Sweeping Techniques

Rotation lock and lanes

By default your tool turns with the camera. Press L to lock its rotation. Set the broom sideways — perpendicular to the direction you run — so it is as wide as possible, lock it, then run straight forward and straight back, stepping over by one broom width at the end of each lane. You run backwards as fast as forwards, so there is no turning cost.

Unlocked, side-to-side swinging can look faster but leaves streaks and is exhausting to do for long. Locked lanes are more accurate and far more relaxing, and they are exactly how vehicles should be driven later too.

Clearing a hex cleanly

• Press G to show sector borders, and work inside one hex at a time.
• Start on fresh ground. A hex you already scribbled across is harder to finish than a new one.
• The game counts a hex as done above 99%. Do not hunt every speck — watch the percentage in the top right and stop once it ticks over.
• Two full lanes along the long axis, then mop up the corners. With the Extra Wide Broom most hexes take one or two passes.

The reach trick

Brooms can be pushed out and pulled in. Extend the head while running forward, then pull it toward you while running back. The head travels further than your feet each lane, so a hex needs fewer steps. Long Reach in the Cleaning tab makes this stronger. It takes practice to keep lines straight; on hills it is harder and plain lanes are fine.

Multi-broom container method

Every tool on your belt has its own container, and it keeps its dust while holstered. That gives you a cheap capacity boost long before container upgrades get expensive:

1. Buy Tool Belt Slot 2 ($15) and Slot 3 ($60).
2. Carry your best broom plus your two previous brooms.
3. Fill the main broom, switch to the next and fill it, then the third.
4. Pack one capsule (Q) and carry it in your hand too.

With Extra Wide (24 kg) + Wide (12 kg) + Household (6 kg) plus a hand capsule you bring home over 40 kg per trip. Once you have a Packager nearby, this matters less — but on long runs it still saves trips.

Capsule handling

• Q packs and places a capsule, F picks one up, E deposits at the depot or loads a Packager.
• Moon gravity makes you strong: thrown capsules fly far past the door. Walk them in.
• Capsules lying in your lane will launch you if you run over them. Place them to the side.
• The Auto Packer upgrade drops a packed capsule at your feet whenever the tool fills, so you can keep sweeping and collect the pile later. Capsule Tether lets you grab them from further away.

Hills, craters and night

Hexes cover mountains too. Slopes make the broom harder to aim and capsules roll, so leave steep areas for robot vacuums or JONAS when you can. At night use N for your helmet light (and again for night vision once unlocked). Gravity Boots (B) stop you bouncing, which helps on uneven ground.

Vehicle lanes

With the Lunar Sweeper or Mega Vacuum Rover, drive lanes of 1,000–2,000 m, turn, and come back alongside. Turning is the expensive part, so make it rare. Use cruise control (C) and high suction; steer only to keep each lane parallel to the last. The M overhead view shows your cleaned stripes clearly while you drive.