This One Lonely Outpost starter guide will teach you the basics of the game and walk you through the first few days of the game.
HUD Explanation
- Day, Date, Time, and Temperature – This is where you can see the day, season, date, year, current temperature, and time.
- Season Indicator – This is an icon that shows the current season.
- Energy Bar – This shows how much energy you have left for the day. Your maximum energy can be reduced depending on…
- Money – This shows how much money you currently have.
- OmniStars – This shows how many OmniStars you have. OmniStars are required for story progress.
- Current Objective – If you’re currently working on objectives, they will be shown here.
- New Objective or Message – When you receive a new objective or message, it will temporarily pop up here.
- Water Tank – This shows how much water you have in your Spray Tool. You can expand these tanks with upgrades purchased from a Colonist later in the game.
- Matter Manipulator Tool – This tool can be used to till soil for farming.
- Mining Laser Tool – This tool can be used to mine rocks, destroy crops, and pick up placed machines.
- Spray Tool – This tool is used to water crops by spraying water. It drains your water tank when you use it. You can refill the water tank by using your Mining Laser on Ice Crystals.
- Gust Tool – This tool is used to blow away dust piles for archaeology. It can also be used to blow away tilled soil.
- Survey Marker – When you discover a new area, you’ll have to head to several survey points; this is what they look like.
- Hotbar – This is where you can keep items available for easy access, separate from your inventory.
Your First Day
Let’s start things off by mining some regular stone—do not mine the special resources just yet. After a short time, you’ll receive an email giving you your first objective: you’ll have to earn “Geology Omnistars” by mining unique materials and “Archeology Omnistars” by blowing away dust piles.
First, let’s get the Geology Omnistars out of the way. Select the Mining Laser by pressing X and use it on iron, copper, and basalt. You can find all three directly southwest of your ship.
Getting the Archaeology Omnistars is a little more difficult. Look around the area for little piles of dust. Equip the Gust Tool by pressing V and blow away piles until you discover three unique objects. Once that’s done, you’ll complete the objective.
Surveying the Land
You’ll receive a second objective on your first day: surveying the Farmstead. You have to walk to three waypoints indicated by white circles in the area. The first one is to the northwest, the second one to the southwest, and the third and final one even further southwest. Collect all of these, and you’ll complete your next objective.
Once you’ve completed both of these objectives, you’re free to explore your Farmstead. Note that you’ll have lost some of your Energy. You can only restore it with food, and unfortunately, you don’t have any yet.
I strongly recommend that you spend the rest of your remaining Energy clearing out as many objects as you can in the field directly south of your Ship, with the exception of the Ice Crystals. When your Energy is almost gone, go to sleep in your Ship.
Day 3 – The Earthquake and Beyond
You and Qwerty will find yourselves in the middle of an earthquake on Day 3. While this can be a little scary, it actually opens up new sections of the map, allowing you to explore more of the world.
First and foremost, make sure to tend to your crops every day. Afterward, you can take your time exploring the new areas of the map and collecting the unique resources available in each region.
An important note: avoid immediately smelting all of the ore you acquire. Keep 5 to 10 pieces of each ore in its natural form. The amount of ore available on the overworld is finite, and you’ll need ore for some early-game crafting recipes. You’ll be able to obtain infinite ore when you unlock the mine later in the story.
