How do I play?You lead the first crew on the Moon. Tap BUILD (bottom left) to pick a module, then tap a green tile to place it; your crew walk out and build it. Tap a building to inspect or repair it, tap open ground to dig it by hand, and tap a purple beacon to survey it. BASE (bottom right) holds the mission, your crew, science, Earth and the log. New players should start with the Training Mission on the home screen, which walks through it one step at a time.
How do I win?Every mission has two goals: keep at least one crew member alive until the end of the mission (30 sols on Easy, 45 on Standard, 60 on Hard and 80 on Brutal; a sol is one day of the mission), and make the discoveries it was sent for (3 on Easy, 4 on Standard and Hard, 5 on Brutal). If the sols run out first, the mission is extended until the science is done. The objectives in BASE → Mission suggest a good order to build in and pay out supplies along the way. When you win you can keep building.
How do I make discoveries?First you need a lead. Purple beacons on the map mark survey sites: tap one and send a crew member to survey it. A Research Lab that's working when a moonquake or solar flare hits records it as a lead, and milestones such as your first big harvests, your water and helium-3 mining, and an Observatory's night watches turn up leads too. BASE → Science lists every lead and how to find the rest. Study a lead with science at a Research Lab to publish the discovery: it tells you what the find means for people on Earth, Earth pays a grant, and your base gets better. Every discovery is based on real lunar science, and the Science Archive on the home screen keeps all you've found.
Where does science come from?Research Labs have two desks each. Crew who are indoors and off duty (resting counts) work at them: +1 science a sol each, or +2 for a scientist. Observatories make science on their own, three times as much in the dark of the lunar night. Science also buys engineering upgrades, but only discoveries count towards the mission.
What is the lunar night?Night on the Moon lasts 14 sols. Solar arrays make nothing in the dark, so before dusk you need Battery Banks to store enough power, or Reactors, which run on helium-3. The top bar counts down to dusk and dawn, and a warning tells you when your batteries won't last the night.
What do the gauges at the top mean?Power, oxygen, water, food, crew, science and radiation. The small number beside each one is how much it changes per sol (beside power, it's the charge in your batteries; beside science, the science you have to spend, under your discoveries so far). Tap any gauge for what it measures, and tap any material in the BUILD or BASE title bar to see where it comes from and track it on the map.
What is radiation, and why are my crew indoors?Every crew member has their own radiation dose. Time outside adds to it, much faster during a solar flare, and living within 2 tiles of a Reactor adds more. Indoors it falls again. Above 50 a crew member gets radiation sickness and loses health, so crew close to it are kept indoors. A Comms Array gives early warning of flares, and a Robotics Depot's robots build and repair without taking a dose.
How do I get more crew and supplies?Build a Launch Pad, then use BASE → Earth to order supplies or recruit crew. Everything arrives by rocket: 3 sols, or 1 sol by express at double the price. You can also export helium-3 and metals to Earth to raise money. The pad takes one rocket at a time. Each new crew member needs a bunk (a Habitat sleeps 3) and adds to your oxygen, water and food use.
Can I name my crew?Yes. When you recruit someone you pick their specialty (engineer, scientist, geologist or medic) and their name; a name is already filled in if you'd rather not choose. You can rename anyone, including your first crew, with the pencil button in BASE → Crew.
Which landing site should I choose?Shackleton Rim has a bit of everything and is the best place to start. Cabeus Crater has plenty of ice but little sun, Malapert Massif is sunny with lots of metals, Mare Tranquillitatis has helium-3 but little water, and the Marius Hills are full of boulders. NEW MAPS draws a fresh map of every site.
Can I pause?Yes. Tap pause (top right) and you can still build and plan while the clock is stopped. The speed button steps from 1× to 2× and 4×. Menus pause the game while they are open; you can turn that off in the pause menu (the ☰ button).
Will I lose my progress?Your mission and your Science Archive save automatically on your device, and CONTINUE MISSION on the home screen picks the mission up. One mission is saved at a time, so starting a new mission or the training replaces it. Nothing is stored online, so a mission isn't copied to other devices, and deleting the app deletes it.
Does it work on iPad?Yes, in any orientation and in Split View or Stage Manager. If you make the window too small for the controls, the game pauses and asks for a bigger window.
The game stutters on my device.Open the pause menu (the ☰ button) and turn off shadows.
Does Base Alpha have ads, purchases, or collect data?No. Base Alpha has no ads, no in-app purchases, no tracking, and no account, and it works fully offline. See our Privacy Policy for details.
Is Base Alpha made by NASA?No. Base Alpha is made by Galapptic and isn't affiliated with NASA. Its modules are inspired by NASA's public concept art for a base on the Moon, and the home screen links to NASA's page about it.