable to keep your base going at night or vehicles. (Though, do to slow generation it is recommended you use batteries or wind power to sustain yourself overnight.)

13. When you research something new, check your printer, backpack, vehicle bay, and new modules to build. It can be any of those. With that in mind, try to have a spot open for future modules to make it easier to check.

14.By using portable batteries, it is possible to recharge a vehicle along a tether line. Batteries in a player's inventory can be charged via a tether connection and will transfer their energy into a vehicle once they are put on an open slot in the vehicles inventory.

15.Putting small solar panels or windmills in the inventory spots on your base can provide energy instead of giving it energy blocks.