Moon Sweepers Beginner Guide: Your First Delivery & Upgrades
Start with a short dust run, make your first sale and decide what to buy next. Learn when more capacity, a better tool or a vehicle will help, and how purchases work when you share a Moon with friends.
Your first three cleaning tools
| Tool | Price | Base capacity | Container III | Width | Stroke |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toothbrush | $0 | 0.5 kg | 4 kg | 0.12 m | 0.42 s |
| Nail Brush | $5 | 0.75 kg | 6 kg | 0.19 m | 0.55 s |
| Hand Brush | $10 | 1 kg | 8 kg | 0.25 m | 0.65 s |
Make your first delivery
Start with the Toothbrush and work close enough to a station that you can return with a full container. Your first useful milestone is a complete trip: collect dust, unload it at the deposit intake and use the launch control to receive money. A machine is not required for this first sale.
Pay attention to where the trip stalls. A full container halfway through a patch points to carrying capacity; a long walk back points to your working area or delivery route. Those are different problems, even if both make the Toothbrush feel slow.
- Clean nearby ground until the tool container fills.
- Return to the deposit intake and unload using the interaction prompt.
- Use the launch control and check the shared wallet.
- Repeat the same short route once before deciding what to buy.
Choose your first tool and upgrades
The Nail Brush costs $5, the Hand Brush $10 and the Household Broom $25 before discounts. A bigger tool can clear more ground, but it does not shorten the return walk or remove a queue at your destination. Check its price and base capacity together rather than buying on cleaning width alone.
Container upgrades are bought for each tool. Levels I, II and III multiply that tool's base capacity by 2, 4 and 8. Dust Compactor then adds a separate 15%, 30% or 45% capacity modifier. For example, the Extra Wide Broom's 12 kg base becomes 96 kg with Container III and 139.2 kg with Compactor III.
Use the upgrade matrix to check prerequisites before saving for a distant node. Supplier Network reduces tool and container purchase prices only; it is not a discount on vehicles, buildings or every crew upgrade.
Spend against the slowest part of the trip
If the tool fills too quickly, compare a container level with the price of the next tool. If you spend most of the trip walking, work nearer the intake or improve movement before assuming another cleaning upgrade will solve it. If unloading takes most of the time, check Rapid Transfer and the route to the deposit.
For income, separate the amount a load pays from how often you can deliver one. Dust sells for $1/kg before payout bonuses, sand for $3/kg and stone for $7/kg. Market Contracts and Lunar Exchange raise material payout; Region Bounty changes personally credited region rewards. The income calculator lets you check these separately.
Flags and lunar sites offer exploration rewards, but a long trip is still a long trip. Use the map when you want to explore; do not abandon a dependable first delivery route simply because a distant marker has a larger reward.
When a vehicle starts to help
A vehicle is useful when its hopper and cleaning width let you stay out longer without making delivery awkward. The $300 Push Sweeper holds 100 kg; the $1,000 Ride-on Sweeper holds 500 kg. Those are base purchases, separate from the Garage and vehicle-specific upgrades.
Before buying a larger hopper or Quick Release, inspect the receiving end. A Garage can unload a vehicle into its silo much faster than one belt empties that silo. If stored dust keeps rising, fix the outfeed or destination before spending on faster unloading.
Use the vehicle list to compare all five options. Crew Transport carries players and capsules; it is not a cleaning vehicle with a hidden hopper.
Is Moon Sweepers multiplayer?
You can play alone or with a crew of up to 16 players, including the host. Everyone works on the host's Moon. Pick a host who will keep the world available, choose Friends only, Invite only or Public, and invite through Steam. Players need matching game versions, and the session ends when the host leaves.
Money, the Upgrade Matrix, container upgrades, suit gear, waypoints and time are shared. Hand tools and vehicles belong to individual players. Only a vehicle's owner buys its upgrades, even though the money comes from the shared wallet.
Divide the work around the route: one player can clear ground while another keeps deliveries moving or checks the receiving equipment. Agree on expensive purchases before spending the crew's balance. The host can use Pause → Your Crew to kick, ban or unban players; a kick allows rejoining, while a ban stays with the save until removed.
The host's selected slot holds the world and its backups. Copy that slot before trying to recover a co-op session; a guest's local slot is not a substitute for the host's Moon.
Move on when your route needs it
Keep hand-delivering until you know which part you want to replace. A Packager can move hand-tool dust onto a belt, while a robot collects around its own dock. Sand and stone processing can follow once the source, transport and receiving intake work reliably.
Choose the next guide for the problem you actually have: Packager connections for a first belt route, the production guide for processors and power, or the save guide before changing world files.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Packager before I can earn money?
No. You can unload a hand tool at the station and launch the material. A Packager is useful when you want that collected dust to travel on a belt.
Are upgrades shared with friends?
Matrix levels, container upgrades and suit gear are shared by the crew. Tools, vehicles and vehicle-specific upgrades follow individual ownership rules.