JCB Pioneer: Mars – Tutorial Walkthrough

I’ve have seen that some players have been having problems at certain points during the game and have got stuck. This is mainly due to problems interacting with the UI. This guide is a step by step walkthrough for the tutorial mission that should help if you get stuck. It’s a bit spoilery just so you know.

Start

All credit goes to Old Oldboy!

• Wait for the suit to reboot, once this has happened hit the scanner key to scan the area. Default: ‘T’ for scanner. 
• You will be directed to head forward towards the JMC X18 vehicle. 
• Use movement keys to move and mouse to look. Default: ‘W’, ‘A’, S’ and ‘D’ for movement. 
• As you move towards the vehicle your HUD will highlight in red where meteor strikes are likely to happen. You need to avoid these as a direct strike will deplete your health considerably! 
• If you hit camera toggle you will move to a third person view. Default: ‘TAB’ for Camera Toggle. 
• Optionally, hit the jump key to leap down the cliff. Default: Spacebar 
• Walk up to the JMC X18. Once you get close, press the use key to enter the vehicle. (Default: Use key is ‘E’) 
• NOTE the solar panels are at the back of the vehicle! 
• Hit the scanner key to scan again to find out where the nearest Hab is. 
• Drive off to the left and follow the canyon system. It will eventually lead you to a large open plan. 
• There will be some electrified dust devils. These are not as dangerous as the meteors so a few zaps will not be an issue. However, they do drain your power. 
• Drive up to the Hab and hit the vehicle exit button to exit the JMC X18. Default: ‘Q’ for vehicle exit 
• Once you get in the had there will be a power cut and you will be instructed to go outside and look at the two solar panels (on your left as you leave the Hab).  
• Walk up to each and left click to take a picture. 
• You then have to go back to the Hab and collect the repair rifle. 
• IMPORTANT! Nanotech Repair Rifle. it will take a few seconds before you can pick up the rifle (it’s on the left of the crafting bench). When you pick it up it will appear in your hands and you will be able to see parts of the buildings / vehicles that need repair. If you get in a vehicle you put it away. If you want to equip it again, look at the bottom of the screen to see which quick key it’s assigned to. Default: Quick keys are keys [1-4] and the rifle is usually assigned to [1]. 
• Outside the Hab on your right as you leave you will see two large crates. Walk up to them and hit E to pick up some O2 canisters and Repair Rifle ammo. DON’T pick up all of one thing. O2 is precious at this stage of the game so I would recommend picking up 7 canisters and 3 clips of repair ammo. 
• IMPORTANT! Inventory. You can open your inventory using the inventory key. You should be able to drag the O2 to the quick key slot 2. This means as you are walking about and get low on O2 hitting the 2 key will give you extra O2 from your inventory. This will use up the canister so don’t go crazy using it. (Default: Inventory Key is assigned to ‘I’). 
• Making sure you have the Repair Rifle equipped (normally the 1 key) walk over to the first solar panel and walk round to where you can see the damage icon. Use the mouse to fire the rifle. If the damage bar doesn’t move up you are not close enough so will have to move round the panel to get closer. 
• Go back to the Hab and then head over to the garage. There will be two sections you will have to repair. 
• Once you have done that head over to the JMC X18 and drive it into the Garage. 
• IMPORTANT! Recharging Vehicles. Once you have parked your JMC X18 in the garage you will see its battery and O2 levels will be restored to full. Don’t forget to do this before you undertake any long trips else you will get stranded. 
• IMPORTANT! Map. Hit the Esc key and it will bring up a map. Notice the blue and yellow rings on the map. This shows you your effective range based on power and O2. These will be different if you are in your suit vs if you are in your vehicle. 
• You will be told to look for two items to repair your hab. Head north first and try to keep the navigation point directly ahead of you. The circuit board is in a cave which can be hard to spot if you don’t know what you are looking for. 
• The cave entrance is about 200 metres from the final objective. It has sparking debris outside it to the left and a crate to the right. 
• Enter the cave and toggle on the flashlight with the light key. Default: Light key is assigned to ‘F’. 
• When you go in it will give you warning that you are getting close to a corrosive gas zone. Don’t worry it’s in a cave to your right but don’t try and get the loot in the crate as the hazard is deadly in your current suit which needs to be upgraded first before you can find out what’s hidden in it. *Spoiler* It’s going to be useful so don’t forget it’s there! 
• IMPORTANT! Headlamps. You can hit the light key when you are in your JMC X18 to turn the lights on your vehicle. This is going to be very helpful when it starts to get dark. 
• Make you way through the first cave avoiding the lava and move into the second cave slowly. There is a drop into a lava pit so you will need to jump down to the rover. If you fall in there is a path up to the rover. Just take your time and look around. Walk up to the rover and the use key to salvage the circuit board. Default: Use key is assigned to ‘E’. 
• Make your way back the way you came and drive up to the hab. Now might be a good time to recharge the JMC X18. 
• Head back into the Hab and hit the inventory key to open the inventory. Drag the circuit board into the Hab inventory. It will disappear but don’t worry you are half way to getting the Hab powered back up. 
• Now drive south to the next waypoint. There is a natural chasm which you want to drive down. Park up once the waypoint in on your left-hand side and take a look about. You will see there are a series of platforms heading off east. Make sure you get a good run up and jump across. Head round to your right and after a few more jumps you can find the crash satellite. Hold the use key to salvage the part. 
• Drive back to the Hab and hit the inventory key. Drag and drop the salvage into the Hab’s inventory as previously done. 
• You are then told that the colony power level is less than expected. 
• You need to open the Colony Planner Visualiser (CPV) and connect the second solar panel to the power grid. Click on the power socket icon on the bottom left of the screen. Connect the two couplings together. 
• IMPORTANT! Power. You will need to connect all new buildings to the power grid before you are able to use them. 
• Drive the JMC X18 into the garage 
• Exit via the small door and interact with the Vehicle Status Terminal via the use key. 
• Click Tech Tree > Research Now > Upgrade Now 
• You now have a digger attachment. Click the Red X Box in the top right of the screen to exit the terminal. 
• Head back to the hab. 
• You have now completed the Tutorial and will see a mission summary screen 
• Go to the Trade Post and select one of five possible mission. 
• IMPORTANT! O2 If you take the GET SOME AIR mission then you will be able to make O2 canisters. This is the mission I’d go for.