Awakenings

The subject of this article is from the Prisms update.
The information from this article is up-to-date as of 31 August, 2021.

Awakenings
Mission type	Primary
Mission series	Artemis Path
Preceded by:	N/A
Followed by:	Alone Amidst the Stars
Starting point:	N/A (when starting a new game)
Requires:	N/A
Implemented	Atlas Rises
Description	Find Us, Hear Us First story mission and introduction to the game's mechanics

Awakenings is a primary mission.

Summary

Awakenings is the game's very first story mission and also acts as an introduction to the game's mechanics for new players. The mission tasks the player with finding and repairing what appears to be their starship, then tracking a mysterious signal throughout the galaxy.

Full Outline

• Test and Repair Multi-Tool Systems
• Investigate your surroundings
• Repair starship and multi-tool systems
• Leave the planet
• Test Starship Systems
• Track the mysterious signal
• Find the Cache
• Establish a Base: Build a Terrain Manipulator
• Establish a Base: Collect Chromatic Metal
• Establish and Construct a Base
• Investigate Base Computer Archives
• Find Base Modules: Unearth Blueprints
• Explore the planet and expand your base
• Investigate the Base Computer Archives
• Reach the Decoded Coordinates
• Install the Hyperdrive
• Craft Warp Fuel: Find Antimatter
• Craft a Warp Cell: Antimatter Housing
• Craft Warp Fuel
• Fuel the Hyperdrive
• Go Interstellar
• Follow the Anomalous Signal
• Fuel the Hyperdrive
• Warp to Another System
• Follow Starship Automatic Guidance
• Locate your Benefactor
• Travel to the stranger's coordinates

Walkthrough

Introduction

I find myself alone on a strange world, unequipped and in danger. I have no memory of how I got here, no sense of a before.

My Exosuit at least seems to know what it's doing, and I am not dead yet...

The player will spawn on a hazardous planet (valid Biomes for the planet: Toxic, Scorched, Frozen, Irradiated). They should mine 75 Ferrite Dust as soon as possible to repair the Scanner, as they will spawn with low Hazard Protection and finding Sodium without a functioning Scanner can be difficult. Players are advised to stockpile Sodium from yellow sodium rich flowers and/or hide in caves if/when storms occur. Also, the player should find a cave to recharge their Hazard Protection and mine some Cobalt to make Ion Batteries for recharging protection outside of the cave.

It is strongly advised that the player does not receive help from other players during this opening mission; as being given items needed will skip tutorials and fail to make log entries. Worst of all, it will stop the player from receiving certain blueprints, such as the Base Computer module or Hermetic Seal, which cannot be found elsewhere in the game.

Repairing The Starship

The player should next seek the signal of their crashed Starship. Entering the starship will then prompt them to repair their starship through the secondary mission Starship Repair: Critical Maintenance. The player will need Metal Plating and a Hermetic Seal to repair their starship. Metal Plating can be crafted with 50 Ferrite Dust, then used to begin repairs on the starship's Pulse Engine. Afterwards, the player will be directed through the secondary mission Starship Repair: Gather Materials to check the Distress Beacon after they repair the starship and reenter it, for coordinates to an abandoned building where they can find a Hermetic Seal. They cannot craft the seal yet as the player does not start with the blueprint unlocked.

The beacon will be interrupted by a strange message from a red glowing sphere before the player is given a Planetary Chart. Plotting a course using this chart will mark the location of the Hermetic Seal (found within a Shelter building) for the player to retrieve. A storm is guaranteed to occur during the trip to acquire the Hermetic Seal, so players should keep an eye out for caves or shelter on the journey which can be used to wait out the storm when it arrives.

Once the Hermetic Seal has been retrieved (and the blueprint learned), the player will be directed through the secondary mission Multi-Tool Expansion: Analysis Visor to install and test the Analysis Visor in order to find their way back to their starship and finish repairs of the Pulse Engine.

With the Pulse Engine now repaired (and at 50% fuel capacity), the player will now be directed, still through the mission Starship Repair: Gather Materials, to repair the starship's Launch Thrusters using 50 Pure Ferrite and Di-hydrogen Jelly. Pure Ferrite can be refined from Ferrite Dust using a Portable Refiner at a 1:1 rate, and Di-hydrogen Jelly can be crafted from 40 Di-hydrogen. The Scanner is useful at this time for locating sources of Di-hydrogen, which are blue coloured crystals.

