---
title: "The Planet Crafter: Complete Terraforming Guide"
game: "The Planet Crafter"
game_url: "https://qna.gg/games/the-planet-crafter"
author: "Qloud"
author_url: "https://qna.gg/players/Qloud"
topics: ["Builds", "Crafting"]
summary: "A start-to-finish guide to The Planet Crafter: surviving your first hours, climbing the Terraformation Index, building a power grid and automation, exploring wrecks, and moving on to the other planets and moons,…"
url: "https://qna.gg/g/the-planet-crafter-complete-terraforming-guide-95bc6064"
published: "2026-09-27T20:16:53.537Z"
updated: "2026-09-27T20:16:53.537Z"
source: "QnA.GG"
---

# The Planet Crafter: Complete Terraforming Guide

A start-to-finish guide to The Planet Crafter: surviving your first hours, climbing the Terraformation Index, building a power grid and automation, exploring wrecks, and moving on to the other planets and moons, including the new free moon **Skeo**.

*Researched September 2026 — current as of v2.103 (Skeo Moon Patch #1, September 14, 2026). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.*

## Quick Start

1. **Watch three gauges: Oxygen, Water, and Food.** Your oxygen runs out fastest early on. Upgrade the **oxygen tank** as soon as you can.
2. **Every machine you build raises the Terraformation Index (Ti).** Ti is made of **heat, pressure, oxygen, and biomass**, and later also plants, insects, and animals. Each Ti milestone unlocks new blueprints.
3. **Build a small pod near your landing site first**, with a storage container and a way to refill oxygen.
4. **Power is your first bottleneck.** Start with wind turbines, move to solar panels, then nuclear reactors.
5. **Loot wrecks and containers for microchips.** Blueprint microchips unlock important recipes that Ti milestones will not give you.
6. **There is no combat.** The only enemy is the environment, so explore freely but manage your oxygen.
7. **Automate early.** Ore extractors, drones, and the logistics system save enormous time later.
8. **Co-op supports 1 to 10+ players.** Everyone must be on the same version.
9. **Pick a difficulty or preset you enjoy.** Chill modes remove most survival pressure, and hardcore presets make every trip dangerous.

## Where Everything Is (Planets and Moons)

| World | Type | How to get there | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Prime** | Base game planet | Default start | The original planet. The free 2.0 update (April 2026) added a new biome, better terrain and water, third-person mode, and a rover jetpack. |
| **Planet Humble** | Paid DLC (October 2024) | Start a new game there, or travel | About half the size of Prime, with its own story |
| **Toxicity** | Paid DLC (November 2025) | Start a new game there, or travel | A once-colonized planet made toxic. It has decontamination mechanics. The host must own it for co-op. |
| **Selenea** | Free moon (Moons Update, May 2025) | Travel, or start there (advanced only) | The developers say starting on Selenea is for advanced players. |
| **Aqualis** | Free moon (Moons Update, May 2025) | Travel | |
| **Skeo** | Free moon (September 1, 2026) | Travel only | Requires a fully terraformed starting planet (Prime, Toxicity, Humble, or Selenea) |

**Interplanetary travel:** After you fully terraform a planet, build the **Extraction Platform** and the **Interplanetary Travel Rocket**. You keep your inventory, equipment, and blueprints between worlds. Moon machines also contribute to a **System Terraformation Index** across your planets.

## First Hour Priorities

1. **Gather** iron, magnesium, silicon, titanium, cobalt, and ice. Early deposits are lying on the ground around the start.
2. **Build a pod** with a **storage container** and a **Craft Station** inside.
3. **Craft an oxygen tank and backpack upgrade** as soon as the recipes are available.
4. **Place your first Drill, Heater, and Vegetube.** They raise pressure, heat, and oxygen respectively, and each small increase unlocks more.
5. **Build wind turbines** to power everything.
6. **Set up food and water:** a food grower and water collector, once you unlock them, stop you from foraging constantly.
7. **Explore the nearest wreck** for microchips and supplies. Bring spare oxygen.

## The Terraformation Index

| Component | Raised by (examples) |
|---|---|
| **Heat** | Heaters, then upgraded heater tiers, then heat rockets |
| **Pressure** | Drills, then upgraded drills, then pressure rockets |
| **Oxygen** | Vegetubes, flora, trees, algae, then oxygen rockets |
| **Biomass** | Plants, trees, insects, and animals |
| **Plants, Insects, Animals** | Seed planting, grass and tree spreaders, butterfly farms, beehives, animal shelters and incubators |

As Ti climbs, the planet visibly changes through stages such as a blue sky, clouds, rain, liquid water, moss, flora, trees, insects, and animals. The HUD and the terraformation screen show your next unlock.

**Rockets** give huge multiplier boosts to a single component. Build them once your production can afford them. In v2.100, T2 rockets were raised to a 6000% generation bonus.

