The one rule that ends runs
Your starting vessel is the one that matters. If that specific body breaks, it is an instant game over — even if you are currently alive inside a different body.
A player learned this the hard way, died, successfully jumped into a new body, and still got a "no survivors" screen. The explanation from that thread:
"The body you start with is the one you need to keep alive. If that specific body breaks then it's an instant game over. However, you can use the small bodies and break them all you want without triggering a game over. You can also be out of your body as a spirit to check for danger but you HAVE to make sure you do not run out of energy or you won't be able to go back into your original body; triggering a game over."
Three rules in one paragraph:
- Starting body breaks → run over
- Small bodies are disposable — break as many as you want
- Scouting as a spark is safe until your energy runs out — then you cannot get back in, which also ends the run
Press R for spark mode
The defensive tool. From the hiding thread:
"I know I can press R to go into the spark/light mode to have enemies avoid my body that way, but it's timed, and if you hop back in to refresh the timer next to a bugged enemy that won't move, you're dead."
Enemies avoid your body while you are in spark mode. It is on a timer, and you refresh it by getting back into your body — which means the refresh happens wherever your body is, safe or not.
There is also no hiding as an alternative. As one player put it, quoting an in-game hint from Biggie the little robot: "I'm a little too big."
Never go down empty-handed
The single most repeated piece of beginner advice, from First thing to do when you are new: never take the elevator down without a weapon. A club is enough. Bring repair glue with it.
Two things follow from that guide's economy advice:
- Gold is for the elevator, early on. Spending it on anything else while your rooms are unbuilt is a trap — "having 500 gold but not being able to upgrade your room is worthless"
- Enchanting gear also repairs and reloads it, later on, so an enchant is worth more than the stat line suggests
Do not let a weapon break completely
A melee weapon that fully breaks is gone — destroyed, not damaged. Repair it before that happens and it goes back to 100%, at the workbench on the Outpost's second floor.
The failure mode to avoid is swinging one last time. The rest of the durability economy, including why damage upgrades save you repair bills, is on the weapons page.
Bank elevator coins early
Same guide, tip #2: cash in coins for the elevator as soon as you have enough. Its worked example is 60 coins covering 12 insertions.
The reason is not economy, it is escape. An elevator that is already paid up is an exit you can reach while something is chasing you. An elevator you still owe coins to is not.
The base extraction cost players quote is 40 coins, from the fuse thread: "find it, bring it back, connect it, shove in 40 coins and leave."
Strip your Outpost on day one
Counter-intuitive, and it is the first thing the beginner guide tells you to do: break down all the furniture your Outpost came with.
It is all cracked, and cracked furniture gives zero room XP. Turn it into scrap and spend that on windows, wall holes and ceilings — repairs raise the room rating, and the rating is what pays out stats. Full detail on the room upgrades page.
Five things that will save you a run
From the same two guides:
- Pressure plates at a doorway block enemies. Cheap area denial
- Repair glue heals you, heals teammates, and repairs damaged valuables — it is three items in one, and it will get you out of the base if you have no umbrella yet
- Use the Grinder. It is loud, but it converts loot to gold without risking it in an explosion — and you can throw enemies into it to kill them
- Beds heal for free, and they exist in the dungeon as well as in your Outpost
- Stash spare mallets in the elevator. The elevator doubles as storage: drop tools in before you descend and they are still there when you come back
Carrying loot properly
- Anything on the elevator comes home, per a player quote: "even loose gear, furniture, constructs. It doesn't have to be possessed to come home, just on the elevator when you ascend"
- High-XP items are worth the trip home rather than grinding on the spot
- Small valuables go in a basket — carrying them one at a time is the slow way
Character level does nothing for your stats
This one catches almost everyone, and it has its own Reddit thread:
"Badges you can wear on your Scrappie, that's about it. Just customization"
Levelling your character unlocks badges. That is the whole reward. No health, no damage, no speed.
Stats come from Outpost room upgrades. As another reply in that thread put it: "the idea is to level up your outpost for stats, not characters."
The death-quit trick
Tips and tricks describes a way to keep your dungeon depth after dying: quit to the menu immediately after being killed, before the core disappears, then rejoin. The floor level is retained.
⚠️ One source, no second report, and it reads like a bug rather than a feature. We are listing it because it is circulating, not recommending it — and if it gets patched, it will be in the Steam news feed rather than here.
What we could not verify
- Optimal coin-banking timing beyond "sooner than you think"
- Whether the death-quit trick still works on current builds
- Exact durability numbers for any weapon