I Was A Teenage Exocolonist is a fantastic simulation game that allows you to choose how your character grows up in a space colony from the ages of ten to twenty. We recently reviewed the game, so for more details be sure to check it out. There are an impressive amount of events for you to experience, and there are 29 endings! I was still viewing events I hadn’t seen before in my fifth playthrough! While it may be nice to use some of these tips right away, some of the information may not come into play until you’ve finished your first playthrough. The real joy of this game is in uncovering the many subplots that can make a difference in how your story ends. This isn’t an all encompassing guide, but will hopefully give you a head start.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD

DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO FIGURE THINGS OUT FOR YOURSELF

Friends

Starting life in an unfamiliar space colony can be rough – fortunately your character already has some friends from growing up on the spaceship together. But if you want to become even better friends with any of them – or perhaps something more – you need to know which stats allow you to view their events, their birthdays, and their likes and dislikes. There are four main seasons that are split into Early, Mid, and Late “months.” The main seasons are Quiet, Pollen, Dust, and Wet. (Glow Season is a separate season that only lasts one month.) You can only give one gift to someone per season, so make sure to check when their birthday is for max effect. (However, maxing out your creativity stat allows you to give gifts every month.) As a general rule, it’s best to save before interactions in case you make the wrong choices.

*To minimize spoilers as much as possible, I’m only including cropped screenshots of the younger versions of characters. Your same-aged character doesn’t start dating them until they’re older.*

Available from the beginning

Dys

• Birthday: Late Wet Season
• Affiliated Stat: Bravery
• Likes: Medicinal Roots & Strange Devices
• Dislikes: Cake

Tangent

• Birthday: Late Wet Season
• Affiliated Stat: Reasoning
• Likes: Yellow Flowers & Medicinal Roots
• Dislikes: Nothing?

Cal

• Birthday: Late Dust Season
• Affiliated Stat: Biology
• Likes: Blue Bobberfruits, Red Xeno Eggs, Cakes
• Dislikes: ?

Marz

• Birthday: Early Wet Season
• Affiliated Stat: Persuasion
• Likes: Yellow Flowers, Crystal Clusters
• Dislikes: Mushwood Logs, Red Xeno Eggs

Tammy

• Birthday: Late Pollen Season
• Affiliated Stat: Empathy
• Likes: Yellow Flowers
• Dislikes: Mushwood Logs

Anemone

• Birthday: Early Dust Season
• Affiliated Stat: Toughness
• Likes: Red Xeno Eggs
• Dislikes: Crystal Clusters

Late Game Arrivals: Year 6, Age 15

Sym

*You may be able to meet him earlier than the rest of the characters below.*

• Birthday: Unknown
• Affiliated Stat: N/A?
• Likes: Crystal Clusters & Cakes
• Dislikes: Nothing

Rex

• Birthday: Early Pollen Season
• Affiliated Stat: N/A? But seems to hang out at Command a lot so do jobs there.
• Likes: Hugs, Mushwood Logs, & Cakes
  • Need to save or gather 7-8 Mushwood Logs to give to him at some point for a project. I rested at the living quarters and then his project was finished.
• Dislikes: ?

Nomi-Nomi

• Birthday: Mid Dust Season
• Affiliated Stat: N/A? Seems to hang out a lot in Engineering so do jobs there. Creativity seems to play a role with them.
• Likes: Crystal Clusters & Strange Devices
• Dislikes: Medicinal Roots

Vace

• Birthday: Mid Wet Season
• Affiliated Stat: N/A? Seems to hang out a lot at the Garrison.
• Likes: Strange Devices & Cakes
• Dislikes: Blue Bobberfruits, Yellow Flowers, & Red Xeno Eggs

Stats

Your stats will dictate what actions you can or can’t do. Attacks on the colony require your Bravery stat to be at a certain point for you to intervene, and to properly befriend people you’ll need to increase their affiliated stat to view their events. You receive perks for each stat level-up, and some are better than others. Besides Bravery, I really think that Perception is one of the best stats to max out due to the rewards. Combat, Toughness, and Animals also felt necessary for exploration purposes. But there’s so much great content in the game that you can keep replaying it to see which stats work best for you.

*There are also Loyalty & Rebellion stats based on your dialogue choices. You’ll need to have one of them to be more or less than a specific number to be able to make some choices.*

**I highlighted my favorite perks in red – these are the ones I found most useful overall.**

Social Stats

• Empathy
  • Level 1: lets you pay to remove cards from deck
  • Level 2: choose from 3 card options to delete instead of 2 when relaxing
  • Level 3: -1 Stress any time you gain friendship
• Persuasion
  • Level 1: yellow cards get +1 in social challenges
  • Level 2: +1 Kudos (currency) every time you receive Kudos
  • Level 3: +1 to social increases
• Creativity
  • Level 1: new cards for sale in depot
  • Level 2: 5% chance to gain 1 extra skill
  • Level 3: Give gifts every month instead of once a season
• Bravery
  • Level 1: draw extra card at beginning of challenge
  • Level 2: exploration events cost 10 stress instead of 15
  • Level 3: draw extra card at beginning of challenge

