ASTRONEER: Complete Guide

This guide takes you from your first oxygen tether to a multi-planet base with automation, Megatech megastructures, and the Glitchwalkers DLC. It also covers the EXO F.A.R.M. event that's live right now.

Researched September 2026 — current as of Patch 1.44.4 (Sept 16, 2026) with the EXO F.A.R.M. Limited Time Event active. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• Oxygen first. Your suit holds a limited supply. Chain Tethers out from your base to stay connected to oxygen while exploring. Print them from the backpack printer with Compound.
• The Terrain Tool is your everything. Left-click digs and collects, and it can also flatten, add terrain, and paint once you have augments. Dig to reach resources and build ramps.
• Research gives Bytes, and Bytes unlock recipes. Put Research Samples and Research Items into the Research Chamber, or scan new objects for small Byte gains. Spend Bytes in the Catalog.
• Power is the bottleneck. Early Small Generators (Organic fuel), then Small Solar and Small Wind, then bigger options. Batteries smooth out the day/night cycle.
• Build a Smelting Furnace early. It turns raw minerals into refined materials such as Copper and Aluminum, which you need for printers and vehicles.
• Rovers make exploration much faster. A Tractor with Trailers, then a Rover, lets you carry more and travel farther.
• Watch the weather. Storms throw debris that can kill you. Hide in your shelter or behind terrain until they pass.
• Don't dig straight down without a plan. Caves hold rich resources but also hazardous plants and deep drops. Bring tethers and dig ramps back up.
• Scan and follow the Mission Log. EXO Dynamics missions guide you through the tech tree and give rewards.

Core Loop

• Gather raw resources with the Terrain Tool.
• Refine them in the Smelting Furnace, Chemistry Lab, or Atmospheric Condenser.
• Research samples and items for Bytes.
• Unlock blueprints in the Catalog.
• Print tools, modules, and vehicles in the printers.
• Expand your base, power, and logistics.
• Travel to new planets.

Printers and Key Modules

Printer | Typical prints

Backpack Printer | Tethers, Oxygen Filters, Beacons, Portable Oxygenator, early power (Small Generator, Small Solar Panel, Small Wind Turbine, Small Battery), most Terrain Tool mods

Small Printer | Medium Printer, Oxygenator, Auto Arm, sensors and repeaters, Medium Generator/Solar/Wind/Battery, RTG, Tractor, Trailer, Rover Seat, Packager, Small Canister, Drill Strength mods, Solid-Fuel and Hydrazine Thrusters

Medium Printer | Smelting Furnace, Research Chamber, Chemistry Lab, Soil Centrifuge, Atmospheric Condenser, rovers, Large Printer

Large Printer | Large Rover, shuttles, big power and storage items

The base itself has a starting printer and oxygen supply. Grow outward from it.

Terrain Tool augments

• Inhibitor Mod: lets you collect certain hazards safely, such as dangerous plants' seeds.
• Wide Mod and Narrow Mod: change the dig shape.
• Boost Mod: more digging power, uses power.
• Drill Strength Mod: needed to dig through harder terrain.
• Alignment Mod: builds flat ground.

Resources and Refining

Raw resources you'll use first

• Compound: tethers, oxygen items. Very common.
• Resin: printers, modules, Rubber and Silicone.
• Organic: fuel for the Small Generator; smelts into Carbon.
• Clay and Quartz: smelt into Ceramic and Glass.
• Malachite: smelts into Copper.
• Laterite: smelts into Aluminum.
• Ammonium: the main Hydrazine ingredient.
• Graphite: goes straight into the Chemistry Lab for Graphene.

Smelting Furnace

Input | Output

Malachite | Copper

Laterite | Aluminum

Sphalerite | Zinc

Wolframite | Tungsten

Titanite | Titanium

Hematite | Iron

Clay | Ceramic

Quartz | Glass

Organic | Carbon

Chemistry Lab (composites)

The Chemistry Lab is printed on the Medium Printer (1,600 Bytes to unlock). Several recipes need a gas from the Atmospheric Condenser.

Composite | Ingredients

Rubber | Organic + Resin

Plastic | Compound + Carbon

Aluminum Alloy | Aluminum + Copper

Tungsten Carbide | Tungsten + Carbon

Hydrazine | 2 Ammonium + Hydrogen (gas)

Silicone | Resin + Quartz + Methane (gas)

Explosive Powder | 2 Carbon + Sulfur (gas)

Steel | Iron + Carbon + Argon (gas)

Graphene | Graphite + Hydrazine

Diamond | 2 Graphene + Hydrazine

Titanium Alloy | Titanium + Graphene + Nitrogen (gas)

Nanocarbon Alloy | Steel + Titanium Alloy + Helium (gas)

Recipes are also shown in the Catalog tooltip, so check there before gathering in bulk.

