Day 4 | Survival Guide Starbound Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
On the previous day, we have focused on the crafting of the basic tools and items, as well as on mining foe ores from the depths of the planet. On day 4, we are going to focus on smelting the ores that you have acquired, crafting your first armor and weapons, as well as on cultivating the soil.
Crafting of weaponry
It is time to put the materials, which you have acquired, into use. Start by crafting two important pieces of equipment: Stone Furnace (25x Cobblestone and a Campfire) and Iron Anvil (8x Iron Bar). You obtain the Iron Bar after smelting 2x Iron Ore in the Stone Furnace (Press Smelt). You are going to need 16x Iron Ore, to create one Iron Anvil. Then, place it in your cottage and throw in the rest of the lumps (Copper Ore and Iron Ore) into the Stone Furnace. It may take some time to smelt them into bars.
What you need at current is the armor. Your first armor may not be too astonishing, but this is better than nothing and you are going to need it to craft a better armor in the future. Collect the smelted bars and approach the Iron Anvil. To craft a full armor set off copper (Copper Helmet, Copper Chestpiece and Copper Graves), you are going to need 67x Iron Bar, i.e. 134 Iron Ore. Their armor and the weapons are crafted in the same way as the rest of the items. Activate the item and find the abovementioned armor pieces. Click on each one of them and press Craft. Do the same to craft the weapon. Select one of the available kinds of weapons (Broadsword is very good for beginners) and click Craft again. Remember that you cannot make weapons off Copper, only with Iron. Depending on what kind of weapon you select, you are going to need 2 to 20 Iron Bars.
Soil cultivation
You should be able to kill monsters with the new weapon without any problems, in one blow. The copper armor will absorb some of the damage that you receive. Since you are done with the safety measures, you can now take to creating a garden for yourself. Cultivation of soil in Starbound is not too complicated and it will provide you with constant flow of food. To cultivate soil, you are going to need a Stone Hoe, Seeds and a bit of a grassland. You have already crafted the Stone Hoe, and you received sees at the very beginning of the game, from the ship's storage. Now you only need to find some grassland, best if it is close to the house and use the Stone Hoe (LMB) on it, to clear it and prepare for sowing. Now you only need to select the seeds from the shortcut bar (each race has different seeds, e.g. Corn Seed or Banana Seed), and place it in the initially prepared soil, with the Matter Manipulator (the above screenshot). It is ready now. Now you only need to wait. The entire process may take between 10 minutes and 2 hours, depending on the individual plant. Once the plant ripens, click on it (E), to harvest 1-2 seeds and the edible part of the plant (e.g. Banana, Carrot or Corn). The process can be repeated over and over again, because you will be always receiving seeds from the plants that you harvest. You can also sow them aboard your ship, to have a constant access to food.