It was only a matter of time before curiosity got the better of me. Every time I looked in the direction of a shipwreck that was on top of a hill it was getting harder and harder to say no to it. Till this point, I was ready to mount a short exploration and find out what had caught my attention.

It was time to go up the hill and see what kind of exploration I could end up doing in crash sites. While it was not that far away. With the limited amount of oxygen, I had I would end up being quite the trip.

I ended up packing some supplies since I had no idea how long I would be gone. I brought a couple of oxygen tanks in case of an emergency. Along with some food. I also brought along some iron, titanium, and silicon.

I ended up crafting two of these one-by-one habitats. They produce oxygen and give me a place to shelter. One was at the bottom and I placed a second one about two-thirds the way up the hill.

My thinking behind this was I'd rather use resources I could gather out in the wild to craft these little shelters. Then use the oxygen bottles that I'd have to make it back to the base to craft more of.

I had no idea at the time that I'd end up placing these little shelters all over the planet. Not only did they help as markers showing me where I've been. They ended up saving me quite a few times. They are also so cheap to make it feel like it is silly to not do so.

In these shelters, they ended up being near caves or in this case a spaceship wreck. I’d end up crafting some storage containers inside. That way I had a place to store loot as I was raiding a location for supplies.

After going up the hill further, I spotted something strange so I went to investigate it. It turns out it was a tunnel blocked by ice. The ice would not melt till I got far enough along in my terraforming. It would be a while before I got to see what was inside that cave.

After that slight detour, I went back to the little shelter I made to cap off my oxygen levels before making the main descent of the hill. Up there I made a quick search around the outside of the wreck before pushing inwards.

Once inside I was kind of shocked by how large the wreck was. I was half expecting just a couple of rooms and that being it. That ended up not being the case. There were quite a few areas to explore. I’d even run into some closed-off rooms that I suspected there would be some way to get the door open at some point.

While inside I even found a reactor. I was hoping to find fuel inside it but it was empty. I had no idea at the time but much later I'd return and end up powering the wreck with my fuel to gain access to locked rooms.

It also ended up being a good thing I made some upgrades before checking out this wreck. Along the way, I found some areas being blocked off from damage the ship suffered when it crashed into the planet. I was able to deconstruct those obstructions with a module I had installed into my suit.

As expected, I ended up finding some loot created inside. Some of them even had food. At this point, anything food-related was a top priority. The other materials I acquired had very little value to me at the time since I could so easily go out and get the basic resources I'd need to expand my base further.

I also found a message on a computer screen inside. It talked about the ship needing to make an emergency landing. The message was not finished I can only assume whoever was on board this ship did not survive. I found zero evidence to support any attempts were made to salvage the ship and survive for as long as possible.

I was somewhat relieved that this exploration trip would end up increasing my survivability length by a bit longer. I had my concerns going into it that I'd end up expecting more resources than I'd get out of it. I was thrilled that was not the case.

I ended up filling up the little shelter I made next to the loot with lots of chests to store items. Along with everything that I had looted in the wreck. I also went around the local area mining anything I could get my hands on.

While I would not need as many chests as I created. I’d rather have more storage than I'd need. It was also a cheap way to use up a decent amount of iron I was already getting a stockpile of.

I then spent some time transporting by foot a bunch of the resources I had looted back to my main base. Since I'd sometimes return to this area to see if I had missed anything or if the ice had melted yet. I’d leave behind a couple of chests worth of loot so I had the stuff to carry back if I did not find anything better.

Once back at my main base, it was time to expand things out a bit. I ended up setting up some oxygen generators to work my way towards my first main terraforming goal. In addition, I also set up a plant incubator for an eggplant to grow in.

While a single eggplant was not going to be enough to survive. I figured it would slowly help stabilize my situation. I would end up adding a few more and other kinds of food over time.

My biggest struggle for expanding the base was still producing enough power. I went out gathering around my local area again enough supplies to put up a couple more wind turbines and solar panels. While these lower technologies were quite modest in what they could produce in terms of energy. It was my only option for the time being.

Final Thoughts

While things were going a bit slow at the start. I was just a couple of upgrades away from being able to go on quite a lot further exploration trips, haul more materials, and make some huge upgrades to my power grid.

At the very least I now know what is up at the top of that hill. It would not be my last trip up there either. Once I had a more powerful deconstruction tool I knew I had some loot up there waiting for me to claim it. That however would not come for quite a long time.

Every time I'd look in the direction of the hill with the wreck on it. I’d smile a little bit. It was for now a wonderful landmark to have a base not so far away from it. Ensuring that once I recognized it I knew I would not be lost in my many explorations around the map.

Information

Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Planet Crafter.

Disclosure. A review copy of the game was received for free.