Empyrion Galactic Survival: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

Why I’m Still Playing This Janky Masterpiece

I’ve got 1,400 hours in Empyrion, and I still remember the first time I logged in. I spawned on a planet, looked at the UI, and immediately felt my brain short-circuit. I honestly closed the game and played something else for a week because I couldn’t figure out how to place a block without it floating in mid-air. But after that week, I came back, and I haven't really left since. That’s the Empyrion experience in a nutshell: it will absolutely punish you for not knowing its quirks, but once you get past the learning cliff, there’s nothing else quite like it. It’s janky, the physics are weird, the AI is dumb, but it’s my kind of sandbox.

This isn't a corporate guide. I’m not here to sell you on the game. You already bought it, or you’re considering it, and you’re probably confused as hell. That’s fine. This is the guide I wish I had when I was getting my face kicked in by a drone on Akua. Let’s get you to the point where you’re not rage-quitting every 30 minutes.

The Rage Quit Zone: Why You’re Probably Stuck

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Empyrion’s new player experience is brutal. This isn't a hand-holding tutorial franchise. The game throws you onto a planet with a broken starter base, a pistol, and a vague string of quest markers. If you’re coming from No Man's Sky or Space Engineers, you’re going to be lost. If you’re coming from Minecraft, you’ll be lost but with more inventory management screen rage.

The biggest pain point is the drone attacks. Your first base on Akua gets nuked by drones about a real-life hour in. You don't have turrets yet. You barely have a roof. This is by design, but the game doesn't tell you why you’re being attacked, so you just get frustrated. It’s not bad luck; it’s an intended mechanic to make you build underground. But you don’t know that yet, and it feels like the game is personally bullying you.

Another huge problem is the inventory management. The UI is functional but clunky. You’ll spend your first few hours fighting the panels more than the enemies. And don’t even get me started on the fact that you can’t move trees or rocks you’ve mined if they’re too close to your build. You’ll plop down a floor piece and suddenly a tree is inside your room. You have to go mine it, but you can’t mine it because your drill is on your hotbar, but you also need your pistol… you get the picture.

Finally, the lack of tutorialization for the factory system and CPU mechanics. You collect a bunch of components and think you can just slap a generator down. You can’t. You need to queue it in the factory, and there’s a resource cost. And if your base has 3,000 CPU used out of 2,500, the whole thing grinds to a halt and nothing works. That specific mechanic has made more people quit than the drone attacks. I promise you, it’s not you, it’s the game’s terrible communication.

First Steps: Your First 4 Hours (The Real Ones)

Alright, listen up. You’re going to spawn, and the game will tell you to do a few things. Ignore the noise. Here is the actual priority order for your first two hours on the default planet (Akua).

1. Gather Tools Immediately. Don't try to punch trees. Hit TAB to open your inventory and craft the Survival Tool and the Melee Weapon right away. You need the tool to chop trees and mine ore. The melee weapon is for those little alien scavs that are going to charge you. Don't be a hero; just bonk them.

2. Find a Cave or Dig a Hole. I’m serious. Your starter base is marked on the map, but it has a giant antenna. That antenna is what triggers the drone attacks to locate you. Your first order of business is to grab the portable constructor from the starter base, then get the hell out of the open. Dig a small burrow into a hillside or find a natural cave. Put down your constructor and build a basic furnace and constructor base block.

3. Build the "Survival Shelter". Don't build a massive structure yet. You need a small, tight bunker that is underground. A 1x1 space with a door is perfectly fine. Inside, place your constructor and a furnace. This little bunker is your launchpad. It’s small, it’s hard to heat, but it’s safe. You’ll expand it later. The drones will attack the starter base, and you’ll watch them circle it on your map, completely oblivious to your burrow. That’s the feeling you want.

4. Understand the Tech Tree (The PDA). The PDA (Tab, then the PDA icon) is your tech tree. You don't "research" with points. You need to gather Blueprints (found in loot) or specifically mine Silicon and Copper to progress the tech tiers via the Tasks menu. You’ll see a list of tasks like “Craft a Furnace”. Complete those tasks to unlock the next tier. If you don’t do the tasks, you get stuck at low-tech crafting. This is where a lot of people get lost—they think it’s a survival wave system, but it’s a quest system.

