I didn’t have the ore I’d need for parts, either, so I’d have to go spelunking to dig out copper, iron, tungsten, and the rest. I didn’t have the money I’d need to buy the requisite deeds, so I needed to build up a basic farm to kickstart some cash flow. I tried that with Starbound, but my plans to overhaul my starter mech and launch my own space station (both features introduced in the most recent 1.3 update) felt impossibly far off. In other craft-heavy games, I tend to set a specific item as a target, and build toward it, saving cash and hoarding materials in order to get there. The sheer amount of stuff you can do is staggering. In the two years since the 2D craft-’em-up’s official release - and a full five years after it first hit early access - developer Chucklefish has only added more, putting out three significant updates that have introduced beefy new features like the chance to terraform planets, to upgrade weapons, and - crucially - to go fishing. A wing that I’m planning to fill with chickens, of course.Īt launch, Starbound offered a huge web of possibilities, from humble farming to exploring the galaxy. They love electrical wool, too, but it’s the metal chicken that’s allowed me to give my bipedal mech a better drill arm, as well as giving me the funds to buy a few bars of tungsten and add another wing to my starship.

The penguins at the spaceport pay loads for batteries, you see.

Every day I teleport down to my little farm, collect all the wheat and cotton and kiwi fruits that have grown overnight, and fill my pockets with double-As. Do you want to have a look? No, seriously, she’s next to the electrical sheep, and she’s a proper money maker. I’ve got a robot chicken in the shed that parps out batteries. Update Night is a fortnightly column in which Rich McCormick revisits games to find out whether they've been changed for better or worse.

How to upgrade mech starbound