Out of Space is one of my favorite Switch games. Since the first game I’ve been hooked. It’s still fun after many hours spent trying to rid the ship of those pesky little aliens.
Along the way I’ve found good and bad ways to get through the game. Also a few tips and tricks.
Strategies
A good strategy is to immediately use the bucket to gain access to 3 or 4 rooms. Go deep, not just the closest rooms. This allows you to collect items from those rooms as well as stave off any eggs from generating.
Then fall back to the first room until you can power another room. Give some thought to the choosing the 2nd room to power. The best way to clear a ship of any size work along the outer wall in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.
Instead of randomly going from room to room. Working in one direction along the outer wall keeps your front line small. I’ve found working in a direction that avoids the rooms with vents until the last best.
Even working in one direction, there are exceptions. There are times taking one room makes more sense than proceeding in the same direction.
I usually save the vent rooms for last but sometimes the layout makes this impossible. A rug for vent rooms is a necessity. Bug spray is Ok, but there are better alternatives.
For a vent room I get an extra sink, water bot, and bucket. Then close the door to the vent room and forget about it.
An exercise bike is a good buy early on. The extra money is a good trade off for time. Rooms have a max capacity, so taking your time won’t punish you as much as you think.
Pumpkin farms are expensive and time consuming compared to an exercise bike. Early in the game with only 2 rooms, an exercise bike, and food you can easily rack up $100-$200.
Strategies for Solo Play
A power core is usually the first buy, followed by a sink. For solo playing you don’t really need any items. I’ve played many 12 room games without getting any items.
For solo you can get by with 1 pumpkin garden, 1 sink, 1 extra bucket, and just buying power cores. A fridge or small table helps to store stunned aliens so you can deal with them later.
There’s usually enough trash and aliens in each room to fund 12 power cores. However, getting an exercise bike and earning $60 makes life easier.
For an easy solo match win, take 2 rooms. Get an exercise bike and earn $250-$300. Get a mixer, watering bot, sink, bucket, and power core. Then start taking new rooms. Once you have the money, get a cleaner bot, and lastly a chef bot.
Extra items like bots or a mixer are handy. However, solo matches aren’t prolific on funds. There aren’t as many aliens to make a mixer useful, unless you toss in an occasional pumpkin.
There aren’t more than 4-6 aliens in any given room when playing solo. So taking a new room isn’t as hard as keeping it.
The chore of watering doors, pumpkin garden, and vents keeps you busy. But there’s usually a tipping point where there’s only a few rooms left and it gets easier.
Strategy for 2 or 3 Players
After exploring the nearest 3 or 4 rooms for items. A power core or exercise bike is usually the first buy.
If you’re diligent about watering them you can get by with two pumpkin gardens. Otherwise an early microwave is necessary to keep everyone feed.
After 3 or 4 rooms are powered. A sink will save time hauling a bucket back and forth. Besides a microwave, a mixer is another must have for multiplayer.
It provides a quick disposal for aliens and saves you from going back to the beginning for power cores. Even if you have 3 or 4 rooms left a mixer is a good buy.
Take you time and do all the chores before entering a new room. It’s easy to clear several rooms only to have everything undone because of not dealing with 1 sleeper or flying alien quick enough.
Make sure your food and sleep meters are good before entering a new room. Also move your sink and alien disposal nearby. Moving items isn’t fun but a little thing such as a close sink makes a huge difference.
Strategy for 4 Players
I have played Out of Space many times with 3 and 4 players. There is a huge leap in difficulty between 3 and 4 players. Sleeper aliens seem to be more common too.
4 players is by far the most challenging (and funnest) way to play. Alien eggs spawn much faster. There are many more aliens per room. You get hungrier faster and recover sleep much slower.
If you get overrun and 1 alien is allowed to run around loose for just a little it will wreak havoc upon your ship.
Your first purchases should be an exercise bike, a microwave, and power core in that order. Followed closely by a refrigerator and a mixer. Then get sinks, rugs, and lastly the bots.
You’ll need a microwave before taking the 3rd room otherwise players will writhe in pain on the floor clutching their stomachs. Unless you use the shower hack.
A fridge is very useful for storing aliens for later or until you get a mixer. Getting one early also allows you to build up food while things are slow during the first 3 or 4 rooms.
Taking rooms 5 through 8 are chaos. There’s a tipping point where rooms 9 and 10 seem to go easier. But the last 2 rooms are the easiest to get overrun.
You’ll need bots, rugs, and extra sinks to take and keep all 12 rooms. Yes, three strategically placed sinks are necessary in 4 player. Placing rugs makes retaking rooms easier, but not losing them in the first place is preferable.
Coordinated Attacks
Unlike 2 or 3 player matches you definitely need to coordinate attacking a new room with 4 players. You should have a player responsible for the door, one for a bucket, and two with mops.
Before you take a new room you should open the door and allow a few aliens out then quickly shut the door. Hit them with mops and water then dispose of them.