5. Water. Always Carry Water. You see that hydration bar? If it hits zero is annoying, but if you pass out, you wake up with half your loot gone in the dirt near you. If you pass out in a lava biome or on an alien world without oxygen, you’re just dead. Always have a stack of water in your toolbar.

Expert Tips & Tricks: Stuff The Game Never Tells You

This is the good stuff. The stuff that took me 100 hours to figure out that would have saved me an eternity of pain. Let’s go.

• The "W" Key on the Map. If you press W on the galaxy map, you can plot a course. But on the planet map, it doesn't work. To get accurate compass heading to a point of interest, place a waypoint and look at the top of your HUD. Follow the heading, not the marker if you're in a vehicle. The marker only appears when you're close. That saved me hours of driving in circles.
• Auxiliary Power is a Lie. On your base, you'll see "Aux" power for shields or weapons. For your first base, just build more Basic Generators or Solar Panels. Look at the info panel of your base. If it says CPU: 1500/1500, it will shut down. You can build a Small CPU Expander in the factory. Don't build a giant base until you have that. Actually, my tip: Never build a base larger than 20x20 blocks until you have a Capital Vessel. It’s a waste of resources. Your base is a factory hub and a garage.
• Use the "P" Key for the Factory. You need to queue up components for building ships and base parts. But the factory is global. If you are standing on planet A and have a factory on planet B, you can still use it, but the parts spawn at that base. You have to "deliver" them to your location using a Constructor block with a "Replicate" mode. This is confusing. My tip: Keep a Portable Constructor in your backpack. It acts as a mobile factory. You can jam components into it and replicate items anywhere.
• Drill Down, Not Out. For mining ore, the Drill on your multitool is okay, but the Vehicle Drill on the small hover vessel is broken powerful early on. But the real tip? Mine stone. A stack of stone goes into the deconstructor and gives you Iron, Silicon, Copper, and even a tiny amount of Gold. You can get 90% of early resources just from mining deep holes in the ground. Strip mining is a waste of time.
• The "O2" Problem. On Akua (the starting planet) you don't need a spacesuit to breathe, but you do for temperature. On the alien planets, you’ll die in seconds without pressure. The Compact O2 Tank will last you about 4 minutes on a planet like Arid. Don't think you can run an hour long exploration with just one tank. Always carry two.

• Weapon Ranges. The Assault Rifle is your go-to for mid-game. But it fires 5.56mm. The Pulse Rifle is modded with a blueprint you find in POIs (Points of Interest). It fires plasma rounds that have a small AoE. My personal tip: Ignore the Shotgun. It has a 5-meter effective range, which is useless against the bobbing, weaving alien predators. The Railgun is amazing for sniping drones, but the bullet travel time means you need to lead your shots a lot.
• Turret Placement. On your base, build Small Gatling Turrets first. They’re cheap and stop drone swarms. If you put them on the roof on a tower, they will shoot the ground first, then the drones. Always place them at the same height as your base’s perimeter, but pointing outward. Put them on a pillar 2 blocks high. I built them on the ground, and the drones bombed the ground, destroying the turrets instantly. I was furious.
• CPU is Your Real Enemy. Every block you place has a CPU cost. You can check this with P while in base view. If you have a huge base that's lagging, upgrade your computer or play less with huge builds. But the trick is to use "Advanced" blocks. A regular Light Armor Block costs 1 CPU. A Reinforced Light Armor Block costs more, but does the same. Always prioritize Compact versions of generators and coolers. They are more expensive in materials but save CPU, meaning you can build more.
• The Trading Station Glitch (Not a Glitch, a Feature). When you dock at a Polaris or Trader station, you can buy and sell. But the trade terminal sometimes doesn't have fuel. You can buy a Planetary Container for 500 credits, put it on the ground, and it generates a small amount of Biofuel for you. I didn't know this for so long. It saves you on your early trips.

Common Mistakes: Every Death I Suffered So You Don’t Have To

I have a graveyard of saves going back to Alpha. I’ve made every mistake there is. Here’s what got me killed—and what got my bases leveled.

