Voices of the Void - Tips & Tricks
The game Voices of the Void is kind of a sandbox horror type. Horror doesn't happen too often in the game, but it makes up for it by being engaging in how you interact with the world and how you can improve the way you work for your job.
In Voices of the Void, you assume the position of scientist Dr. Kel, sent out alone to the Dunkeltaler satellite array to collect signals for your boss Dr. Bao.
Now, you are ALONE in this game[citation needed], basically for as long as you'll be playing. But don't be discouraged! This means you have the opportunity to decorate the facility you're given to do your work.
So, I've collected a few tips and tricks and other things that I've done in Voices of the Void to make my experience a little easier. I pass these on to you to hopefully make your experience better too.
This guide also contains spoilers. These spoilers are covered up to make this guide beginner-friendly, but they are present to make this guide work for people who are further into the game.
Beginner Stuff
Welcome to Voices of the Void! This section of the guide will help you get started.
Spawn
Despite initial belief, you are spawned into the game facing the out-of-bounds area. You do not need to find a way over the guardrail in order to proceed - just grab your suitcase and go behind you.
Bicycle Helmet
You can get the Bicycle Helmet from near the top of the mountain in order to protect your head from impacts when ragdolling. Make sure you are at spawn, and that NORTH is facing to the left. Start climbing up the mountain until you encounter a rocky area, then turn until NORTH is facing up. Go forward and do a little parkour until you find the helmet.
Alarm Clock
You can move the Clocks item from the bedroom to the NORTH-most post from the base's front door. This allows you to see the time when you are sleeping, since the clock will be in sight of the camera.
Upgrades
This is a list of all of the Upgrades you can get and how they can benefit you.
Download_speed
Speeds up the Astro Processing Unit's ability to download signals when F-Polarity and F-Frequency are at optimal values.
Worth the investment?: YES
Later in the game, you will NEED a higher download speed so you can get your daily tasks done quicker and spend more time in the game experiencing events.
Filter_size
Makes it easier to get F-Polarity and F-Frequency to 100.0% by increasing the range where you can get it.
Worth the investment?: YES
Your download efficiency will only get better as you get closer to the correct F-Polarity and F-Frequency values. This will make it much, much easier to do that.
Server_stability
Makes servers around the Array fail less by prolonging the time before the servers require maintenance.
Worth the investment?: YES
With more servers up come better download speeds, as you will not be able to download signals as more servers go down. It's also really, really annoying having to go about the Array just to fix servers, especially if you don't have any Kerfurs.
Processing_speed
Speeds up the Auto Processing/De-Encryption Unit's ability to process signals.
Worth the investment?: NOT UNTIL LATER
While processing signals is an integral part of your Daily Tasks, you never really get any requests to process your signals until you have the ability to do so. Therefore, you should invest your points in other things until you have the ability to process your signals.
Ping_size
Makes the Astro Processing Unit's signal finder's green ping circle catch more signals around it by making it bigger.
Worth the investment?: NO
When pressing the Commit bind on the Astro Processing Unit's signal finder, you get a small green ping in the center where the crosshair is.
The only benefit to investing in this upgrade is that you can be much less precise with the crosshair when catching signals. However, the crosshair already starts at a slow enough speed when moving, that the extra error this upgrade gives you isn't really worth it.
Sure, you might lose a signal by taking the extra time to adjust to the center of its blip, but even then, investing in Sensor_speed and Ping_cooldown mitigates that issue almost entirely.
Ping_speed
Makes the Astro Processing Unit's signal finder's pings work faster.
Worth the investment?: DEPENDS
If you are annoyed by how slowly the pings are when starting out, then I do recommend investing in this upgrade. However, it's not really that important, considering other upgrades you could invest in instead.
Sensor_speed
Makes the Astro Processing Unit's signal finder's crosshair scroll faster.
Worth the investment?: YES
By investing in this upgrade, you are much less likely to lose signals. Since signals tend to time out after a while, being able to move faster and catch signals before they disappear is kind of a must, espcially when you have a slow Ping_cooldown time.
Sensor_size
Allegedly makes the Astro Processing Unit's signal finder's signal blips easier to find.
Worth the investment?: NO
I don't even think it does anything. It doesn't make signal blips bigger, nor does it make them last longer, nor does it make them any less pixelated when they're at the edge of the screen. It doesn't even make the Quick Scan tool detect a larger radius of signals. What does this even do?
