Part One
Beginning and First Run
escape with four characters and unlock their story objectives for the second run
SEMI-RANDOMIZED LOOT SYSTEM
Unlike in the base game, the loot system in Mooncrash is semi-randomized. There are three kinds of loot:
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Fixed content and location. E.g., the psychoscope is always found in the same spot in Riley Yu's office. Corpses are also fixed, except those of the playable characters, and will be marked by green text (e.g., Terri Brown).
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Fixed location, variable content. E.g., the gold briefcase next to the armchair in Riley Yu's office may contain a chipset or a fabrication plan... or both, or neither, or something else entirely.
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Fixed content, variable location. E.g., Angela Wagner's body, which always carries the Piloting Connectome and a neuromod, may spawn in one of five possible locations.
This guide is as exhaustive as possible within these boundaries. Fixed loot is always mentioned, as are the areas where some important loot may spawn and the areas where you're most likely to find important items.
STORY & side OBJECTIVES
Each character's story objective unlocks once they have escaped the sim for the first time. Story objectives are marked by purple text; e.g., A Little Bird Told Me.
Side objectives, instead, which earn you sim points and are basically challenges, will be marked by red text; e.g., escape with all five characters in a single run.
UNIQUE CHARACTER SKILLS
Only Joan can repair doors and items, and only Claire can hack doors and terminals. Conversely, Riley, Vijay, and Andrius each have a varied array of abilities, none of which are essential to completing specific tasks. So, Joan can reach more widely and is best for exploration, so this guide focuses mostly on Joan's character.
INACCESSIBLE LOCATIONS
Due to the game's rogue-like nature, some items essential for progression are also randomized, including most key codes, keycards, passwords, chipsets, and fabrication plans. While these are discussed as needed, on several occasions you may have to wait until later or find a workaround.
For example, a door may be broken, which requires Repair III that only Joan has; or it may be locked by a keycard that you must find; or it may need to be hacked as only Claire can do. Sometimes there's more than one way to enter, but many times you'll need to go back with another character who has the appropriate neuromod-unlockable abilities.
As discussed above, certain story-centered items are fixed but may spawn in variable places; e.g., the keycode to the Pytheas Labs weapons research labs may be on one of four different whiteboards in as many offices.
TERMINOLOGY
A game begins when you click "New Game" from the main menu and continues until you start another "New Game," losing all your autosaves and beginning a brand-new campaign as if you had just launched Mooncrash for the first time.
A run ends when the simulation resets, which can happen either when you've no more characters left to play with or when the corruption level gets too high. Resetting the sim is not a new game, as you keep all your sim points from the run that you just finished, and the story continues. A full game often lasts 3-5 runs.
A turn is a part of a run with a different playable character: Andrius, Joan, Vijay, Claire, Riley. Each must escape the simulation in a different way. When they do, another character loads up, if available, and if not, the current run ends and the sim resets with the first turn of a new run. Some turns last for several hours, while others can be minutes long.
The Volunteer
Andrius Alekna
SATELLITE run I, first visit
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Listen to Basilisk's call and install the Recovered Operator and LG Visor as soon as they arrive. Enter the sim.
CRATER run I, Andrius
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Pick up the Wrench and kill two thermal mimics that are disguised as cardboard boxes.
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From Terri Brown get the Ventilation Storage Keycard and the 9mm Pistol and the 9mm Ammo Fab Plans.
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Open the door, kill another disguised mimic, and learn how Typhon Gates function.
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Jump down and find Mandy Ballard's corpse by the storage crate. Further ahead are Benjamin Wheeler under a large rock ledge and Mickey Peppers above him.
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On the far left is a typhon gate that reveals four mimics. They're all disguised as rocks, three on top of the plateau.
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Enter the crater access hallway. Get the Shotgun from near Johannes Kruse's corpse.
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Find a Typhon Lure by Michael Cheung and some loot by Kim Jung-jin.
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Go forward-left to the stone structure. Behind Jens Brehmer's corpse is often a weapon, a good one if you're lucky.
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Inside this structure is always a turret, which you can deploy against whichever enemy is here (typically phantoms).
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Find Sally Kuzmina on top of the Crew Typhon Tower. Inside it are a crate and a disabled Harvester.
