Beyond These Stars dropped straight to 1.0 on October 16, 2026, and most new players are stepping onto the back of a giant sentient Space Whale named Kewa with zero wiki data to lean on. This walkthrough covers what to do first after the 1.0 launch, where the most common beginner mistakes actually happen, and how to keep your Peeps alive long enough to reach the Galaxy Map. The developer, Balancing Monkey Games, recommends Story Mode as the first stop, which makes it the cleanest entry point for any new player. For an even smoother onboarding, our Beyond These Stars best start walkthrough walks new pilots through the opening hours so you can sidestep the most common beginner mistakes and keep your Peeps alive long enough to reach the Galaxy Map.
Your First Ten Minutes on Kewa
The very first thing to understand is that you are not dropped onto a planet. Your settlement is built on Kewa, a giant Space Whale who carries your people through the galaxy, and Kewa has their own health and happiness tracked separately from your Peeps. According to the official Beyond These Stars site, Kewa is treated as both the ground and a character with needs, wants, and dialogue choices that nudge their mood in one direction or another. Treat that relationship like a second city you have to maintain. For the primary source, see Steam's launch-day post.
When the game begins, the Home Spaceship is already on Kewa's back. It slowly produces the basics your first handful of Peeps need while you decide what to build next. Do not tear it down and do not waste early resources replacing it — the Home Spaceship is a working building, not a decoration. Your first ten minutes are really about reading what is in front of you: where the resources are falling, which Peeps are assigned where, and which immediate needs the building list is hinting at.
Read the Three Meters Before You Build Anything
Before placing a single structure, zoom out and read three overlapping meters. The first is your settlement's basic resource flow — Wood, Water, Food, and the byproducts of daily life. The second is pollution, which spreads outward from production buildings and drags the biome down if left alone. The third is Kewa's happiness, which is influenced by the temperature of the current star system, by your dialogue choices with Kewa, and by how clean the surface stays.
| Meter to read | What it actually tells you | First-action hint |
|---|---|---|
| Resource flow | Whether you are producing enough to feed and house current Peeps | Add a Kitchen and a Pasture before more housing |
| Pollution | Which production tiles are dirtying Kewa's back | Plant a Tree Nursery near problem tiles, or place a Cleaner |
| Kewa's happiness | Whether the star system is too hot or too cold for them | Open the dialogue wheel and check Kewa's mood before you act |
If a single one of those meters is collapsing on turn one, fix that one first. New players tend to expand housing because it feels productive, but a Peep with no food and no warmth is a Peep who gets sick and dies in the same shift, and that is one of the slowest beginner mistakes to recover from.
Learn the Three Building Categories Early
Every building in the early game falls into one of three mental buckets, and the mistake most new players make is treating all of them as equally urgent. They are not. Production buildings output resources your settlement consumes, care buildings keep your Peeps alive and well, and infrastructure buildings unlock new systems like the Galaxy Map or research.
| Category | Early examples | What to build first |
|---|---|---|
| Production | Kitchen, Pasture, Weaver, Tailor, Burner, Trawler | Kitchen and Pasture — these unlock food and Wool |
| Care | Apothecary, Fairground, Tree Nursery, Cleaner, Composting | Apothecary only after sickness appears; Tree Nursery and Cleaner once pollution shows |
| Infrastructure | Space Port, Landing Pad, Spaceship Builder | Defer until your settlement is stable |
A clean rule of thumb for the first hour: build one production building for every two care or infrastructure buildings you add, and never let a shift end with all three categories empty. If you have three production buildings and zero care, you will out-produce your own medical capacity and lose Peeps in a chain reaction that the developer describes in Dev Blog #25.
Three Mistakes That Stall Your First Hour
The first hour is full of small decisions that compound. Below are the patterns that the developer has explicitly written about in their official Dev Blog series, plus the kind of trap they describe without naming. Treat this as a checklist to run against your own save file before you commit to a long playthrough.
Ignoring Pollution Until It Is Too Late
Dev Blog #29 covers biome health directly. Pollution is a passive drain on the surface, and if it climbs high enough, it starts dragging Kewa's happiness down. Kewa is a character with their own mood, and a stressed Kewa is the kind of slow-burn loss new players do not notice until it is far too late. The two tools the developer gives you for this are the Tree Nursery (the slow, indirect fix) and the Cleaner (the fast, direct fix), and the right answer for the first hour is usually to place a Tree Nursery early and a Cleaner as soon as you can afford one.
