Starbound Achievements Guide

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Starbound is a side-scrolling survival game from the creators of the iconic Terraria. It puts the player in charge of surviving on a randomly-generated alien planet to build a colony and complete a wide range of quests. Starbound has everything survival players could hope for, from cooking dishes to battling and building houses, presented with a beautiful pixel-art visual style. The side-scrolling presentation also makes it an extremely accessible entry in the genre. It is fully playable in multiplayer, making it an excellent game for anybody to go achievement hunting in.

Key Info Up Front

Genre: Side-Scrolling Survival

Difficulty: 6/10

Number of Playthroughs Required: 1

Time to Complete: Approximately 60 hours

Number of Achievements: 51

Starbound Walkthrough

Before we break down every achievement in Starbound and how to get them, we’ll look at your overall playthrough. Doing so will not only let you know what to expect before you decide to tackle completing Starboundbut will also help you plan your playthrough to be as efficient and fun as possible.

Step One: The Story

Starbound Achievements Guide

The first part of your playthrough should naturally focus on experiencing the game’s main questline. There are no missable achievements in Starbound, so you should first focus on exploring the world, playing through the main story quests, and naturally discovering all of the game’s enemies and systems. This will let you get the story-related achievements out of the way and very likely see you making progress toward other achievements and help you understand how the game works and what you’ll have to do to unlock the other achievements. There are also no achievements tied to difficulty, so feel free to play on whichever three options sound the most enjoyable to you.

Achievements in this Step: 

  • Congratulations on your Graduation!
  • The Wanderer
  • The Hopeful
  • The Brave
  • The Wise
  • The Devout
  • The Resilient
  • The Loyal
  • The Protector
  • Adventurer Eventuality

Step Two: Side Quests and Colonization

Side Quests and Colonization

After you wrap up the main story quests, you’ll want to start on expanding your colony, getting crew members, and completing the side quests unlocked by doing so. This portion of the playthrough will make the most of your time, but you can thankfully approach it any way you want. None of the achievements here are too specific, so feel free to expand however you want and take the colonist quests that seem the most fun, especially since you’ll be doing so many. You may also complete some Step Three and Four achievements during this step by playing naturally. You may also want to start working on your collections for Step Three while running around, so check those achievements out.

Achievements in this Step: 

  • Ending Prohibition
  • shock and Awe
  • King Barbarian
  • Cosmic Curator
  • A Helping Hand
  • A Cheeky Chore
  • A Tireless Task
  • Home Sweet Home
  • Cramped Colony
  • From the Ashes
  • All Walks of Life
  • First Mate
  • Feathered Friend
  • A Motley Crew
  • Captain of the Year

Step Three: Completing Your Collections

Completing Your Collections

After you’ve got yourself well established and have done all of the quests and tasks that you need to, you’ll want to start working on finishing the more grindy collection achievements. You’ll have to find unique bugs, fossils, armor, crops, recipes, and codices. This step can take an incredibly long time to finish up, primarily because of collecting 100 unique codexes. So, make sure that you get as many of them as possible in the previous steps by finding them in chests. If you wrap up everything else and still need to get the Well-Read achievement, just keep grinding missions and exploring new areas until you get there.

Achievements in this Step: 

  • Bug Tracker
  • Bug-Free
  • Alien Archaeologist
  • Them Bones
  • Protected Protector
  • Armour Aficionado
  • Book Club
  • Well-Read
  • The Simple Life
  • Starbound Valley
  • Just like mum used to make!
  • Culinary Century

Step Four: The Leftovers

The Leftovers

At this point, there’s a good chance you’ll have a fair number of these already, especially the combat-related ones. Besides those, these achievements are for completing specific actions that you might have to go out of your way to grab quickly.

Achievements in this Step: 

  • Monster Whisperer
  • Not in Front of the Children!
  • Villain
  • Nox’s Apprentice
  • Too Heavy to Kick
  • Sweet Revenge
  • Mint Condition
  • Not A Llama
  • Perfectly Generic Achievement
  • Augmented Reality
  • Destroyer of Worlds
  • Traveling in Style
  • You’re aMAZEing!
  • Amateur Bard

Starbound Achievements

Amateur Bard

Amateur Bard

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for getting your first musical instrument.

Tips: You can find an instrument in multiple ways, and you should get one naturally. When looking for fossils, you can get one from chests, sidequests, and digging one up.