Gases

The Atmospheric Condenser (Medium Printer) pulls gases from a planet's atmosphere and fills Gas Canisters. Each planet has a different mix:

Gas | Planets

Hydrogen | Sylva, Calidor, Vesania, Novus

Nitrogen | Sylva, Vesania, Atrox

Sulfur | Calidor, Atrox

Argon | Vesania, Glacio

Methane | Novus, Atrox

Helium | Atrox only (slowest rate)

Desolo has no gases. Gases are needed for Hydrazine and most mid- and late-game composites.

Power

Source | Notes

Small Generator | Burns Organic; reliable early on

Small Solar Panel | Daytime only; stack several

Small Wind Turbine | Varies with wind; works at night

Medium Solar and Medium Wind | Big upgrade once you have Aluminum and Copper

Large Wind and Solar Arrays | Base-scale output

Batteries | Store energy for nights and spikes

RTG | High-tier constant power

Rule of thumb: check the power bar on modules. If it's red, add generation or batteries. Refining and printing stall on low power.

Planets

Planet | Notes

Sylva | Starting world; friendly, balanced

Desolo | Sylva's moon; low gravity, good for early rocket practice

Calidor | Desert; bright and sunny, good for solar

Vesania | Mid-tier, colorful caves

Novus | Vesania's moon; mid-tier

Glacio | Frozen; icy, dangerous terrain; main Argon source

Atrox | Toxic and hostile; late game

Aeoluz (Glitchwalkers DLC) | New planet with multiple biomes, new storms, vaults and firewalls

Getting off-world

You need a shuttle and thrusters. Start with a Small Shuttle and Solid-Fuel Thrusters for moon hops, then upgrade to Hydrazine thrusters and bigger shuttles for longer trips. Always bring tethers, a Packager, and enough spare oxygen for the destination.

Vehicles

Vehicle | Use

Tractor + Trailers | First hauler; chain trailers to carry storage and modules

Buggy | Fast, light scout for exploring

Rover | The workhorse: seats, slots for drills and storage, and it can tow trailers

Large Rover | Big hauler for mining runs and mobile bases

Small, Medium, and Large Shuttles | Interplanetary travel; bigger shuttles carry more and need better thrusters

Drills mount on rovers and dig far faster than the Terrain Tool, and higher-tier drills cut harder terrain. Vehicles need power, so put a battery or generator on board and watch the charge on long drives.

Research and Bytes

• Research Samples (found on the surface and in caves) and Research Items go into the Research Chamber. Samples are the steady early Byte source.
• Scanning new objects with your cursor gives small Byte rewards; do it everywhere early on.
• Unlock order that works: Medium Printer items first (Smelting Furnace, Research Chamber, better power), then vehicles and the Chemistry Lab, then the Atmospheric Condenser and shuttles.
• Wrecks on the surface often hold useful items, and junk you don't need can go in a Shredder for Scrap.

Multiplayer

• 2-4 player online co-op. Playing solo online lets friends drop in and out of your world.
• Glitchwalkers: only the host needs the DLC in a normal session, but on dedicated servers every player must own it.
• Share the work: one player runs the base and automation while others explore and mine. Shared bases grow quickly.

Automation and Logistics

• Auto Arms move items between modules and storage automatically.
• Storage Sensors and Repeaters let you build simple logic.
• Railways (rail posts, rail cars, and engines) carry resources across long distances.
• Trade Platform swaps Scrap for resources. The Shredder turns junk into Scrap.

Start with a small loop: an Auto Arm feeds ore from storage into a Smelting Furnace, and another Auto Arm moves the output into storage.

Megatech (DLC, Nov 20, 2025)

Megatech (a paid DLC, released alongside a free update) adds megastructures:

• Orbital Platform (paid DLC): a massive space station with a renewable asteroid core that provides Soil. One per save.
• Biodome (paid DLC): automates production of organic materials and seeds, with expandable modules. One per planet.
• Museum (paid DLC): donate Bytes, resources, and seeds to unlock rewards and perks. One per save.
• Intermodal Terminal (free update): a shuttle landing pad plus rail station for moving cargo between planets. One per planet.

The free update also added large gas and fluid canisters, walkways, a tether dropper, and icon signs.

