Astroneer Rail Update: Everything You Need to Know

The Astroneer Rails Update officially went live Monday, giving players the ability to construct their own boardable railway systems in the space survival sandbox game.

Here's a breakdown of everything you need to know about the Astroneer Rails update, per System Era Softworks.

Astroneer Rail Update: Everything You Need to Know

Rails System

The Rails System brings a new, autonomous mode of transportation to Astroneer that is said to excel at "efficiency and convenience."

Players can place rail posts to build out their rail lines, which carry both oxygen and power, and then board the new railway vehicles.

Railway Vehicles

The Catalog has been updated with two new Railway vehicles that can be used individually or chained together into trains of up to six vehicles long. Players should be sure, however, that they have enough power to run them as each vehicle in a train increases its power draw.

Rail Cars

• "Basic railway vehicle with a medium storage slot. Slower than Rail Engines, but can be chained together in either direction."
• Printed on: Medium Printer
• Resource Cost: 2 Resin, 1 Aluminum
• Byte Cost: 1500
• Power Draw: 1 Power per second 

Rail Engines

• "Specialized railway vehicle used for personal transportation and faster trains. Provides a built-in seat, 2x small auxiliary slots, and a headlight. Can only be placed on the front or back of a train."
• Printed on: Medium Printer
• Resource Cost: 1 Resin, 1 Aluminum, 1 Copper
• Byte Cost: 1000
• Power Draw: 3 Power per second

Railway Items

The Catalog has also been updated with a range of railway items for building out rail networks.

Rail Posts (Standard & Tall)

• "The backbone of every rail line. Like tethers, they chain together automatically as they’re dropped. And don’t worry if you left your train back at base; the nearest train can be called to any rail post, at any time!"
• Equipped with reaction slots that activate in response to railway vehicles.
• Printed on: Small Printer 
• Resource Cost: 1 Resin, 1 Aluminum 
• Byte Cost: 750 
• Bundle Count: 10 

Rail Junction

• "Rail Junctions split rail lines in two, forming a 3-way connection."
• Equipped with a pin slot for each of their three connections, giving players precise control over when each one is active.
• Printed on: Medium Printer
• Resource Cost: 2 Aluminum
• Byte Cost: 1000
• Bundle Count: 5

Rail Station

• "The Rail Station offers powerful automation tools to assist in advanced rail logistics, including automatically loading or unloading trains."
• Equipped with reaction slots that activate in response to railway vehicles.
• Printed on: Large Printer
• Resource Cost: 2 Titanium, 1 Copper, 1 Quartz
• Byte Cost: 2500

Automation

Updates and additions are said to have been made to existing automation systems to take advantage of the Rails System.

Storage Sensors and Railway Vehicles

When placed on a railway vehicle, a Storage Sensor will monitor the storage's state across the entire train.

For the full Astroneer Rail Update patch notes, feel free to check out the official Astroneer developer blog post.