How big should my first ship be?
Small enough to debug wiring after a crash. Huge Workshop ships can wait until you understand Power and Data on a tiny hull.
Approximately Up Build First Ship
Approximately Up first ship guide: frames, RCS, atmospheric thrusters, batteries, and routers — keep it small, wire clean, launch from Earth pad.
Bolt thrusters and batteries before your first launch.
~8 min read
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At A Glance
This Approximately Up first ship page separates the confirmed build → wire → fly → land loop from details that still need a current-build check. Approximately Up starts on Earth. Build modular ships in the garage, route Power and Data cables, fly first-person from inside your craft, land on Planet Stations to unlock permanent launch points, and complete delivery missions to unlock new components. Solo or up to four-player co-op on Steam. Use it as a garage-side reference, not as a promise that every unlisted binding, wattage, or thruster limit matches every patch.
The practical goal is simple: make one safer ship decision at a time, keep Power and Data intact after a crash, and turn a successful landing into a permanent Planet Station unlock. When a result is uncertain, rebuild near Earth and compare notes after you recover.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Platform | Steam PC |
| Mode | Solo or up to 4-player co-op |
| Core setting | Earth start · ~15 unique planets · Planet Stations |
| Topic | First Ship |
| Start location | Earth garage |
| Minimum systems | Frames · thrusters · battery Power · controller Data |
| Attitude | RCS thrusters + RCS controller + 3D joystick (community build pattern) |
| Source boundary | Steam listing and current player-observed guidance; unconfirmed details are marked TBA |
How do I build a first Approximately Up ship that can actually launch?
Start with a rudimentary frame large enough for a seat, batteries, and thruster clearance — not thousands of parts. Community build tutorials emphasise leaving tunnels for Power and Data under floors or inside walls so later systems do not fight the hull. There is no official starter ship name; any compact layout that you can rewire after a crash is a good first craft.
The reliable foundation is the same whether you fly solo or with a crew: start on Earth, bolt modular frames and thrusters, route Power cables for energy and Data cables for control signals, then pilot first-person from the deck. A ship that looks finished but has a dead battery or a missing Data path will not fly the way you designed it. That is why first ship advice should start with ports, orientation, and a recoverable garage test rather than with a supposed optimal mega-build.
- Do01Place a small frame grid with room under the deck for cable runs
- Do02Add a pilot seat and label a 3D joystick early (for example RCS) so bindings stay clear
- Do03Mount RCS thrusters with clearance for landing; pair them with an RCS controller and a battery
- Do04Add atmospheric thrusters / lift fans for Earth takeoff, keeping banks near center of mass
- Do05Connect Power through a power router so thrusters share one circuit
- Do06Connect Data from joysticks through data routers to each thruster bank
- Do07Garage-test lift, translation, and RCS before any long flight
Treat the first flight as information, not a flex
A useful first flight tells you what failed: an unpowered thruster, a reversed Data port, an atmospheric thruster used in vacuum, or an RCS battery that died mid-roll. It does not automatically tell you to enlarge the hull. Pause long enough to name the failure, fix the circuit, and decide whether the next test can stay near the pad.
This avoids a common early failure: the crew launches a huge Workshop import, crashes far from Earth, and then cannot tell whether the problem was mass, wiring, or thruster type. If the current craft becomes confusing, a smaller rebuild that lands once is a successful session rather than a wasted attempt.
Use short checks that change behaviour
In co-op, say the subsystem, the symptom, and the intended fix: “RCS pitch dead, battery empty, swap cell,” is more useful than a long description. Solo players can apply the same discipline as a mental checklist. The game rewards decisions that leave you a second option when the first thruster bank fails.
With that baseline in place, the next question is not “can we fly farther?” but “what does continuing cost if the circuit fails again?”
What should I decide while building my first ship?
First-ship decisions should protect debugability. A tiny craft that flies teaches more than a beautiful wreck.
Use the table as a decision aid, not a hidden-stat calculator. Approximately Up has large modular ships and evolving community knowledge, so a precise number without an in-game check is less useful than a conservative threshold: protect a working circuit when recovery is uncertain, and test risky ideas only when you can still rebuild from a known station.
| Situation | Action | Why it is safer |
|---|---|---|
| Thrusters feel unbalanced | Move banks toward center of mass before adding more thrust | Off-center thrust fights every landing |
| Wires are spaghetti | Insert power/data routers and frame quarters with ports | Routers turn a mess into a shared circuit you can extend |
| Batteries look “enough” | Check in-game power readouts on batteries and thrusters before launch | Community examples cite capacities and draws — verify on your parts, treat exact numbers as build-specific |
| You want cosmetics | Plate after the circuit works | Early plating hides the ports you still need |
Make the irreversible choice last
Deleting a long cable run, launching with disposable batteries near empty, or committing to a Moon approach with no RCS reserve can remove options. Before doing any of those, confirm what the ship keeps if the attempt fails. If the answer is “a dead hull with no station unlock,” choose the reversible option first: rewire, test hover near the pad, or land at a closer Planet Station.
