The Alters: 10 Best Tips for Beginners

11 Bit Studios has once again impressed with The Alters. The survival game is a good example of the Studio’s trademark harsh tone. The game is characterized by constant pressure, emotional weight, and moral dilemmas. But this title stands out for its daring and experimental design, which adds a level of philosophical and psychological depth. The game dares to examine identity, decision, and consequence through a very intimate and frequently confusing lens, deviating from traditional survival rules. 

You begin by guiding Jan Dolski on his journey to return home after getting stranded in The Alters. You’ll be balancing duties like investigating odd anomalies, gathering essential supplies, and running a tight home base. In this guide, we’ve collected the 10 best beginner tips to help you get started.

10. Expand and Manage Your Base

Your mobile base in the early phases of The Alters may feel unorganized and chaotic, especially as you begin to construct more rooms and modules to accommodate your expanding demands. You can rearrange modules in the Command Center to make the arrangement more effective and user-friendly. This setup saves time, as you’ll often move between these areas. You’ll manage tasks and make base adjustments more efficiently. Finally, as your base grows and your responsibilities increase, careful planning at the beginning will help keep everything operating smoothly.

9. Be On the Lookout

Nevertheless, Jan faced misfortune and lost his crew, but he still uncovered valuable discoveries along the way. A few surprising findings have been made as a result, dispersed around the deserted terrain. It’s critical to remain vigilant while exploring The Alters and keep an eye out for any hidden pods, which are occasionally obscured by vegetation or debris. Despite being the remains of bad luck, these wrecks frequently hold useful goods that can greatly affect your progress.

8. Set Up Outposts

Each act begins with you exploring a new location and raiding it for essential materials. Establish a few Mining Outposts first, and then use the first several days to find deep resource deposits without incident. In doing so, you’ll not only gather essential materials but also unlock quick travel points that make future tasks more manageable. Also, prioritize collecting metals and organics first, as they are foundational to most upgrades and operations. Additionally, when it’s time to move your Mobile Base and begin a new Act, you’ll be able to bring as many of your current Outposts and Pylons as your storage allows.

7. Set Upkeep Levels in Production

You can assign each Alter a specific task based on current needs to keep your base running efficiently. Setting the appropriate maintenance levels in the Production menu is also necessary for effective resource management and some maintenance levels. It’s also a good idea to keep a steady supply of essentials. As a result, Alters handle maintenance duties in their spare time, ensuring nothing essential gets overlooked and freeing you to focus on critical tasks.

6. Be Wary of Anomalies

You will encounter anomalies and mysterious and dangerous occurrences spread around the desolate terrain within a few hours of the campaign starting. Your Scientist Alter can help by crafting a specialized device called the Luminator, which functions similarly to a flashlight. By using the Luminator to keep anomalies at bay, you can protect Jan and gather ALX, a rare and valuable material used to refine other essential resources.

5. Gather Resources Strategically

You cannot use ALX and Enriched Metals directly as crafting ingredients, which makes them a distinctive feature in the game. Nevertheless, you can improve both to create additional resources. If you need resources quickly and cannot risk leaving the base unmanned, like in a magnetic storm, it is therefore advisable to keep them close at hand. However, note that they can mess up your storage and accumulate, so try to keep your stock to a minimum.

4. Time Management

Furthermore, please pay attention to the time of day and how it directly affects your capacity to explore and harvest resources safely. Outside your Mobile Base, the ravaged world becomes increasingly dangerous as the daylight passes. Nighttime tends to make anomalies more active and hostile, making any trip outside of your base much more hazardous. Planning your expeditions around the daylight cycle is therefore crucial, with scavenging missions, anomaly-clearing operations, and critical resource runs given priority whenever suitable.

3. Use Your Maps

To go through The Alters, you must figure out how to move your Mobile Base to completely different areas. Frequently refer to the in-game map when exploring to stay on track. By doing this, you may quickly locate crucial navigational points. Additionally, the map shows important markers for any Mining Outposts you have already created, as well as deep resource reserves. When you need to connect Pylons for power distribution or use rapid transit alternatives to save time, this is particularly helpful. Finally, staying up to date with your surroundings not only facilitates more seamless Act changes but also guarantees effective resource management and strategic mobility throughout the challenging environment.

2. Build Essential Modules

Importantly, you should concentrate on developing only the most necessary modules when growing your Mobile Base. Avoid overcrowding your layout with unnecessary or redundant structures, though. You will require space as the game goes on for additional utilities and upgrades, particularly when moving to different areas. Maintaining a functional and straightforward base design will maximize navigation efficiency and decrease needless retracing, which will make your operations much more efficient as difficulties grow. By planning and avoiding clutter, you’ll not only improve your team’s workflow but also ensure that your base remains adaptable to changes.

1. Create New Variants

First, the creation of other versions, or clones, of Jan depends heavily on the scarce mineral Rapidium. This procedure specifically takes place at the Quantum Computer, where you can go over essential moments in Jan’s life. You will discover pivotal moments that could have taken Jan in different directions as you investigate branching timelines, turning him into a Botanist, Scientist, Miner, and other specialists. It’s more effective to start this process at night, especially after completing most daily tasks. This usually prepares the new clone by morning, letting you smoothly add them to your team’s schedule.