---
title: "Planetbase: Complete Colony Guide"
game: "Planetbase"
game_url: "https://qna.gg/games/planetbase"
author: "Qloud"
author_url: "https://qna.gg/players/Qloud"
topics: ["Builds", "Achievements"]
summary: "A practical guide to building a colony that doesn't suffocate: the opening build, the resource chains, colonist and bot management, planet-by-planet notes, disasters, milestones, and the challenges. Researched…"
url: "https://qna.gg/g/planetbase-complete-colony-guide-a80386f0"
published: "2026-09-27T21:09:32.841Z"
updated: "2026-09-27T21:09:32.841Z"
source: "QnA.GG"
---

# Planetbase: Complete Colony Guide

A practical guide to building a colony that doesn't suffocate: the opening build, the resource chains, colonist and bot management, planet-by-planet notes, disasters, milestones, and the challenges.

*Researched September 2026 — current as of Planetbase version 1.4.2 (October 2025 maintenance update). Madruga Works is now developing Planetbase 2, which is a separate game. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.*

## Quick Start

1. **Oxygen, water, power — in that order of panic.** Colonists die fastest without oxygen. The Oxygen Generator needs water and power, so a failed Water Extractor or a dark night can suffocate your base.
2. **Build power storage early.** Solar Panels only work in daylight. Add Power Collectors so the base survives the night; add Wind Turbines where the planet has wind.
3. **Keep everything compact.** Walking distance is the hidden cost of every structure. Short connections between domes and a central hub make your colonists far more productive.
4. **Food is a chain, not a building.** Vegetables grow in a Biodome; meals are cooked from them at a Meal Maker in the Canteen. Without both, people starve with full vegetable pads.
5. **Manage immigration.** The Landing Pad brings in new colonists. You can stop immigration when you're short on oxygen, food, or beds — you should, often.
6. **Engineers build and repair; Workers do everything else.** Biologists grow food, Medics heal, Guards fight. Keep the ratio balanced to your current bottleneck.
7. **Storage placement matters.** Put Storage near production so carriers don't cross the whole base.
8. **Start on the Desert Planet.** It's the easiest (landing there is the first achievement), and it unlocks the others through milestones.

## The Core Survival Loop

| Need | Main source | Depends on |
|---|---|---|
| Power | Solar Panels, Wind Turbines, Power Collectors (storage) | Sun or wind; Collectors for night |
| Water | Water Extractor, Water Tank for storage | Power |
| Oxygen | Oxygen Generator | Water + power |
| Food | Biodome (vegetable pads) and meat production, cooked at the Canteen's Meal Maker | Water + power + Biologists |
| Metal | Mine | Workers or Driller bots |
| Bioplastic | Processing Plant | Starch from the Biodome |
| Spares, Semiconductors, Guns, Medical Supplies | Factory and other production components | Metal/Bioplastic |

The base only works when all chains keep up with population. Almost every collapse is one link breaking — typically power at night — and cascading into water, oxygen, and then everything else.

## Opening Build (Desert Planet)

A reliable first-10-minutes order:

1. **Solar Panels** (several) and a **Power Collector**.
2. **Water Extractor**.
3. **Oxygen Generator**.
4. **Airlock** plus a small dome for the core interior. Connect everything with short corridors.
5. **Storage** next to the airlock so supplies from the lander have a home.
6. **Dorm** (beds) and a **Canteen** with a Meal Maker.
7. **Biodome** with vegetable pads.
8. **Mine** and a **Processing Plant** once food and oxygen are stable.
9. **Landing Pad** only when you can support newcomers.

**Rule of thumb:** before letting more colonists in, check the resource panel for surplus oxygen, water, food, and at least one free bed per incoming colonist. If any of them is at zero growth, hold immigration.

## Colonists and Bots

### Colonist roles

| Role | Job | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Worker | Hauling, mining, manufacturing | Most numerous; don't let them idle for lack of work areas |
| Engineer | Construction and repairs | Keep a buffer so broken structures get fixed during disasters |
| Biologist | Farming in Biodomes | One per few pads; food production scales with them |
| Medic | Heals the sick and injured at the Sick Bay | Needed once you're past a small outpost |
| Guard | Defends against intruders | Need guns from the Armory; more important on later planets |

Colonists have health, morale, and other needs. Welfare depends on food, rest, oxygen quality, and comfort buildings like the Bar. The "High Spirits" achievement asks for 100 colonists at 95% welfare, so comfort matters at scale.

