Beginner's Guide

Beginner's Guide: A Pilot's Primer

Version
This article has been verified for the current version of the game (1.0.0)

Getting Started

As a new pilot in the galaxy, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the Controls first. You are advised to go through each in-game tutorial before venturing out in order to avoid asset losses. This wiki also includes a list of additional tutorials and guides. The official Discord server is a good place to ask any additional questions which you might have.

New Game & Factions

When a player logs into a new server or starts a new solo game, the first thing they must do is pick a Faction. There are currently four different factions which you can begin with: Hurles Corporation., Galactic Trade Network, Sentinel Security Systems, and The Drifters. Each of the factions has their own specialties and starter system. After selecting a starting faction, the new player is given a set of starting resources and their pilot avatar is spawned on the primary teleporter at that faction's starter station. You can accept and complete missions for any faction or company which you are on civil terms with. You can subsequently use the faction desk of any other faction to join that faction. The only present effects of joining a faction are determining your starting resources, and determining where you are able to respawn when your ship is destroyed.

Faction choice comparison:

	Hurles Corporation	Galactic Trade	Sentinel Security Systems	Drifters
Specialties	Mining and resource selling	Cargo hauling and trading	Combat and salvaging	Mining and smuggling
Starting Star System	Vectron Syx	Alpha Ventura	Sentinel Prime	Scaverion
Starting Station	HSC Industrial Complex	GT Trade Hub	S3 Fort Bragg	The Black Pit
Tier 0 Starter Ship	HSC Excavator Mk I	GT Mk IV Hauler	S3 Peregrine Mk I	(player built)*
Tier 0 Starter Ship Cost	699,999 U-nits	624,999 U-nits	599,999 U-nits	(not applicable)
Starting Resources	750,000 U-nits	750,000 U-nits	750,000 U-nits	250,000 U-nits
	Hydrogen 20,000	Hydrogen 20,000	Hydrogen 20,000	Iron 25,000
	Oxygen 1,000	Oxygen 1,000	Oxygen 1,000	Steel 5,000
	Standard Nanobots 600	Standard Nanobots 600	Standard Nanobots 600	Copper 2,500
	Standard Laser Cells 1,200	Standard Laser Cells 1,200	Standard Ammo 6,000	Chipset break firewall 1
	C51 Repair Tool 1	C51 Repair Tool 1	C51 Repair Tool 1	C51 Repair Tool 1
	Repair Tool Ammo 2	Repair Tool Ammo 2	Repair Tool Ammo 2	Repair Tool Ammo 2
	+100 HSC reputation	+100 GT reputation	+100 S3 reputation	+100 Drifters reputation

* Drifters must use the Ship Editor Terminal to construct a ship.

Each faction's starting location has some basic resources for a new player to use. Each starter station has a Vend-o-Tron to let you buy a starter ship, a Store-o-Tron to let you store and repair ships, a Vault to allow you to store resources, and a Ship Editor Terminal to let you modify or build your own ships. Sentinel Security Systems and Galactic Trade starter stations do not have asteroid fields around them. The Hurles Co. and Drifters starter stations have a Resource Extractor and a Refinery to let you mine and refine iron, steel, and copper Resources to store in your vault and then use in the Ship Editor Terminal so you can construct your own ship design, or a ship design you subscribed to in the Steam Workshop.

Your First Ship

You can either buy your faction's starter ship from the Vend-o-Tron using your starting U-nits, buy another player's ship which they have put up for sale in the Vend-O-Tron if you have enough U-nits to buy it, or you can build a ship at the Ship Editor Terminal using resources from your Vault using your own design or a ship design you subscribed to in the Steam Workshop.

Remember to get insurance for your ship from the Loan Terminal!

Supplying Your Ship

Ships are built completely empty. Starter ships need Hydrogen to fuel their power generators, and Oxygen for their Life Support Systems. They also really ought to have Standard Nanobots for their Small Armor Generator, and either Standard Laser Cells or Standard Ammo in their Ammunition Loaders for their weaponry. You can bring these resources in your personal inventory, or use a Cargo Teleporter to load at least the fuel before you board.

Entering Your Ship

Ships and stations do not dock in Interstellar Rift. You board by accessing teleporter. Every station and ship must have at least one teleporter.

Missions

Once you have a ship, you can complete Missions that are offered in each of the faction starter stations (and almost every NPC station). Mission names appear in white text if you do not need to leave the current solar system in order to complete them. When the mission name is gold in color, you will need to open a rift to another solar system and travel through it to complete the mission. When you accept a mission, a popup notification will help guide you, your Message Centre (press 'M') will receive a message with the mission description, and your Mission Screen (press 'B') will list the mission (set as active if it is the mission you most recently accepted). The mission screen will let you see your mission objectives, rewards, penalties, and your remaining time to complete the mission.

When you complete a mission within the time limit, you will receive the promised currency, goods (directly to your personal inventory if you have room; directly to your vault otherwise), and faction reputation gain; there is also a small chance to receive additional rare item. You can view your current faction standings by pressing 'V' to bring up the Diplomacy Screen, or press 'Tab' and navigate to it in your G.R.I.P. OmniTool.

Exploration

The galaxy is large and full of valuable resources waiting to be discovered. Some resources are hidden or may be well guarded. Which star systems you visit, what you mine, whom you fight, and what you salvage is your decision, but you may want to have some help. Your enemies will.