While you can take a new room in 4 player without this step. Skipping this step greatly increases your chances of being overrun.
By the time you get done dealing with those aliens, the room will probably be at max capacity again. However, thinning out the mutated aliens in a room does make it easier.
In 4 player, aliens refill a new room almost as fast as you can dispatch them. It can take a few waves of attack, but it does get easier.
Rushing in to the last room with a mop, a bucket and power core is riskier on 4 player mode. But it usually pays off. I prefer to at least clear it of live aliens first.
Best Practices
As you progress, it’s important to move your sink and preferred method of alien disposal closer to the action. Beds, food, and bots can stay behind but always have a sink less than 2 rooms away.
Check your meters, other doors, and vents before taking a new room. Be sure you aren’t close to falling asleep or a door spawning new aliens before opening a door to a new room.
A refrigerator is very useful item. As is a cleaner or chef bot. Watering bots are mixed blessing. All your buckets will end up at the beginning platform if you aren’t careful about placing a sink between a watering bot and the start.
Always have a bucket of water ready when opening a door to a new room, especially one with a narrow door. As the aliens pass through the bottleneck hit them with the bucket of water.
Don’t rush into a new room with a mop. Let them come to you. Stand near the entrance and hit aliens as they try to enter your room. Then go in after stragglers.
A rug in each room cuts down on the damage from stray aliens. It also makes recovering lost rooms much easier.
Sleepy aliens are the hardest in my experience. If you walk through the yellow sparkly stars and accumulate 4 you will fall asleep. Don’t chase them, let them come to you. Let the dog go in the room or wait for the sparkles to go away before entering.
Keep plants or beds near to counter them. It’s time consuming but moving items close to new rooms is best.
Use the green unpowered rooms to your advantage. Think of them as bug sprayed rooms. Once you clean the floor and doors, shut the door. As long as you don’t open the door again it will not spawn eggs. Leave the rooms past the green unpowered rooms for later.
Fun Stuff
You can grind up cocooned players to recover them. Tossing them into space doesn’t help but makes them a bucket head. Store cocooned players in the fridge.
Just for fun, we found out credits max out at $9,999. Then pizza went on sale for only $9. So of course we had to buy some! We spent over $6,000 on Pizza before the game crashed!
Achievements
Most of the achievements are self explanatory. Just keep playing matches and you’ll get most of them to unlock gold versions of common items from the store.
The only achievements I needed help with were the unusual ways:
- Unusual way: No showering
- Unusual way: No cooking
- Unusual way: No resting
- Unusual way: Less shopping
- Unusual way: No killing
No showering and No killing are the only difficult challenges. The no cooking challenge is easy, just don’t use a macrowave. Buy an extra pumpkin garden if you have more players.
No resting is also easy. Just don’t use a bed, chair, or couch. Buy 3 or 4 decorative plants to stay awake or just sleep on the floor. Less shopping is also easy. Do not buy any items from the powered category, including the shower. Use the bug spray on yourself if you’re close to being cocooned.
The quarantine spray is also useful for the no showering challenge. Spray yourself before entering any new room. Then you won’t get any goo on you from the floor, spitter aliens, or picking up spikey aliens. The green spray protects you for 45 seconds.
The no killing challenge sounds hard but get a few refrigerators. The fridge can store 20 aliens each. Tables are Ok but take up a lot of room. 3 or 4 fridge’s are best for this challenge. Also get an exercise bike to make up the lost income from grinding up aliens.
Tips and Tricks
Shower hack: By repeatedly entering and exiting the shower you can fully restore your food and sleep meter. You don’t need to take a full shower to take advantage of this. The same button enters and exits the shower. Keep spamming the button while moving in and out to refill your meters.
You can use a refrigerator to move multiple items. Instead of moving each item individually, place bots, power cores, or any item in the fridge and just move it to a new room.
The fridge holds 20 items. You can also grind up one fridge full of aliens or trash to save time grinding them up individually. A refrigerator is only $25 so a $12 loss is worth the time it saves.
While a fridge is one of the most useful items in the game, it releases all its contents when it loses power. If you plan on keeping a fridge close to new rooms get a can of quarantine spray and spray the power core next to the fridge.
The bug spray works on players too. If you need to pick up spiked aliens or close to being cocooned then use a can of bug spray on yourself. Bug spray is good for 4 player mode but not so much for 1 player mode.
You can stun aliens through a closed door. Open the door and shut it again just before any aliens come out. While they’re still near the door hit it with a bucket. The dog also stuns them through the door too.
You can un-build the dog and bots to retrieve them. If they’re stuck in another room or you can’t find them, un-build them then place them again.
FAQ
I’ve enjoyed playing Out of Space solo or with other players.
The Copier Guy, aka Dave. I’ve worked on scanners, printers, copiers, and faxes since 1994. When I’m not fixing them I’m writing about them. Although, I’m probably better at fixing them. I’ve worked with every major brand. As well as several types of processes. If it uses paper I’ve probably worked on one.
