Are you new to the game? Discover how to be helpful and avoid dying a lot. This guide does have spoilers.
Choosing a Class and Delegating Tasks
How do I pick a class?
- Mission Control Class: If you are paranoid and don’t like danger but enjoy watching and directing others, Mission Control is the class for you.
- Looter Class: If you enjoy sticking your face into danger or like exploring, the looter class might be your best fit.
- Mule Class: If you get frustrated with teammates who collect a lot of loot but often die without bringing it back, or if you like some danger but not too much, the mule class is a good choice.
Remember to choose a class based on what you enjoy and what works best for you. It’s also a good idea to switch classes occasionally to keep things interesting, as sitting at the terminal the whole time can be boring for some.
Even though you might want to go all out during your playthrough and rush into a building without a plan to get loot, it’s not the best idea. Doing this leaves you vulnerable to not seeing monsters and possibly missing loot. Plus, if everyone dies in the building, you lose all your loot and a day or more of work. That’s why players usually take on different roles to increase their chances of success.
Mission Control
Mission Control, or the player taking on this role, is the eyes of your operation. They stay at the ship’s terminal and monitor everything on the moon. They can see things like loot, monsters, vents, turrets, and mines before other players. With the ability to temporarily disable turrets and control doors, they are your lifeline of information. Communication is key, so walkie talkies are crucial for staying in touch. In later stages, a radar extender acts as an extra set of eyes, helping Mission Control spot threats.
On the camera, different elements are highlighted:
- Blue dots/triangles: Your teammates
- Greenish-yellow triangles: Treasures, Bee balls, Hives, and apparatuses
- Red dots: Monsters/creatures
- Large red dot: A worm
- Slim rotating rectangles with red triangles: Turrets, with the red swiveling triangle indicating their detection range
- Green boxes: Open doors or active turrets
- Red boxes: Closed doors or disabled turrets
- Thick blue lines: Doors leading outside
- Thin blue lines: Internal doors inside buildings
- Red lines: Vents
To disable turrets or lock/unlock doors, Mission Control simply types the code shown on the screen into the terminal. Locked doors and disabled turrets appear as red boxes, while open ones or active turrets appear as green. Turrets stay disabled for a short time, so use this strategically.
Mission Control can also use a teleporter to recall players back to the ship, dead or alive, by focusing the camera on them and pressing the red button. However, even though Mission Control is away from active danger, monsters can still infiltrate the ship during the night or an eclipse. Common culprits are Eyeless dogs, so Mission Control needs to periodically check their surroundings, close doors, or crouch and stay silent if creatures are nearby.
The optimal Mission Control setup includes:
- Computer terminal located for easy access.
- Radar extender at a building entrance for visual awareness.
- Ship’s horn placed conveniently to reduce movement.
- Backup walkie talkies in case of loss or player death.
Looters
Looters are the players actively collecting scrap from buildings, putting themselves in the midst of danger for valuable loot. Dealing with monsters is a significant aspect of their role, but so is efficiently gathering and prioritizing loot due to limited inventory space and weight constraints. Larger items like the Axel/gear or engines, though cumbersome, should be picked up last, with smaller, more valuable items filling the inventory first.
The priority list for large items is as follows:
- Cash Registers (over 100 credits)
- Fancy Lamps (fluctuating value, potentially over 100)
- Paintings (fluctuating value, potentially over 100)
- Apparatuses (around 60ish)
- Large Axles (between 40-50)
- V-type Engine (varies between 20 and 60)
- Bottles (around 20ish)
In the early game, you’ll likely encounter Axles, bottles, apparatuses, and engines first. Beehives or “beeballs” are high-value but should be collected last due to the threat of bees chasing you back to the ship and potentially causing harm.
Smaller items pose a different challenge, with a variety of values. Prioritize items like gold bars, golden cups, hair dryers, toy robots, laser pointers, wedding rings, magic 7 balls, teeth, bells, perfume bottles, and rubber duckies. Value fluctuates, so choose higher-value items first when faced with decisions.
All looters should have a walkie talkie for communication and may carry weapons like a stop sign, zap gun, or stun grenades to handle monsters. A key note for loot drop-off: place it right outside the building, near the ladder or door, for quick retrieval by the mule.
Mules
Mules, like looters, play a crucial role in bringing home scrap and earning money for the team. It’s advisable for them to actively shuttle between the ship and the building, ensuring efficient scrap retrieval. This not only saves time traveling from the ship to the building but also allows looters more time to gather valuable items for sale.