Perfectly Generic Achievement

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for purchasing the Perfectly Generic Item at the Outpost.

You’re aMAZEing!

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for beating the Mazebound arcade minigame.

Tips: Mazebound can be found in the Beakeasy bar and can be played once you unlock the achievement The Devout below. The game is just a simple maze, so you can ignore all the other information and stats on the screen as they don’t mean anything. To finish the maze, follow these steps:

  1. From the start of the maze go left.
  2. Go down to the end of that hall and turn right.
  3. Go down to the end of that hall and turn left.
  4. Go forward to the end of that short hall and turn right.
  5. Go down to the end of that hall and turn right.
  6. Go down to the end of that hall and turn right.
  7. Go forward until you can turn left and do so.
  8. Go forward just a bit until you can turn left and do so.
  9. Go forward and turn left at the second doorway.
  10. Go all the way down and turn right.
  11. Go all the way down and turn right.
  12. Go forward until you can turn right and do so.
  13. Go forward until you can turn right and do so.
  14. Stick by the wall on your right, go down as far as possible, and turn left.
  15. Go all the way down and turn left.
  16. Go forward and take the second right.
  17. Go forward to complete the maze.

Bug Tracker

Bug Tracker

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for capturing your first bug with the net.

Tips: To catch bugs, you have to first build a net at a foraging table, which is easy to do. Then, carry the net with you and use it to grab any bug you see flying around. Bugs can be tricky to spot, but they are small pixels that fly around the world and are sometimes colorful.

Just Like Mum Used to Make!

Gamerscore: 10

Description: This achievement is for making your first recipe.

Tips: To start making food, you have first to craft a campfire using four logs and a torch. Then, you can interact with it to bring up a cooking menu that lets you turn ingredients into cooked food. Then, just choose any recipe you have the materials to make.

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for getting your first colonist.

Tips: To house a colonist, you first need to build them a room enclosed with a light source, door, and filled-in background. Then, go to the Frogg Furnishing store in the Outpost to purchase a Colony Deed. Once you place that in the room, a colonist will appear and join your colony.

First Mate

First Mate

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for getting your first crew member.

Tips: NPCs will join your crew occasionally after you finish a sidequest for them. When NPCs are willing to join your crew, they will offer, and all you have to do is accept to get this achievement to unlock.

Alien Archaeologist

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for getting your first complete fossil.

Tips: Before gathering fossils, you need to craft a few Fossil Brushes at a Fossil Station. Then, you can use the brushes on bones in the background of generic caves on planets to start the excavating minigame. The minigame works similarly to Minesweeper, so it may take some time to hang it. Once you have the fossil, you must place it in a Fossil Display that you can build at a Fossil Station to count as collected. Also, get rid of any enemies near fossils before you try to collect them, as they can still attack you during the minigame.

Monster Whisperer

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for capturing your first monster.

Tips: The first step to this achievement is crafting a capture pod at a Pet Station with three Durasteel Bars and one Diamond. Then, you have to weaken a monster and throw the ball at it to capture them.

Traveling in Style

Traveling in Style

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for buying your first vehicle.

Tips: You can get your first vehicle from Penguin Pete at the Outpost. The cheapest is the Hoverbike, which goes for 11,000 pixels, meaning it will take some time before you can get it.

Book Club

Book Club

Gamerscore: 10

Description: This achievement is for getting your first Codex.

Tips: Codices can be found throughout the game, such as in chests in dungeons and the wild and bookcases.

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for augmenting an Environmental Protection Pack.

Tips: The first Environmental Protection Pack you can craft is a Breathing EPP using an Anvil with six Tungsten Ingots, one Living Root, and ten Glass. Then, you’ll need to find an EPP augment, which can be found in chests, rewards for completing quests or can be purchased from some NPCs. Then, slot the augment into your EPP, and you’ll be done.

Adventurer Eventuality

Adventurer Eventuality

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for completing your first quest.

Congratulations on your Graduation!

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This is a story achievement you will get naturally.

The Wanderer

The Wanderer

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This is a story achievement you will get naturally.

The Hopeful

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This is a story achievement you will get naturally.

The Hopeful

The Brave

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This is a story achievement you will get naturally.

The Wise

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This is a story achievement you will get naturally.