Once the Launch Thrusters are repaired (and restored to 50% fuel capacity), the player can get in their starship and finally leave the planet. Upon entering space, the player will have an opportunity to practice moving forward in space, boosting, and utilising the Pulse Drive for interplanetary fast travel. Once the tutorial is complete, the player will have their starship's communications interrupted by a mysterious transmission.

Following Signals

The crashed ship responded to my commands, confirming my suspicion that it belonged to me. I have repaired the damage and taken it up to space, but the cause of my crash is still a mystery.

Once the transmission has ended, the player will be directed to a location on a neighboring planet in their starting star system. Pulse Drive usage is advised in order to avoid lingering long enough to be targeted by pirates. If the Pulse Engine somehow runs out of fuel on the way, additional fuel can be harvested from asteroids by destroying them with the Photon Cannon.

After landing on this second planet, the player will be tasked with following the signal to its point of origin. Flying there via starship instead of walking on the planet's surface may preferred to cut down majorly on travel time, unless the player prefers scanning the planet's minerals, flora and fauna for Units/Nanite Clusters and discovering Knowledge Stones for learning the language of the system's dominant lifeform (Gek, Vy'keen or Korvax).

The player should be aware that, after they arrive on this second planet, Sentinel Drones will begin to appear on the surfaces of all planets. These robotic beings will open fire on the player if they catch them harvesting minerals or flora or killing peaceful fauna, so the player should take care not to harvest resources around Sentinel Drones.

Upon arriving at the signal source, the player must examine the nearby Damaged Machinery to unlock blueprints for a Terrain Manipulator and a Base Computer. After that, the player will be directed by the secondary mission Terrain Manipulation to install the Terrain Manipulator. Once the tool is functional, the next steps are to use it to harvest Copper from a Resource Deposit, refine the Copper into Chromatic Metal in a Portable Refiner, and use the metal to construct a Base Computer using the Build Menu. Once a Base Computer is built and the player has used it to claim a base, they will then receive their first base-building blueprints (namely, Wood Floor Panel, Wooden Door Frame, Wooden Wall and Wooden Roof).

A storm will begin shortly after the player obtains the wood parts blueprints (even if the planet would normally never have storms). Before it arrives, the player must build a basic shelter with the blueprints within which they can wait out the storm. Once the shelter is built, they must then return to their Base Computer (ideally, once the storm has passed) and look through its archives for a plan by the previous owner to obtain Salvaged Data, unlocking the blueprint for the Construction Research Unit.

The player must place a Construction Research Unit (this requires 20 Magnetised Ferrite and 1 unit of Carbon Nanotubes), then interact with it to receive advice on how to proceed. After that, they must dig up Buried Technology Modules for their Salvaged Data, then spend the data to learn a construction blueprint using the unit.

At this point, the player will be prompted to rename their base using the Base Computer, then learn the blueprint for Base Teleport Module and construct the module. Once the module is built, they will be directed by the secondary mission Powering the Base to learn and construct a Biofuel Reactor, learn Electrical Wiring and connect the reactor to the teleport module, and fuel the reactor in order to supply power to the teleport module.

Afterward, the player must return to their Base Computer for more archive retrieval. The computer's next batch of archives will be interrupted by yet another mysterious message involving the number 16. The player must travel to the star system's space station and ask a few lifeforms about the message. Most will act shocked and confused and then shun the player away, locking the player out of further useful conversation forever. Once they have been found, the correct NPC's dialogue will be interrupted by the same mysterious message, which will then give encoded coordinates. Once the data has been received, the player will then be directed to return to their Base Computer to decode the coordinates, ideally by using the station's teleporter.

The Hyperdrive

The decoded coordinates reveal the location of a Crashed Freighter which the player must visit. Accessing the logs of its distress beacon will give the player a blueprint for a Hyperdrive, which will require 125 Chromatic Metal (refine it from Copper at a 2:1 rate) and 5 Microprocessors. Said technology will be the player's means of jumping between nearby star systems. The player can buy Microprocessors from a Space Station trade terminal or search for and repair Damaged Machinery for a chance to obtain Microprocessors.

Once the player has the materials, they must install the Hyperdrive on their starship. Beyond this point, all future starships, crashed or otherwise, will now generate with a Hyperdrive pre-installed in their general inventory (before this point, starships encountered by the player would never generate with a Hyperdrive - this ensures that the player is unable to skip this portion of the mission and miss out on essential blueprints).

Warp Fuel

A strange signal led me to the rusted remains of freighter ^[sic]. I found a hyperdrive blueprint among the wreckage, accompanied by a strange message. It appears that someone has been leaving me messages.

