The best early game upgrades in Starminer are unequivocally those that unlock basic automation and boost your personal mining speed. Your first three research goals should be Improved Emitters for the mining laser, the Assembler Mk1 to begin automated crafting, and Solar Panel Mk2 to establish a stable power grid. Focusing on this trifecta creates a powerful feedback loop that dramatically accelerates your progress through the critical first few hours of the game, letting you build a robust foundation while other players are still hand-feeding machines.
This guide breaks down the optimal research path, explaining not just what to unlock, but why it's the most efficient choice for long-term success. We'll cover the core priorities, the tech to avoid, and a step-by-step research order to get your factory off the ground.
Why Automation is Your First, Last, and Only Priority
In Starminer, time is your most valuable resource. Every second you spend manually moving an iron ingot from a smelter to a crafting bench is a second you're not mining, exploring, or expanding. The entire point of the early game is to obsolete yourself from the production chain as quickly as possible. This is why rushing basic automation isn't just a good idea; it's the entire game plan.
Step 1: Unlocking the Assembler Mk1
The Assembler Mk1 is the cornerstone of your future empire. It's a relatively cheap technology that allows you to automate the crafting of basic components like Iron Plates, Copper Wire, and Gears. Before you have this, your factory is just a collection of disconnected machines that require constant babysitting. After, it's the beginning of a self-sufficient system.
Your immediate goal upon starting a new game should be to gather the resources needed to build your first Research Lab and unlock this technology. Don't get distracted by other shiny objects in the tech tree. The moment you can automatically produce plates and wires, the speed at which you can build everything else increases tenfold.
Starminer in-game screenshot
Step 2: Building Your First Production Line
Once the Assembler Mk1 is researched, immediately put it to work. Create a simple, direct production line:
- Mining Drill on an Iron Ore deposit.
- Conveyor Belt carrying ore from the drill.
- Smelter receiving the ore and producing Iron Ingots.
- Conveyor Belt carrying ingots from the smelter.
- Assembler Mk1 set to craft Iron Plates, feeding the finished plates into a storage container.
This simple setup removes you from the most tedious early-game loop. You can now replicate this for Copper Wire. With a steady supply of these two fundamental resources being created passively, you are free to focus on bigger problems.
Supercharge Your Resource Gathering
While your first machines are chugging away, your personal mining tool remains essential for gathering new types of ore and clearing terrain. Making this tool as effective as possible provides the single biggest boost to your progression speed before full-scale mining automation is online.
Improved Emitters: The Best First Tech Point
Before you even research the Assembler, your very first research point should go into Improved Emitters. This upgrade directly increases the damage and speed of your hand-mining laser. The logic is simple: if you can mine 20% faster, you can gather the resources for your first smelter, assembler, and research lab 20% faster. It's a cascading advantage. Every subsequent technology is unlocked sooner because of this initial investment. It is, without a doubt, the highest-return-on-investment upgrade available at the start of the game.
Don't Underestimate Suit Storage Upgrades
Your second bottleneck after mining speed is inventory space. Constantly running back to a storage container because your pockets are full of ore is a massive time sink. The Suit Storage upgrades are cheap and provide an immediate quality-of-life improvement. Each upgrade allows you to stay out on mining runs for longer, effectively increasing your resource-per-minute rate by reducing travel time. Aim to grab the first two levels of this upgrade as soon as you have a basic automated plate production line running to feed the resource costs.
Solving the Inevitable Power Crisis
Your burgeoning factory has an insatiable appetite for power. The initial Biomass Burners you start with are a trap; they require constant hand-feeding of organic material and produce a pittance of energy. Breaking free from this manual labor is just as important as automating component crafting. Your goal is to establish a passive, scalable power grid.
Starminer in-game screenshot
The Critical Leap to Solar Panel Mk2
Many players see the Solar Panel Mk1 and stop there, building a huge field of them. This is a mistake. The Solar Panel Mk2 is significantly more resource-efficient for the power it generates. While it costs more upfront than its Mk1 counterpart, it produces more than double the energy, meaning you need fewer panels (and less space) to power your base.