Letting a Strike Catch You Flat-Footed
Strikes are a feature, not a glitch. According to Dev Blog #23, when a high enough share of your Peeps are unhappy enough, some of them walk off the job holding signs and deliberately park themselves where they slow down the Peeps who are still working. The first strike lasts three shifts, and a strike can be ended early by completing a goal the game hands you at the start of it — usually something like "build more homes" or "clean up this toxic patch." The mistake is treating the strike as a one-off punishment and ignoring the goal text. Read the goal the moment the strike starts and act on it.
Expanding Housing Without Checking Climate Clothing
Cold Weather Clothing and Warm Weather Clothing exist because the temperature of the current star system matters, and Dev Blog #29 confirms that a hot galaxy drags Kewa's mood down. The Tailor consumes fabrics from the Weaver, which in turn consumes raw materials like Wool from a Pasture, so the production chain is real and the cold-weather and warm-weather clothing outputs are not interchangeable. New players tend to build housing and assume the Peeps will be fine. They will not, and the Apothecary will start showing symptoms within a shift.
How to Survive the First Settlement Cycle
Once you have read the meters, built a Kitchen and a Pasture, and placed a Tree Nursery somewhere on Kewa's back, the next hour is about a stable loop. Production feeds care, care prevents sickness, sickness-free Peeps keep production running, and stable production is what lets you reach the Galaxy Map. The aim for the first cycle is not to grow fast — it is to reach the Galaxy Map without losing a single Peep, because the Settlement Ship you eventually send down to a planet needs living Peeps aboard it.
Sequence Your Early Building Order
There is no published optimal build order, because the developer has not published a strict step list, but there is a sensible sequence that community playthroughs have converged on. The table below is a type-level description, not a recipe copied from the developer, and the exact pace depends on what your Peeps happen to be doing.
| Order | Building | Purpose | When to stop |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kitchen | Turns raw ingredients into meals | When no Peep is hungry at the start of a shift |
| 2 | Pasture | Produces Wool and Cows on a planet with grass | When your Weaver has enough Wool buffered |
| 3 | Weaver | Converts raw materials into fabrics | When the Tailor has fabric ready to work with |
| 4 | Tailor | Produces Cold Weather and Warm Weather Clothing | When both climate types are stocked |
| 5 | Apothecary | Heals sick Peeps | One is usually enough until the population doubles |
| 6 | Tree Nursery | Plants trees to absorb Pollution | Place near production tiles, not near housing |
| 7 | Cleaner | The fast Pollution fix | One early, more later if pollution climbs |
| 8 | Fairground | Hosts Celebrations when happiness is high | Optional until you have spare Workers |
The pattern above is intentionally boring. It is meant to keep your first settlement cycle stable enough to reach the Galaxy Map, not to win the game in 30 minutes. New players who chase the Galaxy Map and ignore the above sequence usually arrive there with a half-built settlement and a Peep population that is one bad shift from collapse.
What to Watch For at End of Shift
Three things are worth checking at the end of every shift in the first few cycles. First, is the sickness meter climbing? The developer has said in Dev Blog #25 that sickness chance rises as energy falls at the start of a shift, so a tired settlement is a sick settlement. Second, is anyone homeless? Dev Blog #23 lists homelessness as a strike trigger, so a homeless Peep is a future strike, not just a sad sprite. Third, is Kewa talking? Kewa is a character with dialogue choices, and the right answer to a Kewa line is usually the one that nudges their happiness up while still being true to the situation. A dismissive choice because you are busy placing a Tailor is one of the small beginner mistakes that adds up fast.
The Story Mode Track vs. The Sandbox Track
Balancing Monkey Games explicitly recommends that new players start in Story Mode. Sandbox Mode is the more open offering — Dev Blog #27 lists which resources are available, water distribution, terrain, planets, and more as options you set before the run starts — but that freedom is wasted on a player who has not yet learned how Kewa's happiness, Peep sickness, and pollution interact in a guided setting. The Story Mode acts as a what to do first tutorial walkthrough with a soft hand on the wheel.
Why Story Mode Is the Default Starting Point
Story Mode does the things a tutorial walkthrough would do, but in a way that feels like a real game. The first conversation with Kewa unlocks the Solar System View, and the Scout Ship is the next thing you board, with José as your onboard character. The first few nodes on the Galaxy Map are designed to teach you what a node can hold — barren planets, space junk, strange objects, trade stations, and aliens — and they do that in a way that is forgiving to mistakes. Dev Blog #28 is the source for the Galaxy Map node types, and it also lists the Neutral Sector as a named region with a moderate-climate planet holding chickens and cows, which is exactly the kind of soft landing a new player needs.