Mental Stats

• Reasoning
  • Level 1: blue cards get +1 in mental challenges
  • Level 2: Autoplay Fairy sometimes plays the best hand for you
  • Level 3: +1 to mental increases
• Organizing
  • Level 1: Equip additional gear slot
  • Level 2: draw extra card at beginning of challenge
  • Level 3: “optional card skip” – can choose not to take new cards
• Engineering
  • Level 1: draw extra card at beginning of challenge
  • Level 2: new cards for sale in depot
  • Level 3: equip additional gear slot
• Biology
  • Level 1: unlock xenobotany research in geoponics
  • Level 2: collectibles respawn at faster rate and more slots are filled
  • Level 3: add a second enhancement in engineering

Physical Stats

• Toughness
  • Level 1: red cards get +1 value bonus in physical challenges
  • Level 2: update basic cards in garrison gym
  • Level 3: never receive injury status effect when hurt
• Perception
  • Level 1: all collectibles glow and become easier to spot
  • Level 2: collectibles respawn at faster rate and more slots are filled
  • Level 3: able to move past exploration events if you want to skip them
• Combat
  • Level 1: new cards for sale in depot
  • Level 2: draw extra card at beginning of challenge
  • Level 3: +1 to physical increases
• Animals
  • Level 1: upgrade pet cards by relaxing in park
  • Level 2: equip extra gear
  • Level 3: upgrade pet cards by relaxing in park

Jobs & Classes

To make friends and to have an easier time exploring, you need to level up the above-mentioned stats. You start out with basic jobs and classes and then access the new ones later on after you’ve increased that stat enough. Each job or class will increase a stat or two, and will increase friendship levels in 1-2 friends as well.

*I don’t know if I unlocked every possible job in my playthroughs, so this may not be all-inclusive.*

Geoponics

• Shovel dirt: +3 Toughness, +1 Cal
• Work on the farm: +2 Biology, +2 Toughness, +1 Cal
• Research xenobotany: +2 Biology, +2 Organizing, +1 Cal
• Tend the animals: +3 Animals, +2 Empathy, +1 Cal

Command

• Deliver Supplies: +2 Organizing, +1 Perception, +1 Marz, +1 Rex
• Work in the depot: +2 Organizing, +2 Persuasion, +1 Marz
• Work construction: +3 Engineering, +2 Toughness, +1 Rex
• Assist the governor: +3 Persuasion, +3 Organizing, +1 Marz

Garrison

• Play Sportsball: +2 Bravery, +1 Toughness, +1 Anemone
• Defense Training (Unlocked Year 2?): +2 Combat, +1 Animals, +1 Anemone, +1 Vace
• Lookout Duty: +3 Perception, +1 Animals, +1 Anemone
• Guard Duty: +3 Combat, +2 Bravery, +1 Vace

Engineering

• Study Life Sciences: +2 Biology, +1 Reasoning, +1 Tangent
• Study Engineering: +1 Engineering, +3 Reasoning, +1 Tangent, +1 Nomi-Nomi
• Study Humanities: +2 Creativity, +2 Persuasion, +1 Tangent
• Tutor Children: +3 Reasoning, +1 Empathy, +1 Nomi-Nomi
• Repair Robots: +3 Engineering, +2 Creativity, +1 Nomi-Nomi
• Assist in Medbay: +3 Biology, +3 Empathy, +1 Tangent

Key Dates

Quiet • Pollen • Dust • Wet • Glow

Pro tip: you can do something during Glow Season, but sometimes it’s best to rest so your stamina is at 100% in case you need to use some to “brute force” a card challenge by using stamina.

*I included everyone’s birthdays for each year so you don’t have to scroll back up to remember birthdays.*

