The Alters has just dropped from 11 bit studios, and as with their previous titles (This War of Mine, FrostPunk) there’s a lot to take in. Fret not though, the team at Gamer Social Club have got you covered with our The Alters Beginner’s Guide!
You can check out our review for The Alters here!
Resource Management
First off, The Alters is a survival game, and with that comes resources you need to mine and manage. You can find some surface-level deposits in the overworld that you can mine by hand, but in order to actually get anything done, you’ll need some mining outposts.
Each resource can be found in the world by looking out for its own specific environmental signifier. Metals can be found in orange tinted areas; Organics are underneath places with blue smoke; Rapidium has a cool refractive effect; Minerals are a dark, shiny purple, and Enriched Metals can be mined in sections with a green glow and a radiation warning.
Other materials, such as Polymers, must be refined in your base, and certain materials need the Luminator upgrade from the Research Lab to collect.
Once you’ve located a resource, use your polygonal scanner to find the mining point. You can use a scan wave to see the direction of the deposit after placing down 3 probes. This uses a battery charge from your suit, but it is quite useful for speeding up the process.
After finding the location of the deposit, you can build your mining outpost and pylons. These need to be crafted from the Workshop in your base, so make sure you have enough before scanning. Each outpost makes for a fast travel point, and you can recharge your suit battery there also.
When placing pylons, you’ll want to set them up so that other resources can utilise the same ones. There’s no limit to the amount of resources running down a specific line, so having a central pylon near your base that you can run multiple resources through is ideal. Later, you’ll also unlock fast travel pylons, which can be placed in the centre of an area to make further exploration easier.
Fast travel is also important so you don’t die of radiation poisoning. Working in the enriched metals areas will increase radiation, and so will working later when the sun is nearby, or working outside during a magnetic storm. Keep an eye on your levels!
Your Alters
Each of your alters comes with a specific skill set, some of which are much more important to progression than the others. After branching into the mandatory Technician alter first, we’d recommend picking the Scientist alter. As mentioned in the resource management section, some resources can only be unlocked by using researched equipment, and the scientist is the only alter that can use the Research Lab to unlock upgrades. Prioritise resource mining upgrades and the base expansions asap, as it makes managing and storing enough resources a lot easier.
For your other alters, they each have bonuses to different things. The Miner gets an increase to metals mined (shocker), the Refiner to refining things, and so on. Certain ones are also locked behind progression and upgrading your base/quantum computer so make sure you’re getting as much research done as possible.
In terms of other bonuses, each alter can also teach you a lesson. These lessons give you perks and can also unlock new dialogue options. In order to unlock them, you’ll need to fulfil tasks from that specific alter, so keep an eye out for when they ask for things.
It’s also in your best interest to keep your alters as happy as possible. You can give them personal items you find exploring the planet, watch movies with them, and even play beer pong if you have a social room. Keeping them fed with actual food, goes a long way too so get a Greenhouse asap!
People Management
In return for cloning them, your alters can work around the base and outside mining resources. There’s an assignment tab in the game menu, where you can assign each alter a task.
Mining tasks take up the full day, and they will continue until you reassign them. Base tasks will complete after a time, and then your alters will ask if they should take care of other available tasks. As above, certain ones get bonuses to certain tasks and generally letting them do something they enjoy will boost their mood.
There’s also a system to keep on top of consumables. You can set specific items to have a production uphold, meaning that there’s an automatic task generated to manufacture a certain amount of an item. For example, you need at minimum one Radiation Filter per day. Setting up a Production Uphold of three means that whenever you have less than three, one automatically gets added to the production schedule in the Workshop. Whenever you or an alter uses the workshop, they’ll manufacture however many are needed to ensure the stock is back at maximum.
Use this for raw food in the Greenhouse, Cooked Meals in the Kitchen and Repair Kits and Radiation Filters in the Workshop!
Exploration
The planet you’re stranded on is a dangerous place, but there are a lot of things to be discovered if you explore effectively. As above, you’ll want to set the scientist up with research things that help with exploration asap. Things like the improved climbing hook are essential for Act 2, so the faster you can get it, the better.
Before that though, you’ll want to make sure you have enough charge in your suit battery to get where you want to go. You can carry as many of these as you need (I’d recommend 2), and you can recharge the primary battery at fast travel points.
There’s also a myriad of obstacles that you’ll need certain tools to bypass. It’s always a good idea to keep drill cartridges and other exploration items in your inventory as you go out looking for resources or story beats.
Early on, you’ll start to encounter things called anomalies. At first, it doesn’t seem like you can bypass, but if you walk slowly around them you can navigate your way to other points on the map (also, don’t worry, you’ll get a method of dealing with them through the Luminator upgrade).
Base Building
At first, you might seem a bit frustrated with the awkward shape of your base. The good news is that it can be expanded, and you can also research new storage options to keep things under control.
At the beginning, the most important thing to remember is that you can only travel based on your maximum level of Organics. You start with a capacity of 300 Organics, and this will NOT increase until you upgrade your base.
Each new module you add to your base increases the amount of Organics required to move your base at the end of the act. If your base mass exceeds your maximum Organics capacity, it cannot move. This is why getting the Scientist for upgrades is so important, and why you should really consider what modules you require.
The Refinery, Workshop, and Research Lab are all mandatory to progress. Things like the Greenhouse are optional, but recommended as it keeps your crew happy. The infirmary is useful, as it helps reduce your own radiation levels and will allow injured alters to heal up, but it’s not mandatory. If you’re struggling to move on, have a look at your storage (destroy some leftover Rapidium if necessary) and remove a few small storage areas before getting rid of rooms.
And that’s all you need to know from our The Alters Beginner’s Guide. There’s a lot more to learn as you move through the game, but hopefully these tips will get you off to a good start!
