Your first contract is not a race to Security Level 3. It is a controlled trip through Orcoon that should leave you with enough banked quota to sign Tier 2 at the current 900-point threshold. If the exit, oxygen route, or recovery plan is not working, keep the contract alive and leave the purple doors for a later run.
Build boundary: this route was checked against the July 15, 2026 full release and the July 19 hotfix. Older guides still describe a 200-point Tier 1 reset, suit chargers, and an early Great White Shark threat. Those details predate the current new-player balance. Read the quota and objective shown by your live contract if a later hotfix changes them.
Make the first landing pay for the next one
Tier 1 now restricts a new player to Orcoon and places a main objective at the top of the screen. Use that narrow setup as a training contract. The win condition is not “clear the map”; it is to turn an unfamiliar landing into a repeatable cash-and-code loop.
| Priority | What success looks like | Reason to stop pushing |
|---|---|---|
| Protect the contract | The ship, Med Bay, and a safe return lane are easy to find. | You cannot retrace the route without guessing. |
| Bank quota | Each return adds loot through the ship’s quick drop-off. | A deeper room would risk loot already sufficient for the objective. |
| Open access | You find one code, enter it, and deliberately start the next search. | The code hunt has consumed the oxygen or daylight reserved for the return. |
| Learn one threat | A scan adds useful Bestiary information and changes your route. | You are fighting only because an enemy is visible. |
The current balance helps this plan: Tier 1 pays 30% more than it did before Update 42, solo payment is no longer reduced by the group-scaling rule, and early-bracket enemies are scaled down. That safety margin is permission to learn, not a reason to carry the entire contract into one dangerous room.
Build a return loop before buying damage
Take the free starter weapon available on the ship and learn where the Med Bay and quick drop-off are before landing. Your first purchased utility should solve a route problem. An Echo Lens helps expose access crates and scanned objects; an Oxygen Reservoir extends a contaminated route; a weapon upgrade matters only if combat is the actual bottleneck.
Do not plan around the old Tier 1 Boombox advice. Update 0.7.0 removed that item from the Tier 1 store. At the documented Update 42 balance, an Oxygen Reservoir costs 50 credits, the Flamethrower 75, and the Med Gen 200. Those prices can move, so use them as a patch boundary rather than a shopping promise.
Before leaving the ship, choose a physical landmark that points back to it. On an open approach, turn around once and memorize the return silhouette. Inside a facility, use door color and security level as your route labels. A player who can reach the ship with low stamina is safer than one carrying a stronger weapon through an unknown corridor.
Level 0 is a code hunt with a cash lane
Level 0 access crates are your first code pool. Scan before crossing a large space, use the Echo Lens to check likely crate clusters, and avoid converting every container into a detour. Solo players get more value from finding the Level 1 code early and collecting along the line they must already walk than from vacuuming Level 0 before access is open.
- Leave the ship with a weapon and, when available, the Echo Lens.
- Scan the approach and inspect access-crate clusters rather than isolated containers at the edge of the map.
- When the code appears, put it in text chat if memory is a concern. A teammate can do the same for a shared record.
- Return to the ship computer and enter the code itself. Since Update 0.7.0, prefixes such as “LVL” are not required.
- Drop ordinary loot on that return instead of carrying it into the next security area.
The force field is a useful checkpoint. If it still blocks the level after code entry, do not search beyond it or assume a route bug; verify the digits and which access level the client accepted. If the field drops, the next search begins in the newly opened area.
Open Level 1 only after the exit works
Level 1 adds a teleporter problem to the crate search. Teleporter Generators are protected by Lurk Roots and highlight when scanned. The root is not a cue to stand in the doorway and trade health. Open from the side when possible, create space, and use fire or melee if you must clear it; official balance notes say every weapon can damage roots, but guns are substantially less effective.
Activating a safe teleporter changes the contract more than one extra loot item. It shortens recovery, reduces the time spent carrying quota through open ground, and creates a reliable oxygen point because the current oxygen system refills in teleporter rooms. Test the return once before using the teleporter as the foundation of a deeper push.
A combat encounter should end in one of three decisions: kill because it blocks the route, dash past because the exit is open, or retreat because the exchange is consuming the contract. Dash movement has no reason to become a damage test. Keep enough stamina to move after the dodge; emptying the bar causes a recovery delay that can turn one avoided attack into the next hit.
