Part 1

Embark on your Starbound journey! This guide covers character creation, understanding your ship and worlds, and the fundamentals of crafting to get you started.

Hey there, future space explorer! So, you've decided to dive into Starbound? Awesome choice! It's a game that feels a bit like Terraria but with its own unique sci-fi twist. The main goal is to gear up, explore new sectors, and take down bosses to progress. You'll be mining, crafting, and generally building up your tech as you go. It's all about exploration and combat in a universe that feels practically endless. Seriously, you can travel to specific coordinates and find the exact same world every time, even after restarting. That means you can share awesome planet locations with your friends!

This guide is going to walk you through everything you need to know to get started. We'll cover the main progression, all the basic mechanics, crafting, items, and more. Think of it as your friendly co-pilot for your Starbound adventure!

Controls:

• A: Move left
• D: Move right
• S: Crouch
• Space: Jump
• E: Interact with flashing objects.
• X: Toggles between using Left and Right hands or not
• Q: Throw away current item
• C: Opens/closes the Crafting Menu
• I: Opens/closes the Inventory Menu
• J: Opens/closes the Quest Menu
• L: Opens/closes the Starbound Codex
• Alt: Highlight interactable objects

Basics: Your Ship

Your ship is basically your home base in space. It's where you'll return after your adventures, and it stays with you whether you're playing solo or with friends. It's a safe zone, perfect for setting up your crafting stations and storing all your precious loot. Right at the start, you've got a teleporter to beam down to the planet's surface and back up. There's also a big storage container that can hold up to 64 items – super handy! You'll also find a Tech and 3D Printer bay, but don't worry too much about those just yet. Oh, and don't forget the fuel supplier to keep your ship flying and the deck, where you'll go to hop between different worlds. Huzzah!

Basics: Worlds

You'll always be on a world, but you can travel between them. The world you start on is randomly generated, and each one has its own unique size and biome. Biomes are important because they affect what you can find – different planets have different resources and features. Each planet has a surface with trees and plants, but you can also dig deep down to discover caverns and mine for ores. You'll encounter monsters too, whose difficulty depends on the planet's threat level. Some are chill, while others are definitely hostile, and their attack patterns can be pretty random. It all adds up to a universe that feels truly vast and unpredictable!

Basics: Crafting

Crafting is a huge part of Starbound! As you explore, you'll find various crafting stations that let you create a ton of different items. The system is pretty straightforward: gather the necessary materials from the planet, and then use them to craft what you need. It's all about resourcefulness!

Walkthrough: Character Creation

Alright, first things first: creating your character! You get to pick from six different races, or 'species'. Right now, these choices are mostly for looks, so pick whichever one tickles your fancy. You can also choose to be male or female, though sometimes it's hard to tell the difference depending on the race. Go ahead and customize your character however you like – each species has different customization options. If you're feeling lucky, you can even randomize your character's appearance (but not the race or gender). You can also give your character a name, or hit the randomize button for one that fits their species' theme. Once you're happy with your creation, hit 'Ok' and then click on your character to jump into the game!