Honeycomb: The World Beyond Tools, Dart Gun & Drones
From Frozen Way’s technology devlog (Dev Update #4, January 2023), later Hive Updates, the Gamescom interviews and launch-week players. Names from 2023 devlogs are marked as pre-release.
Three kinds of equipment
Alidove sorts them into three groups:
| Type | Examples | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Passive | Shears, trowel, chisel | Equip once in the inventory; the right tool is used automatically. Repair now and then with maintenance kits. |
| Deployable | Hoverboard | Enable it, and repair it often; one fine maintenance kit restores it from zero. |
| Active | Analyzer, builder drone, dart gun, wildlife cam | Used from the hotbar. |
At Gamescom 2025 the product owner explained why the passive tools do not sit on the hotbar: “it will be just easier and the quality of life for the player to just use it on something and it will automatically use the proper tool.”
Early tools
- Analyzer: scans plants, animals and objects into your database. It replaced the lab centrifuge in 2025 and got a visual upgrade in Hive Update #15.
- Shears: cut flowers and fruit without damaging them, and cut branches for grafting.
- Trowel: digs up buried minerals.
- Chisel: for mineral samples.
- AR mode: highlights resources and scannable things; you will use it a lot.
- Light stick, bandages, painkillers: in the pod lockers at the start.
The dart gun (injector)
Unlocked through the Field Sedation quest line. It puts dangerous animals to sleep so you can take samples without anyone getting hurt, which Frozen Way’s designer called one of his favourite designs. The quest line also unlocks plant darts, which grow a plant to any stage of its cycle instantly. Alidove: “you can walk up to a plant that would theoretically take another 20 minutes to produce a flower and shoot it with your dart and walk away with fresh seeds in less than 30 seconds.” Players collect Sour Tarax for injector recipes.
Wildlife cam
Watches an animal for a while, then tells you what it likes: food, a ritual, a time of day. That “recipe” is how you befriend it. See taming animals.
Drones
| Drone | Role | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Drone Builder | Builds your first base pieces; the design was inspired by car keys | Dev Update #4 (2023); Gamescom 2025 |
| Drone Scout | A flyable scout for a bird’s-eye view; a stronger second version has a longer scan range | Dev Update #4; update of 24 Oct 2025 |
| Drone Engineer + Drone Hive | Plan a base in planning mode; two small drones from the Hive build it | Dev Update #4 (2023) |
Animals notice drones: some are curious, others see them as a threat (post-Next Fest update, June 2024).
Survival gear
- Immunity pumps raise Immunity so you can stay outside longer; the IM-Pump V is the top one.
- Gas mask for toxic air, and a rebreather for longer dives, both time-limited.
- Relay antennas move resources, power and water between bases and work as fast-travel points.
Vehicles
The hoverboard and the hover buggy have their own vehicles guide.
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