Moon Sweepers Blackouts: Why Your Base Loses Power
Suit blackouts cost you cargo; grid blackouts cost you production. Both are preventable, and both come down to the same habit of building a surplus.
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Two separate failures share one word
"Blackout" describes two unrelated systems here. Your suit blacks out when oxygen or battery runs dry in the field, which reportedly costs cargo and a penalty fee. Your base blacks out at night when solar generation stops and stored power runs out, silently stalling every processing machine. Fixing one does nothing for the other.
The Two Blackouts, Side by Side
| Suit blackout | Grid blackout | |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | Oxygen or suit battery reaches zero away from base | Stored power exhausted after solar output stops |
| What stops | You | Processing machines, then belts fed by them |
| Immediate cost | Reported respawn at base, penalty fee, lost cargo | Lost production time, idle machines |
| Recovery | Respawn, walk back | Wait for sunrise, or rebuild generation |
| Prevention | Outposts and short trips | Surplus generation before sunset |
Neither is a bug. Both mean you built for the best case and the Moon handed you the other one.
The Suit Blackout
Your suit carries two meters, oxygen and battery, and both drain once you leave the lander or a base structure. Run either to zero and you black out.
The reported consequences are harsh: you respawn at the main base, pay a corporate penalty fee, and lose a portion of any cargo you had not submitted. If your container was full, that is the whole trip gone plus a bill. The account comes from a single guide, so treat the exact penalty as reported — but the mechanism fits how the game frames the Lunar Surface Department's accounting.
The prevention is structural, not reactive:
- Build outposts as you expand. Foundations and small depots near your working area act as refill points, the difference between a two-minute top-up and a five-minute walk home.
- Turn back at half, not at empty. The return leg is longer than it looks, and the last stretch is where blackouts happen.
- Do not sprint with a full container. Sprinting reportedly drains oxygen faster while barely helping when encumbered.
- Treat distance as a resource. The zone structure guide covers where long trips stop paying, and the base location guide covers where a forward depot pays for itself.
The Grid Blackout
This is the one that costs you money without ever showing a warning.
Solar panels generate during the day and nothing at night. Processing machines do not stop the instant the sun goes down — they draw on stored charge, whether that is a buffer inside the machine or a battery in your solar setup. Once the charge is gone, they stop. Belts keep running, but a belt feeding a dead press just backs up.
The trap is precise and catches almost everyone: a grid sized to match consumption never charges anything. If your panels produce exactly what the machines draw, there is no surplus to store, so sunset starts you at zero. Player accounts describe presses sitting idle for several real-time minutes because of this.
The fix is not clever: build generation that exceeds demand, so surplus accumulates while the sun is up.
The Power Numbers
These figures circulate in player guides. Machine draws are consistent across sources; treat panel outputs as approximate, because sources disagree.
| Equipment | Draw or output | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Solar Post | 3 kW generation | Cheapest option, reportedly no built-in storage |
| Solar Twin (M) | 7.5 kW generation | Mid-tier, reportedly no built-in storage |
| Pressure Chamber | 10 kW draw | Converts dust to Moon Sand |
| Stone Press | 18 kW draw | Converts dust plus sand to Moonstone |
| Two machines together | 28 kW draw | The number that breaks most grids |
Ratios that several guides converge on: two large panels per Pressure Chamber, three per Stone Press, with the headroom existing purely to charge storage for the night. A press on exactly enough panels to hit 18 kW runs all day and is dead at dusk.
Where the sources disagree
One guide describes a late-game solar option with its own battery, quoting 16 kW; others describe large panels at roughly 3 kW each with storage handled separately, and one states no standalone battery building is documented at all. These cannot all be right, and the game has been patched twice since launch. Check the generation and charge readouts on your own grid — the numbers on your screen outrank every guide, including this one.
Prevention: Build a Surplus, Then Build More
- Add up your draw before you add a machine. Two chambers and a press is 38 kW. If your field produces 30, the third machine is a scheduled outage.
- Size generation to peak draw plus a margin. The margin is not optional; it is the entire night supply.
- Watch the charge at dusk, not at noon. A full meter at 2 p.m. proves nothing.
- Prefer one big surplus to several exact matches. Two extra panels cost less than a stalled line and are easier to diagnose.
- Do not put every machine on one grid. Splitting processing across two power islands means one blackout does not stop your whole income.
The night-specific version of this is on the night cycle page, including how to time sunset without a clock.
Multiplayer Power Duty
In a 16-player lobby, blackouts are almost always an attention problem. Everyone leaves at dusk, nobody watches the meter, and the base dies quietly while sixteen people sweep craters.
| Role | Count | Job at dusk |
|---|---|---|
| Grid keeper | 1–2 | Check charge, top up machine inputs, clear belt jams while there is still light |
| Sweepers | Everyone else | Move to fresh ground with lamps or goggles |
| Runner | 1 | Ferry materials between outposts and the main base |
Two rules make it stick. The grid keeper does not leave at sunset, no matter how good the crater looks. And sweepers come back with full containers, so the night shift ends with a sale rather than a walk. The multiplayer guide covers the wider role structure, and the auto-sell setup is what keeps the base earning while the crew is away.
When the Factory Is Idle and It Isn't Power
Rule out the other three causes before buying panels, because a stalled machine looks identical in all of them:
- No input. A Stone Press needs dust and sand. Missing one stops it as completely as a blackout.
- Blocked output. A full downstream container backs the line up. Add an overflow route rather than another machine.
- A disconnected belt. The section nearest the machine may not be seated on its port.
Check the machine's status before you spend. The tools and upgrades reference lists what each machine consumes, which is the fastest way to tell a power problem from a plumbing problem.
Why does my base lose power every night?
Solar generation falls to zero after dark, so machines run on stored charge. If your panels only cover daytime demand, nothing is stored and the factory stops at sunset. Build generation above your total draw so a surplus accumulates during the day.
How many solar panels does a Stone Press need?
Several guides settle on three large panels for an 18 kW press, and two per 10 kW Pressure Chamber. That is the minimum for overnight operation, not the target.
Is there a battery building?
Sources disagree. One describes a late-game panel with built-in storage, another states no standalone battery structure is documented, and machines appear to carry their own buffers. Trust the readouts on your own grid.
What happens when my suit blacks out?
Reportedly you respawn at the main base, pay a penalty fee, and lose part of any unsubmitted cargo. The prevention is outposts near your work area and turning back before the meters empty.
Do belts and vehicles stop at night?
No. Belts, vehicles, manual tools, and J.O.N.A.S. units keep working in the dark. Only powered processing equipment depends on stored electricity, which is why a selling line is worth finishing before your first machine.
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