Spray Paint costs 50 credits and sprays a line of paint.
That description makes it sound like decoration. It is actually an answer to the thing that kills more crews than any monster.
The problem it solves
Facilities are dark, large and confusing. Corridors look alike, doors lead to rooms that all look the same, and the route out is never the straightest path.
Crews do not die because they ran out of skill. They die because they spent too long inside, and they spend too long inside because they got lost. Every minute spent unsure of the way out is a minute spent loaded with scrap, in the dark, with something moving.
Spray Paint converts “I think we came this way” into a visible line.
What to mark
Mark in this order, because not all marks are equally useful:
The route back to the exit. A continuous line along the path you actually walked, not the path you intended to walk.
Dead ends and doors you should not open. A cross on a door that led nowhere saves you from walking into the same dead end twice.
Loot you are leaving behind. A mark next to scrap you cannot carry yet tells you where to come back to when your hands are free.
The direction of the exit. A short arrow at decision points beats a long line, because the moment you need it is the moment you are not standing where you painted it.
How crews that never get lost use it
The strongest pattern is not “paint everything.”
Paint decision points only — the corners and doorways where a crew can go two ways. A single mark at each fork carries you all the way out, and it costs a fraction of the paint a continuous line would.
The second pattern is to give one person the paint. The navigator marks as the crew moves forward, and everyone else follows the marks on the way back. That is cheaper than everyone carrying a can and spraying at the same junctions.
Spray paint versus the alternatives
| Method | Cost | Limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Spray Paint | 50 credits | Needs someone holding it |
| Memory | Free | Fails exactly when you are tired and loaded |
| Ship terminal monitors | Free | Needs the player on the ship to see you |
| Walkie-Talkie directions | 12 credits | Works only if someone knows the route |
The terminal and the radio work well for a coordinated crew. The paint works for the moment when your ship player is dead, distracted, or you are simply out of contact — which is exactly when getting lost starts costing runs.
When it is not worth buying
Skip it on short, shallow trips where the whole crew is back at the ship within a few minutes. Skip it if the crew navigates confidently already. Skip it on day one, when a Shovel and two lights are a better use of the same credits.
Buy it when the pattern shows up: two runs in a row that ended late, or a run that ended because nobody could find the door.
How fast it pays for itself
Fifty credits is roughly the value of one good early haul. If the paint turns one failed trip into one successful one, it has paid for itself with a full day to spare.
That is the honest way to judge it. The Boombox is 60 credits for music. The paint is 50 credits for the difference between a haul and a loss.
Related guides
- Map guide — reading a facility before you land.
- How to survive the night — why the turnaround time matters more than the route.
- Common mistakes — the habits that end runs early, losing the exit included.