Dyson Sphere Program - Mecha guide and tips

In the game you control Mech, which is the main character of the game. It is with it that you perform all operations, move, build and travel between planets. With these tips, you'll learn how to power the Mech with fuel, visit other planets, and even how to change its appearance. There will also be useful tips that aren't so obvious, but can make gameplay easier:

Remember that your Mech is indestructible. You don't have to worry about falling, obstacles, getting wet or making soft landings while traveling between planets.

Basic information about Mech - Controls

Basic controls:

• WSAD - moving the Mech
• Space - jump, useful for overcoming obstacles
• Double spacebar - start engines, needed for interplanetary travel. To perform this action you need an unlocked upgrade (second tab in the research tree): Mecha Core LVL 2 and Drive Engine LVL 2.Having all the research done, hold down the spacebar after the second press and set the direction of flight with the mouse to start the journey to another planet.
• ALT ( hold down) - landing
• Capslock - Capslock - activate Warp engine. Allows travel between solar systems, but requires completed research: Gravitational Wave Refraction
• C - Equipment and mech combustion chamber. Allows transfer of fuel to/from mech.
• F- Mech equipment and replicator. Allows you to view items and produce materials, and buildings.

Powering the mecha - fuel

Mech needs energy to function properly. Once it is depleted, it will become slow and any operation will require a long time, which can be extremely inconvenient. It is therefore important that the Mech always has a charged battery. The power indicator is in the center at the very bottom of the screen:

Red arrows next to the energy bar indicate a decreasing, green charging. The mech loses energy doing any activity, even walking.

To recharge the battery, you need fuel. In the early stages of the game, leaves and wood can be good fuel. You'll get them by right-clicking on bushes and trees. A slightly more efficient fuel is coal, which you can mine from coal deposits even at the very beginning of the game.

To fuel your Mech with fuel, open the Mecha Panel (C, or the Mech icon in the lower right corner). Drag the fuel from the inventory to the Fuel Chamber, or you can click on the material while holding shift, then its maximum value will be transferred. The mech will start burning, the moment the battery indicator drops below the maximum. The fuel is automatically burned until the battery is fully charged.

In subsequent stages of the game, you will acquire much better fuels. The most important one, which is worth unlocking as soon as possible, is Energetic Graphite. You'll produce it from pure coal manually using the replicator, or at the smelter (Smeltic Facility). 

To unlock Energetic Graphite, you must do the "Smelting purification" survey. The study requires you to do the "Automatic Metallurgy" and "Electromagnetic matrix" studies. The latter will unlock for us the ability to create cubes for research, the so-called Electromagnetic Matrix. You need 100 blue cubes, to unlock fuels.

The fuels that can power the Mech are all materials with the Fuel designation. In the details you will find information about the performance of each material, for example, by hovering the mouse in the inventory:

Performance is indicated by the Energy and Fuel chamber gen. The first indicates how long the fuel will last, and the second determines the rate of combustion.

Right from the start of the game, when you dismantle the platform left over from your rocket, you will receive 3pcs of highly efficient "Hydrogen Fuel Rod" fuel. You can use them at any time, or keep them for an emergency situation. Later in the game you will be able to produce them.

Power mecha from the power grid

The Mech can be powered from the power grid, and it's better to make a habit of using this as often as possible, because consuming fuel can become tiresome.

Mech can only be powered near a special power pole: "Wireless Power Tower". To build it you need to complete the "High-Efficiency Plasma Control" study. Fortunately, you can start it quite quickly, right after unlocking the "Electromagnetic Matrix" study.

When you build the "Wireless Power Tower" within range of the power grid, your Mech will automatically charge the battery while being near the building. During such charging, you can remove the fuel from the Mech so that it does not use it additionally. 

"Wireless Power Tower" allows you to charge your Mech from the power grid. Don't build it all over the planet, instead keep the building always in your inventory. When you need to charge, simply place the pole next to you while in range of the power grid. After you finish charging, dismantle the pole and use it next time.

"Wireless Power Tower" will charge your mech slower and slower over time. This is because as the game goes on, you upgrade the Mech's battery and it requires more power. Therefore, a good way to charge faster is to put up more towers. 4 poles side by side, will charge the battery 4x faster.

By building a battery (Battery), once it is fully charged, you can tear it down, making it go back into your inventory. This allows you to transport a sizable battery with you, which together with the "Wireless Power Tower" will allow you to recharge your Mech quickly.

Podróżowanie na inną planetę

Even in the early stages of the game, you can travel with your Mech to nearby planets.

Never go to another planet without spare fuel. It may happen that you will run out of it on your return. If this happens, look for raw materials to replace the fuel or build a wind turbine and charging station.

