Best tips for beginners – My time at Sandrock

Welcome to Sandrock. It’s a pretty peaceful place to be, so long as you don’t run into any cock-a-doodle-dooms. Want to get your workshop running quickly? Here are some tips for beginners to get you started.

Increase your inventory size

Your pockets are going to fill up quickly when you begin. Thankfully, expanding your inventory is a really easy thing to do, and you can do it starting from the moment your feet touch dust. There’s a more in-depth look at inventory management here, but if you want the short version of it:

Open your inventory, scroll to the furthest corner of it, and you’ll see a plus (+) symbol. Click on that, and you’ll be able to pay for some extra slots in your pockets.

Your facilities need TLC

Did your workshop grind to a halt? Is your forge not forging? There are a few possible reasons for this.

First, each piece of equipment (aside from the basic workbench) requires fuel to run. The most readily available source of fuel is dregs, but you can also use wood or power stones. To add fuel, interact with the equipment. On the main screen, you’ll see an orange and brown circle. Beneath that, there’s a plus (+) and an auto button. Click on the plus to select what gets burned for fuel. The auto will just choose the optimal fuel for the job. That might mean something you want to stockpile gets burned. Just a warning.

Secondly, most of your equipment requires water to stay running. There’s a more in-depth guide to finding water and filling your tank over here. The short version is the big water tank on the side of your house needs to be filled at all times.

Finally, sand can build up after sandstorms, which causes your equipment to lose efficiency before stopping entirely. You’ll need a feather duster to kick the sand off of them. To create one, you’ll need feathers, which can be found by kicking trees.

Don’t cut down the trees and cacti

If you’re familiar with crafting survival games, your first instinct when you begin might be to grab your axe and go to town on the local flora. Don’t do it. When you first cut down a tree or cactus, Burgess will show up and warn you that it’s against the law.

If you continue to cut down living trees, you’ll be fined 100 gol for each time you’re caught, as well as lose 25 relationship points with Burgess. Deadwood can be cut just fine, and so can bushes. Beyond that, you can also get your wood by finding wood scrap and putting it through a recycler.

Keep doing commissions

Commissions found in the commerce office might seem a little mundane next to the narrative’s main objectives when you first begin. Usually, they just involve processing a specific resource or building a piece of equipment. The rewards might also not strike you as very tantalizing at first. However, doing them benefits you in a few ways you might not initially realize.

They are a great way to boost your relationships with NPCs. Once you reach certain thresholds with the townsfolk, you’ll start receiving additional benefits, such as discounts in various shops. Another good reason to do them is that you will gain reputation that increases your workshop’s rank and leads to better rewards and commissions.

Just make sure you can complete the commissions that you take. Meaning you will have access to the needed resources and blueprints. If you take a job that you can’t complete, abandoning it will cost you reputation and relationship points. If you’re not sure you have everything you need, maybe double-check before taking the commission.