• Year 1, Age 10
  • Early Pollen Season: Follow Tammy if that’s an option
  • Late Pollen Season: Tammy’s Birthday
  • Early Dust Season: Anemone’s Birthday
  • Post Early Dust Season: Festival
  • Late Dust Season: Cal’s Birthday
  • Early Wet Season: Marz’s Birthday
  • Late Wet Season: Dys & Tangent’s Birthday
  • Glow Season: Need Bravery 5+ and Combat 10+ depending on choices
• Year 2, Age 11
  • Late Pollen Season: Tammy’s Birthday
  • Early Dust Season: Anemone’s Birthday
  • Post Early Dust Season: Festival
  • Late Dust Season: Cal’s Birthday
  • Early Wet Season: Marz’s Birthday
  • Late Wet Season: Dys & Tangent’s Birthday
  • Late Wet Season: Need Bravery 10+. Sneak out drain pipe and go to bottom left of screen (be sure to clear out any other events in the area prior to this trip to save stamina)
  • Glow Season: Go to Engineering if offered as option
• Year 3, Age 12
  • Early Pollen Season: Need Rebellion stat less than 90 in second playthrough onward (just at this point – can increase as needed afterwards)
  • Late Pollen Season: Tammy’s Birthday
  • Early Dust Season: Anemone’s Birthday
  • Post Early Dust Season: Festival
  • Late Dust Season: Cal’s Birthday
  • Early Wet Season: Marz’s Birthday
  • Late Wet Season: Dys & Tangent’s Birthday
  • Glow Season: Need Bravery 15+ and Perception 10+. Animals 10+ is also necessary depending on your choices.
• Year 4, Age 13
  • Expeditions Unlocked. Seems like it’s best to start with “Explore Nearby” then work your way up. It’s important to unlock “Forage in The Valley” (believe that’s from Lookout Duty) as soon as possible and gather enough food to solve the famine.
  • Late Pollen Season: Tammy’s Birthday
  • Early Dust Season: Anemone’s Birthday
  • Post Early Dust Season: Festival
  • Late Dust Season: Cal’s Birthday
  • Early Wet Season: Marz’s Birthday
  • Late Wet Season: Dys & Tangent’s Birthday
  • Glow Season: Need Bravery 20+, Combat 30+.
• Year 5, Age 14
  • Early Pollen Season: Unlock “Forage in The Valley” Expedition? Shimmer related.
  • Late Pollen Season: Tammy’s Birthday
  • Early Dust Season: Anemone’s Birthday
  • Post Early Dust Season: Festival
  • Mid Dust Season: Went to Valley and solved Shimmer issue.
  • Late Dust Season: Cal’s Birthday
  • Early Wet Season: Marz’s Birthday
  • Late Wet Season: Dys & Tangent’s Birthday
  • Glow Season: Need Bravery 25+.
• Year 6, Age 15
  • Heliopause group arrives. Need Persuasion 50+ and Rebellion 70+ to become governor eventually if desired.
  • Early Pollen Season: Rex’s Birthday
  • Late Pollen Season: Tammy’s Birthday
  • Early Dust Season: Anemone’s Birthday
  • Post Early Dust Season: Festival
  • Mid Dust Season: Nomi-Nomi’s Birthday
  • Late Dust Season: Cal’s Birthday
  • Early Wet Season: Marz’s Birthday
  • Mid Wet Season: Vace’s Birthday
  • Late Wet Season: Dys & Tangent’s Birthday
  • Glow Season: Need Bravery 30+.
• Year 7, Age 16
  • Early Pollen Season: Rex’s Birthday
  • Late Pollen Season: Tammy’s Birthday
  • Early Dust Season: Anemone’s Birthday
  • Post Early Dust Season: Festival
  • Mid Dust Season: Nomi-Nomi’s Birthday
  • Late Dust Season: Cal’s Birthday
  • Early Wet Season: Marz’s Birthday
  • Mid Wet Season: Vace’s Birthday
  • Late Wet Season: Dys & Tangent’s Birthday
  • Glow Season: Need Bravery 35+.
• Year 8, Age 17
  • Early Pollen Season: Rex’s Birthday
  • Late Pollen Season: Tammy’s Birthday
  • Early Dust Season: Anemone’s Birthday
  • Post Early Dust Season: Festival
  • Mid Dust Season: Nomi-Nomi’s Birthday
  • Late Dust Season: Cal’s Birthday
  • Early Wet Season: Marz’s Birthday
  • Mid Wet Season: Vace’s Birthday
  • Late Wet Season: Dys & Tangent’s Birthday
  • Glow Season: Need Bravery 40+
• Year 9, Age 18
  • Early Pollen Season: Rex’s Birthday
  • Late Pollen Season: Tammy’s Birthday
  • Early Dust Season: Anemone’s Birthday
  • Post Early Dust Season: Festival
  • Mid Dust Season: Nomi-Nomi’s Birthday
  • Late Dust Season: Cal’s Birthday
  • Early Wet Season: Marz’s Birthday
  • Mid Wet Season: Vace’s Birthday
  • Late Wet Season: Dys & Tangent’s Birthday
  • Glow Season: Need Bravery 45+.
• Year 10, Age 19
  • Early Pollen Season: Rex’s Birthday
  • Late Pollen Season: Tammy’s Birthday
  • Early Dust Season: Anemone’s Birthday
  • Post Early Dust Season: Festival
  • Mid Dust Season: Nomi-Nomi’s Birthday
  • Late Dust Season: Cal’s Birthday
  • Early Wet Season: Marz’s Birthday
  • Mid Wet Season: Vace’s Birthday
  • Late Wet Season: Dys & Tangent’s Birthday

Well, that’s all I’ve got for some basic tips for playing the amazing game I Was A Teenage Exocolonist. I hope you enjoy the game and this guide. I plan on playing the game some more after this so I’ll update this guide as I go along.