Ping_cooldown
Makes the Astro Processing Unit's signal finder's quick scan feature have a shorter cooldown after being initiated.
Worth the investment?: YES
Using Quick Scan is just so much better than having to aimlessly search around for signal blips like a crazed maniac, and being able to use it more often can end up making your job so, so much easier.
Detector_sensitivity and Detector_frequency
Detector_sensitivity makes the Astro Processing Unit's signal decoder's detector gather more information per detection tick.
Detector_frequency decreases the time in between detection ticks.
Worth the investment?: DEPENDS
While you can't save signals until after the Detector and the Filter have both captured thier respective information about the signal, the Detector is already pretty fast, even at its lowest upgrade. It's fast enough where you're probably not gonna catch it below 100%, even if you are super-fast at dialing in the F-Polarity and F-Frequency.
However, when upgraded fully, the Detector is almost instant, capturing an image nearly as soon as the signal is found.
Sensor_success_rate
Makes the Astro Processing Unit's signal finder's pings fail less often.
Worth the investment?: YES
Especially early game, it's very, very annoying when you find a signal and try to ping it, only for it to disappear and throw a [3] error. This is very much worth the investment, no question about it.
Detector_quality
Makes the Astro Processing Unit's signal decoder's detector's picture more high-quality.
Worth the investment?: NOT UNTIL LATER FOR FIRST-TIMERS
It's not really worth it. I mean, if you're playing for the first time and you want to see the cool objects in space, then maybe you should invest a little into it. But a lot of Voices of the Void's signals tend to be planets and such. Even if you ARE inclined, it's still really not worth it to upgrade it earlygame, since there's no interesting signals until a few days in.
Radar_history
Makes the Radar show more logs of entity tracking over time, with 1 column of logs being added for each level.
Worth the investment?: NOT REALLY
The Radar by itself is pretty useful, and there's not really much reason to upgrade Radar_history past 1 (or even 0!) unless you're trying to track a reason why something may have happened around your base. And even then, it's not like it's 1 column of every entity around for each ping - each column is a list of pings, listing how many entities were counted before the ping was logged. It's not that useful, and even if the number increases, you'll be able to see it on the radar.
A good tip to remember is that your base will always have 3 red dots when you start out. Your ATV, the alpha target, and Dr. Kel. Once you upgrade Radar_colors, the ATV will be green, alpha will be yellow, and Dr. Kel will be blue. Any Kerfurs will be blue, and Kerfur-O will be green.
Radar_speed
Makes the Radar scan for entities faster.
Worth the investment?: YES
It's just neat to be able to see entities moving at a quicker rate.
Transformer_stability
Make all Transformers around the Array fail less often by prolonging the time power drains.
Worth the investment?: YES
This is a good upgrade to invest points in early-game, as one Transformer going down means your whole base goes down. Also, Kerfurs cannot fix transformers when they go down - only servers. Therefore, it's best to get a solution that makes your trips to each Transformer happen much less often.
Also, Kerfur-Omega can only repair Transformers once they have fully lost power. So, it's best to just upgrade Transformer_stability and go there yourself every so often, rather than having everything go down and then making Kerfur-O go fix it.
Breaker_components_time
Reduces the time that the computer takes to toggle Breaker components.
Worth the investment?: NO
While this sounds like a good upgrade at first, as Transformer power does go down faster the more Components are on, this is a really weird way to do it. Going down to the basement and flipping on/off the components yourself is faster than the Components menu earlygame, and while it is nice to not have to go down there every so often to mess with things, most players do not know that having less Components on drains less power from the Transformers, and are only really ever messing with the breaker when everything is turned off, including the computer with the Components menu.
Processing_level
Increases the maximum level that the Auto Processing/De-Encryption Unit is able to process signals to.
Worth the investment?: YES
Getting higher-level signals is a very motivated aspect of the game in many of the emails you recieve from your fellow crew. And it's worth it too, as it lets you see, hear and read some very interesting things once you bring it over to the Audio processor.
However, signals with events attached to them, like the Looker and Ariral "Cringe Compilation" signals, do not improve their quality as their levels are increased. Despite this though, they are still judged by crew based on their levels.
