User:NARbluebear/Progressing Without the Matter Manipulator

Welcome, Protector! So you've chosen to leave the Matter Manipulator for anyone else who's still alive on Earth. That's great, but you might be asking yourself: "How do I progress? There's two huge piles of debris in the way!" That's why I'm here. Here's how you can progress through the story without using the Matter Manipulator to place or destroy blocks.

Chapter 0: The Protectorate

It's graduation day at the Protectorate Academy- and you're invited. Grab your Protectorate Uniform from your locker, and proceed to the ceremony. Leda Portia is there to congratulate those who will be graduating today, presumably you are included. After presenting the Matter Manipulator, a large tentacle breaks in and picks her up. Before she's taken away, she orders you to take the Matter Manipulator she was holding and use it to escape.

Here's where we bend the rules a little bit. The only way you can get past the large pile of debris in front of you is to pick up the Matter Manipulator and mine it, which we're obviously refusing to do. Open up the chat and type /admin. Then, type in /spawnitem copperpickaxe to give yourself a tool to use for now. Mine through the debris, and in no time you should have your hands on a weapon, the Broken Broadsword. Use it to cut off the tentacle up ahead, and you'll be able to get into your ship.

Chapter 1: Drifting through Space

Now that you've gotten past the intro mission, you might ask, "What now?" Don't worry. Boot up SAIL and follow its instructions. Hopefully you've kept your Copper Pickaxe, as nine times out of ten, you'll need it to progress. Once you beam down, you'll need to look for two things: 20 Core Fragments, and the archaic energy source. You may find Core Fragments either being held by a Mother Poptop in a mine or at the center of the planet. I'd recommend going for the mines, since the Mother Poptop isn't that hard to defeat. Your Broken Broadsword is more than capable of cutting through enemies at this stage, though you'll quickly need to find a replacement before you exit the planet. I was placed on Biham Myriad IV (coordinates -847293574, -969290771), which had the mines to my left and an Ancient Gate to my right. I needed to use some form of transportation if I was planning on taking the right path, and I haven't yet found any rope from the mine. I had to rely on the pickaxe for now. I hopped down into a small pit on the surface, then followed it right to dig upwards. I was also lucky to find some Timber in a pod chest, which meant I could get away with not having to chop down any trees for now. Not that it matters since everything involving that requires using the Matter Manipulator. A few seconds after, I spotted the Ancient Gate. Activating it let me teleport to The Outpost.

Chapter 2: Repairs

After getting to the Outpost, we stop by the 2 Stop Teleshop to set up a teleporter, that way we can teleport to it from our ship. We also pass by another teleporter and bookmark it too. We meet up with Esther Bright, former Grand Protector, who seems to be hallucinating. She thinks we have a Matter Manipulator, even though we don't, then proceeds to explain the war between The Cultivator and The Ruin. From here, she then welcomes us back to the Protectorate, and requests us to speak to Penguin Pete to get our ship repaired. He will require some Erchius Crystals to get our ship's FTL Drive running, so we then head back up to our ship. SAIL now has a new mission: The Erchius Mining Facility. This is a major milestone, since we're now able to get infinite pickaxes for free. It might be a bit slow and cost us some health though, but if you've played Terraria before, you'd know that time heals all wounds. All we need is a little bit of sleep and we'll be good as new.

The Mining Facility is under lockdown, however, you're still able to get in. SAIL will detect some hostile entities, warning you of the upcoming Moontants. Keep pressing on through the facility until you manage to brute force your way to the boss: The Erchius Horror. You might find some more powerful weapons along the way, including guns. These will be your primary form of attack for the time being, with your Broadsword being a backup plan. As soon as Erchius readings reach 94 rad, you'll want to immediately head left after dropping down a few girders to reach a checkpoint. Try to close the last door behind yourself so the armored Moontant can't reach you. The various employees scattered around will increase the chance of you surviving in the event you fail to do so. Luckily, the armed Moontants will refuse to deal contact damage, making your trek a whole lot easier. You'll eventually reach a Boss Gate, where the Erchius Horror awaits your arrival. On the third phase, you'll need to hide in the middle of its laser attack. You can safely stand on the second platform to avoid it.

After all that, go back to the 2-Stop Teleshop and talk to Penguin Pete. He'll repair your FTL Drive (or rather, his penguins will steal his leg in order to break the old Erchius Crystal and put the new one in). Don't leave your star system just yet, however. You'll need an abundance of fuel. You can either buy liquid fuel from Infinity Express, or you can get some crystal fuel from moons. I will warn you, however, that moons aren't exactly safe. There's been strange Erchius readings there, too. An Erchius Ghost will chase you after you collect any amount of fuel, and it only gets faster the more you collect. One thing to note is how you cannot yet breath on moons. You'd need an Enviro Protection Pack for that, which is crafted at an Anvil, which can only be placed down by your Matter Manipulator. For this reason, you should hurry if you're going for crystal fuel. Luckily, you do have options when it comes to crafting. Glitch dungeons may carry a Basic Anvil or Medieval Furnace, and Novakid Villages can have a Frontier Furnace, all three of which function the exact same as their craftable counterparts.

Chapter 3: N to Win

Scan Mode is introduced to us by Esther, where she asks us to scan items to learn about the Outpost. Your primitive magnifying glass simply will not do. There's an upside and downside to this: on one hand, your [N] key now functions as a flashlight. On the other hand, however, Scan Mode uses the Matter Manipulator and is essential to the questline. I specifically stated that we will be avoiding placing or destroying blocks with the Matter Manipulator. Besides, what's the harm in letting one talk about an object they see?

Chapter 4: Suit Up

We scan enough objects at the Outpost to conclude our tour, and Esther tells us to come back for our first contribution to her cause: scanning objects to find the Floran Artifact, The Bone Trophy. For Esther's cause, we'll need to collect a total of six artifacts and place them in the Monolith Gate to open up the final boss. Before diving head-first into the hunt, we'll need to find a Glitch dungeon for all the materials we've gathered up. This might take a while, unfortunately. Well, it would be, had I not found a Glitch Castle in the same star system. There's an Anvil, a cooking pot, and I even found a Platinum Pickaxe! On a Desert planet, I found a Primitive Furnace which I could upgrade, assuming I had enough materials. I only needed a few materials found on this planet, so I was able to upgrade it almost right away. These wouldn't help, however, since I'd need materials from a Spinning Wheel or its upgrades. Here, I realized my best bet is to hope I find a Merchant NPC and buy a full set of armor. After doing so, I almost found enough clues, but progress halted.

Chapter 5: The Hunt

WIP

TO BE CONTINUED

This page is a work-in-progress guide based off of my own attempt. TODO:

• Add images
• Finish the guide
• Fix unintentional redlinks, if any