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The entrance to Crew Quarter is currently bugged and unavailable. Follow along the same wall until you reach the entrance to the Escape Pods Foyer. Liza Oduye's corpse always carries a neuromod and a Stun Gun with ammo.
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Kill two mimics near this gate. One is always disguised as a rock under the small toppled-over excavator.
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Move on to the nearest stone structure and find another turret within it. Climb to the tallest rock for a med crate.
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Dispose of any typhon by the Pytheas Typhon Tower. Climb on to the roof by jumping toward a rounded corner. On the roof is a gold crate and, sometimes, a box with 2-3 neuromods in it.
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Move on to the large toppled-over excavator. On the highest nest is a crate that always has a weapon, and about half the times it's Q-Beam, which is nice to have this early on (although far from essential at this difficulty level).
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Go to the Moonworks Typhon Power: another turret in the stone structure, more enemies in and around the tower. There is a randomized fabrication plan on top of a white cargo container just below this tower.
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Finally, head for the Command Center, which is the large structure in the middle of the crater. You can enter from the subterranean level, which is always guarded by a phantom.
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On the Command Center ground floor, get some weapons from the locker behind Taka Sanada's corpse. Access the terminal and check the Escape Pods status. The two tunnels leading out of this room are useless for now.
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Take the grav shaft upstairs to the Observation Room. Deal with any typhon, typically cystoid nests or operators. Find Phang's corpse near the Volunteer Test Notes on the clipboard on the wall.
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Climb atop the Recycler on the other side of this room. Find a gold briefcase and possibly some neuromods. Open the hatch here and find Albert Leeds on the roof.
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Go to the Escape Pods Foyer. There's a gold crate under the catwalk, on the right. Proceed to the foyer proper.
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Enemies in here are typically higher level, such as a Telepath, a Weaver, or a corrupted Harvester. Find Diane Lee at left. In the supply closet, which is always open during this run, is Sophie Scoffield and some weapons.
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Andrew T. Bowman is by the Recycler that's on the upper catwalk. Isaiah Purnell is by the pods forcefield.
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Enter the one remaining pod, lock the hatch behind you with the button, and press "Launch" on the terminal.
New Character Unlocked
Joan Winslow, Engineer
I strongly recommend you backtrack to the Command Center, or even the crater access area, and drop everything you have on you, so that Joan can find it as soon as possible.
SATELLITE run I, second visit
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Install the StabilityTrack app in the simulator from the Utilities tab on the terminal. Reenter the sim.
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Andrius' first run should net you about 15,000 sim points, which you can spend to buy chipsets and items before reentering the sim as a new character. You can only purchase items whose fabrication plans you've already found.
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The most sought-after fab plans are for the neuromods, for the Delay_Loop.Time special artifact, and for the Artax Propulsion System that makes moving around Pytheas much easier. However, I've only encountered these in Andrius' first run once or twice in dozens of play-throughs, so you're likely to find them later instead.
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Joan Winslow
The Engineer
CRATER run I, Joan
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Watch the corruption level! It replaces the traditional difficulty levels, so a Phantom I is weaker than Phantom II, etc. Also, a corruption level of 2 means you need Repair II to fix broken doors and grav shafts; Repair III at 3, etc.
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Enter the sim from the Ventilation Storage room as before. Joan's built-in ability is to summon a turret, which may be useful in this first area if there are enemies, since she probably only has a wrench by now.
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Near Kruse's corpse this time there's the Artax Propulsion System (a single booster pack, not the fab plan for it) and Kruse's own Transcribe, which contains important information from head of security Vijay Bhatia.
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Go forward to the crater. Unless you're a great player, you cannot take the MoonShark now, so avoid it and make a beeline for the Command Center. Use the recycler/fabricator and/or pick items left by Andrius if needed.
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The access hallways for Crew Annex, Pytheas Labs, and Moonworks are now open, and the latter two have useful loot. There's also an underground tunnel connecting the Command Center to the Pytheas Labs access.
Pytheas Labs Access
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Jump over the locked cellar on the right. Loot a gold crate. The bodies of Vasil Michalevich and Yuri Golowin are here.
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Take the grav shaft down to the subterranean level. Madhuri Kapoor is in the bathoom with a randomized fab plan.
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The crate behind the showers usuall has a chipset. In a toilet is the StarBender 2.3 book.
