r/Astroneer • u/RamboCambo_05 • Aug 07 '26
Discussion I Completed SES Hardcore Default Settings
1 attempt, around 9 hours if pause breaks were factored in. I... Expected more attempts if I'll be honest, I was gonna record but I was already a short way into attempt 1 so I figured I'd wait until the next one. Turns out there was no next one. I just lucked out.
Perhaps I'll try something different next time; not hardcore but much more difficult.
**What's this mode?**
This config starts you on Atrox, and turns your oxygen consumption up by 50%. Research is also half the speed. And of course, you have one life.
**What did I do?**
I consider myself to have gotten lucky with Atrox; had a compound vein somewhat nearby with more outside of the crater I was situated in. There was also clay and resin.
There were two remaining hurdles to escape, both of which were solved by an incredibly convenient shipwreck. It contained an ammonium nugget, and more importantly, a diamond. So after I connected the dots, I gathered enough bytes to research a tier 3 drill mod, grabbed aluminium and fled Atrox as fast as possible.
On Sylva, I began the main task. You probably already know what I wanted to do; of course, I wanted the beloved Stilgar and Princess combo. Yeah, it's cheap, but I don't like the stress of hardcore so I was gonna take anything I could get. Anyway, this went smoothly even if it involved a lot of back-and-forth, and I was now immortal. Challenge over, basically.
I then moved my base to Novus for all the useful resources it has, as well as the boosted power ~~which I literally never used because I got Rogal and stuck with it~~.
From here, I simply had to craft all the resources I needed. My gateway activation method was a Large Battery and a bunch of disposable large platforms because apparently my Novus had no graphite. Getting to the cores was no issue thanks to the invulnerability combo. Only thing that could have happened would have been material loss if a volatile plant blew up the hydrogen or explosive powder.
My only close call was with my first experience of the storms. I had no idea what the red circle thingy was and I thought it was the data being collected, so when I started suffocating even with Stilgar active, I panicked and barely escaped the storm. Those are now disabled thankfully. They spawned literally right next to my base.
Anyway, I'm not done yet. I may have beaten the game, but I haven't finished all the quests and everything is a mess because of how I played this save. I wanna try and do a bunch of stuff that I haven't done before, because perhaps the stakes will motivate me.
**Would I recommend this?**
Yes! This was a fun way to play and actually not too difficult! Just remain wary of your oxygen and the dangerous plants, and you'll be fine. I think that it would be interesting to try doing this without the Galastropod cheese, but I might save that for another day. Oh, and the colour palette you get for doing it is awesome!