The Devout

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This is a story achievement you will get naturally.

The Resilient

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This is a story achievement you will get naturally.

The Loyal

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This is a story achievement you will get naturally.

The Protector

The Protector

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This is a story achievement you will get naturally.

King Barbarian

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for becoming the champion of the arena.

Tips: These sidequests are only available after getting Nuru to return to the Outpost (see The Brave above). Nuru will then give you three sidequests to participate in arena fights, which you have to finish to get this achievement.

A Motley Crew

A Motley Crew

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for having a crew with one member from every race.

Tips: Each crew member does not need to be in your crew simultaneously as long as you’ve had them in your crew at one point. There are seven races that you will need to recruit. These are:

  • Apex
  • Avian
  • Floran
  • Glitch
  • Human
  • hylotl
  • Novakid

Cosmic Curator

Cosmic Curator

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for completing the collection in the Cosmic Museum.

Tips: These sidequests will only be available once you have gotten Koichi to return to the Outpost. Once he is back on the Outpost, you can get six quests from him to find different objects. If you’ve scanned new objects as you see them during your exploration, these quests will be much easier for you as you’ll be able to build them with the Pixel Printer. The items you’ll need and where they tend to spawn are listed below.

  • Grand Avian Sarcophagus: Avian Tombs and Avian Native Villages on Jungle planets
  • Big Ape Bust: Apex City Apartments on Tundra planets.
  • Floran Statue: Floran Hunting Grounds and Floran Hut Villages on Forest planets.
  • Armed Display Armour: Glitch Castles on Volcanic planets.
  • Old Television: Human Campsites, Swamps, and microdungeons.
  • Traditional Gong: Hylotl Underwater Ruins and Hylotl Ruined Castles on Ocean planets.

Too Heavy to Kick

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for killing a robot chicken.

Tips: For the robot chicken to count for this achievement, you’ll have to find them in Glitch villages, which are more likely to spawn on Volcanic planets.

Not in Front of the Children!

Not in Front of the Children!

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for killing Mother Poptop.

Tips: The Mother Poptop can be found on the game’s first planet you spawn on. When you go down to the mine to find 20 Core Fragments, you’ll come across an arena with a floor of plant blocks and doors on both sides. Mother Poptop will be found in this arena, but you may need to come back when you have some better gear to face her.

Ending Prohibition

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for killing Dreadwing.

Tips: You can find the Dreadwing by getting a sidequest from a penguin in the Beakeasy bar. This quest will lead you directly to Dreadwing for the fight, but you’ll want to make sure you’re well equipped with at least tier 3 Titanium armor and plenty of items.

Shock and Awe

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for killing Shockhopper MK 1.

Tips: You can get a sidequest that will lead you to Shockhopper MK 1 from Dr. Akaggy at the Mech Shop in the Outpost after repairing your ship. You can get access to this quest fairly early in the game, but you’ll want at least tier four gear before attempting the fight and should probably bring two crew members with you.

A Helping Hand

A Helping Hand

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for doing ten colonist quests.

Tips: Once you get colonists, they will all offer you randomly generated quests that you can repeatedly accept and complete.

A Cheeky Chore

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for doing 25 colonist quests.

A Tireless Task

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for doing 50 colonist quests.

Villain

Villain

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for killing an innocent bystander.

Tips: The only two NPCs that count toward this achievement are the Froggs and Shadows, so you’ll have to wait until you get lucky and find one of the biomes they spawn in. Once you find them, you can attack them outright without stealing any items, and they won’t fight back; they’ll just try to run away.

Not a Llama

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for getting all three pieces of the alpaca costume.

Tips: The three costume pieces are randomly found in chests throughout the game, so you’ll have to keep searching and keep your fingers crossed to get this one.

From the Ashes

From the Ashes

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for expanding your colony to ten homes.

Cramped Colony

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for building five homes in a tight space.

Tips: This is easily done by building five rooms in a cluster that is five blocks high and four blocks wide. Then, give each a door, a light source, and a Colony Deed to get this one to pop.

Sweet Revenge

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for killing 100 small enemies that fly.

Tips: You will find small flying enemies constantly throughout the game and should get this achievement naturally.

Nox’s Apprentice

Nox's Apprentice

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for killing another player.

Tips: To do this, you’ll need to invite another player to your game, both travel to a planet together, and then leave the group you two are in to kill them.

