'Space Engineers': Early Game Survival Mode Guide

The survival mode in “Space Engineers” plays differently from other games in the survival-sandbox-crafting genre. New players may find the Survival mode especially difficult as the game doesn’t tell anyone how to do anything.

On the other hand, the Survival mode offers the best challenges that any budding space engineer will want to experience for themselves. For those who are having trouble getting started, here’s a quick guide on how to thrive and survive in the early stages of “Space Engineer’s” Survival mode.

Scouting and Base Building

After landing the escape pod, the first order of business is to find a suitable spot for a starter base. The player’s handheld mining drill comes with a built-in ore detector. Equip the mining drill, then look around the area and find some ore veins, preferably ones containing Iron or Cobalt.

After finding a good build site, start mining some rocks and convert them to ingots at the Survival Kit fitted inside the drop pod. Make enough components for a small base platform and an eight-block-tall tower for a Wind Turbine.

Once the base platform and turbine are constructed, dismantle the drop pod’s Survival Kit and place a new one on top of the base. This will reduce travel time, especially when the base location is far from the initial landing zone.

Tech, Research and Automation

After establishing a base, players should focus on upgrading their production capabilities by creating a Basic Refinery and Assembler. This will take some time since both machines require tons of materials. On the plus side, players can expect their ore refinement and component crafting speeds to increase dramatically.

While the components are crafting, players can dismantle their drop pods to gain important blueprints for future use. Equip the Grinder then grind down parts of the drop pod like the Landing Gear, Ore Detector, Antenna and other interesting objects. Just be sure not to destroy them completely, since they can still be repaired after their blueprints have been unlocked.

Upscaling Production

Once the ore and material production units are completed, players can start upscaling their operations. Ore can be gathered faster by constructing a drilling platform connected to the base’s main production line via conveyor belts. Craft a drill, a few pistons and some conveyor tubes and junctions, then connect them all to the Basic Refinery.

By this time, players should have enough resources to expand further, research and create better equipment, or start designing their ships for space travel.