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The crater annex may be an engineering bay, a trauma center, or a med bay. If it's broken, repair it and go in. If not, look for the access card. If engineering, there will be an Escape Pod Navigation Chip, which will be useful for other characters.
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In the Moonworks access, find a gold crate in the shipping container suspended in the middle of the room.
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I recommend you begin exploring with the Crew Annex, which is considerably easier than the other two areas.
CREW ANNEX run I, Joan
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There's a science crate before the grav shaft and an engineering crate near Oliver Mendy. Up at left is a maintenance hatch, and behind it a crawlspace leading to the cafeteria: this is a way to avoid the typhon gate, if you need to do so.
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Enter the Utility Room if the door is unlocked; if it's broken, repair it. Otherwise, you'll be able to enter it later.
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Inside the Utility Room, find an engineering crate and a gold crate, plus a control module under the desk at right. Claire's desk at left has the Escape Pod Navigation Chip Fab Plan. Use the fabricator and recycler if you need.
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The Utility Room is a possible location of Vijay Bhatia's corpse.
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The hatch behind the gold crate leads to the Habs 25-48 bathrooms, which is also how you can get to the Utility Room without a keycard or repair ability.
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Deactivate the typhon gate and enter the main lobby. Find Margaret McCandles at left. If either Riley Yu's office or Kenneth McAlister's office require a keycard, it will be on McCandles' body; if not, she has regular loot.
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Find Ioannis Margellos by the Teleconfering booths on the other side of the room. There's usually a weapon lying at his feet. Behind these booths is a hatch that leads to the pantry, from which you can also enter the kitchen.
Cafeteria & Kitchen
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Find Mary Quail and Rose Waterfield seated at a table on the left. Rose always has the Cocktail Lounge Storage Keycard on her.
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Find Theodore Rabiot by the kitchen entrance. If the door is open or broken, repair it and go in. If not, enter from the hatch as discussed above.
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In the kitchen locker are a gold crate and a med crate. There's a lot of food in the pantry, which can be entered via the kitchen or the hatch.
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In the rec center with the pool table there's usually a pair of disguised elemental mimics, plus the bodies of Israel Kouyate, Dale Powell, and Trey Larson. The latter also seems to appear in Moonworks, which is probably a bug.
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If Habs 9-16 require an access keycard, it will be on one of the bodies in this room.
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The locker rooms are a possible location of Vijay Bhatia's corpse.
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In the fitness center, find Caroline Russell in the weight room, Audry Young in the lockers, and Robert Tate in the basketball courts. There's also an engineering crate here, and one of the basketballs is always an elemental mimic.
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Click on the fitness center terminal to activate the basketball courts: you can go in and play if you want.
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Riley Yu's secondary office. If the door is unlocked or broken, repair it and enter. Inside there's minor loot.
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Kenneth McAlister's office. If the door is unlocked or broken, repair it and enter. Inside there's minor loot.
Habitation Pods 1-24
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1-8. Alistair Tramontin and some loot.
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9-16. Some loot, including the "dirty guy's" pod.
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Restrooms. The hatch on the upper left-hand corner of this room leads to Security next door.
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Security. Enter through the hatch and kill two phantoms, which are fixed enemies here. Get weapons from the locker behind Vijay Bhatia's terminal. The safe should be unlocked and it usually holds a neuromod and a fab plan.
Habitation Pods 25-48
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25-32. Janelle Parsons and some loot.
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33-40. Gary Glass (Luther Glass' brother?).
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41-48. Myesha Abram and StarBender 2.5.
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Restrooms. Find Alessandra Vega's body in the showers, and there's usually a fab plan nearby. One or two elemental mimics are here.
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The maintenance hatch in the lower right-hand corner of this room leads back to the Utility Room with the fabricator/recycler.
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Take the grav shaft up to the lounge level. There's usually two elemental phantoms patrolling the stairs and hallway.
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Go upstairs. Find four bodies in the shuttle foyer: Killam, Parker-Lewis, Lopez, and Redding.
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Six more in the shuttle departure hall and security booth: Mackey, Koyama, Blessing, Imada, Blank, and Ladd.
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The security booth usually has weapons and ammo, and there's always a med crate and an engineering dispenser.
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Enter the shuttle to find the bodies of Sullivan Jr. and Ramon Delgado. The latter has a Transcribe: listen to it to learn that the Piloting Connectome Joan needs to learn how to pilot the shuttle is on the body of Angela Wagner, which is somewhere on the moon. You can use the security terminal to track the body.