All Consoles are Bound Together
All of the Consoles across the Array, whether it's root, romeo, or et-cetera, have the same set of commands and functions. Some commands like sv.hash still require the scope of a satellite Console to run, though.
sv.target
At any Console, you can run sv.target in order to point SOUTH toward a specific server. Once you're done, you can use sv.target root or sv.target alpha to get back to base, and sv.target reset to reset SOUTH back to pointing south.
Scrapping
You can turn most of the trash around your base into Scrap for Crafting and the Wall builder (WIP). This will be very important when you invest in a Frame build, or start work on crafting Kerfur-Omega.
You can also use a Shovel to turn trash piles into scrappable trash.
The Allroom
Turn the Signal Processing & Research area of the base into your allroom to maximize productivity.
Buy a Sleeping bag from the store (150 pts.) and use it instead of going to the bedroom to sleep.
You can bring the couch from the break room into your allroom in order to have somewhere to put your sleeping bag. You can also bring in the pillows from the bedroom to make it feel a little cozier.
Bring in Clockses from various places around the array and put one near your sleeping bag.
Buy a Minifridge from the store (400 pts.) and use it to store various food items, since food inside of the Minifridge don't spoil like they do outside of it.
Bring the Microwave from the kitchen to heat up certain foods that require cooking, like the Shrimp pack and Raw unusual shrimp.
Take the Workbench from either the Garage or the main Transformer outside and use it to craft small items.
You can move the WUG Hell Beer vending machine and Snack vending machine into the area as well, letting you get a quick hop-up on Stamina during Meta Paranoia events.
Intermediate Stuff
Glowsticks
Invest in Glowsticks (30 pts. ea.) to light up your base. This prevents Power Outages from dimming your entire base, and saves on Utilities power usage.
Food Efficiency
This is a list of all of the immediately-edible food sold directly in the Store, comparing their food value to their point value.
This should be a good reference if you're hungry and in a pinch.
"Sat. Volume" is the volume of food needed to completely fill the player.
Burger
Price: 90 points
Food ct.: 6/6
A default hamburger. Made out of meat scraps like the rest of the burgers.
Recovers F: 15.0
Total Recovery: F: 90.0
Resource per point: F: 1.0/pt
Volume: 15.0
Sat. Volume: 30.0
Food box
Price: 15 points
Food ct.: 8/8
A food box, essential for keeping yourself alive for some time.
Recovers F: 5.0
Total recovery: F: 40.0
Resource per point: F: 2.7/pt
Volume: 10.1
Sat. Volume: 30.3
MRE
Price: 50 points
Food ct.: 4/4
"Meal Ready to Eat" enough to sustain yourself for a long period of time.
Recovers F: 17.5
Total recovery: F: 40.0
Resource per point: F: 0.8/pt
Volume: 32.4
Sat. Volume: 97.2
Coffee chocolate bar
Price: 30 points
Food ct.: 3/3
A coffee chocolate bar, provides a small boost of energy.
Recovers F: 5.0 S: 10.0
Total recovery: F: 15.0 S: 30.0
Resource per point: F: 0.5/pt S: 1.0/pt
Volume: 4.0
Sat. Volume: 28.0
Cake (not a lie)
Price: 60 points
Food ct.: 10/10
The promised cake.
Recovers F: 15.0
Total recovery: F: 150.0
Resource per point: F: 2.5/pt
Volume: 401.7
Sat. Volume: 401.7
Cookie
Price: 1 point
Food ct.: 1/1
A chocolate chip cookie. Nice and tasty.
Recovers F: 3.0
Total recovery: F: 3.0
Resource per point: F: 3.0/pt
Volume: 0.8
Sat. Volume: 27.2
Pizza
Price: 125 points
Food ct.: 6 uses
A pizza box with pizza inside. Nutritious and fun to eat
Recovers F: 25.0 S: 1.0
Total recovery: F: 150.0 S: 6.0
Resource per point: F: 1.2/pt S: 0.048/pt
Volume: 152.0
Sat. Volume: 152.0
Pizza (Pineapple)
Price: 125 points
Food ct.: 6 uses
A pizza box with pizza inside. Nutritious and fun to eat
Recovers F: 25.0 S: 1.0
Total recovery: F: 150.0 S: 6.0
Resource per point: F: 1.2/pt S: 0.048/pt
Volume: 152.0
Sat. Volume: 152.0
Pizza (Mushrooms)
Price: 125 points
Food ct.: 6 uses
A pizza box with pizza inside. Nutritious and fun to eat
Recovers F: 25.0 S: 1.0
Total recovery: F: 150.0 S: 6.0
Resource per point: F: 1.2/pt S: 0.048/pt
Volume: 152.0
Sat. Volume: 152.0
Pizza (Shrimp)
Price: 125 points
Food ct.: 6 uses
A pizza box with pizza inside. Nutritious and fun to eat
Recovers F: 25.0 S: 1.0
Total recovery: F: 150.0 S: 6.0
Resource per point: F: 1.2/pt S: 0.048/pt
Volume: 152.0
Sat. Volume: 152.0
Taco
Price: 20 points
Food ct.: 4/4
A regular beef taco. Crunchy and tasty.
