Space Engineers: Complete Survival Guide

A survival-focused guide to Space Engineers: first-hour priorities, ores and refining, power, oxygen and hydrogen, ship design, planets versus space, the 2026 Prosperity update, and what's coming in Warfare 3.

Researched September 2026 — current as of update 1.210 "Prosperity" (27 July 2026) and Hotfix 1.210.014 (14 August 2026). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

1. Start in Survival on an easy scenario. The Earth-like planet start or a space "Lone Survivor" style start gives you a Survival Kit and time to learn.
2. Your Survival Kit is your first refinery, assembler, and respawn point. It's slow; replace it with a proper Refinery and Assembler as soon as you can.
3. Stone gives early iron, nickel, and silicon in small amounts through the Survival Kit. Real ore deposits come next.
4. Place a Medical Room or keep the Survival Kit powered so you respawn at your base instead of in a new pod.
5. Watch oxygen, energy, and hydrogen on your suit HUD. Running out of energy in space is how most early characters die.
6. Grind, don't delete. In Survival, grinding a block returns its components to your inventory; you can weld them back elsewhere.
7. Save often and keep backups. Physics accidents happen; Space Engineers has "Klang."
8. Everything connects through conveyors. If a block isn't getting items, check the conveyor path and the terminal.

Essential Controls (default keyboard)

Rebind anything in Options; controller play is also supported.

Resources and Refining

• Ore Detector blocks and the hand drill find deposits. On planets, rare ores (gold, platinum, uranium) are often in specific regions; in space, asteroids are rich in everything.
• Basic Refinery handles common ores cheaply; the full Refinery handles all ores, is faster, and accepts Yield Modules and Speed Modules.
• Assembler turns ingots into components. Cooperative mode lets multiple assemblers share a queue.

Power

Early bases: solar or wind plus batteries. Ships: batteries plus a hydrogen engine or reactor once you can fuel them.

Oxygen and Hydrogen

• The O2/H2 Generator converts ice into oxygen and hydrogen. Feed it ice via conveyors.
• Oxygen Tanks and Hydrogen Tanks store gas; Air Vents pressurise sealed rooms.
• The Prosperity update added a Prototech O2/H2 Generator, a rare Prototech block found through Factorum content.
• Refill your suit at any connected block with oxygen/hydrogen, a Cryo Chamber, a Medical Room, or a Survival Kit.

Thrusters and Ship Design

Design rules of thumb:

• Thrust in every direction. You need thrusters facing all six directions to control a ship; on planets, the "up" (lift) direction needs the most.
• Check the thrust-to-weight in the terminal or cockpit HUD before leaving the ground. Cargo full of ore can make a working ship unable to lift off.
• Gyroscopes provide rotation; heavy ships need more.
• Connectors and Landing Gear dock ships to bases; connectors share conveyor inventory and power.
• Small grid (small blocks) is for fighters, drones, and miners; large grid for stations, haulers, and capital ships.
• Merge Blocks and Projectors let you build ships from blueprints in Survival: project a design, then weld it (or use welder arrays).

First Hours: A Planet Start

1. Hand-drill stone and nearby ore, feed the Survival Kit, and build a few Large Cargo Containers and a Battery plus Solar Panels or Wind Turbines.
2. Build a Basic Refinery and Assembler, conveyor them together.
3. Build a small-grid rover or atmospheric miner with Drills, a Cargo Container, and Connector to haul ore.
4. Find ice for the O2/H2 Generator and set up oxygen and hydrogen.
5. Upgrade to a full Refinery and add Yield Modules.
6. Build a hydrogen shuttle to reach orbit, then set up an asteroid mining outpost with ion thrusters.

Space starts are the reverse: ice and asteroids are easy, but you have no atmosphere, so everything depends on ion thrust and oxygen from day one.

Threats

• Meteor showers (if enabled) damage exposed blocks. Toggle in world settings.
• Spiders and wolves on some planets. Build walls or turrets.
• Pirate drones and encounters (Cyberhounds, Space Pirates, Factorum) attack if enabled.
• Physics. Rotors, pistons, and wheels on subgrids can "klang" and explode. Lock or disable them before saving.

