Sol One Rocket Guide: A Staged Plan to Get Home
The rocket is the win condition. Here is the staged plan: what to stock, what to fabricate, and what the base must support before assembly.
Sol One's premise is a countdown disguised as an open world. Your crew left, you stayed, and the only exit is a rocket you build yourself. Everything in the game — the oxygen loop, the ice runs, the research bench, the rover — is upstream of that project. The rocket is not end-game content bolted on after survival; it is the reason survival matters.
This guide lays out the rocket as a staged programme rather than a single build. The exact part list is part of the launch build and will be tuned during Early Access, so the plan is written around the game's own three production tiers: extraction, processing and fabrication.
The four stages
- Readiness. A base that can support a long build without collapsing.
- Stock. Raw and processed material accumulated before fabrication starts.
- Fabrication. Rocket-specific parts, built at the cost of base upgrades.
- Assembly and launch. Final integration, checks, and the trip home.
Most players fail at stage one, not stage four. They start the rocket with a base that cannot spare power, water or time, and the project stalls while the habitat degrades.
Every hour at the fabricator is an hour not spent maintaining life support. Build the base until it runs itself for a few days, then commit to the rocket.
Stage one: readiness
Before you cut the first rocket part, the base should pass this test:
- Habitat holds pressure through a full night without intervention.
- Power covers the night plus a storm margin.
- Water reserve covers at least two days of total demand.
- Food production is positive, with seed stock held back.
- Oxygen reserve covers a full night with the producer off.
- A rover is available for heavy hauling.
- Research has unlocked the fabrication tier the rocket needs.
If a box is unchecked, fix it. The rocket will still be there; a collapsed base will not.
Why readiness is a rocket step
A rocket build consumes:
- Power for fabrication, at a scale the base has not seen.
- Material that also feeds base repairs and expansion.
- Time, which is the same time you need for ice runs and research.
A base with no margin has no margin for the rocket. The staged plan exists to make that margin visible before it is spent.
Stage two: stock
The rocket's material list should be read as a shopping list in reverse. Start from the finished parts, list their inputs, and stock the inputs before you start fabrication.
A stock plan by tier:
Extraction tier — raw material
- Structural ore, in bulk. The rocket is the largest metal object you will build.
- Copper for wiring and control components.
- Silica for glass, sensors and insulation.
- Ice, if the rocket's systems need water or oxygen for the crew.
- Uranium, if the power or propulsion path requires it.
Processing tier — refined stock
- Metal stock, refined in batches.
- Glass and composite panels.
- Wire, connectors and electronic components.
- Any fuel precursor the build exposes.
Fabrication tier — finished parts
- Structural sections.
- Propulsion and tank components.
- Control and life-support modules for the crew compartment.
- Launch infrastructure, if the build requires a pad.
Store rocket stock separately from base stock. This is the single most effective way to protect the project from "I just need a few panels for the habitat" creep.
Put one container aside for rocket material and never take from it. It will be nearly empty for a week, then it becomes the project's bank account.
Stage three: fabrication
Fabrication is where the rocket becomes real and where the base feels the cost.
Practical rules:
- Batch the parts. Build all the structural sections in one run, then all the propulsion parts, then the control modules.
- Schedule around the grid. Do not run the fabricator through a storm or a low-battery night.
- Keep the base's spare parts. The rocket will tempt you to use every last component; hold back what the habitat needs to run.
- Check the requirement list before every session. A missing connector can stall a whole stage.
The sub-assembly habit
If the build supports sub-assemblies, build them separately and store them. A rocket assembled from finished modules is easier to debug than one built in place, and it lets you pause the project without a half-finished hull on the pad.
Stage four: assembly and launch
The final stage is the one with the least published detail. What we know:
- The rocket is the stated way home, so launching it is the campaign's conclusion.
- The game's systems — life support, power, fabrication — all feed it.
- Early Access content includes the complete survival loop and a tier-one tech tree, which implies the rocket path is present but may be tuned.
A sensible assembly checklist:
- All parts fabricated and stored at the assembly site.
- Power at the pad, or a plan to bring it.
- Crew supplies loaded: food, water, oxygen.
- Base left in a stable state, in case the launch requires a return.
- Research complete for any final unlocks.
- A final save, because this is the run's climax.
The rocket is the goal, but the game is a survival sandbox. Whether launch ends the run, opens a new map or simply completes the campaign is a build detail. Plan for the launch, not for what comes after.
The material plan as a table
Because exact quantities are not published, plan in relative terms:
| Stage | Material class | Relative volume | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structure | Iron / structural stock | Very high | The hull is the bulk of the mass |
| Propulsion | Metal + uranium path | Medium | Depends on the power/propulsion branch |
| Control | Copper / electronics | Low | Small but easy to under-stock |
| Crew systems | Glass, composites, water | Medium | Life support for the trip |
| Launch infra | Structural + power | Medium | Only if the build requires a pad |
The pattern is the point: the rocket is mostly structure, with small, critical, easy-to-forget electronics and life-support parts. Stock the small parts early.
Research path to the rocket
The rocket is the end of the tech tree, so research decisions should be evaluated against it. The research guide→ covers the tree in detail; the rocket-specific rule is:
- Prioritise fabrication unlocks that the rocket's part list requires.
- Do not spend the last of your samples on comfort nodes when a rocket node is available.
- Treat propulsion and life-support research as one branch, not two.
Common rocket mistakes
- Starting before the base is stable. The project stalls and the habitat degrades.
- Mixing rocket stock with base stock. The rocket slowly gets eaten.
- Under-stocking electronics. The cheap parts are the ones that stop the build.
- Fabricating through a storm. The grid cannot carry it.
- Forgetting crew supplies. A rocket with no food is a very expensive coffin.
- No assembly plan. Parts scattered across three storage areas are parts you will rebuild.
FAQ
How long does the rocket take to build? No playtime estimate has been published. The honest answer is that it depends on how much of the base you build first; the rocket itself is a multi-stage fabrication project.
Can I launch without a pressurized base? You can try, but the rocket requires fabricated parts, and fabrication requires power, and power requires a base. In practice the rocket is downstream of a working habitat.
Is there a specific launch site? Whether the rocket requires a pad or can be assembled anywhere is a build detail. Plan for a dedicated assembly area with power and clear ground.
What happens after launch? Unconfirmed. Treat launch as the campaign climax and keep a save before it.
Can I build more than one rocket? Unknown. The game is a sandbox; a second rocket is plausible but not confirmed. The useful plan is to make the first one count.