Tin Can

Tin Can

72 ratings
How not to die fast in Tin Can
By AdzyW
This is the first guide I've ever written. It's not pretty. It's not neat. It may never be finished. At time of writing it's the only one you've got.
It's only in English but if you want to translate it into your own language go ahead. I ask only that you keep the profanities in.
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Basic Instructions
The Important Things to Remember

1. You're already dead.
This is a two man escape pod with a comically inefficient gas exchange system, heating provided by a barely stable nuclear reactor and no food or water supplies. Oh also you're in space, which is a pretty big place where things tend to disappear. The designers of this escape pod were not simply negligent, they were actively engaged in making sure you didn't report the terrible "accident" that lead to the destruction of you curiously over-insured starship. Might as well set yourself the goal to survive as long as possible.

2. RTFM
Read the manual, know what all the bits do and what happens when they stop doing it.

3. If it's not useful, it's scrap.
Cannibalise the least important things for parts as soon as you realise you don't need them. Those warning alarms on the master computer? Feed them into the repair machine. The electrical parts for the main lighting rig? Those are spares now. The caution alarms on the life support systems? into the hopper. As long as the buzzers are working, you don't need blinky lights to tell you something is broken.

4. You are the most dangerous thing in the pod.
Keep your hands to yourself and don't mess with anything that's not actively broken. The off switches are your friend also. Don't grab at electrical bits when they're on.
The First Minute
Here is what to do in the first quiet minute to give yourself the best chance of survival.
1. Rip apart the main lighting system.
Turn it off first.
Feed the on/off switch and the power transfer module into the parts chipper, toss the fuse and power regulator on the floor

2. Switch out the O2/CO2 Cans.
The ones in there are half full, chop them out now to buy yourself more time

3. Pull out all the caution lights
Pull all the yellow caution lights out of every system and the master warning light out of the computer. Feed as many into the parts chipper as you can, toss the harvested parts on the bed.

4. GRAB ON TO SOMETHING
The first asteroid storm is on its way, as previously mentioned, if you are unsecured you might go flying into something delicate and break it. That's BAD!
Asteroids
1. Hold on to something
Grabbing something will stop you being jostled too violently, wait for it to be over.

2. Make Repairs as needed
You should have plenty of parts to make repairs. Focus on your gas systems first. Broken batteries take priority.
Freezing Nebula
1. Pull the batteries from non-essential systems
For our purposes, this means gravity, the main computer and the repair system.
Shut off all lights and work with your flashlight. Shut off temperature control until the screen starts to fog.

2. Wait it out
Monitor battery levels in O2, CO2 and the Gas Exchanger. The battery charger should still work at this stage. Once this event is over, charge all the batteries you can and start moving QUICKLY to prepare for the Electrical Nebula.
Electrical Nebula
1. Shut off the power to all essential systems
Start with the Power Generator, then the gas systems, then the battery charger, then the repair system, then everything else as fast as you can.

2. Pull the power transfers
Pull the power connectors from all essential systems. It's probable you won't have any gravity right now so try not to lose them.
11 Comments
Cake >w0 30 Nov, 2021 @ 6:42am 
i thing all fuse are bad guys :(
WildWing 3 Jul, 2021 @ 1:48am 
High every time i get to about 8 minutes the ship goes dark what the heck is going on is it the electrical storm how do i fix it
[DSTM] Misha600 24 Jan, 2021 @ 1:16am 
Also, the oxygen regulator is unnecessary. Just vent the gases from the canisters but not so much that it explodes. I think the only absolutely critical machines are CO2 scrubber, reactor, climate control, and the CO2 to O2 machine.
[E] Caladus 22 Jan, 2021 @ 11:59pm 
You'll still catch damage from direct hits to the pod. You bouncing around inside won't help matters any
[DSTM] Misha600 22 Jan, 2021 @ 9:51pm 
Are you sure holding a handle helps during asteroids? It doesn't seem like it.
separat.mn 14 Jan, 2021 @ 4:35pm 
I have some bug in tutorial. When i most clean filter co2 and no. I do it and nothing hopen
Lionard 3 Jan, 2021 @ 4:04am 
Also... If you get to the graviational anomily there is nothing your little pressure regulator can do.
You need to open the airlock to let around half of the pressure in the pod go...
Yokin 22 Nov, 2020 @ 12:13pm 
You can also die from external temperature when passing close to the sun. It only happened once for me and I died, but I think you can survive by shutting off the generator and let the temperature manager live off batteries until the heat finishes.
AdzyW  [author] 9 Nov, 2020 @ 12:04pm 
Thanks folks, added that clarification
Gat Rat 4 Nov, 2020 @ 10:20pm 
You want to pull the power connectors out of all essential systems so that you can run them off battery power without risk of a power surge. All non essential systems can simply be powered off and wont get hit with power surges