Space Encounter

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A Space Encounter in the navigation console

Also often called an Anomaly, a Space Encounter is a procedurally generated space dungeon that can randomly appear in any star system. Players can explore Space Encounters by navigating their ship towards the purple spirals of "anomalous energy readings", and deploying their mech.

Each Space Encounter has one of several possible destinations, usually marked by a Landing Beacon and sometimes by a Docking Field. A green arrow will indicate the shortest path to the destination, which can be reached by traversing a hazard field filled with various space monsters.

Threat Level

The threat level of a space encounter depends on the star system it appears in. Space encounters have one of four different threat levels:

Star Type Threat Level
Gentle or Temperate Star Low (Tier 3)
Radioactive Star Moderate (Tier 4)
Frozen Star Dangerous (Tier 5)
Fiery Star Extreme (Tier 6)

Besides the obvious increase of the monster difficulty, the threat level has several other effects:

  • Heavy Drones and large Masteroids start appearing in extreme encounters.
  • Some destinations will only appear on higher threat levels. See the #Destinations section for details.
  • Some unique treasure can only be found in encounters with a extreme threat level. See the #Treasure section for details.

Space Fight

To reach the destination of a space encounter, a hazard field filled with several packs of space monsters has to be traversed first. Hazard fields are usually asteroids with varying density, minefields filled with large groups of Spinemines, ship wreckage with Twinguns attached to the outer sides, or a combination of any of these. In between the static hazards, groups of randomly selected, mobile space robots will be positioned, which start chasing the player's mech if it gets too close.

Each space encounter has a circular layout, meaning the destination can be reached from the starting point by flying towards either side. The height of the area is fixed and bounded by invisible borders at the "ceiling" and at the "floor". It should be noted that the hazard layout on both sides of the starting point is identical—the mobile monster groups are not, however.

Encounters with a higher threat level will almost certainly require an upgraded mech.

Destinations

There are 58 different destinations for a Space Encounter, each of which appears with the same probability. Note that the USCM Ship cannot appear in encounters with low threat level, and the Protectorate Base can only appear in extreme encounters. The chance of finding a single specific location is consequently roughly 1.72% to 1.79%, depending on the threat level.

Generic Destinations

Destination No. of Variations Description
Base Ruin 3 Abandoned camp guarded by some Triplods.
Lab 4 Research facility inhabited by several friendly scientists.
Mining Asteroid 20 Hollowed out asteroid with mining equipment.
Refinery 2 Asteroid filled with foundry equipment.
Shelter 5 Small, astro themed bunker.
Space Camp 4 Large bunker with a mix of station and astro themed furniture.
Storage Room 2 Contains a several crates filled with treasure.

Notable Destinations

Destination Description
Ancient Asteroid Astroid with an ancient structure
Arcade 1 Populated Hylotl arcade
Arcade 2 Abandoned arcade with a machine that plays the minigame Beautiful Attempt!
Ark Large space station with various caged monsters
Astrofae Haven Open area with some small asteroids. The only place to find Astrofaes
Pods Two escape pods crashed into an asteroid field
Island Garden Greenhouse with fully grown crops
Letheia Station Unique Letheia Corporation space station
Merchant Island 1 Single merchant
Merchant Island 2 Shopping center with three merchants
Miniknog Base Large research base with hostile Miniknog soldiers and scientists.
Novakid Asteroid Saloon Novakid saloon with a Frontier Vault.
Offices Multi-storied office building
Poptop Farm Poptop farm with a hidden room
Protectorate Base Large, fortified vault protected by several layers of defenses. Appears only in extreme encounters.
Space Diner Restaurant with space bars
Space Hotel Large bunker with several guest rooms, some of which have Retro Pods as beds
USCM Ship Derelict USCM ship. The only place to find (and capture) Parasprites. Appears only in moderate encounters and above.

Treasure

Generic Treasure

Most regular containers in Space Encounters are filled with basic space treasure, which includes ore, salvage components, sloped blocks and sometimes rare space items, such as the Drill Spear, Electric Baton, Ray Gun, and the Plasma Assault Rifle.

The surface-mounted space capsules, which can be found attached to asteroids, have a higher chance to contain mech part blueprints.

The space robots encountered while flying through the hazard fields can drop salvage components, as well as Sticks of Ram, Silicon Boards and Copper Wire. Spinemines and Rusticks have a considerable lower chance to drop any items due to their passive nature.

Unique Treasure

These items can be found only in Space Encounters.

Item Location Threat Level
In the storage area of the space diner all
In a bookcase inside a locked room in the Miniknog base. all
In a bookcase in the Letheia station all
In a bookcase in the USCM ship all
In the locker in the Miniknog base Extreme only
In the locker in the Protectorate base Extreme only

Monsters

Screenshots

Generic Destination Screenshots

Notable Destination Screenshots