Destroyer of Worlds

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for moving 10,000,000 blocks. This may take some grinding later in your playthrough. Still, it is also possible to do this naturally, depending on your playstyle.

Protected Protector

Protected Protector

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for getting a full set of armor.

Tips: You will likely do this naturally as you play, but the first set of armor you can build is Iron, which you can do on the first planet you’ll visit.

Feathered Friend

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for recruiting a penguin mercenary.

Tips: The mercenary can be found at the Beakeasy in the Outpost. This achievement can only be achieved after killing the Dreadwing (see Ending Prohibition above). Then, you can trade in three Diamonds for a Dubloon at the bar, which you can give to any of the penguins there to recruit them.

Bug Free

Bug Free

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for catching all 42 unique species of bugs.

Tips: The list of all 42 bugs, where you can find them, and the time of day below.

Bug Name Location Time of Day
Butterbee Garden Day
Fawnfly Garden Day and Night
Mudstag Garden Day and Night
Goldbuck Desert Day and Night
Sandclown Desert Day and Night
Sunskipper Desert Day
Blueback Forest Night
Greentip Forest Day and Night
Redwing Forest Day and Night
Seahornet Ocean Day and Night
Tidefly Ocean Night
Wavebird Ocean Day and Night
Dewhopper Savannah Day and Night
Dustmoth Savannah Night
Muddancer Savannah Day and Night
Frostfleck Snow Day and Night
Frostfly Snow Day
Icetip Snow Day and Night
Hivehog Mutated Day and Night
Shellcreep Mutated Night
Xenofly Mutated Day and Night
Brightstripe Jungle Day
Thornbee Jungle, Giant Flower Day and Night
Vineclimber Jungle Day and Night
Gasgiant Toxic Day and Night
Scuttleploom Toxic Day and Night
Stinkjack Toxic Night
Orphanfly Arctic Day and Night
Polarmoth Arctic Night
Snowskater Arctic Day and Night
Aurorabee Tundra Night
Driftbell Tundra Day and Night
Shardwing Tundra Day and Night
Fireygiant Magma Day and Night
Flameroach Magma Day
Lavahopper Magma Day and Night
Ashsprite Decayed Day and Night
Cinderfly Decayed Day and Night
Shadowmoth Decayed Day and Night
Glowbug Volcanic Day and Night
Heathuger Volcanic Day and Night
Phoenixfly Volcanic Day

Culinary Century

Culinary Century

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for cooking 100 different recipes.

Tips: As you progress through the game, you will get a Campfire and Kitchen Counter to craft numerous food recipes. In the menu to cook them, you’ll be able to see what resources you need to make each one and ones you haven’t made being marked with “new” until you do. Some players have also reported getting this achievement to unlock before making 100 unique recipes. You may get lucky and not need to do the full amount.

Them Bones

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for getting 55 unique fossils.

Tips: Fossil spawns are entirely random, so you’ll have to keep exploring caves until you find them all. To make things easier, make the highest quality Fossil Brushes you can. Keep an eye out for them whenever you go exploring to cut down on having to grind for them later on.

Mint Condition

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for getting 50 unique action figures.

Tips: Action figures have a minimal chance to drop whenever you kill an enemy. Unfortunately, there is no way to increase that chance, so this will likely be the biggest grind in your time with the game. To get them, you’ll have to find a location with plenty of the needed type of enemy and farm-killing them until you get lucky and the action figure drops.

Armour Aficionado

Armour Aficionado

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for getting 210 unique pieces of armor.

Tips: There are tons of armor sets in Starbound, so getting 210 different pieces won’t be as much of a challenge as it seems. You will frequently get new pieces by completing quests and finding them in chests, and any that you don’t have near the end of your playthrough, you will be able to purchase from NPCs or craft yourself.

Well Read

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for getting 100 unique codices.

Tips: There are only 121 codices in the game, so you’ll have to get most of them for this achievement. You’ll start with two and will get another 29 through doing the main quests. The rest you will randomly find as you play in villages, dungeons, and Penguin ships in space. As you play, keep an eye out for bookshelves, as that is where you’ll be finding most of them. As long as you remain diligent during your playthrough, you’ll get this knocked out before you’re done.

Starbound Valley

Starbound Valley

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for harvesting 30 unique crops.

