I was on an Ice planet checking out the various animals and came across a ground creature that would dive underground, travel around and then pop up and look around. It was a pretty big creature, and looked like the prehistoric squirrel Scratch from the Ice Age movies, and I very much so wanted it as a pet.

Well I try to interact with it, but the button wouldn’t show up. So I tried to do this over and over for about 2-3 minutes, following it as it travelled. A jaguar like creature suddenly charged at me and I used a plasma grenade to kill it, accidently hitting the ground creature I had been following, for all this time across an open frozen wasteland, and a good long ways from my ship. Well it seemed to take offence to me hitting and and started attacking me.

It would drop under the ground and pop up and hit me and it did a stupid amount of damage. I have fought off hordes of sentinels with no problem, but this thing… it was no joke. I couldn’t hit because it kept dropping under the ground. I tried using my jet pack but it would stay underground until I landed and then start attacking again. I had no shields multiple times as I ran, jetpacked, and shot, geo grenades, plasmas, and everything else I could at the thing, just so I could make it back to my ship.

I finally make it back to my ship and think ok I’ll wait in here for about 5-6 minutes and go back out and do what I was doing… nope it was waiting for me. I had to bounce around get back in my ship. Finally I stood on my ship and just shot and dropped everything I could and finally killed it.

It was a strange and thrilling fight for my life, in a game I have at least 2 saves over 300+ hours on each, that I haven’t had in a while.

I went traveling around planet again and not, 2 minutes later a smaller version of the Ice Age squirrel Scratch popped it’s head up…

Boring background: I’ve been playing since the Origins update, with nearly 3K+ hours spread over multiple saves, all Normal Mode. With every badge unlocked bar two – Take a Deep Breath and To Live Forever – I decided a couple weeks ago it was time to take the Permadeath Plunge.

Yes, I know about spamming a portal to get to the center of the Euclid tootsie-pop. But my interest was in playing through — the phases of the tutorial narrative are, after all, pretty much a blueprint for expeditions, Expedition Zero if you will. Follow it to get everything you need, particularly if (like I am) you plan on continuing your save. I had to croak a couple times to get the hang of it (a long career of sending out frigate missions from the safety of my freighter turned me into a space marshmallow) but here’s what I learned:

01 – What you’ve heard is true: Don’t underestimate how much damage you can take by falling/jetting from a medium height. Or, a short height. Same with the snapping & whipping plants; if one of those Venus Flytraps hits you twice in succession like they sometimes do, you’re toast. Anything pesky in normal mode is deadly in PD. Move slowly and deliberately.

02 – Don’t fight. It’s not just the ground or plants that will do you in. Everything hurts more. When sentinels come sniffing around, head in another direction. Pirate scans mean it’s time to visit the Anomaly. When you see the red paw of a predator coming your way, make like a chicken and bok bok bok.

03 – Hop in your ship, all the time. The hazard protection recharge doesn’t just save resources, it can save your save. And to that end: don’t be tempted to grab just one more storm crystal. It’s always farther back to the ship than you think, even when it’s right in front of you.

04 – Inventory management is key. If you’ve played for a while, you know what’s important and what isn’t. Don’t bother with what isn’t; focus on your needs directly ahead. Soon as you find a cold planet, mine a couple of dioxite deposits for charging life support, so you don’t have to scrounge for oxygen. Relatedly, load up on uranium so you don’t have to craft launch fuel.

05 – Dead or glitched worlds feel like paradises. I was fortunate enough to have an empty moon in my starting system, and made my base there so I didn’t have to deal with any kind of toxic environment and could refine in peace. 10/10 would recommend.

06 – Once you make it to the Anomaly, remember: You earned those QS rewards (well, if you did, in another life). And I can confirm: in this playthrough YES I was charged nanites for the Speeder and the Vector. I watched the counter click down. (Ditching the Pillar for the Speeder, with infra-knife and auto-charge launcher, was a no-brainer.)

07 – When it comes to Purging, turns out the game requires 16 jumps … in any direction. You don’t have to be moving toward the center, towards an Atlas Station (the Seed mission, which I had intended to ignore, triggered itself concurrently with the Purge), or to grandma’s house. According to the way I did it, you can probably just bounce back and forth between two known star systems until Atlas directs you to that final portal (I goofed and backtracked at one point, and still got the glyphs).

It’s easy to let your guard down, especially once you’re flying. So the main thing is to be mindful, respect the common dangers, and figure out an inventory management system that serves you best. Take your time, enjoy the game, and you’re home free.

Thanks, and Happy Travels! Come visit me in Budullangr, where I’m currently working to bring my Radiant Pillar up to S-class!

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