Rules, controls, and methods for repairing shipwrecks in Approaching Infinity, the space adventure roguelike.

Overview

As of Approaching Infinity version 1.7c (03/31/2022) it is possible to repair shipwrecks and use them as your own ship. This takes a lot of work, but can be very rewarding, and is also the only way to create a custom ship-cla*s of your own!

My advice: don’t start repairing anything until you’ve seen the whole ship!

Resources

Here is a list of things you need to repair shipwrecks:

Repair Kit: this little item can only be found (not bought), and is used to fix consoles, as well as the “midi-scifi”.

Scrap Metal: is found all over the place and many things, when destroyed, will turn into scrap metal. Scrap is a major component in building and fixing walls and floors.

Crafting parts: you probably already know what these are, they can be found or purchased. Now they are used to fix mainframes and a few other things.

Gadgets: these are a brand new loot item that are very rare (but you are always guaranteed 1 gadget when a shipwreck or temple explodes. They are used to fix “vital systems” and a few other things.

Mechanics and Controls

There are a lot of ways to repair things, and a lot of things to repair. Let’s see what you can do:

Away team devices:

Hull shears: these can cut away damaged walls and yield scrap metal in the process.

Magnetic Boots doesn’t repair anything, but allows you to walk on the outer edge of the ship, and move through some holes and otherwise unreachable places.

Officer Skills:

Wreck Tech (Explorer cla*s) : Level 1 fixes damaged floors. Level 2 gives ‘magnetic boots’ power. Level 3 removes damaged walls, AND reduces the amount of scrap to build walls by 1. Each level gives +33% chance to repair certain damaged “furniture”.

Cybernetics:

Repair(Systems division (yellow)): this activated skill has a 15-turn cool-down, but it repairs walls, floors, short circuits, and a few non-essential kinds of furniture in a 2-tile radius. For free, no scrap or other parts required.

EMP (systems division (yellow)): doesn’t actually repair anything, but it can knock out short circuits in a 3-tile radius. It has a 20-turn cool-down. (It also damages robotic enemies and turns “auto-doors” into regular doors.)

CONTROLS:

[B] – Build / Repair (rebindable in the options menu)

Or the “repair” button:

You can repair things in your own tile (like damaged machines), or in adjacent tiles (like walls and floors and also machines)

Structural Repairs:

• Build Wall: you can build a new wall on any “space” tile (empty black nothingness) for 5 scrap.
• Repair Wall: you can repair a damaged wall for 3 scrap.
• Build Floor: you can build a new floor for 3 scrap *IF* the hole is totally surrounded by other floors.
• Repair Floor: you can repair a damaged floor for 1 scrap.
• Build Door: you can build a door into a wall with 1 (randomly selected) *rare* crafting part. The wall must be a straight piece (not a corner) with a floor on the other side (not walls or space).

Checking your progress

On every deck of a potentially repairable shipwreck, you should be able to find a

“Repair Terminal”:

Stepping on this will give you information about your repair goals:

It gives you some idea of how much work you have to do. Note that this information won’t even show up until you’ve found a working life support system (because you can’t use the ship without one).

Goals:

“Damage” tracks things like holes in the wall and floor, and must be zero. “Air pressure” measures oxygen levels on all decks, and must be at 100%. “Vital systems” are all the little important doodads around the ship, and are outlined next in this guide. “Life forms” is a count of all creatures on board, and must be zero.

Potential Stats:

Any shipwreck that you repair can be configured in 1 of 3 ways, based on what type of ship it was before. This shows a comparison to what you have now, so you can make an educated choice of whether to pursue repair at all, or maybe just tow it or blow it up…

These stats are raw numbers, without any effects of skills or devices. They’re also color coded for quick comparison.

“Vital Systems” and other criteria

To use a shipwreck as your own, it must meet all the following criteria:

• Have at least 3 decks (floors).
• Have NO radiation!
• Have all walls and floors repaired.
• Have air pressure on all decks (requires a working life support system).
• Have no living creatures (monsters, intelligent aliens, outsiders, etc.)
• Be 100% explored.
• Have 100% vital systems up and running.

OK, but what are vital systems?

Vital Systems: (7 types in total, all pictured))

Consoles: (8 types, not all are shown)

Mainframes: (4 types, not all shown (OBV))

Most important device in the universe:

(You definitely need that one to be working!)

Other

There’s a lot of other junk lying around, like furniture, other computers that function as data pickups, even kinds of machines that are not vital to ship operations. You can basically ignore that stuff.

Radiation can’t be removed, so if you see that, you won’t be able to repair a shipwreck. (Although the planned “alchemy” system will have a way to remove it…)

Create Your Custom Cla*s

If you meet all the requirements, you’ll have the opportunity to take over the ship when you go to the airlock and exit.

Stats

You’ll be able to select one of 3 different configurations for the ship, based on what it was originally constructed for (warships become better warships, etc.) This way, you can try to maximize speed, hull, cargo, crew, whatever you’re looking for.

You can use number keys (1,2,3) or click on the column you want to choose. Those will be your ship’s new base stats (not including armor or other device effects).

Appearance

Then you get to choose what you want your new ship to look like. These 6 ship images aren’t (currently) attached to any other cla*s, so they’re unique.

Transfer

All your existing equipment, crew, and cargo will transfer from your old ship into the newEXCEPT for the “built in devices” (the ones displayed in blue on the devices screen). But fear not! You will now get to choose 2 new devices for your custom ship cla*s.

Built In Devices

When you install a device in your new ship, you’ll be asked if you want to make it permanent. That would make it an un-un-installable “built in device”: a power your ship always has, and can’t be removed.

Choose wisely, and with purpose! Do you want to specialize in combat, diplomacy, asteroid mining, planetary exploration, or something else? Make your ship however you want it!

Blow it or tow it?

If you can’t repair it, or don’t want to, you might still be able to benefit from this hunk of space junk.

Blow it up:

If you’ve explored at least 50%, you can blow it up after you leave. This will spawn a bunch of scrap metal in space, and can potentially spill out other random parts as well. It’s an easy way to gather resources.

Tow it:

If you’ve visited every deck, explored at least 81%, and removed all the life-forms, you can tow it to a local space station and pick up around $25k (more in higher sectors). Every other race will usually pay more than the Bankers, but sometimes you need to make a quick sale…

Towing shipwrecks slows you down!It might also attract unwanted attention, especially in your vulnerable condition. Also, you can’t warp, dock, or land while towing a shipwreck. Make sure you know where you’re going, and head straight there!

Ignore it

Of course there’s the time honored tradition of simply ignoring a shipwreck once you’re done with it.

But just like surveys did for planets (taking them off the map and giving you something valuable in return), the shipwreck salvage systems add player choice and agency, reward dedication, and help completionists clear one more thing off the sector map 🙂

Wrap Up

The shipwreck overhaul is nearing completion, and the systems outlined here are the culmination of months of work and years of planning and player input.

Thanks for playing!

(And if you want to discuss your thoughts about Approaching Infinity, join our Discord – [discord.gg] !)

Here we come to an end for the Shipwreck Repair – Approaching Infinity guide. I hope this guide has helped you with your gameplay. If you have something to add to this guide or believe we forgot some information to add, please let us know via comment! We check each comment manually by approving them!