New Players
Outbound Beginner Guide
Everything you need in your first 60 minutes: where to land, what to harvest, when to sleep, and the five mistakes that will cost you a full in-game day.
Game version 1.0Updated 2026-05-11Platform: Steam (PC)
Step 1 — Land in Forest Valley
When the drop-pod prompt appears, pick Forest Valley. It has the most forgiving climate, the densest wood deposits, and a short walk to iron and coal. Other biomes are valid but steeper.
Step 2 — Read your van
Open the van status panel (default Tab). Four meters matter from day one:
- Power — drains at night, refills from solar by day.
- Water — refills from lakes or the Water Recycler (T3).
- Heat — drops below 0 at night; a simple stove fixes it.
- Hunger — foraged plants are enough for day one.
Step 3 — First 30 minutes checklist
| Priority | Task | Why | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chop 20 Logs | Unlocks Wood Plank x40 for furniture & walls | 6 min |
| 2 | Mine 8 Iron Ore + 4 Coal | Unlocks Iron Bars for the Workshop | 8 min |
| 3 | Build Basic Furnace | Refines ore and warms the van | 2 min |
| 4 | Build Workshop Lv.1 | Unlocks Copper Wire & Engine Upgrade | 3 min |
| 5 | Craft Solar Panel Mk1 | Ends the night power crunch | 5 min |
| 6 | Sleep (Comfort ≥ 2) | Skips the first night safely | — |
Step 4 — Surviving the first night
Temperature on Forest Valley drops to −8°C around in-game 21:00. A Basic Furnace with 2 Coal in the hopper will hold the van at +12°C until dawn. If you haven’t built it yet, sleep early (19:00) and accept the lower XP.
Top 5 mistakes new players make
- Over-driving on day one. The van burns biofuel fast — stay within 300 m until you have a Storage Expansion.
- Skipping the Furnace. Raw ore is nearly useless; bars are 4× more compact.
- Ignoring solar orientation. Solar Mk1 produces 40 % more if the van faces east at dawn.
- Not filling water before dusk. Lakes freeze at night on most biomes.
- Saving Coal for later. Coal is abundant in Tier 1 — burn it.