Spacebase DF-9: How Not To Suffocate in Space

If you have been playing Spacebase DF-9, or have seen the game and were curious, know this: You, by way of your crew, will die a lot. You will die from game bugs, you will die from pirates, you will die from pirates that are actually bugs and you will suffocate, but if you like this sort of game, then you will have fun doing it.

Spacebase DF-9 is a space survival simulation. Space is tough and harsh. So far, I’ve encountered five main ways this harshness plays out:

1. You don’t build good enough spacebase when you start… and you suffocate.
2. You build a base, but can’t process matter, so you live a while longer, then suffocate when your oxygen recyclers die
3. You overbuild to start… resulting in #2 again.
4. Pirates raid your base, resulting in your death.
5. The game glitches, or you do something and have no idea how to undo it, so you suffocate in space.

First, let’s talk about #5.

Spacebase DF-9 is very much beta; it is probably something of a tech demo. There are more than a few gamers and pundits who complain about the early access system on Steam. There may be some cracks in the early access system, but frankly, I enjoy seeing the basis of an idea and getting to toy with it and I go into every early access game assuming the worst and hoping for the best. If you can’t stomach that sort of gamble, then hopefully a review or two will point you in the right direction.

My simplest review is this: Starbase DF-9 is not a complete game, but it is pretty fun in its current state and I think the game deserves some support so Doublefine can mature it. However, that support should come from people who are okay with buggy games.

Now, on to points 1-4.

If you can survive long enough and get a large enough base, you can get the right crew so you get enough security then you can overcome #4 (theoretically). The day one walkthrough above will help you with 1, 2 and 3.

Bonus tip: The “Erase” option in the build menu will “Erase” build commands. The name is very, very badly worded. This option will come in handy when you accidentally tell your builders to remove a wall that will result in decompression of your base and your crew getting sucked into space.

Extra Bonus tip: Many of you will laugh when your first crew member gets sucked into space.

Enjoy!