For some reason, I've found a lot of people who don't want to buy boxes because they don't want to spend credits on them. It doesn't matter that they cost money, because you use them to cover their own costs AND make a profit on top of that.
You will make more credits overall if you use boxes because they massively increase your quota per second efficiency. Do not leave them on the ship. Take one with you to deposit loot into as you traverse the map.

Melee weapons suck, ranged weapons have a much higher DPS and is safer than a melee weapon. The Shotgun is also the best gun in the game, the Supernova unfortunately sucks right now. The Supernova only has the potential to do slightly higher DPS than the Shotgun after a long time of firing and is subject to RNG. The burst-damage of the Shotgun is much more valuable.
To learn more, read my Ultimate Weapon Guide:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3580826784
A Pulse Rifle and Boombox are the biggest force multipliers for new players. It gives you reliable, easy, ranged damage and a way to heal on-demand for free.
You can also get an Echo Lens if you want, until you learn the maps and locations where crates can spawn.
A Shrink Ray is not really needed on the first few Tier 1 contracts to meet the quota requirement. You can get enough easily without a Shrink Ray, so you can wait until later to buy one and prioritize getting a Pulse Rifle and Boombox first.
DO NOT BUY CHIPS FROM VENDING MACHINES.

You can if you really want to, but you really don't need them to make quota in a Tier 1 contract, they just fill up your inventory and over-complicate things. Additionally, you will eventually encounter Dopplegangers that can spawn with things like a Pickaxe that you can just take for free.
As a new player, it's better to explore as much of the map as possible by focusing on opening crates in order to unlock all the areas so that you can learn the maps before you go to higher contract Tiers.

Unless you're naturally really good at games, focus on health and stamina. If you are, then you can do what I did and give yourself a glass cannon build by only spending points on ranged damage, and stamina for efficiency and dash ability. Then you can distribute points however you like.

Even if you have trouble learning to dodge enemy attacks with the dash, I still do not recommend the Exosuit. Learning how to dodge using the dash is just too good to say no to. Taking zero damage is better than taking slightly reduced damage.

As a solo player, it's usually best to ignore Level 0 loot (at least at the start) and focus on Level 1 and Level 2. Just go into Level 0 with weapons and Echo Lens only, until you have the Level 1 code. THEN you can start collecting loot for real in Level 1 and 2. On lower tier contracts and multiplayer, this doesn't matter as much.
After one or two days, on some maps, it becomes worth it to go back to Level 0 because of the new loot/ore/herbs that has spawned there.

For example, if your box can hold 300 quota and it is currently at 290, don't deposit the 10 quota soda can. Deposit the 100 quota creature corpse instead.
And if your box isn't close to being filled up but there is a high-quota item nearby, depending on what is nearby, consider putting smaller items in the box first to get it as full as possible, then deposit the high-quota item.
In this way, you are maximizing the efficiency of your boxes.

Tap a directional key the moment you hear the impact sound of the Pickaxe/Shovel, then instantly interact to pick/dig again. This can reduce the time it takes to mine by up to ~33%, and time it takes to dig by up to ~50%.
A video demonstrating this is here:










You don't need to type "ACS" to unlock areas, you can just type "LVL # [code]" straight into the first screen on the Ship Computer.

If you have the habit of putting down a box and then forgetting where you put it, you can use a Boombox as a beacon! Bring a Boombox with you to put it down where you dropped your box so you can see where it is from a distance.

If you have extra quota at the end of a contract, there are two options for what you should do with it. Try to not go too much over your quota requirement if you want Cosmic Coins You do get extra credits for going over the quota requirement, but it's better to fill an entirely new contract if you want Cosmic Coins.
Option one: Save it in your Ship or Home in case you die in a later contract, or otherwise can't collect enough quota, and need extra quota in order to fulfil your contract.
Option two: If you have enough, you can turn it in to fulfil an entire contract by itself. The best way to do this is repeatedly go to a planet and leave until the day is "Pay Day?" when you are in orbit. Then go back to Sketchy's Planet to turn in the contract.
In this way, you still get Cosmic Coins when you finish your contract because technically, it lasted for three days. If you just turned in your extra quota and finished the contract instantly, you will not get any Cosmic Coins because you are still on Day 1 of your contract.
This works because the day is progressed whenever you leave a planet.

If your stamina reaches 0, it will have a delay before it starts refilling again. Otherwise, it starts refilling instantly. So try to stop using stamina as close to 0 as possible.

If you are carrying enough (about three items at least), try to jump while sprinting and let go of the sprint key while you are in the air. This causes stamina to go down more slowly. This is because, while stamina does still go down while sprint-jumping, if you are carrying enough it goes down slower than if you were sprinting normally, saving you stamina. A video demonstrating this is here:
Coming soon.

If you don't plan on taking a Sketchy Substance immediately, you should always pick it up and drop it. This stops it from despawning when the night shift is over.

Using the Echo Lens, if you are far enough away from a mimic, you will be able to see it being culled in real-time when you leave/enter the range at which it is culled. (Culling is when something is not rendered in a game to save processing power because it is out of sight of the player/too far away etc.).
This doesn't work for every mimic, but every time it does work, the crate that you see disappearing and reappearing is 100% guaranteed to be a mimic.
This can be useful for large maps such as Port Glacial if you want to just get a security code faster, as it saves you from unnecessarily going across the entire map to a single crate only to find that it's a mimic instead of a security code.
A video demonstrating this is here:










The Credit cap is 15,000, and the Cosmic Coin cap is 250, 1500 and 7500 for Tier 1-3. Claw Coins are capped at 50, and Gotcha Coins are capped at 20. Try to spend them before you reach this cap, as you will not be able to receive more from your happy meals.