### Bots

| Bot | Role |
|---|---|
| Carrier | Hauls resources |
| Constructor | Builds and repairs |
| Driller | Mines metal |

Bots are built in a Robotics Facility, consume power, and need Spares for maintenance. They don't breathe or eat, so a bot-heavy base is much more resilient on hostile planets. The "Robo Colony" achievement requires 25% bots at 100+ colonists; the "Cyber Miner" achievement asks for 6 Driller bots and 2 working Mines.

## Mid-Game: Trade, Techs, and Security

- **Starport and traders.** Trade ships bring goods and let you buy techs. Sell surplus manufactured goods for coins ("Capitalist" requires 1,000 coins held at once).
- **Techs.** Eight techs can be bought from traders; buy the ones that fix your current bottleneck (food, power, or production) first. Genetically modified crops (the "Genetic Engineer" achievement asks for GM tomato and GM onion pads) boost food output substantially.
- **Medical care.** A Sick Bay with a Medical Cabinet to store Medical Supplies keeps injured colonists alive after accidents and attacks.
- **Security.** Intruders arrive as the base grows. Build an Armory, produce guns, and keep Guards on duty. "Police State" is 20 armed Guards at once.
- **Meteor defense.** Build Telescopes and Lasers to spot and shoot incoming meteors. "Steel Dome" asks for 3 operational lasers, telescopes, and telescope consoles.

## Planets

| Planet | Key conditions | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Desert Planet | Sunny, sandstorms | Easiest start; solar is reliable |
| Frozen Planet | Cold, low sun, blizzards | Wind matters; blizzards hamper power and exterior work |
| Gas Giant Moon | No wind, long nights | Power storage is critical; very unforgiving |
| Storm Planet (Class S) | Constant thunderstorms, erratic energy generation | Added in 1.1.0 (March 2016); requires 12 milestones to unlock. Build Lightning Rods — they protect structures and harvest energy |

Each planet has a "Landing" and a "Base" achievement (100 colonists). Storm Planet has a community Steam guide dedicated to surviving it; it's the hardest map in the game.

## Disasters

| Disaster | Where | Response |
|---|---|---|
| Sandstorm | Desert | Solar output drops; keep Power Collectors charged and stock up beforehand |
| Meteor | Various | Telescopes + Lasers; Engineers ready to repair |
| Solar flare | Various | Keep colonists inside; don't schedule long outdoor work |
| Blizzard | Frozen Planet | Power and exterior work hampered; plan storage and power reserves |
| Thunderstorm | Storm Planet | Lightning Rods; redundant power |

The universal answer is **reserves**: extra power storage, full water tanks, stockpiled meals, and spare Engineers.

## Milestones and Prestige

- **Milestones** (population, production, and building goals) chart your progress on each planet, and your total completed milestones unlock later planets.
- **Prestige structures**: the **Pyramid** is an intermediate prestige structure required before you can build the **Monolith**. "Hyper Megalomaniac" requires Monoliths on all planets.
- **Massive structures**: "Megastructures" asks for all of them; "Hoarder" asks you to fill a Massive Storage to over 90%.
- "Absolute Domination" requires every milestone on every planet.

## Achievement Checklist

Planetbase has 30 Steam achievements. Most fall out of normal play; plan for these:

| Achievement | Requirement | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Space Farmer | 20 Vegetable boxes in your base | Stop cooking for a moment and let vegetables pile up in Storage |
| Cyber Miner | 6 Driller bots and 2 operational Mines | Needs a Robotics Facility and steady Spares |
| Stargazer | 5 operational Telescopes at once | Pairs well with Steel Dome (3 lasers, telescopes, consoles) |
| Overpopulation | 350 colonists in one base | Needs a big bot workforce and several food/oxygen chains |
| Robo Colony | 100 colonists with at least 25% bots | Convert hauling to Carrier bots early |
| High Spirits | 100 colonists at 95% welfare | Comfort buildings and never-empty food/oxygen |
| Landing / Base pairs | Land on each planet; reach 100 colonists on each | The Storm Planet pair is the last and hardest |
| Express Outpost / Express Colony | 100 colonists in under 30 days / 250 in under 60 | Start on the Desert Planet with a planned layout |
| Challenger / Hyper Challenger | One / all built-in challenges | Includes the two timed challenge achievements below |