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In the shuttle's cargo hold there's always a gold crate and a science crate guarded by a mimic.
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Return to the shuttle foyer and take another grav shaft up to the Control Tower. Here are two bodies (Sandoval and Crosby) and usually several disguised mimics. The crawlspace above the fridge has a gold crate.
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From the shuttle foyer, enter the private offices wing, which is usually guarded by an elemental phantom. On the table at the end of the hallway is the StarBender 2.2 book.
Joan's Reverse Engineering
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As soon as you can, use 4 neuromods to acquire the Reverse Engineering ability. It allows you to destroy an item to create a fabrication plan.
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If you already have the fab plans for neuromods and the Delay_Time.Loop artifact, there is little urgency in getting this ability...
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...but if you don't, then get this ability, sacrifice a neuromod, fabricate as many as you need, and then do the same with an artifact. This lets you control the corruption level and also acquire the abilities you need (e.g., Repair III for level 3).
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Ken Mizuki's office/sickbay. Find some loot, a gold crate, and Safra's body. The hatch leads to Alex Yu's office.
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Alex Yu's office. Find some loot. The terminal and safe cannot be accessed at this time. The hatch leads back to Mizuki's office and also to the tram station just below.
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Return to the lounge level below the offices. Find the bodies of David and Dixon. Enter the cocktail lounge storage room with the keycard from the cafeteria. Inside is lots of loot and a gold crate.
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Go down the hallway toward the train station. The annex can be a med bay, a supply closet, or an engineering bay.
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In the tram station, find MacDonald's body. If the control modules are broken, repair them and call the tram.
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The tram station is a possible location of Vijay Bhatia's corpse. If it's here, it will be in the small enclosed area over the railing just opposite the door from which you came in.
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The door to the Pytheas Labs upper level must be unlocked from inside, so I recommend you go to Moonworks.
MOONWORKS run I, Joan
Tram Station and Security
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Find Cho's body by the lockers near the broken window. Past the window, kill 2-4 disguised mimics or elemental mimics below. Loot the gold briefcase. Go through the maintenance hatch.
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This maintenance crawlspace is a possible location of Vijay Bhatia's corpse.
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Break the window and approach the security booth by Belenov's body. There's usually weapons inside.
Support Systems
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There's a ton of food in the dining area, Hale's body, and usually a neuromod.
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Enter Brian Chung's office on the right. If you can't enter, you can break the dining area window, shimmy around, and enter Chung's office from its own window, which is already broken.
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In the office, find a recycler and fabricator, a gold crate, and Tyler's bracelet ID in the wastebasket.
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Go downstairs in Support Sytems, find a science crate and often an operator, and Castro's body by the humming equipment on the right. Continue down to the typhon gate and exit to the quarry.
Quarry
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Rahman's body is on top of the large boulder just ahead. Loot a gold crate inside a shipping container. Fix the grav shaft if you can: at this point, you're probably at Corruption Level 3 and need Repair III.
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In the other container, find Stafford's body, his Transcribe, and the "shopping list" for loading the mass driver.
Mass Driver Shopping List
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Do not escape with Joan via this method!
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If Vijay escapes with the mass driver, instead, it will unlock his story objective in the next run.
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But since you're doing so much exploration with Joan, it's smart to load the mass cannon with the items that Vijay will need later.
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Load 5 food items, 5 non-alcoholic drinks, and 1 anti-rad bottle into the crate inside the shipping container with Stafford's body.
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There's miscellaneous loot and areas of interest around this area of the quarry: Khan's body and his gold briefcase on the broken bridge overlooking the grav shaft, an engineering crate by the typhon gate, another at the bottom of the pit near the operator dispenser, two supply crates by the shipping containers, and random ammo and food all around. There's also a supply crate next to the locked door of Claire Whitten's maintenance office at the far left.
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From the broken bridge with Khan's body, you can enter a crawlspace that leads to every other area on this level of Moonworks, effectively providing you with an easy way to move around undetected.
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Refinery
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You can enter this area either through the large door or via the annex at right, if it's unlocked or if you can repair it.
