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The player’s goal is to salvage as many valuable components as possible from a ship. To safely remove the components, scrap metal, and other raw materials, they will have to make intelligent use of their tools and take note of everything in their environment. In another game, cutting glass would be a simple, even thoughtless affair. While cutting glass isn’t the most difficult thing in Hardspace: Shipbreaker, it can be tricky and even dangerous if the player isn’t careful. Here’s everything the player needs to know about removing glass the right way.
Glass Cutting Basics
Salvaging in Hardspace: Shipbreaker is as intricate as it is cinematic. The player has two basic tools at their disposal in Hardspace: Shipbreaker: the Handheld Utility Grapple and the Modular Laser Cutter. The Cutter can be toggled between two different cutting modes: the Stinger, which shoots a narrow beam, and the Splitsaw, which cuts everything along a broad line. The Stinger is the more precise but slower of the two, and while it may seem the obvious choice for the delicate process of cutting glass, the Splitsaw can be reliably used in its place, once the player knows how.
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The first step is to enter the ship via its airlock (or a controlled breach if the airlock isn’t an option). Botching the entry will have unintended and hilarious but lethal results, so it’s always worth taking one’s time at this step in the process. After all, there won’t be any glass to cut and salvage if the entire ship blows up and the player is dead.
How To Cut Glass
Once the player is inside the ship, they can use their Scanner to quickly locate and enter the cockpit. The player can now line up the reticule of their Splitsaw with the metallic bracing around the glass. Take as much time as necessary to properly line up the reticule. There might not be sci-fi monsters to worry about, but that doesn’t mean this procedure is entirely safe. A misfire here will result in the glass being damaged or another even more catastrophic result if the laser accidentally clips something hazardous such as explosive or flammable cargo.
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Firing the Splitsaw will vaporize the metal bracing. The player now needs to repeat this process on each bracing until there is no more metal to hold the glass in place. The glass is braced on the top and bottom as well as the sides, so the player needs to swap their Splitsaw’s orientation from vertical to horizontal in order to complete the final cuts.
Once the final brace has been cut, the glass will float free, and the player can switch to their Grappler to move the glass away from the ship. Toss the glass into the Furnace, and the glass cutting portion of the salvage operation will be complete. Cutting glass is a relatively easy way to earn some credits, and in a sci-fi game where every decision counts, it pays to do the job right.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is available now for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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