SpaceCraft Credits: Starting Debt and First Quests (2026)

Earning SpaceCraft credits starts with The Company's onboarding chain: the quests OP#00 to OP#06 take you to your first sale, your first FTL jump and the quest MK#01, which completes once you've made 1,000 credits in sales. Your starting debt weighs less than it looks, because Shiro Games lets you repair a destroyed ship on debt if you're broke.

This guide only covers the start: where the debt comes from, what it actually does and how the first quests fit together. How to earn SpaceCraft credits on a bigger scale later, with ship parts, trading and Corpo requests, is a topic for another day.

🚀 How you start in SpaceCraft

You begin as a recruit in a training program run by The Company. The onboarding chain is called the Onboarding Procedure in game, and finishing it gets you the rank of Apprentice. After that, the quest "Contractor Orientation Missions" sends you to Raqmu station in the Threshold Sector, where the next rank, Partner, is waiting.

The onboarding quests build on each other and hand out rewards along the way, and each one teaches you a core system: flying, mining, crafting, scanning, trading and FTL travel.

💳 The starting debt and your SpaceCraft credits: what's confirmed

The game barely explains the debt, which is exactly why so many half-truths are floating around. Here's what holds up:

• Amount: Players on the Steam forums mention a starting debt of 25,000 credits for the starter ship. The number isn't officially confirmed.
• Repairs on debt: If your ship gets destroyed and you're out of credits, the repair is charged to your debt. Patch v0.3.22077 from June 12, 2026 confirms this, since it fixed exactly that case.
• Bus on debt: Since patch v0.3.22978 from July 28, 2026, you can take the bus even without enough credits. The fare is added to your debt.
• Paying it off: The game doesn't explain how to pay the debt down. In June, players on the Steam forums suspected that repayment isn't in the game yet. We found no official statement on it in the patch notes.

What that means for you: the debt doesn't block your start. Focus on the quests and on a solid buffer of SpaceCraft credits so you can pay for repairs and purchases out of your own pocket.

📋 The first quests in order

According to the quest data on spacecraft.tools, the order looks like this:

The Mining Bureau runs its own jobs alongside. MB#01 "Integration Protocol" asks for Carbon, Sandstone and Pyrite plus two newly mined resources. After that you can buy coordinates from the Mining Bureau. MB#02 "Full Survey" sends you out to explore several planets.

💸 Earning SpaceCraft credits in your first hours

Your first SpaceCraft credits come from selling resources. Your first stop is the Company Exchanger, the NPC trader that OP#05 points you to in the station shipyard. According to the Community Update #1 patch notes from September 16, 2026, it was moved into the patch installation kiosk. Later the Trade Nexus joins in, the player market.

Starting around OP#05 and OP#06, the merchant quest MK#01 "Sell 1K" runs in the background. It completes once you've earned a total of 1,000 credits through sales. The follow-ups MK#02 to MK#05 raise the target step by step, up to 10 million.

Two things you should know before your first trade:

• Purchase tax in the Trade Nexus: Since patch v0.3.22866 from July 21, 2026, every purchase there costs 8 percent tax. Before that it was 20 percent.
• Prices move: According to Shiro Games, every transaction on the marketplace affects prices.

🔬 Don't sell everything

You don't have to sell new resources right away. In the Laboratory you analyze them and unlock more materials and recipes that way. The Laboratory is part of the Science branch.

Also keep enough resources for your own upgrades. The onboarding quests make you craft and install parts. Whatever you sell cheap now, you'll otherwise buy back at a higher price, purchase tax included.

⚠️ What costs you SpaceCraft credits early on

• Losing your ship: According to players on the Steam forums, a destroyed ship gets towed to a station of your choice. That costs a fee, about 50 credits to the nearest station, and you lose random items from your inventory.
• Jumping without enough Mag-Plasma: Players report that a jump without enough fuel does a lot of damage. You won't get far with the starter ship that way. That's why OP#06 has you fill up before your first jump.
• Badly designed ships: Since v0.3.22866, the ship editor warns you about weak designs and shows top speed and acceleration time. How to build a balanced ship is in our SpaceCraft ship building guide.

❓ FAQ: earning SpaceCraft credits

How big is the starting debt in SpaceCraft?
Players on the Steam forums mention 25,000 credits for the starter ship. Shiro Games hasn't officially confirmed the number.

Can I pay off the starting debt?
The game doesn't explain a way to do it, and we found no repayment feature in the patch notes. The only confirmed part is that repairs go onto your debt when you have no credits left.

What happens when my ship gets destroyed?
According to players, it gets towed to a station. The fee to the nearest station is about 50 credits, and you lose random inventory items. Without credits, the repair goes onto your debt.

Where do I sell my first resources?
To the Company Exchanger on your station, which quest OP#05 shows you. Later the Trade Nexus joins in as the player market.

How high is the tax in the Trade Nexus?
8 percent on every purchase, since patch v0.3.22866 from July 21, 2026. Before that it was 20 percent.

🔗 What comes next

Once OP#06 is behind you, it's all about better resources and your first base. How to search with a plan is in how to find resources in SpaceCraft. Want to know which modules your ship needs next? Read our guide to the best SpaceCraft ship.

Sources: SpaceCraft's Steam store page, Shiro Games' patch notes v0.3.22077, v0.3.22866, v0.3.22978 and Community Update #1, and the quest data on spacecraft.tools (game version v0.5.25674). Steam forum claims are marked and not officially confirmed. Checked as of October 2026, Early Access since June 11, 2026. More guides on the SpaceCraft overview.