First Shift Briefing

DrainSim rewards planning before speed. Your first successful shift is easier when you treat the Garage as a control room rather than a shop screen.

The operating loop

1. Choose the mission on the Garage whiteboard.
2. Read the advance intel: start time, terrain, flood behaviour, hazards and recommended equipment.
3. Choose a vehicle and keep the load below its capacity.
4. Stop incoming water first when the mission exposes broken pipes, breach events or controllable sources.
5. Expose and clear drains before committing pumps to long routes.
6. Build the route with terrain, barriers, pumps and natural drains.
7. Finish region by region with the vacuum, squeegee and water scanner.
8. Return to the Garage to protect progression and plan the next operation.

Save behaviour

The shipped quit warning states that autosaves occur in the Garage. Leaving a mission before returning can lose mission progress. Treat the Garage as the safe checkpoint.

Starter equipment state

The decoded static whiteboard configuration grants one of each of these tools:

• Power Cord
• Squeegee
• Shovel
• Bucket
• Rake
• Pipe Wrench
• Water Vacuum

Pump Mk I, Generator I, Site Light and Inflatable Barrier begin at amount zero in that class-default configuration. This is not a captured player save, so direct play remains the authority for the exact first-session presentation.

Drain discovery

The Tutorial teaches a repeatable search method:

• Open the tablet and look for approximate drain markers.
• Use the rake’s search/scrape action.
• Watch for bubbles and floating leaves.
• Listen for mud or scraping audio.
• Re-open the map and use the red water heatmap to identify unfinished areas.

Powered equipment order

1. Place the generator on stable ground.
2. Place the pump or site light.
3. Carry and place the Power Cord.
4. Connect the generator end and the equipment end.
5. Activate the generator and then the powered tool.

The base generator has two outlet components. Generator Mk II has four.

Final cleanup doctrine

Pumps solve volume. They do not replace the finishing tools.

• Use the Water Vacuum for shallow residual water.
• Use the Squeegee to push thin sheets towards working drains.
• Use the water scan after each major route change.
• Check every named region rather than relying only on the global water impression.

The current build contains 73 placed regional measurement actors across the ten missions, confirming that completion is region-based.