How to start: the free content update includes the Distribution Launcher System (DLS), one per save. Deploy a Construction Anchor, which becomes a Mega-Printer Platform, then build the DLS to unlock construction of other megastructures.

Recent patches (1.42 onward) have been improving the Intermodal Terminal (IMT). Its landing pad and rail station loading modes are now unified so they can't conflict, and the pad has a "Loading Disabled" option. Patch 1.44.4 also tuned Vehicle Ports and made Data Circuits scrappable again.

Glitchwalkers (DLC, Nov 13, 2024)

Adds the planet Aeoluz with multiple biomes, a new foe that has taken control of the system, updated storm mechanics, new resources and Tier 2 items, vaults (opened with Vault Keys) and firewalls, and cosmetics. It launched on PC, Xbox and PlayStation on November 13, 2024 and on Nintendo Switch on December 10, 2024. Only the host needs the DLC for multiplayer, but dedicated servers require every player to own it.

Current Event: EXO F.A.R.M. (Sept 2026)

• Set up at least one EXO Request Platform in your base. Supply the items shown in its control panel (or hover over the holograms on the rocket) to earn trade goods. Rewards partly depend on luck.
• Find Cauldrangeas, exotic plants that only spawn during the event on Sylva, Calidor, or Atrox. Your compass shows them with an orange seed icon. They're guarded by dangerous flora.
• Use a Packager to bring Cauldrangeas home, then produce Biofuel to deliver.
• Items have different values, so prioritize high-value requests to reach reward thresholds faster.

Endgame

• Each planet has Gateway Engines and a Gateway Chamber at its core. Activating them across the system leads to the game's main ending.
• Mission Log tasks cover the whole tech tree.
• Megastructures and Glitchwalkers add long-term goals.
• Monthly patches continue through at least the end of 2026, and a 10th anniversary update is planned for the end of the year.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Running out of oxygen. Always keep a tether line or a portable oxygen source.
• Digging into holes you can't climb out of. Build ramps as you go.
• Leaving without enough power. Modules stall and research stops.
• Forgetting batteries. Solar-only bases go dark at night.
• Hoarding resources in the backpack. Use storage platforms and canisters.
• Getting hit by storms. Take shelter when debris starts flying.
• Ignoring research samples. They're the fastest early Byte source.
• Launching without a return plan. Bring fuel, tethers, and a way home.

Advanced Tips

• Canister trick: empty canisters can collect soil for later terrain building.
• Place Medium Storage on rovers to haul more ore per trip.
• Build the Soil Centrifuge to turn soil into common resources, and shred unwanted junk into Scrap to trade at the Trade Platform for rarer resources.
• Use rails for long hauls between mining sites and your main base.
• Chain Auto Arms and sensors so smelters feed chemistry labs automatically.
• Save before experimenting with megastructures and big automation. New save management features are in development.

FAQ

Is ASTRONEER still getting updates? Yes. Monthly patches continue through at least the end of 2026, with a 10th anniversary update planned for the end of the year. The latest is 1.44.4 (Sept 16, 2026).

What's STARSEEKER? STARSEEKER: Astroneer Expeditions is a separate online co-op game set in the same universe. It launched in Early Access on June 11, 2026. It isn't ASTRONEER 2, and ASTRONEER keeps getting updates.

Can I play multiplayer? Yes, 2–4 player online co-op. Solo online worlds let friends drop in.

How do I get Bytes fast? Research Samples and Research Items in the Research Chamber, and scan new objects. Some megastructure systems also convert resources into rewards.

What does Megatech add? The paid DLC adds the Orbital Platform, Biodome, and Museum. The free update alongside it adds the Intermodal Terminal and the DLS/Construction Anchor framework for building megastructures.

Where do I find Cauldrangeas? On Sylva, Calidor, or Atrox during the EXO F.A.R.M. event. Follow the orange seed icon on your compass.

Sources

• ASTRONEER on Steam (store page and announcements)
• Official announcement: LTE Guide – EXO F.A.R.M. (Sept 22, 2026)
• Official announcement: Patch 1.44.4 (Sept 16, 2026)
• Official announcement: Patch 1.42.3 (IMT improvements, July 15, 2026)
• Official announcement: ASTRONEER Mid-Year Dev Update (May 20, 2026)
• ASTRONEER Wiki (wiki.gg): Megatech
• ASTRONEER Wiki (wiki.gg): Glitchwalkers
• ASTRONEER Wiki (wiki.gg): Chemistry Lab
• ASTRONEER Wiki (wiki.gg): Atmospheric Condenser
• ASTRONEER Wiki (wiki.gg): Small Printer