That same habit makes progress steadier. One secure station unlock can change every later rebuild; a speculative crash often repeats the same first minutes with no new parts.
Wire the hull next
Matched by build plan, shared topics, and guide progression — not random related links.
Which thrusters belong on a first Earth ship?
Atmospheric thrusters and lift fans handle dense air near Earth. RCS handles attitude. Electric thrusters matter more once you spend time in vacuum — Moon routes still have atmosphere near the surface according to community flight notes, but space between worlds does not forgive atmo-only designs.
Avoid turning a single player report into a universal rule. A report can be valuable evidence of a wiring pattern, yet it may come from a particular unlock state, thruster mix, or patch. Record the context before copying it: which planet, which thruster types, whether Power and Data both reached the block, and whether the result was repeated after a rebuild.
RCS before aesthetics
Community tutorials use wireless RCS thrusters with knob axis assignment, an RCS controller, a battery, and a 3D joystick — wire the controller, not every nozzle.
The useful follow-up is to connect this observation to the broader loop: does it make launch safer, reduce wiring confusion, change the Moon approach, or simply create a new risk? If it does not answer one of those questions, do not let it pull you into a larger hull before the current circuit works.
Separate lift Data from forward Data
Using separate data circuits (and routers) for vertical versus forward thrusters prevents one joystick axis from fighting another.
The useful follow-up is to connect this observation to the broader loop: does it make launch safer, reduce wiring confusion, change the Moon approach, or simply create a new risk? If it does not answer one of those questions, do not let it pull you into a larger hull before the current circuit works.
How big should my first ship be?
Small enough to rewire after a crash, large enough for a seat, routers, and thruster clearance. Steam marketing mentions ships growing from a single frame toward thousands of components — that is a late-game ceiling, not a day-one target.
A conservative guide is especially important while the live knowledge base is still growing. The Steam description confirms the broad systems—modular frames, Power and Data cables, atmospheric and electric thrusters, Planet Stations, missions that unlock parts, and up to four-player co-op—but it does not publish a complete numerical database for every block. Tables on this site therefore distinguish a confirmed loop from TBA details instead of filling gaps with invented wattages.
Prefer rebuild speed over mass
Missions unlock better parts; a station unlock beats a heavy unfinished palace.
If the observed result matters to your next flight, verify it again after a patch or compare it with a concise report in the community. Keep the claim narrow: “this happened with this thruster layout” is more useful and more durable than a broad claim about every ship.
Leave TBA where stats are unclear
Exact frame caps, full thruster tables, and optimal mass ratios stay TBA without an in-game check.
If the observed result matters to your next flight, verify it again after a patch or compare it with a concise report in the community. Keep the claim narrow: “this happened with this thruster layout” is more useful and more durable than a broad claim about every ship.
What should I verify before trusting first ship advice?
Check the current build before treating a named binding, numerical power draw, channel name, exact thruster limit, or complete part roster as settled. The official Steam page is the source for the game’s core premise and player count; the verified Discord is the best route for patch-sensitive questions. Do not use copied invite links or anonymous “full databases” as authority.
- Do01Confirm the claim is about Approximately Up, not another spaceship sandbox
- Do02Check whether the report identifies thruster type, planet, and Power/Data state
- Do03Separate a confirmed system from a proposed aesthetic or Workshop preference
- Do04Keep a garage test or nearby station landing before testing a risky claim
- Do05Use power wiring guide when the next decision concerns the wider build loop
- Do06Use the verified Steam listing or the verified community for details marked TBA
Approximately Up First Ship FAQ
Do I need RCS on Earth?
You can lift with atmospheric thrusters, but RCS attitude control is the community baseline for controlled landings and later space work.
What if I place the wrong cable?
Select the full run and delete it, then place the correct Power or Data cable — do not leave mixed segments.
Is every first ship detail confirmed?
No. This guide labels build-specific values, full part rosters, and unverified names as TBA rather than guessing.
What should I read next?
Next: power wiring guide. It continues the decision from this page into the part of the loop that keeps your next flight recoverable.
Related pages
Matched by build plan, shared topics, and guide progression — not random related links.