Seeing as how Starbound is still in early beta, there are a lot of things and game mechanics that aren't explained to the player. Here's some tips that could make your life easier when starting out in Starbound, and some of these you might not know even if you've dropped hours into the game.
- Coal is fuel for your ship.
- Press Q to drop and object, and right click to split a stack in two.
- Instead of pressing 'E' to interact with object, you can middle-click your mouse wheel.
- Holding Ctrl lets you look around the environment.
- When you die, you can skip the respawn animation by pressing Esc.
- At night you will get cold. Wearing clothing will help keep you warm, but standing near a fire or torch gives off the most heat. Shutting doors also helps, as does having background walls to keep out the cold.
- Monsters get stronger at night. Also, Torches and light will not prevent monsters from spawning.
- Heal by sleeping in a bed (Learn how to craft a bed HERE) or by making bandages.
- Put your sword/weapon in the LR slots on your hotbar. You can quickly access it by pressing 'X'.
- Hold the right mouse button instead of the left to access the background, whether building or destroying.
- To get alien meat, you need to kill the alien using the hunting bow. It is quicker if you damage the enemy with a sword and then finish it off with the hunting bow. You can also upgrade the hunting bow to an iron hunting bow.
- When using the hunting bow, holding down the mouse button will make the arrow travel further and faster. At one point, the bow will light up, and if you release it at that point, it will travel faster and do more damage.
- Using the appropriate ore of equal or greater value will repair a tool. Tools never break, they only get damaged.
- When using the manipulator, you can hold shift to vary between having 2×2 blocks or 1×1 blocks selected. This makes designing a lot easier.
- Think of armor value as your character level. If you're going up against a level 3 monster, it will deal standard damage to you. Monsters with a higher level than your armor value will deal bonus damage to you.
- To drop down through platforms and stairs, push down and tap the spacebar (jump).
- You can only teleport back to your ship if there is nothing in the background.
- Holiday Spirit is dropped by all monsters and is the primary component for many holiday-themed recipes. It is used with the Toymaker's Table.
If you have anymore useful tips for beginners, feel free to comment below.
You can follow Senior Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ. He likes talking sports, video games, movies, and the stupidity of celebrities. Email at LLiebl@GameZone.com