Recovers F: 10.0
Total recovery: F: 40.0
Resource per point: F: 2.0/pt
Volume: 6.2
Sat. Volume: 18.6
meatball
Price: 500 points
Food ct.: 100/100
real sweden meetbola
Recovers F: 5.0
Total recovery: F: 500.0
Resource per point: F: 1.0/pt
Volume: 5,937.8
Sat. Volume: 5,937.8
Toblerone
Price: 15 points
Food ct.: 3/3
tomblerones.
Recovers F: 5.0 S: 5.0
Total recovery: F: 15.0 S: 15.0
Resource per point: F: 1.0/pt S: 1.0/pt
Volume: 7.9
Sat. Volume: 55.3
Chicken nugget
Price: 3 points
Food ct.: 1/1
A regular chicken nugget.
Recovers F: 10.0
Total recovery: F: 10.0
Resource per point: F: 3.3/pt
Volume: 1.1
Sat. Volume: 11.0
Bun
Price: 30 points
Food ct.: 4/4
A sweet bun.
Recovers F: 15.0
Total recovery: F: 60.0
Resource per point: F: 2.0/pt
Volume: 13.7
Sat. Volume: 27.4
Banana
Price: 10 points
Food ct.: 1/1
A regular banana, great snack.
Recovers F: 20.0
Total recovery: F: 20.0
Resource per point: F: 2.0/pt
Volume: 2.2
Sat. Volume: 11.0
Cheese
Price: 30 points
Food ct.: 4/4
A big piece of high quality medium-hard cheese
Recovers F: 15.0
Total recovery: F: 60.0
Resource per point: F: 2.0/pt
Volume: 138.8
Sat. Volume: 277.6
Bread
Price: 35 points
Food ct.: 8/8
A loaf of bread, can be eaten or chopped into pieces
Recovers F: 10.0
Total recovery: F: 80.0
Resource per point: F: 2.3/pt
Volume: 91.6
Sat. Volume: 183.2
Cucumber
Price: 15 points
Food ct.: 6/6
A regular cucumber, can be eaten or chopped into pieces
Recovers F: 4.0
Total recovery: F: 24.0
Resource per point: F: 1.6/pt
Volume: 7.6
Sat. Volume: 38.0
Mango
Price: 40 points
Food ct.: 8/8
A mango, can be eaten or chopped into pieces
Recovers F: 8.0
Total recovery: F: 64.0
Resource per point: F: 1.6/pt
Volume: 29.0
Sat. Volume: 58.0
Tomato
Price: 20 points
Food ct.: 6/6
A big tomato, can be eaten or chopped into pieces
Recovers F: 8.0
Total recovery: F: 48.0
Resource per point: F: 2.4/pt
Volume: 7.9
Sat. Volume: 23.7
Baguette
Price: 40 points
Food ct.: 10/10
fronch
Recovers F: 8.0
Total recovery: F: 80.0
Resource per point: F: 2.0/pt
Volume: 20.3
Sat. Volume: 40.6
Hotdog
Price: 80 points
Food ct.: 6/6
No description.
Recovers F: 15.0
Total recovery: F: 90.0
Resource per point: F: 1.1/pt
Volume: 7.7
Sat. Volume: 15.4
Milk bottle
Price: 50 points
Food ct.: 12 uses
A bottle of regular milk
Recovers F: 2.0 HP: 1.0
Total recovery: F: 24.0 HP: 12.0
Resource per point: F: 0.5/pt HP: 0.2/pt
Volume: 16.8
Sat. Volume: 84.0
Experienced Stuff
Reduced Fall Damage
A well-timed jump with the Gravity Gun can help reduce damage when falling from a great height. It does not thrust you up high enough to completely negate fall damage however, so please exercise caution.