FAQ

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I am giving a command but nothing is happening?

Space Haven works on a principle of priorities, meaning crew members will carry out tasks in a swift way but might have many tasks to take care of. If you order something to be constructed (or something to be dismantled) the facility will be marked, which means a crew member will eventually come and carry out the task. Don't expect something to happen instantly, rather a character has to walk to the position and perform the task.

Which crew member will come is based on the priorities system, which can be adjusted in the crew management menu. If no crew member has at least a low priority for the corresponding task then nobody will carry it out. This is not something that needs to be modified right away, the starting crew has priorities set in a way where all normal jobs will be carried out eventually.

Furthermore, crew members have their own schedules with work (Cog symbol), leisure time (Coffee symbol) and sleep (Half moon symbol). Work related tasks (Like construction) will be carried out on work schedule. See schedule menu for information on adjusting crew schedules.

DO NOT LEAVE CREW MEMBERS DRAFTED. Drafting means to "take manual control" effectively stopping them from doing any normal job. Only draft when you want to equip crew members with weapons and when in combat and other special situations. See more information on drafting here.

How can I find more crew members?

By finding them aboard derelict ships and stations in hypersleep chambers.

By meeting someone who wants to join your crew.

Why is my crew not eating?

Be sure to build a kitchen. Make sure that the environment around the kitchen is not threatening to your crew.

Crew eats when they their schedule is on leisure time. Make sure your crew has enough leisure time. 2 hours in a row of leisure time at some point during their schedule should suffice, enough for them to be able to travel back to their designated leisure time ship and eat.

Why is my crew starving when they just ate?

Curing starving will need a more long-term access to food, as one meal cannot cure the starving condition right away. Ensure there is a more long-term stable access to food, and that the crew members have enough leisure time to be able to eat.

See how to solve starvation from the starvation section in Important Concepts

How can I get more resources?

By mining raw resources from asteroids and turning them to usable materials with various refineries.

By trading resources with spaceships and space stations you meet.

By salvaging derelict ships for scrap materials and refining to usable materials with a scrapper facility.

By dismantling some earlier built facility and using the resources to build another more critical facility.

See the industry tree to know resource chains.

Why are my grow pods not producing anything?

Plants need suitable environment conditions in terms of CO2, temperature and light. Make sure all these environment conditions are taken into consideration when building a room for grow pods! Extreme temperatures will kill them. If a crop failed, select a grow pod and then select a plant to see more information on why it failed.

Additionally, someone from your crew has to be assigned as a botanist and tend to the plants regularly. They will do it automatically as long as someone is assigned to be a botanist on the ship.

See building for production.

How does trade work?

You can trade with a faction if you have a trade agreement with them.

Select a faction ship or station you want to trade with, then open the trade tab. Once a trade has been made, the trade will be carried out automatically, but might take some time. Your crew and also your trade partners crew have to carry resources to air locks for shipment.

More details on how trades are executed can be found in the trading section.

My character has fallen unconscious. How can I carry them to a shuttle or safe place?

A character can only be carried if they are truly unconscious. Select the character to check their current state.

If they are unconscious, you can draft another character and use the "pick up" command on the unconscious character. You can then move them to a shuttle, medical bed or other place.

If they are sleeping you can try to wake them up with the draft button.

How can I put out a fire?

Crew members will do it automatically, but you can also draft a crew member and order them to put out a fire.

By opening the vent on an airlock. NOTE! This will cause some damage to facilities.

How can I move boxes and items or eject them from a spaceship?

Select a ship and then click the move command. You can now select multiple items to be moved.

If you want to eject items, press the eject button instead.

I built a power node but no power is distributed? How can I link power nodes together?

Select a power node that has been constructed and then click the links button. This will open up a view mode enabling you to create links between nodes.

How can I check the temperature and gas levels on my spaceship?

Click the view modes button to be able to toggle through various view modes.

Why is my character just standing and not doing anything?

The character may be in drafted mode (Manual control). Select the character and then click the undraft button to set them back to automatic control. Do not keep characters drafted unless you want to move them around manually. Draft is mostly meant for combat situations, and specific situations like equipping them or carrying another wounded crew member to a medical bed. All normal tasks found in the priority menu are performed automatically when the characters are not drafted.

The character may be on leisure schedule or sleep schedule. Select the character and check their information.

Why is there a task that is not being carried out by anyone?

Check that you have someone assigned to carry out those tasks in the crew management priority menu. Try making the priority for that task high. Note that crew being on leisure time (Coffee symbol) means they will not work, wait until the crew members are back on their work schedule (Cog symbol).

An airlock storage is full but my crew will not carry the boxes to storages?

Your crew might be overwhelmed with logistics work.

If your refineries have the continuous setting on, try removing them temporarily and switching to a "IF" instead. Producing resources continuously will cause a lot of logistics work and your crew might not be able to keep up with moving them to storages.

Make the logistics priority high for crew members. This can be done in the Crew Management Menu.

How can I transfer resources from a storage to another storage?

Select the storage you want resources to and open up the management tab. Select a resource and use the bring here command.

Are resources transferred automatically between ships?

Yes, based on need. You can change this for each ship by selecting a ship and opening the settings tab. You can also manually transfer resources between ships by using the transfer tab when selecting your own ship. This is easily done through the tactical map.

How can I transfer resources from one ship to another?

Go to tactical map. Select a ship and open the transfer tab.

How can I manage resources for a ship and make it automatic?

Go to tactical map. Select a ship and open the resources tab.

How can I customize which resources are shown in the upper resource bar?

You can do it from the resource settings button. This button can be found close to the resource window itself, see user interface sections.

How can I equip a crew member?

Draft them and move them to a storage with weapons. With your character selected interact with the storage to open up inventory.

See the Character Inventory - Equipping a Crew Member section for a detailed step-by-step guide.

How can I create a prison on my spaceship or station?

Use the prison area sketch tool found from the build menu to mark an area as a prison.

See how to build a prison for a detailed guide.

How can I take someone prisoner?

You need to get someone to surrender to you completely on a ship or station, meaning all of the crew members belonging to the other faction have surrendered on that ship/station. Then, draft your own crew member and interact with a prisoner and press the "Follow me" button, with the intention of making them follow you back to your own ship.

See more details in the Taking Prisoners section.

See also how to build a prison.

How can I communicate and trade with other ships?

Select the ship you want to communicate with and press the button for hailing them. Make sure your own communications is turned on in the systems menu.

What can I do after I have depleted a critical resource for survival?

Use the distress beacon to send a signal out for someone to help you. (Not yet implemented)

Regarding building, see the Getting Stuck - Out of Resources section.

How can I increase my ships mass capability?

Build more hyperdrives.

Why are my crew members not eating or sleeping?

Forced work setting will prevent crew members from doing other tasks. Check the systems menu or ship settings.