The most important structures that need to be built first

Highlights

• Start with solar panels and batteries in The Crust for power.
• Charging stations are crucial to keeping construction drones active.
• Construct an elevator to switch between above-ground and underground modes.

The crust is a colony building game with certain aspects of factory simulations and management games added. Set on the moon, the player must start with only a handful of construction drones and then mine and harvest the resources they need to build a full moon base.

When starting a new game of The crust In Sandbox mode, there are certain structures that a player must first build. The general flow begins with generating and storing electricity before moving on to building the infrastructure needed to mine ore. Finally, basic factories must be built to process the raw ore into materials like steel and smart concrete.

7 Solar panels

Basic power generation

• They only work at night.
• Better options later in the game.

Electricity is a natural bottleneck in The crust. Everything requires electricity to function, including mining and construction drones. At the start of the game, the only option available to a player for generating electricity is the small solar panel.

It’s a good idea to start by building about 5 of these small solar panels. Once built, they need to be wired in series and then connected to a battery bank. As in the real world, solar panels only generate power at night, so the batteries are a crucial aspect of a moon base.

6 Batteries

Charged during the day, consumed at night

• Used to store electricity.
• Don’t forget to wire them.

Start a new game The crust means that only small batteries are available, while large ones are unlocked later in the game through research. Since the player can only build small solar panels in this phase, he needs a sufficiently large battery storage to survive the night on the moon.

A good rule of thumb for the early game is to use a small battery for each small solar panel. The battery bank should be connected in series and the solar panels should then be connected to the first battery in the series. In this simulation game, the power is taken from the opposite end of the battery bank.

5 Charging station

For charging construction and mining drones

• Don’t let drones go empty-handed.
• Should be connected to batteries.

Everything needs electricity in The crust. Even construction drones. When the drones are first deployed, they are fully charged. This first charge is enough to build a few small solar panels and batteries. However, if the player forgets that drones need to be charged, they could run out of power.

This would mean that the player would then be stuck as their construction drones would no longer have enough energy to build the charging station needed to recharge. It’s a good idea to prioritize building the charging stations once a few small solar panels and batteries have been set up. Don’t forget to connect them to the battery bank.

4 Elevator

Required to switch between surface and underground mode

• Must be supplied with electricity
• Acts as a power line

The crust takes place on two different sci-fi maps. Firstly, on the surface map, where the player builds his power generators, batteries, etc. Secondly, on the underground map, where the player digs and processes raw materials.

In order to move between these two different maps, the player must build an elevator. This must then be connected to the power supply. The elevator also acts as a power conduit to carry electricity to the underground map. The elevator should be built once the player has set up a basic power system and the drone charging station.

3 Drone reconfiguration module

Required for mining drones

• Can convert up to 5 drones.
• Only works in underground mode.

Once a player has set up their power generation and storage system and then built a charging station and elevator, it is time to turn their focus to the underground map, as this is where the player will source all the resources they need to progress The crust.

The first thing to do is to build a Drone Reconfiguration Module. This is an important structure that allows the player to convert 5 of their construction drones into mining drones. Once this is done, they can assign mining tasks to these new drones in Excavation Mode.

2 Melting furnace x 2

For smelting raw ore

• 1 For steel production
• 1 For silicon production

Now that the player has started building the underground part of their base, it is time to start mining the moon. The raw ore must be converted into two basic resources that the player needs to progress The crust.

Iron and silicon ore must be mined and then smelted in a furnace. A smelter can only produce one of these two resources, so it makes sense to build two of them at this stage, one for steel production, the other for silicon. Depending on how extensive the player’s energy system is, they may need to expand it before they can build the smelters.

1 Press module

For pressing Smart Concrete

• Building material for the early stages of the game.
• Takes plain regolith as input.

The most important building material used in the first part of the The crustis smart concrete. This is produced in the press module. It is very easy to produce smart concrete. The player just needs to instruct some mining drones in excavation mode to start digging out regolith. This is then converted into smart concrete in the press module.

Later in the game, a player will require more advanced building materials, but a Press Module is required as a stepping stone to these more advanced technologies.

• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS
• Published: July 15, 2024
• Developer: VEOM Studio
• Genre: Strategy, Colony Building