Tips: For this achievement, you just need to have 30 different crops in your inventory, but you can also grow them if you want. There are also slightly over 30 crops in the game that you can either find the crop or seeds for and purchase them from NPC shops. The crops available in the game are below.

  • Automato
  • Avesmingo
  • Banana
  • Beakseed
  • Boltbulb
  • Boneboo
  • Carrot
  • Chilli
  • Cocoa
  • Coffee
  • Coralcreep
  • Corn
  • Cotton
  • Currentcorn
  • Diodia
  • Dirturchin
  • Eggshoot
  • Feathercrown
  • Grape
  • Kiwi
  • Neonmelon
  • Oculemon
  • pearlpea
  • Pineapple
  • Potato
  • Pussplum
  • Reefpod
  • rice
  • Sugarcane
  • Tomato
  • Toxictop
  • Wartweed
  • Wheat

The Simple Life

The Simple Life

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for harvesting your first crop.

Tips: When you land on the first planet, walk to either side, and you’ll be able to pick up some plants to get this achievement.

Captain of the Year

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for getting 12 crew members.

Tips: You can recruit crew members by doing sidequests for them, so you should get this trophy when you’re done with A tireless Task above.

All Walks of Life

Gamerscore: 20

Description: This achievement is for getting ten unique tenants in your colony.

Tips: To get unique tenants, you have to place specific items in rooms before you get a tenant in them. Each tenant and what type of blocks need to be used in their room are listed below.

Tenant Name Block Type Required Tenant Type
Astro Astro (24) Villager
Astronaut Astronaut (24)
Avian Preist Aviantomb (24)
Barman Saloon (24)
Bunker Supervisor Humanbunker (24)
Cabin Owner Cabin (24)
Convict Humanprison (24)
Creepling Odd (40)
Diver Sea (24)
Egyptian Egyptian (28)
Electrician Wired (24)
Fleshy Collector Flesh (18)
Friendly Cultist Evil (24)
Gatherer Farm (24)
Grounded Avianairship (18)
Hazmat Scientist Odd (14), Science (14)
Hula Dancer Island (24)
Hunter-Gatherer Tar (18)
Industrial Industrial (24)
Maggot Man Hive (24)
Miniknog Researcher Apexresearchlab (24)
Neon Electronic (32)
Office Worker Office (24)
Pastel Fan Pastel (28)
Philanthropist Valuable (76)
Plague Doctor Gothic (24)
Royal Glitch Glitchcastle (24)
Scientist Science (24)
Sewer Worker Glitchsewer (24)
Socialite Pretty (28), Valuable (42)
Space Hero Industrial (12), Astro (12), Station (12), Space (12), Combat (12)
Space Pioneer Retro Scifi (24)
Spooksman Spooky (24)
Station Station (24)
Steampunk Fan Steampunk (24)
Traveller Traveller (1)
All-Seeing Knight Eyepatch (18) Guard
Alpaca Guard Alpine (24)
Evil Glitch Glitchcastle (24), Evil (24)
Fenerox Guard Fenerox (30)
Floran Sniper Floranhuntinggrounds (24)
Lunar Miner Lunarbase (24)
Rainbow Rogue Colourful (18)
Space Guard Station (12), Combat (24)
Peacekeeper Peacekeepr (24)
Agaran Merchant Mushroompatch (18) Merchant
Bonesmith Bone (24)
Deadbeat Merchant Scorched (18)
Flowerpot Salesman Spring (18)
Foundry Merchant Foundry (18)
Frogg Merchant Swamp (18)
Geological Merchant Geode (18)
Glow Merchant Bioluminescence (18)
Inventor Steamspring (18)
Naturalist Merchant Giantflower (18)
Oasis Merchant Oasis (18)
Window Salesman Prism (18)

FAQs

Question: Does Using Console Commands Turn Off Achievements for Starbound on PC?

Answer: No, and using console commands will make getting all of the achievements to take only around an hour.

Question: Is There a Story in Starbound?

Answer: Yes, the main questline will take you through a story that introduces you to numerous characters and follow them through a tale.

Question: Is Starbound Similar to Terraria?

Answer: Yes, since the same development team makes the two games, there are a lot of similarities and shared mechanics. However, Starbound also evolves some of Terraria‘s mechanics and introduces new ones to keep things fresh.

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