If you ever find yourself with an empty action bar, you can use your dash to go faster for free! This is because when your action bar is empty, you don't use stamina while sprinting, so it refills while sprinting.

I have seen it fairly often that, when playing with multiple people, people take 'roles'. For example, one person only walks around and kills enemies, and someone else only collects loot. This is extremely inefficient because the person only killing enemies could also be collecting loot at the same time, and the person only collecting loot could also be killing enemies.
There is no reason to do this. It is the most efficient for everyone to do everything.

You might think that you'd need to set enemy health and damage to 200%, but I've found that not to be the case. The best way to farm is on a Tier 3 contract with enemy health set to 100% and enemy damage set to 200%, and reset the contract whenever you complete one to reset the quota requirement.
The reason why you set enemy health to 100% instead of 200% is because the extra quota bonus doesn't really outweigh the extra time it takes to kill things like Nightwalkers and Subject 6.
For example, on 200% damage and 100% health, Nightwalkers are worth about 800 quota. But with 200% health, they are worth about 1000 quota. The problem is that it takes at least twice as long to kill because it has double health, which doesn't really justify that 25% quota increase.
Setting enemy health to 100% and enemy damage to 200% allows me to get about 23,000 quota per contract on average a lot more consistently than if I set enemy health to 200%.
There is also a lower chance for dumb things to happen, such as a Nightwalker using its leap attack when it's 2 inches away from you, since you're not spending 20 years fighting it.

When describing a location, for example the location of your dead body, to teammates on an open map, don't just say "to the left". Use the compass to give directions, it's there for a reason.

Dashing to dodge enemy attacks is extremely powerful. A good player can make use of the dash to avoid every single attack from any enemy on any difficulty. Try to observe the enemy's attacks and learn the proper timing to dodge them.
Some enemies have faster or slower attacks, but they are all fairly similar except for Hellhounds and Dilophosauruses, which for some reason have a much faster attack than all other creatures.
In general, enemies run up to you, then stop moving as they wind up an attack. The moment they stop moving is when you must dash to dodge the attack. Except for Hellhounds and Dilophosauruses, which hit you as soon as they reach you instead of stopping and beginning a "wind-up" animation, so try to dodge early!
Remember that the dash does not have i-frames, you must physically dodge an enemies attack in order to successfully avoid damage.
If you want to see the power of the dash, watch these videos:










Your dash hardly does anything if you try to dash up a slope, so if you're fighting an enemy on uneven ground, try to fight going downhill instead of uphill.

Always use it! It gives you important information on new creatures. It can also help with preventing surprise attacks, as it may detect a creature you hadn't noticed.

To do some extra DPS, you can light an enemy on fire with the Flamethrower, then start shooting it with your gun. Since you are always carrying a Flamethrower in Tier 2+ contracts for Lurk Roots anyway, this is a free sizeable DPS boost.
Not only will the enemy be taking damage over time from the fire, but it also causes them to take more damage from your gun! As of v0.4.0.0, enemies that are on fire take 20% increased damage.
If you are preparing to fight something big, you can also put an activated Tier 3 Boombox on the ground to do just a little extra DPS.

Shoot mines so you don't walk into them later.
Pay attention to your surroundings. Listen for sound cues, anything from the skittering of a Crawler, to the clicking of a Subject 6, to the footsteps of a Nightwalker. Then you can never be surprise attacked.

If you are carrying a large item that is covering the screen, go into Placement Mode (Q by default) to hide it. This can really help with platforming, allowing you to actually see the gap or laser you're jumping over.
This works with most two-handed items, one exception being a Med Gen.

If you think a gap might be too large to simply jump over, you can use your dash in midair for extra distance.

- Make sure you have a revive available.
- Clear the path from the Ship to the T-Rex so there are no enemies.
- Make sure it will not be night any time soon.
- Take a few Tier 3 Boomboxes and place them on the ground, then let the T-Rex kill you on top of them.
- Respawn and go back to the T-Rex which will be dead from the Boomboxes by the time you return to it, and pick up the credits you dropped.

This is the best way to kill the T-Rex because the only thing that does enough DPS to kill it before it kills you as a solo player is the Big Daddy rocket launcher. The problem with this is that replenishing it is very expensive, and it is very unreliable. You have to be at the perfect distance or the rocket will despawn, or start to damage you, which will undoubtedly happen because the T-Rex will begin to run towards you. Additionally, the rockets have a habit of exploding directly on top of you, killing you instantly because you happened to be standing inside some invisible collision that you can walk through but that the rocket explodes on.
A video demonstrating this method is here:










If there is a Lurk Root on the other side of a door, do not open the door normally. Instead, go close to the wall beside the door and open it from the side. Then you can back away and then step in front of the door when you are out of range of the Lurk Root's attack to hit it with your flamethrower.
The door will stay open for some time to make this possible.

As a solo player, it is possible to collect the egg on every map before the end of first day. To learn how, read this guide:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3580089444
Since the hint for how to find hidden plushes/furniture disappears once you've collected one of that item, you can use this cheat sheet to remind you where to find them: