Expeditions

Expeditions send one or more camp members out onto the planet surface to gather resources, investigate points of interest, and interact with other factions. The map is fixed: every run has the same terrain, the same biomes, and the same entity on every tile. Nothing is randomized.

For the interactive grid and per-tile encounter details, see the Map page.

Is the map the same every run?

Yes. The map is a static 15x15 grid authored by the developers. Biome placement, entity placement, and the number and type of tiles are identical across every playthrough and every difficulty level. What changes between runs is the fog of war: tiles start hidden and are uncovered progressively as you send expeditions and upgrade your radar.

Difficulty mode does not change the map layout. The Guardian's Influence level does not change it either. There is no seed system and no procedural generation for the map.

Biomes

The 177 reachable tiles are split across five biomes. Each biome has its own set of resource nodes and visual environment. 48 additional tiles at the grid edges are structurally unreachable.

How expeditions work

To launch an expedition you pick which camp members will go, then select a destination tile on the map. Your party travels to that tile and you resolve whatever is there: a resource node, a story encounter, a hostile encounter, or nothing.

By default each expedition can visit one tile per day. Two separate camp upgrades each add one more tile, bringing the maximum to three tiles per expedition day.

Each tile costs stamina to cross. Tiles you are visiting for the first time cost more stamina than tiles you have already explored before. A camp upgrade tree reduces these costs.

You can carry water with your expedition party. If you run low you can share water between members during travel.

Encounter and stealth

Each time you move to a tile you may trigger a hostile encounter. The destination selection screen shows two numbers: your chance to be detected (encounter rate) and your chance to sneak through undetected (stealth rate). The encounter rate is higher on tiles you have never visited before. It also increases with each uneventful safe pass through the same tile: the more times your party crosses a tile without a fight, the more likely the next crossing is to trigger one.

The Stealth skill of your expedition members determines how high the stealth rate is. Choosing characters with high Stealth directly reduces the risk of being forced into combat when you would rather collect resources and leave.

When an encounter triggers you choose how to handle it:

• Fight: enter the tactical combat screen.
• Ambush: attack first, gaining an advantage in the fight.
• Sneak around: attempt to bypass without engaging. Success depends on the stealth check.
• Turn back: retreat and end the expedition.

Tile discovery and the radar

Tiles start hidden under fog. The radar mechanic reveals them over time: your radar accumulates discovery progress as expeditions happen, and when enough progress builds up, a batch of nearby tiles is uncovered.

Tiles close to camp are easier to discover than distant ones. The difficulty of uncovering a tile scales with the ring it sits in: ring 0 is the camp itself, ring 1 is the tiles immediately adjacent, and so on outward. Discovery difficulty per ring:

The radar range can be extended by certain camp upgrades, unlocking the ability to discover tiles even farther from camp. When you reach the edge of your current radar range the map gives you a notification.

What you find on tiles

Every tile belongs to one biome and may have one of several types of entities on it. Some tiles have nothing notable and are just open terrain. The rest have one of the following:

• Resource nodes: gathering points that produce food, raw materials, or crafting ingredients. The type of resource matches the biome: fishing spots and river plants in River tiles, hunting camps and meat sources in Jungle tiles, mineral veins and desert fish in Desert tiles, ore and polymer deposits in Mountain tiles, crystal deposits and exotic materials in Crystal tiles.
• Faction NPCs: named individuals from the Antarian and Atlantean factions. Interacting with them drives story dialogues and can open trade or cooperation options.
• Guardian tribute keys: 13 special entities named Keys_* scattered across the map (one per key type). These are tied to the Guardian tribute system.
• Ixion ship wreckage: debris from the Ixion ship: crates, food stores, medical supplies, mining gear, and overgrown modules. These are fixed locations on the map, not random drops.
• Lore sites: altars, cylinders, ruins, and other alien structures that trigger story encounters when visited.

Faction NPCs on the map

Ten named characters belonging to two alien factions are located on fixed tiles. All of them are in place from the start of the run; whether you have discovered their tile yet depends on your radar progress.

Guardian tribute keys

Thirteen Key entities are placed at fixed locations across the map, one per key type. Finding and interacting with them is part of the Guardian tribute storyline. The keys are spread across all five biomes.

See Tribute for how the Guardian demand system works once you have collected keys.