| Mode | Best for | First-time player? | What you skip by not using it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Story Mode | Learning Kewa, Peeps, and the Galaxy Map loop | Yes | The curated ramp-up the developer designed for new players |
| Sandbox Mode | Custom runs with chosen resources, water, terrain, planets | No, not as a first mode | The early-game forgiveness and the guided introduction to Ublo and the Scout Ship |
A Short Tutorial Walkthrough of the Opening Beats
The first beat is the Home Spaceship, the early building that slowly produces what your first Peeps need, and it is on Kewa's back from the start. The second beat is your first conversation with Kewa, which unlocks the Solar System View. The third beat is the Scout Ship and José, who becomes your voice on the early Galaxy Map nodes. The fourth beat is the first time you see Ublo, an alien character the developer calls "infamous" and "cheeky" in Dev Blog #26 — and yes, that framing is a hint that the first meeting is supposed to be memorable, not dangerous. The fifth beat is the Settlement Ship, which is a story-driven event rather than something the player builds, and it is the moment your settlement starts expanding beyond Kewa.
From Surviving to Expanding: Reaching the Galaxy Map and Beyond
The moment you reach the Galaxy Map, the game opens up in a way the early settlement cycle does not. Outposts, settleable planets, alien encounters, and the Settlement Ship landing on a new world all start to matter. The mistake new players make at this point is treating the Galaxy Map as a victory lap instead of a second, harder tutorial.
When the Galaxy Map Opens Up
Dev Blog #28 is the authoritative source here, and the key fact is that the map is partially visible at the start and unlocks more nodes as you play. Each node can hold a barren planet, space junk, a strange object, a trade station, or aliens. Trade stations in particular are map-node features you travel to, not buildings you place — they are the official wording from Dev Blog #28, and the only player-built space structures are the Space Port, the Landing Pad, and the Spaceship Builder.
| Galaxy Map feature | What it is | What you do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Barren planet | A settleable world without native resources | Land a Settlement Ship, then build an Outpost |
| Space junk | Salvage floating in a node | Send a ship to collect it for materials |
| Strange object | A curiosity the developer has not categorized publicly | Investigate with the Scout Ship; outcome varies |
| Trade station | A node that buys and sells resources | Route ships to it once you have surplus |
| Aliens | Including Ublo | Interact; some aliens become recurring characters, some do not |
Space Ships, Landing Pads, and What You Build vs. What Arrives
The official Steam page lists Space Port, Landing Pad, and Spaceship Builder as player-built space structures, and the Settlement Ship as something that arrives rather than something you build. A Space Port can hold up to four Landing Pads, and each Landing Pad takes one ship at a time, so the early space economy is built around the rule that a ship cannot land on Kewa without a Landing Pad. Plan your Landing Pad placement with that constraint in mind, and resist the urge to dump all four on one corner of the Space Port.
| Structure | Who builds it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Space Port | You | Hub that ships shuttle between; holds up to four Landing Pads |
| Landing Pad | You | Required for any ship to land on Kewa |
| Spaceship Builder | You | Builds the player-built spacecraft from the named ship types |
| Settlement Ship | Not built by the player | Arrives to drop Peeps on a settleable planet |
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I start in Story Mode or Sandbox Mode as a new player?
Story Mode is the developer's recommended starting point, and the first hour of it is essentially a what to do first tutorial walkthrough in disguise. Sandbox Mode is great once you already understand Kewa's happiness, pollution, and Peep sickness, because Dev Blog #27 lets you pick which resources, water distribution, terrain, and planets are available. If you want to learn the game instead of fight it on day one, start in Story Mode.
What is the single biggest beginner mistake to avoid?
Letting pollution climb without a Tree Nursery or a Cleaner, and then losing Peeps to sickness. Sickness chance rises as energy falls at the start of a shift, and a settlement that is producing fast but breathing dirty air is one bad shift from a chain reaction. The simplest version of how to survive your first cycle is to keep your meters clean before you try to grow your population.
How do I actually unlock the Galaxy Map?
Your first conversation with Kewa unlocks the Solar System View, and from there the Scout Ship with José lets you start poking at early nodes. The map itself is partially visible at first and reveals more as you play, and the developer has confirmed in Dev Blog #28 that each node can hold barren planets, space junk, strange objects, trade stations, or aliens. The first node you find will not look like the full map, and that is intentional.
Do I need to build the Settlement Ship myself?
No. The Settlement Ship is one of the named structures the developer lists as a verified building, and it is specifically not built by the player — it arrives as a story beat. The ships you build yourself come out of the Spaceship Builder and are limited to the named ship types, so do not waste Wood and Chemicals trying to construct a Settlement Ship in your inventory.
Where can I find more beginner mistakes to avoid?
The developer publishes an Official Beginner's Guide on the Beyond These Stars news hub, and the Steam Community guides hub for the game also links to it. Community-written guides are still sparse because the game shipped only days ago, so treat the official material as the most reliable source for now and treat any third-party numbers with caution until more players have shared saves.