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Find four bodies on the Refinery ground floor: Conway by the crate near the annex door, Gain near the containers on fire (use gloo so you don't get hurt), and Nicholas at the bottom of the staircase leading up to Winslow's office. The latter always holds the Escape Pods Foyer Keycard.
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The large tank in the middle of the refinery has loot at the very top, including food and usually a weapon.
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The shipping containers on the right have various loot. Some are locked and must be hacked by Claire later. The container that's suspended in midair has a gold briefcase.
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From the broken catwalk here, you can pass the typhon gate and find yourself on the stairs leading up the Mass Driver control room. You can also simply take the grav shaft up, but you miss out on some loot.
Joan Winslow's Workshop
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Enter via the main door on the right side, via the door at the end of the broken catwalk, or via the hole in the ceiling (climb up from the rocks).
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Find Joan's Transcribe, at least 2-3 neuromods on the same desk, and the StarBender 2.4 book.
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The safe in this room can only be hacked, later, by Claire Whitten.
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The desk with the turrets usually has a fab plan.
Escape Pods Foyer
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You can enter with the keycard, or through the crawlspace that you can access from atop Winslow's workshop.
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Savage's body is under some rocks on the left, and Bhoyar's body is near the escape pods themselves. If the supply room is locked, one of these two crewmembers will have the key.
Mass Driver Control
- On the stairs leading up to Mass Driver control are Hong's and Boyle's bodies, and there's also usually a phantom.
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Walk or jump across the bridge, loot a science crate, and take another grav shaft up to Mass Driver Control. There's a body here marked as "Trey Larson," which is identical to the Trey Larson in Crew Quarters, so it may be a bug.
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To access the room labelled "Fueling" you need the Fueling Storage Keycard. It's usually on a Harvester, and often on the one that's up here, so destroy them until you find it. Inside the room is a gold crate and at least a fab plan.
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The room labelled "Harvester Control" has Larsen's body, and often neuromods. The safe here must be hacked.
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Ride the grav shaft up to Mass Driver Control Room and find Walton's body.
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From this room, you can activate the Mass Driver to escape, but only do this with Vijay, not with Joan.
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There is miscellaneous loot all around this room, on all three levels, but nothing major.
Crater Access
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The area near Crater Access has several discrete locations that are easy to miss:
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On the upward slope from the Refinery are two shipping containers and usually an etheric phantom.
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From the top of the slope, go left and downhill to find a randomized weapon among a mass of boulders.
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Opposite the boulders, on top of a square rock, is Strandhäll's body.
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Past Crater Access and going back toward the Quarry, there's a shipping container next to Vavilov's body.
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In Crater Access, find Rybak's body on the stars at right next to the mining foreman's office. If the office is unlocked (or broken and you can repair it), there's a gold crate inside and usually some neuromods.
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Continuing on this side of Crater Access are some drinks, a supply crate, and the locker rooms with useful loot.
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On the other side of Crater Access is plenty of loot, including usually at least one fab plan and a chipset.
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There's a med crate on the crane platform suspended in the middle, above the recycler and fabricator.
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Leave to the Crater when you're done.
PYTHEAS LABS run I, Joan
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Clear typhon from the Crater again if you need to. If you stayed at the same corruption level since the last time you visited, though, there will be no respawns. Enter Pytheas Labs from the Crater.
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Find Sakamoto's body. Ignore Typhon Containment at right, and go into Volunteer Prep at left instead.
Volunteer Prep
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Find Marin's body, a science crate, and a science operator. Go out and then left into the restrooms. Dyzuba's body always holds 500 stun gun batteries, plus randomized loot.
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From the security terminal in the first room on the right, open volunteer cells 1, 2, 4, 5. You'll need Riley to open 3.
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Find Burov's and Vasin's bodies outside the cells and some loot inside the cells, including a microchip in #2.
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Open the cell at the end of the hallway with the button and kill the typhon, usually operators or etheric phantoms.
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Find Sanders' body and enter Andrius' glass-enclosed cell in the middle. Get some neuromods from his bed and the StarBender 2.6 book, plus a lot of food and drinks.
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Return to Volunteer Prep and proceed down the hallway. Find three bodies: Smythe, Cotman, and Wei.
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Enter Deployment and find Bettens' body under a desk.
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This is a possible location of the Weapons Research Keycode: on a sticky note on the whiteboard.
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Go to the next room over and open the typhon containment gates below via the terminal.
