You start Moon Sweepers with a free Toothbrush and an empty wallet. The quickest first hour is simple: sweep right outside the station, sell every load, pick up nearby flags for $100 each, and save for the $25 Household broom instead of buying every small brush. After that, a $50 Building tool opens the machines that sweep and sell for you.
How you get paid
Dust only becomes money when it reaches the deposit machine at the station. Sweep until your tool's container is full, walk back, and press E at the machine; its screen shows the weight you delivered and the payout next to it. At the start both numbers match, so plain dust is worth about $1 per kilogram.
Press Q while sweeping to pack the dust in your container into a 1 kg capsule, then keep cleaning and carry the capsules back together. Packing does not sell anything; the capsule still has to reach the station.
Step 1: take the Toothbrush and clean beside the station
Grab the Toothbrush from the Supply Wall and drag it onto your tool belt. It is only 12 cm wide and holds 0.5 kg, so stay close to the station: the walk back is the slowest part of every trip at this stage.
Finish each hexagon you start. A fully cleaned hex paid $10 in an early run, on top of the dust itself, and nearly finished hexes pay nothing extra. Clear the edges first, then the middle, and look for thin strips you missed before you move on.
Step 2: grab the free money nearby
Flags are the fastest early cash. Each one pays $100 once you untangle it, and one stands just to the right of the station when you face Earth. The Moon map counts 195 flags and 26 lunar survey sites, which pay $250 each, plus 12 stations you can teleport between for $50 a jump.
Do not walk far for them with a Toothbrush. A $100 flag is a short detour now; long trips make more sense once you have a vehicle that cleans on the way.
Step 3: buy the Household broom, not every brush
The Supply Wall sells the tools in this order, with the width and container each one shows:
- Nail brush: $5, 18.9 cm, 0.8 kg
- Hand brush: $10, 24.6 cm, 1 kg
- Household broom: $25, 43.9 cm, 3 kg
- Wide broom: $75, 65.9 cm, 6 kg
- Extra wide broom: $150, 98.8 cm, 12 kg
Go straight for the Household broom. For $25 it sweeps roughly 3.7 times the Toothbrush's width and holds six times as much dust, while the Nail brush and Hand brush are short stopovers. If you already have around $20, skip the small brushes and wait.
Then buy the broom's first container upgrade in the upgrade matrix. It doubles the Household broom from 3 kg to 6 kg for $30, which halves your trips back to the station. Pick a wider broom instead only if your container rarely fills before you turn around.
Step 4: add a second belt slot
You start with one tool slot and can expand to six. Buy slot 2 for $15 so the Building tool can sit next to your broom. Slot 3 costs $60; one player guide calls a third slot unnecessary, so leave it until you actually carry three tools.
Step 5: buy the Building tool and your first machine
The Building tool costs $50 on the Supply Wall and opens the Build menu. Your first automation is either a Packager ($100), which takes the dust from your broom when you press E and sends it out in capsules on a belt, or a Robot vacuum Mk I ($250), which cleans the 19 hexes around its dock by itself.
Either machine needs a conveyor belt ($0.50 per metre) running into the station so the capsules are sold on arrival. Building tool, Robot vacuum Mk I and a 30 m belt come to about $315.
Step 6: choose between a bigger broom and the Garage
Once the first machine runs, you have two ways to clean faster. The Wide broom ($75) and Extra wide broom ($150) keep you on foot. The Garage ($200) plus a Push sweeper ($300) costs $500 and gives you a 1.35 m walk-behind sweeper with a 100 kg hopper.
Players disagree on timing: some say a well-upgraded broom still beats the Garage until you own the second vehicle with a few upgrades. If cash is tight, take the Extra wide broom first and buy the Garage when you can also afford the Ride-on sweeper ($1,000).
Which upgrades to buy first
Market Contracts is the first upgrade worth buying: level 1 costs $120 and pays 6% more for every kilogram you launch. It needs Collector Uplink first. Player guides put it ahead of the other economy upgrades and warn against upgrading tools you are about to replace.
Mistakes that cost the first hour
- Walking far from the station with the Toothbrush instead of cleaning next to it.
- Leaving several hexes almost clean, which pays nothing extra.
- Buying every brush and every tool upgrade on the way.
- Building a machine before you have a belt to carry its capsules to the station.