A Custom Game is a template[1] with which medium to experienced players create a new game world. What makes Custom Games challenging is that these sandbox maps have no guidance and “throw you into the deep end”.
Alternatively, you could also create a new game from a Scenario, which is recommended for beginners.
Usage[]
How to create a custom game[]
- On the main screen, click New Game.
- Go to the Custom Game tab.
- Select, for example, "Star System".
When making a new custom world, players are presented with a list of World Settings (see there) to choose from, such as environment hostility, Progression, presence of NPC encounters, game rules that affect “grindiness”, and more. Remember that you have to enable Experimental mode for some world settings. On this screen, you can also add Mods.
Are there size limits?[]
On PC, the "infinite" world expands as the player explores it.
In the default templates available on Xbox and Playstation, there's only three planets at a time, and the world is limited in size, but practically, you will not notice that size limit during gameplay. Newer faster consoles can handle more planets.
Can I add planets and stuff?[]
Yes you can customize your custom game as you please. In all custom worlds in singleplayer, you can switch to Creative Mode and add or move planets, spawn in grids from Blueprints, or install mods or plugins.
You can switch back to Survival Mode any time, or open up the custom game for Multiplayer.
Custom Games with planets[]
Star System / Home System[]
Star System is the most popular and most commonly used preset for starting advanced adventures in Survival Mode.
- On PC, it creates one solar system with all default planets (at the time of writing, Earthlike, Moon, Mars, Alien, Triton, Europa, Titan, Pertam).
- On consoles[2], your three options are:
- Home System (Earthlike, Moon, Mars),
- Distant Worlds/Alien System (Alien planet, Pertam),
- Distant Moons (Europa, Titan, Triton).
The spawn point selection screen when starting a new custom game
Starting locations in the star system represent varying difficulty levels, depending on how hard it is to find resources and maintain life support.
- Survival is easier on planets with an atmosphere.
- Lifting off is easier from planets with low gravity.
- Ice planets lack basic resources[3] but are great for oxygen and hydrogen production.
- The hardest start is „space suit only” with just handtools and a weapon in space.[4]
Earth Planet (Easy Start Earth)[]
Start on the Earthlike planet with oxygen, resource nodes, a large ground base, and three small ships. Contains all default planets and asteroids, and Space Pirates. It's based on EasyStation.
Mars Planet (Easy Start Mars)[]
Start on the Mars planet with a large ground base and three small ships. You will need to manage oxygen and deal with low atmosphere. Contains all default planets and asteroids, and Space Pirates. It's based on EasyStation.
Moon Base (Easy Start Moon)[]
Start on the Moon, near the Earthlike planet with a large ground base and three small ships. You will need to manage oxygen, and deal with no atmosphere and low gravity. Contains all default planets and asteroids, and Space Pirates. It's based on EasyStation.
Alien Planet (Easy Start Alien)[]
Start on the Alien planet with a large ground base and three small ships. You will need to deal with low oxygen, a rugged landscape, high gravity, hard to find resources, and alien wildlife. Contains all default planets and asteroids, and Space Pirates. It's based on EasyStation.
Custom Games set in space[]
Red Ship (Easy Start Red)[]
The player spawns on an open platform in space with all the facilities they'll need to survive. Three Small Ships (a Fighter, a Miner, and a Constructor) are docked here. The Large Ship Big Red is hovering alongside the platform. A second large ship, Big Blue, can be found nearby in space. Asteroid belt only, no planets.
Green Station (Easy Start Green)[]
The player spawns on a large, fully constructed space station with several large and small ships. Like on the Red Ship map, the two large-grid ships Big Red and Big Blue are found at or near the station. There are only two small ships docked here, one is a Fighter and the other is a Constructor. There is also a ready-to-build framework for a large ship floating in space nearby, consisting mostly of incomplete armor blocks. Asteroid belt only, no planets.
Crashed Red Ship[]
The player wakes up in the wreckage of a large red ship that has crashed into an asteroid. The ship was Big Red, but is missing most of its front half. It lacks the basic utilities, but a space engineer can restore it to be flyable again with resources from the asteroid. This is an interesting intermediate space-only Survival challenge. Asteroid belt only, no planets.
Lone Survivor[]
On this map, the player lives on a platform on an asteroid with multiple utilities at hand: Beacon, Control Seat, Refinery, Assembler, Small Reactor, and no ships. (The set of upside down Landing Gear magnetically holds any ships to be repaired and wrecks to be salvaged in zero gravity.) Survival is easy if you manage your power and oxygen, from here you can jump straight to base and ship building, salvage or piracy. Asteroid belt only, no planets.
Rival Platforms[]
This map is similar to the Lone Survivor platform (see there for details), except that now there are two identical stations near each other. This is an ideal quick start for multiplayer games with two competing players/teams. Asteroid belt only, no planets.
Showcase worlds[]
Dead Drop Arena[]
This is a 4-versus-4 multiplayer PvP battle arena set in space. It comes with eight space ships docked in a station above planet Mars. No other planets nor timed objectives. Its main purpose is to facilitate a quick freeform PvP battle.
Pertam Orbiter[]
Explore an industrial asteroid base above Pertam and remotely connect to a rover in the desert base below. The asteroid base makes a nice start or end point for a Pertam playthrough. No other planets nor objectives.
Asteroid Armory[]
Play as the red or blue faction, PvP against friends, or go solo and engage in a bit of PvE piracy in this prebuilt conflict zone. This showcase features the upgraded iconic ships Big Red and Big Blue. Hunt NPC cargo ships and use the Asteroid Armory as a weapons test platform. Asteroid belt only, asteroid station, battle ships, NPC ships, no planets.
Creative Mode Templates[]
Empty World[]
This map is intended for Creative Mode only, serving as a clean canvas to build in zero gravity. The player spawns in an empty world without ships, planets, stations, or asteroids.
Experienced players can use it to manually add planets, workshop blueprints, and mods in Creative Mode -- and then switch to Survival Mode.
References[]
- ↑ The Differences between Custom Starts (Reddit)
- ↑ "The Xbox now includes all planets/moons, but only 3 are currently allowed per map." -- Source: Reddit
- ↑ Hint: Jetpack up and mine asteroids for resources instead.
- ↑ Hint: Take over passing NPC ships to survive in a "space suit only" scenario.