Typhon Containment Area
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The phantoms you just unleashed are usually a thermal and an etheric, plus two more phantoms and/or a Weaver and/or a Telepath roaming free.
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Once you get the Psychoscope (read on), return here to scan the Weaver and the Nightmare that are contained in the large holding cells. This will allow you to unlock important abilities.
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At the bottom end of this room is a gold crate, plus an engineering crate in the middle and some miscellaneous loot all around.
Research Labs
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Find Mak's body by the large door at right and Riendeau's in a crawlspace overlooking the suspended yellow tanks.
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On the right is the escape pods foyer; on the left are four labs along the same hallway leading to Weapons Research.
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Psychotronics Research. Find two bodies (Steward and Kruglov). Click on the terminal under Utilities to reveal the Psychostatic Cutter in the containment area.
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This lab is a possible location of Angela Wagner's corpse, which you need to escape as Joan. On her body, find a neuromod and the Piloting Connectome. Install the ability to pilot the shuttle.
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Isolation Chamber. Find Schwanholz's body and listen to her Transcribe. There's a science crate on the left.
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This is a possible location of the Weapons Research Keycode: on a sticky note on the whiteboard.
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This is the room from which you can escape through the Mimic Portal, but only with Andrius' character.
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Morgue. Find Cheema's and Bells's bodies, plus a weapon and minor loot.
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This is a possible location of the Weapons Research Keycode: on a sticky note on the wall by the door.
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Behavioral Analytics. If the door's locked, break the window. Find Tsai's body and the StarBender 2.1 book.
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This is a possible location of the Weapons Research Keycode: on a sticky note on the wall by the door.
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Psychotronics Weapons Research + Weapons Lab Storage
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Enter from either side by using the keycode. The enemy here is usually a thermal phantom or a corrupted operator.
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Cloud's and Gately's bodies are here, and the Weapons Lab Storage Keycard is often on the latter; or it may be already unlocked, or repairable. If it has to be hacked, of course, you can't get in. Pashaei's body is inside.
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Use the recycler and fabricator as needed.
Escape Pod Foyer
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There's a medical crate and an engineering crate in the hallway. Go forward and find Shiskin's body.
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The supply room has a gold crate and Murphy's body and is usually unlocked. The back alley has Bahdari's body.
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The rest of this area is a standard escape pod foyer, with minimal loot.
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The back alley in the escape pods foyer is a a possible location of Angela Wagner's corpse.
Upper Level
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Take the grav shaft upstairs and press the button to unlock the door and the next section of the Pytheas Labs.
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The typhon here are usually either corrupted operators or a Telepath with 4-5 mind-controlled humans.
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Find Tevet's body in the restrooms on the right; usually it carries neuromods or other rare loot.
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Near the security booth, find Sychev's and Harper's bodies, plus some loot. In the booth, you can unlock whatever doors in the research labs below that may be locked. If Weapons Storage needs a keycard, it's on a body in Pytheas.
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Weapons Storage usually contains 1-2 weapons, a gold briefcase, a chipset, a fab plan, and some food.
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The maintenance hatch that leads to the train station is a possible location of Angela Wagner's corpse.
Conference Room and Riley Yu's Office
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If the main staircase is broken, reach the top level by climbing on the pipes just outside the restrooms.
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Loot the conference room, including a safe behind the desk (usually containing rare loot), lots of food, a fab plan and/or chipset on a filing cabinet in the back, and the maintenance hatch leading to the restrooms below.
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This maintenance crawlspace is a possible location of Vijay Bhatia's corpse.
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In Riley's office, find McAlister's body and a gold briefcase. On the desk are usually some neuromods.
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Go to Data Archive upstairs, find Marrone's body, and Riley Yu's body with the Psychoscope next to it.
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Leave via the station (find Paskas' body there) or via the Crater Access.
Escaping with Joan
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You must return to Crew Annex and pilot the shuttle, but before you do so, I recommend that you return to the crater to leave your items for the next character. This takes some backtracking, and some of it is dangerous if Joan is unarmed... but she has Electrostatic Burst to defend herself and deactivate typhon gates, or you can give her one or two weapons just in case. Either way, I recommend you leave all your neuromods, weapons (repair them first, since other characters have no repair skills), Delay artifacts, and trauma kits in the Crater near the beginning.
