The quota is close, the day is running out, and the crew is standing on the ship deciding what to do.
This is the moment where most crews make the one mistake that costs the run: they go somewhere expensive and stay too long.
Step one: know the gap
Before anyone lands, work out two numbers: what is already sold, and what the quota still needs.
Everything sitting unsold on the ship goes to the counter first. That is free money you have already earned, and it changes the size of the problem.
A crew that knows it needs 60 credits makes different decisions from a crew that thinks it needs 200.
Step two: land cheap and close
The sprint is built on completed trips, so the moon matters less than the travel.
A nearby free moon costs almost nothing to reach and lets you start looting immediately. An expensive moon charges you before you have picked anything up, and its long walk back turns one mistake into a lost day.
The best sprint moon is a boring one you can navigate without thinking, because thinking is time.
Step three: everyone goes in
On a sprint day, nobody stays on the ship unless the facility is genuinely dangerous.
Every player inside is one more pair of hands per trip, and the trip count is what clears the quota. If you are running a crew where somebody usually monitors, this is the day they loot instead — and the radar booster stays in the store.
Step four: take the light stuff first
Fill hands with value per pound, not with price.
The high-ratio items are all light: toilet paper, eggs, hairdryers, old phones, coffee mugs, soda. A handful of them is worth a meaningful amount and costs you no walking speed, which means the trip back is fast and the next one starts sooner.
Heavy items are for when the quota is already comfortable. On a sprint day, weight is the enemy, because it extends the only part of the trip that is pure cost — the walk back.
Step five: fixed trip length
Give every trip a time, and leave when it is up.
Short trips fail less. A trip that ends at the ten-minute mark with a moderate haul beats a trip that ends at the twenty-minute mark in a chase. The failed trip also costs the credits you would have earned on the next one.
The crews that clear quotas are the ones who leave the facility while they still want to stay.
What to do when the number is still short
If the quota is not going to clear, do not switch to a more expensive moon. That is the worst available answer, and the bad run guide covers why in detail.
Instead, accept the day, land somewhere safe, and take what is reachable. A shortfall you survive is a shortfall you can fix tomorrow. A shortfall you chase into a hostile facility ends the run outright.
The habits that lose sprints
- Going deep for one more item. The most expensive habit in the game.
- Splitting the crew to cover more ground. Two half-crews find more and die more.
- Carrying heavy scrap on a fast day. It slows every trip, including the ones that succeed.
- Saving scrap for a bigger single sale. There is no bonus for a big payday, only a deadline.
Related guides
- How to make money fast — the daily version of this strategy.
- How to sell scrap — why selling every trip is the whole system.
- Best value scrap early — the ratio table to loot by.