The Premise
It was never the ship. It was you.
Every vessel you fly becomes cursed the moment its landing struts touch a planetary surface. Its engines die and its controls refuse to respond. The only temporary cure is to infuse the ship with the remains of a defeated Sentinel Minotaur.
Surviving the curse is only the first part. To break it permanently, you must construct a Hauler from salvaged components with your own hands.
Honor System Rules
The curse is entirely self-enforced. Treat every planetary landing as binding, even when the game itself would still allow the ship to launch.
Forbidden
- No duplication, glitching, save-scumming or other cheating.
- No story progression, except finding Artemis’ ship when needed to unlock the Space Anomaly.
- Do not summon ships.
- Do not bypass planetary landing restrictions using tricks or exploits.
- Do not exit your ship while hovering above a planetary surface. If you want to explore a planet, the ship must first land on the surface and become cursed.
- Do not use Sentinel Pillars to disable Sentinels.
- Do not claim limited-time, Twitch, Expedition or Quicksilver rewards.
- Corvettes are not permitted because their mechanics undermine the central landing restriction.
Allowed
- The starter ship is allowed. Its first launch is not considered cursed.
- You may purchase ships or claim crashed vessels.
- Stations, Galactic Trade Terminals, teleporters and the Space Anomaly may be used normally, subject to the reward restriction above.
- Bases may be built and used to support the run.
Clarifications
- Landing on a Space Station, freighter or the Space Anomaly does not trigger the curse.
- A ship left cursed on a planet remains cursed even if you teleport elsewhere. You must physically return and cleanse it.
- Do not use Sentinel Pillars. Disabling Sentinels can prevent another Minotaur from spawning and may trap the ship.
- If you accidentally defeat all Sentinel waves and already have a Hardframe Engine, cleanse the ship and leave the system immediately.
- If Sentinel activity has been disabled and you do not have a Hardframe Engine, save inside the ship and restart the game to restore Sentinel activity.
- After defeating a Sentinel Minotaur, pick up the dropped capsule directly. Do not mine or shoot the capsule, as destroying it that way gives a Quad Servo instead of the Hardframe Engine needed to cleanse the ship.
Objectives
- Survive repeated planetary landings by cleansing cursed ships when necessary.
- Salvage the required Hauler components, including engines, body and cockpit parts.
- Acquire an S-Class Reactor module from a ship vendor.
- Construct your own Hauler.
- Fly the completed Hauler to a Dissonant Planet and land it.
Landing the completed self-built Hauler on a Dissonant Planet breaks the curse and completes the challenge.
Rule Breaking
The Cursed Pilot does not define an additional punishment system. If a rule is broken accidentally, restore the run to a valid state before continuing.
The Curse Mechanic
- Any time a ship lands on a planetary surface, it becomes cursed and may not take off again until cleansed.
- The curse triggers every time you land on a planet, not just the first time.
- A planetary visit only counts once the ship has landed. Exiting the ship while hovering above the surface is not permitted.
- Because a cursed ship does not respond to you, ship summoning is forbidden. Return physically to the landed ship.
Cleansing a Cursed Ship
- Defeat a Sentinel Minotaur.
- Collect the Hardframe Engine from its loot (do not mine/shoot the capsule).
- Place the Hardframe Engine in the cursed ship’s inventory.
- Delete the Hardframe Engine to roleplay infusing its technology into the ship.
- The ship may now fly until the next planetary landing.
You may carry only one Hardframe Engine at a time. The infusion is a roleplay mechanic, not an in-game system.
FAQ
- Does landing on a Space Station trigger the curse?
- No.
- Can I summon a cursed ship?
- No. You must physically return to it.
- Can I use teleporters?
- Yes, but teleporting does not cleanse a ship left cursed on a planet.
- Can I use a Corvette?
- No. Corvette mechanics undermine the core landing restriction.
- Why can I not jump out of my ship during flight?
- Do you even understand the point of this challenge?
- Do I need to rename the final Hauler?
- No. Renaming it CurseBreaker is optional.