The loot value delegation follows the same principles as outlined in the “looters” section. If you haven’t read that breakdown, it’s recommended to do so, as the priority remains the same. Higher-value loot should be prioritized over lower-value items, especially if returning to the base is risky or the ship is located far away.
Mules face challenges, particularly with mobs after 3 PM, including forest keepers, worms, Baboon Hawks in groups, eyeless dogs, and the risk of entering the range of beeballs. Most of these issues can be mitigated by picking up loot during the first half of the day. However, during an eclipse or after 5 PM (when monster activity increases), caution is needed when transporting items. Mules can pick up items from dead team members and their corpses, but this should be done judiciously to avoid putting themselves in a vulnerable position, as having multiple dead bodies can pose a risk.
Dealing with the Quota
The quota is like a target in the game, showing how much scrap or its value in money you need to collect to keep playing and avoid being kicked out by the company. It starts at 130 and goes up each time you reach it until you can’t anymore, leading to the end of your game.
To do well in the early part of the game, focus on gathering resources on easy moons like Experimentation and Vow. Collect as much loot as you can until the last day (day 0). On day 0, return to the company planet and sell only enough to meet the quota. Keep the extra loot in your ship, and it acts as a protective buffer in case you encounter difficult terrain or unfair monsters on other moons. You can also sell this extra scrap periodically to buy more resources when needed, helping to keep your quota lower, especially when luck is not on your side.
You can find out the quantity of items by right-clicking on them. If you have multiple items in a pile, scanning the pile gives you the total amount in that area. Separate your loot into two piles: one meeting or slightly exceeding the quota near the door, and the rest at the back of the ship. Remember that items sell at different percentages throughout the 3 days, with the full value obtained on day 0. Selling earlier gets you money but not the full value. The value starts at 30% at the beginning of the week and gradually increases to 100%.
As you progress, the quota increases, potentially reaching 1000. This hoarding strategy becomes helpful around this point.
The number of days you have doesn’t change as the quota increases. Be mindful of traveling decisions, as losing a day means less loot. In late game, missing the quota becomes a real risk.
Avoid planets with bad weather, and never go to an eclipsed or stormy planet (metal on you leads to zapping). Don’t go back and forth between the company and planets; visit the company at the end of your 3 days. Also, avoid selling items you bought back to the company, as they are worthless, and you lose resources.
Beeballing
Circuit Bee Hives, fondly nicknamed “Beeballs” by my friends, are incredibly valuable loot early in the game, worth between 90 and 100 each. However, acquiring them involves high risk due to the aggressive nature of the bees guarding the hive. I suggest grabbing Beeballs only before leaving a moon, as the bees relentlessly pursue you until they reclaim the hive or you drop it.
Efficient “beeballing” requires at least 3 players, each with a specific role:
- The Grabber: The person running with the ball.
- The Bait: The person acting as a lure for the bees.
- The Door Man: The person closing the ship doors as soon as the grabber is inside.
While it’s possible with fewer players, the 3-player split has proven most successful. Note that circuit bees are immune to stun weapons, so speed is crucial. Items like shovels and stop signs have no effect on them.
Here’s a step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Position the grabber and bait on opposite sides of the Beeball, with the door man by the ship door buttons. If you have a fourth player with a teleporter, focus the camera on the bait player, ready to use the teleporter. The bait and grabber players should empty their inventories to avoid equipment loss.
Step 2: The grabber grabs the Beeball and runs directly to the ship. Meanwhile, the bait heads back to the ship, taking a non-linear or longer path than the grabber. The goal is to divert the bees’ attention, giving the grabber a head start.
Step 3: As soon as the grabber crosses the door threshold, the door man closes the ship doors. Bees can’t break through doors but will continue to follow. The bait tries to make it to the ship, but if they don’t cross the threshold, it’s expected and ignored.
Step 4: If you have a teleporter, teleport the bait inside the ship (either by the door man or a fourth player). Whether alive or dead, their body is valuable. After this or if you lack a teleporter, activate the ship’s engine and fly away from the moon. Bees won’t follow you into space or return if you land again.
While some variations may not involve a bait player, this method has proven useful in my playthroughs. I wouldn’t recommend attempting this in single-player mode.
