Your First Session

Welcome, Overseer. You have just inherited Rockbeard Prospecting Co. — a near-bankrupt mining outfit with one battered asteroid, three dwarves and a handful of credits. This page walks you through exactly what you begin with, the first quests that guide you, the thresholds that unlock new buildings, and a recommended route through your opening hours.

If you have not yet read it, the Core Game Loop explains how time and idle progress work; this page is about what to do with it.

What You Start With #

A fresh game seeds a fixed starting state:

You also start with a small set of buildings already in place on Alpha-1:

The first time you load in, a short narrative dialog (spoken by Durgan, your Foreman) sets the scene — broke, thirsty, and in need of ore — and the Quests panel is available immediately to guide your first moves.

Your three dwarves each have a class that fits a different job. Borin the Miner is best in the Mine Shaft, Hilda the Engineer speeds up and cheapens building, and Durgan the Foreman gives a small boost to everything. See Dwarves Overview for what classes do.

The Early Quests #

The Quests panel drives your onboarding with a sequence of clear, rewarded objectives. The earliest ones are:

Follow the quests in order and the game teaches you each system just before you need it: mining, the Market, the production chain, the food and ale economy, training, and finally expeditions.

Early Unlock Thresholds #

New buildings unlock as you meet conditions rather than all at once. The early gates are:

A key early upgrade milestone: at Mine Shaft Lv3 you unlock the Mining Burst active ability for a temporary extraction surge. See Production Buildings for the full upgrade curves.

Why claim more rocks? The Cargo Shuttle Dock — your gateway to inter-asteroid logistics and your first Sector Station — only appears once you hold a second asteroid. Expanding to three asteroids and building the dock then lets you raise a Sector Station that buffs the whole sector.

A Recommended Early Path #

Following the quest order is the safest route, but here is the shape of your first several hours:

Phase 1 — Establish the production loop (Quests 1–8) #

1. Put Borin on the Mine Shaft and mine 100 Iron.
2. Split your workforce to also pull Ice — this feeds the water/food chain.
3. Upgrade the Mine Shaft to Lv2 (and aim for Lv3 for Mining Burst).
4. Sell surplus ore on the Market to build a credit cushion.
5. Build a Refinery to start turning ore into higher-value refined goods (see the Production Chain).
6. Turn Ice into Water, then build a Fungus Farm and Galley to cook Meals — meals keep your crew fed and fuel expeditions.
7. Build a Brewery and brew Stout to unlock the ale buff economy.

Phase 2 — Deepen the colony (Quests 9–10) #

8. Train a dwarf at the Miner Quarters to raise output — progression is tracked at the accommodation, so every miner housed there benefits.
9. Launch your first expedition — a small, safe scout — to learn the 5-stage, supply-fed, push-your-luck loop and bring home loot and maybe a new recruit.

Phase 3 — Expand and prepare for Sector B #

10. Build a war-chest of Credits, claim a 2nd and 3rd asteroid, mine new ores (Copper), and raise a Cargo Shuttle Dock.
11. Build the Alpha Sector Station (needs the dock at Lv1 and 3 asteroids) to buff mining and refining across the whole sector.
12. Begin the research tree — start the Void Navigation branch, which gates the next sector.

When you are ready to move on from Alpha, opening the dangerous Beta sector requires the Alpha Sector Station, the Void Navigation branch started, a stockpile of 5,000 Steel, and 20 Polymer Conduit + 20 Clay Conduit — and those conduits are sold only by the Traveling Merchant, so keep an eye out for their visits. See Sectors for the full expansion gates.

Where to Next #

• Learn the screen: UI & Panels.
• Build your economy: Resources and the Production Chain.
• Grow your crew: Dwarves Overview.
• Explore for loot: Expeditions.
• Unsure of a term? See the Glossary.