Though the player's starship now has a Hyperdrive, it will not have the fuel required to initiate interstellar travel. At this point, the player must return to space and scan nearby planets with the starship's scanner to reveal a signal. Returning to the newly obtained signal on the player's starting planet will lead them to an Abandoned Building with an infested terminal. The player should be careful not to disturb the Whispering Eggs near the base. Destroying them will spawn Biological Horrors, which are dangerously overpowered for a starting player and spawn endlessly, anyway. Instead, the player should walk into the building and remove Residual Goop from said terminal to obtain a unit of Antimatter and the blueprint for Antimatter Housing.

Antimatter Housing can be crafted using 30 Oxygen and 50 Ferrite Dust. Once this component is built, then the player can combine it with Antimatter to produce a Warp Cell, an energy source for a starship's Hyperdrive. After the player fuels their Hyperdrive to 20% capacity, they will have to fly into space and pick a nearby yellow coloured system to warp to. (If the player somehow loses the Antimatter, Warp Cell or fueled Hyperdrive before they warp, they will be directed through the fallback mission Replacement Antimatter in order to get back on track.)

The Monolith

I constructed the hyperdrive. Is this what my mysterious benefactor intended? Am I really who they were leaving messages for, or have I stumbled on some business in which I am not wanted? There is nothing for it but to continue to follow the trail.

Upon arrival in this new system, the starship's Hyperdrive will be drained of any remaining fuel (in case a player decided to use more than one Warp Cell in a previous system), and the starship's guidance system will be interrupted by a mysterious message. The player will then need to travel to a new waypoint on a nearby planet. Upon approach, the marked structure will be revealed to be a Monolith, and interacting with it will grant a Warp Cell as well as some more cryptic messages.

The lifeforms who left this trail have taught me all I need in order to move between the stars. I should continue my search.

Returning to space after receiving the Warp Cell will begin the secondary mission Base Computer Archives. The player has to warp to another yellow system to continue the primary mission.

Transition into Alone Amidst the Stars

After the second warp, the player will receive a transmission from a new unknown source which must be answered.

I have received a strange communication from an unknown source. A voice spoke to me, though it almost seemed as if they were speaking to someone else. They were cut off as strangely as they began, and I received a set of coordinates.

The player must now visit the potential site of a Crashed Ship and access its Distress Beacon to extract the blueprint for an Advanced Mining Laser (or another Multi-tool technology), completing this mission and starting the next mission of the Artemis Path, Alone Amidst the Stars. Depending on the type of Crashed Ship, the Distress Beacon may need to be repaired first before it can be accessed; as well, a starship may not always be present.

Rewards

• A fully functioning Starship
• Terrain Manipulator blueprint
• Base Computer blueprint
• Basic Base building blueprints
• Construction Research Unit blueprint
• Hyperdrive blueprint
• Antimatter blueprint
• Antimatter Housing blueprint
• Interstellar travel using a Hyperdrive
• Advanced Mining Laser blueprint (or another Multi-tool technology blueprint)
• A second, damaged starship (if the Crashed Ship location has a starship to claim)

Notes

• As of Living Ship in February 2020, players who load a pre-"Atlas save and who were in a Space station will be tasked to reunite with Nada and Polo who will inquire them of Artemis's whereabouts, even though the character wasn't introduced until the Atlas Rises update. Once the players leave the Space Anomaly, the Awakenings will get triggered and start at the Following Signals objective, which starts with the first contact with the aforementioned Artemis. This bug happens to players, even if they previously completed the The Atlas Path.
• It is strongly advised that the player does not receive help from other players during this opening mission; as being given items needed will skip tutorials, fail to make log entries, and worse of all, stop the player from receiving certain blueprints, such as the Hermetic Seal (should the player simply be gifted one of these and therefore never go to collect the blueprint on this only occasion to do so).

Release history

• Atlas Rises - Added to the game
• Beyond - Mission reworked in light of new Beyond features
  • Distress Beacon now gives a Planetary Chart rather than Navigation Data
  • Blueprint Analyser blueprint replaced with Construction Research Unit blueprint
  • New mission segments teach basic power mechanics and starship flight controls
  • Transition to Alone Amidst the Stars now begins immediately rather than after two Hyperdrive jumps; as well, it no longer includes the chance to summon the Space Anomaly
    • As a result, a Space battle no longer occurs during this mission, preventing the player from obtaining a freighter until later.
• Prisms - The Trading Post step is removed.