• Building Above Ground. I already said it, but I’ll say it again. If your base is above ground + has a beacon or antenna = death. I built a beautiful glass tower with a landing pad and some turrets. The drones came, blew up the turrets, then blew up the glass, and my base decompressed (if you have a pressurized base, you get a warning, but then the O2 drains and you suffocate in your own living room). Build underground or build a hull with double layers.
• Not Having a Medkit. The starter gun does *okay* damage, but if you get hit with a poison or acid attack from a spider, your health drains fast. Always carry 3 Medkits. You can craft them from Gel (found near water). When you see your health drop, don't wait. Press B for your inventory and spam them.
• Using the Drill on Ore Nodes. You see that big shiny node for Iron? You use your Multi-Tool Drill and it takes 30 seconds. It breaks. I spent 3 minutes grinding one node, then a drone came and killed me. The better way is to mine the stone rocks and put that stone in your deconstructor. It gives you a constant trickle of iron. It’s slower to fill a whole stack of ingots, but it’s safe. When you get a Hover Vessel with a drill, then you go for the nodes. You bore down through the dirt and use the vehicle drill to eat the node. It multiplies your ore yield by 10.
• Ignoring the Jetpack. The Jetpack uses fuel, and it’s a one-use item that breaks. Once it breaks, you’re walking. I never used it early on, thinking it was for late game. It’s your best tool for escaping drone swarms and climbing terrain. It’s worth burning 200 fuel to get over that mountain instead of walking the long way. Use it.
• Not Building a Hangar. You know what’s annoying? Coming back to your base with a small vessel and having to park it outside because you didn’t build a big enough door. Then a drone bombs it. Always build your base with a 7x7 block opening (large door) for a hangar area. Put your Small Vessel Constructor inside. That way you can repair your ship while it’s safe. I parked outside for 50 hours and one day, a drone killed my maxed-out starter vessel because it was just sitting on the grass.

FAQ: The Questions You’re Too Proud To Ask

Q: Why is my base not generating power even though I have solar panels? – Solar panels only work when there's direct sunlight. They don't store power unless you have Batteries. Build Batteries. They charge up and discharge. Also, you need to connect them with the electric grid—just having them near a generator doesn't work. Press P and check the power tab.

Q: How do I get a better gun? – Don't waste materials crafting a gun. Raid POIs (Points of Interest). Look for "Abandoned" buildings. The drones guarding them drop Weapon Cores. You use those cores to unlock blueprints in the PDA. You’ll get a nice Snub Pistol blueprint quickly.

Q: The game says "CPU limit exceeded." What does that mean? – Every block you place uses CPU. Your base has a total CPU limit based on your base block and the CPU Expanders you place. To fix it, build a CPU Expander (from the factory) and place it. Or deconstruct unused items. It's a performance cap, so if you build a billion lights, your game will lag.

Q: Can I play this like a single-player survival game without raids? – Yes! When you start a new game, look at the world settings. You can turn off Drone Attacks or set them to "Narrative Only" which means they only show up in story missions. I played my first 100 hours with raids on, and it was stressful. In my last playthrough, I turned them off for my early base and it was way more enjoyable.

Q: Is the game better with Mods? – Yes, look into Project Eden or Reforged Eden for multi-player, but for single-player, I highly recommend the "Survival" mod (increases difficulty) and the QoL mod that adds more storage containers. But learn the vanilla game first. The vanilla game has enough content to keep you busy for 100 hours before you touch mods.

Q: How do I get Salvage? – You salvage with the Salvaging tool (it looks like a scrapper drill). It’s slow. The best salvage is from downed capital ships in space. But early on, you can salvage the abandoned base you are supposed to loot. Don't scrap those metal piles with your multitool. Use the salvaging tool, but expect to spend 10 minutes on a single drift.

That’s the core of it. This game is a brutal, confusing, but ultimately rewarding sandbox. If you’re looking for a more streamlined survival experience, you might have a better time with something like Subnautica, but if you want raw, unbridled freedom to build a spaceship and fly to a neighboring planet and build a mining outpost, Empyrion is the only game that does it (outside of Space Engineers). And if you’re coming from a game with stricter combat mechanics like Valheim, remember that this game is about preparation and base defense, not dodgerolling.

You will die. You will lose a ship to a glitch. You will delete your save out of frustration. We all do. But when you dock your capital vessel on a space station and look down at the tiny planet you started on, it’s worth it. Keep building.