Dealing with Monsters (and Traps)
- Circuit Bees: To stay safe from circuit bees, just stay away from their hive and don’t take their stuff. They won’t bother you unless you get too close or try to steal from them.
- Manticoils: These creatures don’t do anything harmful; they’re just there, not posing any threat to you.
- Spore Lizards: Spore lizards are scared of people. If you stay away and don’t corner them, they won’t attack. Running at them might make them run away from you.
- Hoarding Bug: Avoid making this bug angry by not taking its scrap metal. If it gets mad, hitting it with a stop sign usually works. Just don’t mess with its stuff or corner it.
- Snare Flea: If a snare flea grabs onto your face, hit it with a shovel or stop sign. Keep hitting “scan” to find something to hit it with. Look up to spot them easily and avoid getting caught.
- Baboon Hawk: If there’s one, hit it with a sign or shovel to make it leave. If it attacks, keep beating it and try to get back to safety. If there are many, run away as fast as you can.
- Hygroderes (green blob thing): Don’t touch it. Move around it, and it won’t hurt you. It’s slow and can be lured away with a boombox.
- Bunker Spiders: Stand on railings to avoid these spiders. If you’re above them, they can’t reach you. Beat them to death or use the railing strategy to avoid them.
- Brackens: Don’t stare or corner them. Give quick glances to avoid their attacks. Leaving the area is the best way to deal with them.
- Thumpers: Like spiders, they can’t reach you on railings. Make sharp turns to trip them up. Beat them to death using non-linear paths.
- Coil-Heads: Always have someone looking at them. If not, they move fast. They can’t do anything if you keep looking.
- The Jester: Leave. Don’t try to zap it; it makes things worse. Once it winds up, your chances are slim. Get out while you can.
- The ghost girl: Leave the planet or prepare to face the consequences.
- The worm (Earth leviathan): Move in a non-linear way to avoid being in its mouth when it breaches. Conserve stamina for quick escapes.
- Eyeless dogs: Crouch and stay quiet; they can’t see or smell but can hear well. If they hear you, they might go away after a while.
- Forest Keepers: Avoid noise and stay out of sight. Go into small or raised spaces to escape them. The best way is to avoid them when possible.
- Land mines: Just don’t step on them, and you’ll be fine.
- Turrets: Stay out of their sight, and they won’t shoot. Mission control or dashing past them might disable them.
- Steam: Turn off the valve to avoid steam damage.
- The rickety bridge: Don’t use it too much or with heavy items. If it shakes, try not to be in the middle when it falls.
- Spider webs: Hit them with a shovel to get rid of them.
- Quicksand/mud: If you see slightly darker ground, back up immediately. Don’t go further or try to swim; you’ll die.
Weather Conditions of Moons
When you’re choosing which moon to travel to, take note of the little description about the weather on the planet. This weather can affect how your adventure unfolds.
- Normal: The best scenario for a planet visit, as it means there are no specific weather conditions to complicate your journey. Expect consistent visibility, a steady mob spawn rate, and no additional weather-related dangers like floods or lightning. Mobs increase as the day progresses.
- Snowy: Encountered on Dine, Rend, and Titan—late-game planets. Moving at a fast speed becomes somewhat challenging, and visibility is minimal outside preset paths. Navigation is best done by following tracks on the ground or preset light paths.
- Fog: Occurs on any planet, making it nearly impossible to see beyond what’s directly in front of you. March or Vow can be tricky due to Forest Keepers’ clear vision in fog. Additionally, it obscures ledges and drop-offs and makes general navigation challenging.
- Rainy: Increases instances of quicksand and mud on the planet, making identification difficult due to slight ground color variation. These are avoidable but annoying obstacles.
- Stormy: Causes lightning strikes at semi-random intervals for players carrying metallic objects. Lightning can strike randomly without metal scrap, but chances increase if you’re carrying metal. Best to avoid this weather.
- Flooded: Results in the planet flooding throughout the day, starting with small standing water and gradually becoming impassable. Carrying heavy metal objects, like axles or bottles, makes you sink faster. Either dump heavy loot or deliver it earlier in the day.
- Eclipsed: Nighttime monsters, such as eyeless dogs and worms, spawn at any point during the day, more frequently than usual. Avoid visiting an eclipsed moon if possible.
That's everything we are sharing today for this Lethal Company guide. This guide was originally created and written by MOTHMAN. In case we fail to update this guide, you can find the latest update by following this link.