Your research path should be a direct line to this technology as soon as your basic assemblers are online. Powering your base with a handful of Mk2 panels is far more manageable and provides a stable platform for your next wave of expansion.
Banking Power for the Long Night
Solar panels have one obvious weakness: they don't work at night. A factory that shuts down for half the cycle is an inefficient one. The moment you have your Solar Panel Mk2s up and running, your next priority is the Basic Battery. These allow you to store the excess power generated during the day and discharge it at night, ensuring your smelters and assemblers run 24/7. Even two or three batteries can be enough to bridge the gap for a small early-game factory, ensuring production never stops.
Tech to Avoid in the Early Game
Just as important as knowing what to research is knowing what not to. The tech tree is full of tempting but ultimately distracting options that will drain your precious early resources for very little immediate gain. Think of these as noob traps.
Starminer in-game screenshot
- Advanced Weaponry & Turrets: Unless you are playing on a high-difficulty setting with immediate threats, there is absolutely no reason to research turrets or advanced personal weapons in the first few hours. You have no enemies to shoot at, and the resources are better spent on production.
- Complex Logic & Automation: Items like smart splitters, logic circuits, and complex conveyor systems are powerful tools for late-game optimization. In the early game, they are a solution in search of a problem. A simple manifold or direct-insertion line is all you need. Don't waste research points here until you have a real logistical challenge to solve.
- Decorative Blocks: It can be tempting to make your first base look nice, but researching cosmetic building pieces is a resource sink with zero functional benefit. Focus on utility first. You can always rebuild and prettify your factory later when you're swimming in steel and concrete.
A Sample 10-Step Research Path
For a clear, actionable plan, here is the recommended order for your first ten technology unlocks to achieve maximum efficiency.
- Improved Emitters: Faster hand-mining. The first and most important unlock.
- Basic Automation: Unlocks the Assembler Mk1 and Conveyor Belts.
- Basic Smelting: Essential for turning raw ore into usable ingots.
- Suit Storage 1: More inventory space for longer mining trips.
- Solar Power: Unlocks the Solar Panel Mk1 and, more importantly, the path to Mk2.
- Advanced Solar: The critical unlock for the Solar Panel Mk2.
- Energy Storage: Unlocks the Basic Battery to keep your factory running at night.
- Fluid Dynamics: Necessary for building Refineries, your gateway to Steel production.
- Steel Production: The next major tier of building materials. Unlocks a huge portion of the tech tree.
- Suit Storage 2: A further inventory upgrade that you'll desperately need by this point.
Following this path ensures you are always working on the most pressing bottleneck, whether it's resource gathering, production, or power. It builds a strong, scalable foundation for tackling the mid-game and beyond.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I upgrade my ship or my suit first?
Your suit. Absolutely. Your ship is primarily for long-distance travel, which isn't a major concern in the early game. Your suit, with its mining laser and inventory, is what you use 99% of the time. Upgrades to mining speed (Improved Emitters) and inventory capacity (Suit Storage) provide a far greater return on investment than any early ship component.
Is it worth building multiple Research Labs early on?
No. In the early game, the limiting factor for research is almost never the speed of the lab itself, but your ability to produce the required science packs and power everything. One Research Lab is more than sufficient until you have a fully automated production line for at least two different types of science packs.
When should I start thinking about defenses?
A good rule of thumb is to start researching basic turrets and walls right after you've automated Steel production. At this point, you will have the resource base to produce ammunition and defensive structures without crippling your main expansion efforts. This is also typically the point in the game where you might start attracting unwanted attention, depending on your difficulty settings.
The Takeaway
The early game in Starminer is a race to automate your own job. Don't get sidetracked. Your focus is singular: get machines to do the work for you. By prioritizing a faster mining tool, rushing the Assembler Mk1, and building a stable power grid with Mk2 Solar Panels and Batteries, you create a positive feedback loop of production that will slingshot you into the mid-game with a powerful industrial base. Build smart, build efficiently, and let the machines do the heavy lifting.