This feels obvious, but it's a beginners guide so I'll say it anyway: Explore! Your #1 priority should be getting an upgraded oxygen tank (or two). Pop back in the spaceship (press E) if you're going to run out of oxygen in the early game. If you don't mind cheesing you can always hit ESC and click 'Unstuck' which will teleport you to the spaceship. No resources lost.



You receive all materials when you deconstruct a unit, so don't be afraid to tweak the placement of things to get your production chain running smoothly or heck even just to clean up the view from your base.



Staging your production area is important and will save you time later. Leave plenty of space between forges, processing, and storage so you can add in conveyor belt splitters/mergers as needed.



Once every so often a big wave will come and trigger a cutscene, where it sweeps over the land submerging everything you have built and accomplished. DON'T PANIC. You aren't going to die. You don't even lose most of your buildings. HOWEVER! Energy buildings are destroyed, such as windmills and solar panels.

As soon as the red warning pops up on your screen, run and deconstruct your solar panels! Hang on to the components in your inventory so you can place them back down once the wave passes.

[EDIT] Thanks @MinSin: Tier 2 solar panels are not destroyed by the wave!



I hope this was helpful, if you have tips and tricks you've figured out please share in the comments. And most importantly, have fun!