Adamance is the Baboon Hawk moon. At 55.32%, more than half of landings put you on a surface with a troop on it.
What spawns here
| Entity | Base spawn chance | Threat |
|---|---|---|
| Baboon Hawks | 55.32% | High |
| Manticoils | 55.26% | None |
| Roaming Locusts | 24.56% | None |
| Tulip Snakes | 6.14% | Minor |
| Old Bird | 3.19% | Severe |
| Maneater | 0.94% | Real |
Two of the top three are harmless. The one that matters is at the top of the list.
The outnumber rule
Baboon Hawks do not attack on sight. They attack when your crew is smaller than their group.
That single rule drives everything about Adamance. Four divers against a troop of three are fine. Three divers against the same troop are not. The difference between a profitable run and a wipe is often one person.
The consequence is that Adamance punishes splitting up more than any other moon. Two divers alone on the surface here are outnumbered by a troop that would have ignored four.
The nest
A group of four or more hawks can build a nest out of three wooden spikes and a helmet. Once the nest exists, the hawks start stealing scrap — including anything you drop when you die — and carrying it back there.
This is why dying on the surface of Adamance is expensive in a way it is not elsewhere. On most moons you can come back for your haul. Here, a nest means the haul is being actively removed while you plan the recovery.
If you lose someone on the surface, recover the dropped scrap quickly or write it off. Do not spend the rest of the run arguing about it.
The leader’s rest window
There is one exploitable gap, and it is worth knowing.
Hawks have a group leader with a leadership value that determines its size. After the leader has walked through 15 path nodes, and at least 17 seconds have passed since its last break, it stops for about 12 seconds.
Those 12 seconds are a free crossing window. A crew that watches the troop rather than sprinting past it will find these gaps regularly.
How to run it
Land with at least four people on the surface, and keep them together until you are inside.
Do not stop outside. Inventory sorting, route arguments and regrouping all happen on the ship, because every second on this surface is a second a troop can count you.
Recover dropped scrap immediately or abandon it. Nests make delay expensive.
Watch the troop for the leader’s pause rather than assuming you have to run the gauntlet.
Crouch if an Old Bird’s spotlight finds you. At 3.19% it is not the main threat, but it is the one that kills you outright.
What to carry here
A shovel for the front of the group. Hawks are the one surface entity you can genuinely fight, and at 55.32% you will fight them.
A flashlight each. For the facility, and for reading the troop on the walk out.
A Walkie-Talkie each. The outnumber rule means you need to know where every person is before you cross the surface, not after.
Light loads. This is the moon where carried weight hurts most, because a slow crossing is a crossing that gets contested. Leave the Yield Sign at home.
A Zap Gun is a reasonable late purchase here — stunning a hawk gives you time to cross. It is 400 credits, so it belongs to crews whose quota is already solved.
When to skip it
Skip Adamance with three or fewer people. The outnumber rule means you are entering a fight on most landings, and no amount of gear changes the count.
Skip it when you are carrying heavy scrap and cannot move quickly. The surface here rewards a crew that can cross fast, and heavy loads take that option away.
Related guides
- How to beat Baboon Hawk — the outnumber rule, nests and the leader’s rest window.
- Offense moon guide — practice against hawks at 28.44 percent on a free moon first.
- Moons tier list — how Adamance compares to the other paid moons.