With Mecha Core LVL2 and Drive Engine LVL2 research, you can go to another planet in your system.

1. Charge the battery to full, take the fuel supply.
2. Press the spacebar twice and hold the button. 
3. You will start to rise higher and higher, and aim the mouse up to rise even higher and leave the planet. 
4. While flying, maneuver with the mouse. 
5. Hold down SHIFT to accelerate.Be careful, as accelerating significantly consumes the battery. 
6. Maintain your flight in the direction of the selected planet.
7. You do not need to brake, you can hit the planet at full speed - your Mech is indestructible.

The planets are in constant motion, so if you visit an interesting planet, the next time you visit it may be in a completely different place.

It's easy to get lost in space, so it's a good habit to mark your destination on a galaxy map.

When traveling, it's a good idea to mark your destination on a map:

1. Press "M", you will see a close-up of your current planet

2. Spin the mouse wheel down in an attempt to zoom out (at the top it will tell you to spin further and a map of the system will show). The camera will suddenly jump to a view of the galaxy and you can zoom in/out with the mouse wheel at will.

3. Click on the desired planet in the layout and select the "Indicator" icon in the lower left corner:

From this point on, you will notice a fine line that indicates the direction to the marked planet. To undo this effect, you can press "Indicator" again.

If you can't get away from the planet, as if gravity is clearly acting on you, still hold down the spacebar. The engine will help you rise higher.

You land on the planet by holding ALT, but by hitting it at high speed the Mech will land by itself. Don't worry about the sun either, you can fly around, as the temperature is not dangerous for your Mech. Even colliding with the sun is harmless.

Traveling to another solar system

You may run out of patience to reach another system at the very beginning of the game. An ordinary engine does not achieve enough speed to travel such distances.

This is what the so-called "Space Warper" is used for. You can activate the warp engine when you are in active flight off-planet, just press CapsLock. To unlock this engine, you must complete the Drive Engine LVL 4 upgrade.

Each trip with this drive consumes one Space Warper. That's why it's important to have several in reserve, otherwise you won't get back to your solar system.

1. Prepare fuel and a spare "Space Warper".
2. Begin your journey just as you would when traveling to another planet in your system.
3. Select your destination by marking it for yourself on the map (Indicator icon when you click on the planet). Remember that the map (the "M" button), you can zoom out, so you can calmly find neighboring systems.
4. Flying towards the desired solar system, press the CapsLock button. 
5. When you reach a new solar system, press CapsLock again to switch to the primary engine.

Changing the design of the Mech

One of the new features of the game is the ability to change the appearance of the Mech. The developers have allowed you to color and modify all the elements using an extensive wizard. To access it, select the Mecha Panel (shortcut C) and click on the "Armor Customize" icon.

Feel free to experiment with the changes. As long as you don't save the changes, your in-game mech won't change its appearance.

At the very top of the panel, you can choose the base colors. For those who want to change the look of the mech for a quick change, just change a few colors from here. The panel below, allows you to color all the elements of the Mech separately. However, the most interesting addition is the "Custom Parts" option. The developers have created a wizard, thanks to which we can redesign the parts of which our Mech is composed:

To modify the block:

1. click plus in the "Custom Parts" section.
2. Select the Mecha part from the middle screen that you want to modify
3. item will appear in the left panel next to the plus. Click on it and experiment with the tabs:
   1. The first tab with the cursor: preview parts
   2. cube - a tab that allows you to modify and add 3D elements
   3. bent line - allows you to bend parts using different effects. Choose the type of bending and drag the red line on the graph to see the effect.
   4. move arrows - allows you to move the block on all axes. Grab the block and move it in any direction.
   5. rotation - click on the block and start moving the mouse to rotate the item.
   6. scale - click and drag the block to change its scale in the direction of any axis.
   7. x - allows you to cancel changes.

Modifications to the block require raw materials, which can be transferred from the Mech's inventory. When the modification is completed, the required materials will appear in the "Material Stock / Cost Statistics" section. The two buttons underneath are used to transfer half of the raw materials from the inventory and the total, respectively. Note that the raw materials transferred to the wizard cannot be recovered.

The application of mecha design, is done with the "Apply Mecha Design" button.

If "Not enough material" appears on the button, it means that you lack raw materials for all the modified parts. Changing the color itself is free.

The "Save Mecha Blueprint" panel allows you to save the template. It is worth doing this to be able to return to editing. The templates are saved as physical files on disk and the "Open Folder in Explorer" button allows you to view them. With this solution, we can easily share or upload finished templates from other players.