The Prosperity Update (1.210, 27 July 2026)

Key additions from Keen's changelog and follow-up hotfixes:

• A new Factorum Global Encounter and a new Prototech block to hunt down, the Prototech O2/H2 Generator.
• A "Ping Grid" button to locate missing ships.
• Improvements to Projector, Contracts, the Services Terminal, and the economy.
• A small-grid Flat Collector block.
• Hotfix 1.210.013 (7 August 2026) fixed subgrids clanging after jumps, sorters blocking pulls, and merge blocks detaching during projection welding.
• Hotfix 1.210.014 (14 August 2026) reverted the Wheel Propulsion Override change because it broke mech builds, fixed the jetpack "Fuel low!" warning timing, and fixed stations with subgrids becoming offset (affected bases need restoring from a 1.209 backup or moving with Scenario Edit tools; turn off damage first).

Coming Next: Warfare 3 (announced September 2026)

Keen describes Warfare 3 as one of its biggest combat updates. Announced features for the free update:

• Guided missiles and heavy seeking torpedoes (Torpedo Launchers on small and large grid; small-grid launchers must be loaded manually, large-grid ones use conveyors).
• Ammo switching: choose ammo in the weapon's control panel or toolbar, or leave it on "Any."
• Countermeasure flares against seeking weapons.
• EMP weaponry that can knock grids offline.
• Jump Detection (optional world setting): heavy grids jumping far leave a temporary GPS signature at their destination.
• New blocks such as an Artillery Turret, Jump Seat, and Fighter Cockpit Type II (the cosmetic/extra blocks are part of the paid Warfare 3 Pack).

Treat details as provisional until release notes are published.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Building a ship too heavy to fly. Check lift thrust with a full cargo load.
• Forgetting dampeners. Turning off dampeners in a cockpit sends your ship drifting.
• No oxygen or power backup. One battery running dry can kill your base's life support.
• Using atmospheric thrusters in space (they do nothing) or ion thrusters in heavy atmosphere (weak).
• Leaving rotors and pistons unlocked on saves; that's where Klang lives.
• Ignoring conveyor size. Small conveyors can't pass large items like large-grid components.

Advanced Tips

• Use Timer Blocks, Event Controllers, Sensors, and Programmable Blocks for automation; the Workshop has thousands of scripts.
• Sorters and conveyor filters keep ice and ore flowing to the right blocks.
• Build a projector-based ship factory at your base for quick replacement ships.
• Use Wrenchie (a Keen developer's side project featured in the August 2026 Community Spotlight) if you want to write in-game scripts without programming experience.
• Dedicated servers keep large multiplayer worlds stable; limit block counts and subgrids for performance.
• All DLC is cosmetic or extra blocks; gameplay mechanics are shared by everyone.

FAQ

Is Space Engineers still updated? Yes. Prosperity (1.210) arrived in July 2026 and Warfare 3 was announced in September 2026.

Space Engineers or Space Engineers 2? Space Engineers 2 is a separate early-access title still growing. SE1 has over a decade of content and a huge Workshop.

What's the best first ship? A small-grid miner with drills, a cargo container, a connector, and thrusters suited to your environment.

How do I get uranium? Mine uranium ore (rare on planets, more common in asteroids), refine it in a full Refinery, and feed reactors.

Why is my block not working? Check power, ownership, conveyor connections, and whether it's switched on in the terminal (K).

Is there PvP? Yes, on servers with PvP rules; Warfare 3 is aimed squarely at combat and PvP.

Sources

• Space Engineers Steam news hub
• Warfare 3 Revealed (Steam, 10 Sep 2026)
• Warfare 3 Revealed - Artillery Turret, Jump Seat and more (Steam, 17 Sep 2026)
• Warfare 3 Revealed - Jump Detection, Fighter Cockpit (Steam, 24 Sep 2026)
• Hotfix 1.210.014 (Steam, 14 Aug 2026)
• Hotfix 1.210.013 (Steam, 7 Aug 2026)
• Community Spotlight August 2026 (Steam)
• Space Engineers on Steam