Draw an oxygen line through Level 2
Old walkthroughs send players back to suit chargers. The current system removed those chargers. Oxygen now replenishes in the ship, Med Bay, teleporter room, or beside an activated Oxygen Reservoir. Tier 1 also spawns five free reservoirs in Level 2 under the documented Update 42 balance.
Treat those points as a chain, not as emergency pickups:
- Refill completely at the last known safe station.
- Carry or activate a reservoir where the route branches, not at the first place the meter moves.
- Scan after activation. Night Vision can display activated reservoirs, turning them into route markers as well as oxygen sources.
- Return when the remaining oxygen equals the amount consumed on the way in, plus a margin for one wrong turn.
If you reach a branch with less than that return reserve, the correct action is already decided. Do not spend the reserve hoping the next room contains the code. Deposit what you have, refill, and make the next pass from a known point.
Let the clock choose the stop point
A security code can justify another pass; nightfall does not automatically justify another risk. The safest decision uses the state of the return lane, not curiosity about the unopened level.
| State at the ship | Next move | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quota is short, but an opened level has a tested route. | Run the same lane and collect close loot. | The contract needs value, not a new unknown. |
| Quota is protected and the next code is unknown. | End the push or use a fresh day. | Risking the bank for optional access has poor value. |
| A teammate is down, the route marker is active, and the recovery lane is clear. | Recover as a team with one carrier and one guard. | The route is known and the mission has a defined endpoint. |
| Night threats are active and the return path is uncertain. | Leave. | More loot cannot repair a lost contract. |
Port Coral’s Tier 1 Great White Shark was removed in the July 19 hotfix because deadly enemies were not intended there on Tier 1. That makes older warnings about that specific starter threat stale; it does not make darkness, oxygen loss, falls, or bad navigation harmless.
Bank 900 before chasing the purple doors
The current progression gate to Tier 2 is a 900-point Tier 1 quota. Finish the contract shown in the client, collect the reward, and confirm that the Tier 2 signing option is available. Tier 2 is the normal mode: it opens the broader planet choice and planetary conditions without forcing the Level 90 rules of Tier 3 Hardcore.
Security Level 3 remains optional during this first progression job. The Too Fast Too Sketchy achievement asks for Level 3 in a single day, and the July 19 hotfix made that achievement completable on Tier 1. Attempt it only after the basic code loop is clean. An achievement sprint that loses the quota is a separate failed task, not a better first contract.
If an older guide tells you to switch away and back for a 200-point reset, reject that number. Update 0.7.1 changed the Tier 1 sign-down baseline to 900, and the later full release did not announce a reversal. The contract screen is the final authority if another hotfix arrives.
Recover once; do not build a death loop
The current game marks the position of your last death for five minutes. That marker supports one planned recovery, not unlimited attempts. The Tier 1 Med Gen is automatically installed on landing, automatically starts reviving dead players, and can prevent a team wipe by being consumed. Solo revival also begins automatically under the redesigned system.
Before returning to a death marker, answer four questions: Is the hazard still there? Is the teleporter or oxygen line active? Can the recovered loot still change contract success? Can you leave after the pickup? If any answer is no, protect the remaining run. Re-entering the same room with less equipment and the same bad approach is the definition of a death loop.
When a recovery is justified, travel light, scan before the final approach, retrieve the bag, and immediately follow the return route. Do not turn the recovery trip into a new loot sweep. If the five-minute marker expires or a second death occurs before the bag is safe, abandon the recovery and finish whatever portion of the contract is still viable.
Audit the run before signing Tier 2
- The ship quick drop-off contains enough value to meet the contract shown on screen.
- You can explain the code sequence: search the current level, enter the raw code at the ship, verify the force field, then search the next level.
- You used the Bestiary or scan to change a decision instead of fighting an unidentified target.
- Your Level 2 route connects oxygen-safe points and has a retreat threshold.
- Any death recovery ended at the ship rather than becoming another exploration pass.
- The Tier 2 option appears after the 900-point progression contract completes.
The official Steam store page, Update 42 notes, and July 19 hotfix define this route’s current boundary. Once the loop works, Tier 2 is the natural next step: more planets and conditions, but the same discipline of code, deposit, refill, and deliberate retreat.