## Challenges

The game includes built-in challenges (added in version 1.2.0, June 2016: custom scenarios with set starting conditions and goals) and, since version 1.3.7 (May 2019), a visual Challenge Editor made by a community member plus an in-game Workshop uploader for sharing scenarios on the Steam Workshop. Named built-in challenges include **Starport Atlantis**, **Dark Moon**, **Mining Station Alpha**, and **Frozen Cage**. Two achievements are speed goals: finish Starport Atlantis in under 15 days, and Dark Moon in under 70 days. "Hyper Challenger" requires all built-in challenges.

## Common Mistakes to Avoid

- **Letting immigrants in too fast.** Most early collapses come from population outgrowing oxygen or food.
- **No night-time power storage.** Solar-only bases die at night.
- **Spread-out layouts.** Colonists waste their shifts walking; productivity craters.
- **Forgetting Spares.** Structures and bots degrade; without Spares, Engineers can't fix them.
- **Too few Engineers during disasters.** Damage piles up faster than it can be repaired.
- **Ignoring morale.** Unhappy colonists work poorly and can become problems.
- **Building a Starport before the base is stable.** Trade is powerful, but visitors still need oxygen.

## Advanced Tips

- **Hub-and-spoke layout.** Put Storage, Canteen, and Dorm in the middle with production spokes around them.
- **Bot conversion.** Replace hauling Workers with Carrier bots once you can afford Spares. Bots don't eat or breathe, which reduces pressure on every survival chain.
- **Batch your expansions.** Add a new chunk of power, water, and oxygen before opening immigration, not after.
- **Watch the resource chart, not the stockpile.** A shrinking stockpile tells you the problem before it's lethal.
- **Speed achievements.** "Express Outpost" (100 colonists under 30 days) and "Express Colony" (250 under 60 days) reward aggressive-but-balanced expansion. Plan the layout first, then scale power and food ahead of each immigration burst.
- **Mods.** Community mods are listed in a Steam guide ("List of Mods"); check they're compatible with 1.4.x, since version 1.4.0 (September 2024) moved the game from Unity 5.0.4 to Unity 2022.3 and switched to physically based rendering, so mods made for older versions may not work.

## Planetbase 2

Madruga Works is in the final stretch of developing **Planetbase 2**, a separate game rebuilt from scratch, with regular dev updates on the Planetbase Steam page (dev update 09 on September 10, 2026 showed the Terra Dome, Recreation Dome, Meat Farm, and Security Center). None of its systems — nuclear power, vehicles, rocket fuel — are in the original game.

## FAQ

**Why are my colonists suffocating?**
Oxygen Generators need both water and power. Check the power chain at night and the water extractors first.

**How do I unlock the other planets?**
Complete milestones on earlier planets. The Storm Planet needs 12 milestones.

**What should I build for food?**
A Biodome with vegetable pads, Biologists to farm it, and a Canteen with a Meal Maker to cook.

**How do I stop immigration?**
Use the Landing Pad's controls to close immigration temporarily.

**Are bots worth it?**
Yes, once your Spares production is stable. They reduce oxygen and food demand.

**Is Planetbase still updated?**
Only with maintenance updates (1.4.2 in October 2025 fixed resolution selection and a Unity security issue). Active development has moved to Planetbase 2.

## Sources

- [Planetbase on Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/403190/)
- [Planetbase Steam news (version history incl. 1.1.0, 1.2.0, 1.3.7, 1.4.0, 1.4.2 and Planetbase 2 dev updates)](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/403190)
- [Planetbase Steam achievements](https://steamcommunity.com/stats/403190/achievements)
- [Planetbase community guides on Steam](https://steamcommunity.com/app/403190/guides/)
- [Planetbase — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetbase)
- [Planetbase official site](https://planetbase.madrugaworks.com/)