Arcadia-7 does not give you time to “learn slowly.” The star ruptures on a schedule, the surface gets wiped, and your job is to stay alive long enough to build an automated factory that can actually progress before the next wave hits.
This guide covers only what a beginner needs: how ruptures work, what to build first, how rails and automation function, and which early unlocks matter most.
What StarRupture Is Really About
StarRupture is a survival game, but it plays like a factory game with a death clock. You are not only managing hunger and thirst. You are managing production flow, safe travel routes, and how much you can accomplish before the next rupture forces you indoors.
If you try to play it like a slow crafting survival game, you will feel behind constantly. Automation is not a “later” system. It is the point.
Character Selection
Pick whoever you like. The four characters are cosmetic only, with different looks and voice lines but no gameplay differences. You can swap later at Regeneration Chambers, so do not waste time overthinking the first choice.
Choose your survivor appearance
Survival Stats and Healing Basics
You are tracking more than health. These meters are what actually end runs early if you ignore them.
Shields regenerate automatically after you avoid damage for a short time, which gives you breathing room in fights. Health does not regenerate passively, so healing is tied to what you eat and carry.
Early food recommendation: keep it simple. Polifruit handles calories, and Hydrobulbs handle hydration. Both restore without toxicity penalties, so they are perfect “beginner staples.”
How Star Ruptures Work (And How Not to Die to Them)
Ruptures are not negotiable. The game gives you two Wave Warning messages, then a 15-second countdown, followed by a very short final window. If you are not inside a safe Habitat when the wave hits, it is instant death.
Always carry these items when exploring:
- 1 Meteor Heart (for Base Core)
- 100+ Basic Building Materials (for emergency Habitat and Airlock)
This is your emergency shelter kit. You can drop a Base Core, build a Habitat and Airlock, survive the rupture, then dismantle everything afterward for a full refund of materials. That refund is why you should build aggressively and stop “saving” materials like they are precious.
Warning
The post-rupture environment kills plant life temporarily but spawns rare crafting materials. Plan gathering expeditions around these cycles for maximum efficiency.
Where to Build Your First Base
The safest early region is the southwest near the Orbital Lander, but the exact placement matters more than people expect.
Build against natural barriers like cliff faces, titanium deposits, or large rock formations. This shields half your base automatically, reducing defensive angles when alien bugs attack later. Elevation provides massive advantages, so use platforms and pillars to build upward.
Starter Base Setup (What to Build First)
You do not need a mega base to begin. You need shelter, power, mining, smelting, and exports.
Put Ore Excavators on titanium and wolfram deposits near your landing area (the deposits just left of the landing crater are a strong early target). Place Smelters between the extractors and your base so your rails stay short and clean.
Tip
Press Y when placing platforms to lock their height, preventing alignment headaches when connecting buildings.
Base Core construction zone
What Should You Prioritize First
The Corporate Terminal shows rewards from different corporations. Focus these initial unlocks:
- Future Health Solutions (Regeneration Chamber) - Respawn points and character changes
- Griffits Blue Corporation (UPP-7 Pistol) - Essential combat capability
- Moon Energy Corporation Level 3 (Map) - Navigation and fog removal
Each tier requires increasingly complex manufactured goods. You'll expand from simple bars to components requiring Fabricators and multi-step processing chains.
Gather Polifruit (orange plants) for calories and Hydrobulbs (blue flowers near water) for hydration. Both restore stats without toxicity penalties. Plants respawn after ruptures, so collect aggressively.
Important
Dead bodies and downed drones contain Data Points and War Bonds. Analyze findings at Analyzing Stations to unlock corporate levels and weapon upgrades.Exploration and Combat Basics
Early bugs can be handled with your harvester tool, but do not get comfortable with that. As you move northeast, enemies increase in size and aggression. The southwest is the training wheels zone. The northeast is where the game starts demanding proper loadouts.
If you want to raid abandoned bases for loot and blueprints, do it when conditions are in your favor. A practical approach is returning right after ruptures when enemies are temporarily reduced.
Your Medtool and Grenade both charge through actions like kills, harvesting plants, or taking damage. They only activate at 100 percent charge, so treat them as “big moment” tools, not constant buttons.
Pistol weapon loadout
Tips & Tricks for Beginners
Stand on hills and equip your construction tool to reveal all nearby ore deposit locations. This scouting technique helps plan expansion bases near valuable resources.
Copy buildings by hovering and pressing Z. This speeds construction when placing multiple solar panels or platforms.
Buildings refund 100% of materials when deconstructed. Experiment freely with layouts and redesign without penalty. Press F to deconstruct, looking at multiple pieces to remove several simultaneously.
Tip
Rails conduct electricity, eliminating the need for solar panels at every building. Connect your power grid through rail networks for cleaner base designs.