Gameplay

Your first flight, the four upgrades, the mission types, and why you keep crashing

Getting started

1. Install it

SkyLander is on the Garmin Connect IQ store. Install it to the watch, open it, and make a pilot profile.

2. Your first flight

You begin at Earth Orbit in the Mosquito. Fly to Luna Base to discover it, which is what opens trading and missions there. It is a short hop, so it is the right place to get the landing wrong a few times.

3. Learn to land

Landing is simulated, not scripted. The main thruster fights gravity, the side thrusters move you sideways, and anything faster than 5 m/s at touchdown costs hull.

If you are starting out
  • Start with short routes (Earth → Moon)
  • Land below 5 m/s and you take no damage
  • Keep 30 fuel back: landing needs it
  • Spend your first credits on the fuel tank
  • A station has to be visited before it offers missions

Ship upgrades

Four things upgrade, and the price doubles at every level. The fuel tank is the one that opens new regions.

Fuel tank

Levels: 1 → 6  |  Base: 500 cr

100 → 150 → 200 → 250 → 300 capacity · level 6 refuels for you

What it does: opens regions. Level 2 reaches the asteroid belt, level 3 Jupiter, level 4 Saturn, level 5 the outer system. Level 6 tops the tank up whenever you land, provided you have over 100 credits.

Engine

Levels: 1 → 3  |  Base: 1,000 cr

100% → 75% → 50% fuel consumption

What it does: level 3 halves what every jump costs, which is what makes the long outer routes affordable.

Cargo hold

Levels: 1 → 3  |  Base: 800 cr

10 → 20 → 40 cargo units

What it does: four times the cargo at level 3, and a smaller fuel penalty for carrying it.

Landing gear

Levels: 1 → 3  |  Base: 600 cr

Safe landing speed: +20% → +40%

What it does: raises the speed you can touch down at without taking damage, so you spend less on repairs.
A suggested order

1. Fuel tank 2, for the asteroid belt → 2. Cargo hold 2, which doubles what a trip earns → 3. Fuel tank 3, for Jupiter → 4. Engine 2, to cut the running cost

Where you can go

The solar system is split into five regions, and each one has an upgrade level you need before you can reach it.

Inner system

Earth, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus

Open from the start
Where you start, and where the short routes are
Asteroid belt

Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, Juno, Hygiea

Fuel level 2
Iron, titanium and rare earths, cheap at the source
Jupiter system

Europa, Ganymede, Io, Callisto, Jupiter

Fuel level 3
Five stations close together, and the cheapest water in the game
Saturn system

Titan, Enceladus, Rhea, Ring Station

Fuel 4, engine 2
The Ring Station, and the only dilithium anywhere
Outer system

Uranus, Neptune, Triton, Pluto

Fuel 5, engine 3
Antimatter, quantum cores and dark matter, and a long way home

Missions

How missions work

Discovery first: a station offers no missions until you have flown there yourself.

The ship is provided: a mission puts you in a Mule or a Vector, not your Mosquito. When it ends you are back at the station you left, in your own ship.

And fuelled: a hired ship arrives with enough fuel for the job, so a mission never eats into your own reserves.

The four types

Cargo delivery (Mule)

Transport goods between stations using the heavy-lift Mule ship. Payment includes 10% insurance.

Urgent delivery (Mule)

The same job against a clock, with a bonus for beating it.

Reconnaissance (Vector)

Fly the Vector over rough ground and collect data points as you go.

Rescue (Vector)

Get there fast. The Vector's job, and the reason it carries so little.

Landing physics

The four things that matter

  • Gravity: pulls down the whole time, and differs by where you are. The Moon is forgiving, Earth is not.
  • Mass: ship plus fuel plus cargo. More of it is harder to stop and costs more to move.
  • Thrusters: the main one fights gravity, the side ones move you sideways.
  • Velocity: under 5 m/s at touchdown and the hull is untouched.
The technique
  1. Come in above the pad
  2. Brake with the main thruster early
  3. Line up sideways with the side thrusters
  4. Finish on short, gentle bursts
  5. Touch down under 5 m/s
Tip: start braking earlier than feels necessary. Hovering wastes fuel; arriving too fast wastes the hull, and hull is dearer.

What stations sell

Fuel

1 credit per fuel unit (10-unit increments)

Landing needs 30 fuel in reserve, so never leave with an exact amount.

Hull repair

5 credits per 1% damage (10% increments)

A clean landing costs nothing. Damage taken on a mission is deducted from the payment.

Supporting the game

Every feature is already unlocked, and registering is free. If you want to put something towards the next thing being built, the donation is optional and any amount works.

Register