The short version
Start on Experimentation. Move to Assurance when it stops paying enough. Then Vow, then Offense.
Everything else is a paid gamble, and the moons that pay the most are the ones that end new crews.
Why the cheap moons are the right answer
A cheap moon you survive beats an expensive moon you do not.
That sounds obvious and it is still the most common beginner mistake, because the expensive moons advertise better loot and the cheap ones advertise nothing at all.
What the cheap moons actually sell you is repetition. Running the same facility three times teaches you its routes, its dead ends and its exits, and route knowledge is worth more than a better loot table you cannot walk back from.
The first two moons
Experimentation is where every crew starts and it stays useful. The facility is readable, the entity mix is forgiving, and the scrap covers the early quotas.
Use it to drill the boring habits: keep an exit in mind, call out what you see, and walk back before midnight instead of running back after it.
Assurance is the other gentle moon, and it is the natural second stop. The layout is still manageable and a crew that has learned the basics clears it comfortably.
The first real step up
Vow raises the pressure without punishing one mistake. The facility is larger and the entity mix is sharper.
Bring a light source you trust and a plan for the walk back. Vow is where crews learn that the return trip is the hard part, not the looting.
Offense is the moon that teaches hazard awareness. Expect more of the things that kill you without a fight: turrets, landmines and tighter corridors.
Slow down there. The facility punishes speed, so sweep with the scanner, watch the floor and treat every open doorway as a question.
Moons that punish new crews
March and Rend are where outdoor entities start to matter as much as indoor ones. Nights there are genuinely dangerous, and a crew that lingers after dark loses people.
Go in with at least one weapon, a spare light, and a retreat call agreed before you land, not during the chase.
Titan and Dine have the best scrap returns in the game and the worst survival odds. Titan in particular is the one people pay for too early.
Artifice and Embrion are in the same bracket. Embrion is worth calling out specifically: it can hold a very large number of Old Birds, which makes the surface the dangerous half of that run.
Treat every one of these as a calculated gamble. If the quota does not force you there, staying on a cheaper moon is usually correct.
When to move up
Move up when three things are true at once.
First, cheap moons stop clearing the quota. Second, everyone carries a light and a weapon. Third, the crew calls out contact without being reminded to.
If only one of those is true, stay put. Gear and habits are what make an expensive moon profitable, not confidence.
A five-day plan for a new crew
Day one: Experimentation. Learn the loop. Leave with something, not everything.
Day two: Experimentation again. Run it faster. Same layout, better routes, more per trip.
Day three: Assurance. New layout, same habits. Notice what transfers and what does not.
Day four: Vow or Offense, depending on whether your problem is the return trip or the hazards inside.
Day five: back to whichever of the four paid off best. By now you know what your crew handles, and the quota tells you whether you have to gamble.
Weather changes the plan
Weather is the variable beginners forget, and it can make a familiar moon feel unfamiliar.
Eclipsed conditions make the surface far more dangerous than the same moon in clear weather, which is the version of the moon you practised on.
Check the forecast before you pay. When the weather is bad everywhere, a cheap moon you know beats an expensive moon you have to gamble on, and it is not close.
Mistakes new crews make
- Paying for Titan on day two. The loot is real and the odds are not in your favour yet.
- Switching moons every run. Route knowledge is the thing that keeps you alive, and you only get it by repeating a facility.
- Staying after dark. Every moon gets harder at night, and beginners die on the walk back more than anywhere else.
- Skipping the cheap moons once the first quota is met. The quota rises. The habits you skipped building do not.
- Landing without a retreat call. Deciding it during a chase is deciding too late.
Related guides
- Moons tier list — the full ranking and how the terminal presents each moon.
- Best scrap tier list — what to fill the bag with on each trip.
- Quota guide — planning a day that actually clears the target.