Field mechanics
Clear up the numbers behind hazards, movement, logistics, and base defense before a bad assumption costs a loadout.
Survival
Oxygen drains at a constant rate like calories
Oxygen only drains in oxygen-deprived environments (underwater, airless zones). In normal open-air areas, it stays full indefinitely. The 100-second drain time only applies when you are actively depriving yourself of oxygen.
Field call: Save oxygen planning for underwater and airless routes; normal open-air travel does not consume it.
Hazards
Radiation caps at 100 like infection and toxicity
Radiation caps at just 10, not 100. At max radiation (10), you take 20 HP per tick—the highest flat damage of any hazard attribute. Small numbers don't mean low risk.
Field call: Treat a reading near 10 as critical. Its small scale is not a sign of low damage.
Hazards
Toxicity damage scales evenly—half toxicity means half damage
Toxicity damage is non-linear. At 75 toxicity you take 20 HP/tick; at 100 (max) it jumps to 40 HP/tick. The last 25 points double your damage intake. Managing toxicity below 75 is far safer than letting it run to max.
Field call: Act before 75 toxicity. The final quarter of the bar is where damage accelerates sharply.
Movement
Energy recovers slowly like health
Energy regenerates at +200 per second at rest (1 point every 0.005 seconds). A full 150-point Energy bar refills in under a second of standing still. Sprint drains at ~71 points per second, so bursts of sprinting followed by brief pauses are highly efficient.
Field call: Sprint in bursts and briefly release movement instead of rationing the whole bar.
Hazards
Any positive temperature reading means you are overheating
The safe temperature band runs from -1000 to +1000. A reading of +400 (the attribute max you start at) is well inside the safe zone. Only temperatures beyond ±1000 begin dealing damage. Cold waves drive temperature to -3000 and heat waves to +3000—both far outside safe range.
Field call: Use the -1000 to +1000 band as the practical safety reference, not zero.
Stealth
Crouching eliminates all enemy aggro
Sprinting generates 1.4 aggro per second vs. 0.8 walking—but crouching and sliding still generate 1.5 aggro per second when sliding. Double jumping spikes aggro to 12.0 in a single action. Movement choice matters significantly for stealth approaches.
Field call: Avoid double jumps and slides near enemies when a quiet approach matters.
Logistics
Conveyor belts are always faster for item transport than drone rails
Drone rails and cargo dispatchers operate independently of physical distance. Cargo dispatch/receiver pairs move 16 inventory slots instantly regardless of map distance. Rails also transmit power simultaneously—belts do neither.
Field call: Use paired cargo links for long routes and belts for local, visible production flow.
Defense
The Defense Tower (Tier 2 turret) deals more damage per shot
The Defense Turret (Tier 1) deals 30 damage per shot at 5 shots/second. The Defense Tower (Tier 2) deals only 15 damage per shot but fires at 20 shots/second—making its total DPS far higher. The Tower also detects targets at 5000 units vs. 3500 for the Turret.
Field call: Compare sustained output and detection radius, not the damage shown for one shot.