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Once back in the Crew Annex, install the Piloting connectome you got from Angela Wagner (one neuromod), and finally escape by piloting the shuttle.
New Characters Unlocked
Vijay Bhatia, Security Officer
Riley Yu, Pytheas Director
Ideally, you should have between 100K and 150K sim points by now.
SATELLITE run I, third visit
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Watch the slideshow from home and reenter the sim.
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It makes no difference if you do the next turn with Riley vs. Vijay, so just pick one.
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Either way, in the Ready Room be sure to choose only the chipsets and items that you really need, saving points for the beginning of the second run, when you'll need them more.
Riley Yu
The Director
CRATER run I, Riley
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Corruption level increase. At this level, corruption increase about twice as fast as before.
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Find the items that Joan left for you and install Riley's abilities. Psychoshock and Necropsy are by far the most useful: the first allows you to disable most typhon and even one-shot kill phantoms, while the latter lets you collect tons of exotic material to make neuromods for yourself and other characters.
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Clear the Crater of any typhon you want to engage, or go straight to Pytheas Labs.
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If the security terminal in the Crater Command Center shows that one of the three areas has no power, repair it by fabricating two control modules and installing them in the Power Room near the grav shafts (alternatively, destroy two Harvesters outside and steal their control modules).
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PYTHEAS LABS run I, Riley
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Go to Riley's office on the upper floor and access her terminal. Click on "Channel 0" from the Utilities tab to hear a message from Alex Yu from Talos I. From the same terminal, unlock volunteer cell #3 downstairs.
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That cell holds three neuromods and Dawson's body.
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Go upstairs to Data Archive, pick up the Data Vault Operator from a desk, and install it next to the terminal. Try to copy all the research, but some data is missing: you need to generate a phantom from a corpse and scan it.
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Check your Neuromods screen to see if the Phantom Genesis II ability is unlocked. If so, acquire it. If not, scan the weaver in the Typhon Containment area and then install the ability.
- Potential game-breaking bug. You need to scan two weavers to unlock this ability. By now you should have done so. If not, and you've already killed all the typhon everywhere, you must wait for the next corruption level when all typhon respawn. In the unlikely event that you're already at level 5 and there are no remaining typhon anywhere, you must reset the simulation!
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Follow the marker to the location of the volunteer that you need to transform. If it's in the Crew Annex, it will by in the fitness center; if it's in the Moonworks, it will be either in Joan's office or in Mass Driver control.
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Once you find it, reanimate it with Phantom Genesis II (it's usually a voltaic phantom), quickly neutralize its psi abilities with a nullwave or the psychoscope, scan it before killing it, and finally kill it.
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Return to Pytheas Labs, finish the copy, and move the Data Vault Operator to the slot facing the red chair.
Escape with Riley
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Before you escape, be sure to:
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collect as much typhon material as possible from corpses, including throwable typhon spores from nests
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load the Companion Operator with your items for the next character to use: finally no more backtracking!
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Finally, sit on the big red chair and escape by uploading your consciousness.
SATELLITE run I, fourth visit
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Resolve the oxygen problem: open the hatch on the ceiling, follow the crawlspace to the computer terminal, click on Diagnostics and then on Run Check.
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Overhear the conversation between "Basilisk" and "Teddy," which gives you a hint as to what's really going on...
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Reenter the sim when ready.
Vijay Bhatia
The Security Officer
MULTIPLE LOCATIONS run I, Vijay
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Corruption level increase. At this level, corruption increases about twice as fast as before.
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When speccing Vijay, I recommend a tank build. His health can be maximized to a whopping 380 by installing all the Fitness abilities and wearing the BO1 chipset. This, along with the Integral Structure chipset and Mobility I-II, results in a super-fast and super-resistant character that's pretty much built to kill typhon.
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Depending on your confidence, let the corruption level rise to 4 or 5 and kill as many typhon as you can. The goal of this turn, which is the last of this run, is to gain as many sim points as possible. In some runs, I've had well over 200,000 by the time that the sim resets.
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Don't bother uploading your items to the Companion Operator, since the sim is about to reset.
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Escape with the Mass Driver to unlock Vijay's story objective in the next run.
SATELLITE run I, fifth visit
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Speak to Basilisk and reenter the simulation. The sim resets and you can start a fresh run with 4 available characters.