Experimentation is the moon the game hands you at the start, and it is deliberately gentle.
The reason it feels easy is not the facility. It is the surface.
Experimentation has the weakest outdoor entity mix in the game. The walk from the ship to the door is nearly free here, and that walk is the part of a run that kills new crews everywhere else.
What spawns here
Base spawn chance per entity. These are the published weights the game rolls against, not the odds you will meet one in any given run.
| Entity | Base spawn chance | Threat |
|---|---|---|
| Manticoils | 50% | None |
| Roaming Locusts | 35.14% | None |
| Old Bird | 2.22% | Severe, but rare here |
Both of the common spawns are harmless. Manticoils scatter when you get close or make noise, and Roaming Locusts drift past in a ball. Neither will chase you, and neither is worth a shovel swing — killing a Manticoil is one of the few pointless fights in the game.
Old Bird at 2.22% is the lowest figure for that entity on any moon that lists one. You will sometimes see one, and it is lethal if it lands on you while you are standing. Crouch when one has you in its spotlight.
The danger on Experimentation is entirely indoors. Brackens, Snare Fleas, Bunker Spiders and Hoarding Bugs are what will actually end a run here, and all of them are answered by habits rather than gear.
What this moon is for
Experimentation is where you drill the three habits that carry into every other moon.
Keep an exit in mind. Every time you enter a room, know which way the door is. On harder moons you will not have time to work it out during a chase.
Call out what you see. Say the entity name out loud the moment you spot it. A crew that narrates survives; a crew that stays quiet to avoid embarrassment dies in a corridor.
Walk back before midnight. The return trip is the hard part of every moon in this game. Practise it here, where the surface is empty and the penalty for a late start is small.
A crew that has these three drilled can move to Assurance within a couple of days. A crew that does not will lose people to Vow regardless of what they buy.
How to run it
Land, agree the retreat rule, and go in with one light each.
Two people looting and one on the ship is a reasonable split for a new crew. The ship operator watches the radar and the clock, and the call to come back comes from them, not from the people holding scrap.
Loot the near rooms first. Experimentation’s layout is readable enough that you can make a mental map of the first branch and clear it properly rather than sprinting to the far end and losing track of the way back.
Take the light scrap. Early quotas are cleared by volume of small items, not by one heavy score. Carrying a Yield Sign out of Experimentation teaches the wrong lesson.
What to carry here
Less than you think. The surface is empty, so anything you buy for the walk out is weight you did not need.
One flashlight each, 15 credits. The facility is dark, and a dark corridor is where a Bracken gets its opening. This is the one purchase that matters here.
One shovel for the group, 30 credits. Not four. On Experimentation the shovel is for Hoarding Bugs and Bunker Spiders, and one person carrying it is enough.
Skip the Radar Booster. The facility is small enough to read without one, and 60 credits is a lot when the quota is still low.
When to skip it
Skip Experimentation when the quota has grown past what the moon reliably pays, or when you have already cleared it twice in a cycle and the facility has stopped producing.
Do not skip it just because it is the starter moon. A cheap moon you walk out of beats an expensive moon you do not, and Experimentation is the cheapest moon there is.
Related guides
- Assurance moon guide — the second free moon, and where Baboon Hawks first appear.
- Best moons for beginners — the five-day progression from here.
- How to beat Bracken — the indoor entity most likely to catch you here.