## Power Progression

| Tier | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Early | **Wind turbine** | Cheap. Build many. |
| Mid | **Solar panels** (upgraded tiers) | Output depends on conditions. |
| Late | **Nuclear reactor** tiers | Big output from rare materials such as uranium |
| Endgame | Additional late-game generators | Unlock through Ti, and through moon content on Skeo |

**Rule of thumb:** Keep at least 25 to 30% spare power. New machines unlock quickly, and a brownout stops everything.

## Base Building

- **Pods and corridors** are the core structures. Windows and decorations are cosmetic. The 2.0 update added more of them, such as the arcade machine, vending machine, and lava lamp.
- **Biodomes** let you grow trees and plants indoors.
- **Storage:** Label and group containers by material type. The late-game logistics system uses **supply and demand** containers with drones to move goods automatically.
- **New on Skeo:** the **Underground pod** lets you build a base underground. It unlocks on Skeo.

## Resources and Automation

- **Ore extractors** pull specific ores from veins. On Skeo, **osmium** is collected with the ore extractor, not a harvester (a v2.102 change).
- **Drones** move items between logistics containers. The **drone T3** was added with the moon updates. v2.100 also added a button in the drone UI to **stop all drones**.
- **Auto crafters** automate recipes. Patch v2.103 fixed the Purification fuse not being available in auto crafters before the quartz craft station was unlocked. Wheat and cocoa seeds can now go through logistics.
- **Genetics:** The **Genetic Extractor**, **Genetic Synthetizer**, and **incubators** let you create custom plants, insects, and animals. On Skeo, you can find bones in the world and put them in the genetic extractor to create a new animal.

## Exploration and Wrecks

- **Wrecks** hold loot containers, microchips, and lore. Many are procedurally generated, so each run differs.
- **Portals:** The Portal Generator opens procedurally generated wrecks with rare loot. The Portals Generator cannot be built on Skeo (v2.102). You can find animal effigies in portal wrecks.
- **Bring extra oxygen** and a way to mark your path. Wreck interiors are mazes.
- **Look for the story.** Logs and terminals across the planets tell the larger story of why you are here.

## Skeo: What's New (v2.102 and v2.103)

- **Access:** Fully terraform a starting planet, then use the Extraction Platform and Interplanetary Travel Rocket. Skeo is not available as a starting planet.
- **New builds:** the Underground pod, Incubator T2, Tree planter T3, Rocket animals T2, the new "Brojo" tree, and a new interior lamp.
- **Crafting:** Magnetar quartz can be crafted once you unlock the recipe (Skeo).
- **Harvestable veins:** osmium, bacteria, and cocoa (check the map).
- **Other:** a new spacesuit found on Skeo, a new animal made from bones, and a new animal effigy in portal wrecks.
- **v2.103 fixes:** two new music tracks, Butterfly farm 1 unlocks sooner with higher insect output, fewer fuse drops in the endgame, and more ores near the starting zone on Humble.
- **Rendering:** DirectX 11 is the default. DX12 can be forced with the launch argument -force-d3d12.

## Common Mistakes to Avoid

- **Running out of oxygen deep in a cave or wreck.** Always check the tank before a trip.
- **Overbuilding before power is stable.** Machines stop when power falls short.
- **Ignoring microchips.** Some key recipes only come from loot.
- **Messy storage.** It becomes crippling once you have hundreds of item types. Sort early.
- **Sticking with T1 machines.** Upgrades give far more Ti for the space they take.
- **Mismatched versions in co-op.** Everyone must run the same build. Restart Steam if in doubt.
- **Keeping outdated mods after a patch.** Remove them before reporting bugs.

## Advanced Tips

- **Chase the component that is furthest behind.** Balanced Ti progress unlocks stages faster than spiking one component.
- **Rockets are multiplicative.** Launch a rocket for your weakest component once you can afford it.
- **Build a central logistics hub** with supply and demand containers and drones. Treat it as the heart of your factory.
- **Start genetics early** for unique trees and animals. They also add biomass.
- **Plan interplanetary trips.** Moons need resources from home, and trading goods between planets is part of the design.
- **Switch branches for early access.** The developers test on a development branch before the main branch. Back up your saves first.

## FAQ

**How do I get to Skeo?**
Fully terraform Prime, Humble, Toxicity, or Selenea. Then build the Extraction Platform and the Interplanetary Travel Rocket, and select Skeo as your destination.

**Is Skeo free?**
Yes. It is a free update released on September 1, 2026, on Steam, Xbox, PS5, and GOG.

**Are Planet Humble and Toxicity free?**
No. Both are paid DLC. Selenea, Aqualis, and Skeo are free moons.

**Is there crossplay with consoles?**
No. PS5 and Xbox versions (July 2026, also on Game Pass) support multiplayer only with players on the same console family. Steam players cannot join them.

**How many players can play co-op?**
The game advertises 1 to 10+ players in online co-op.

**Is there combat?**
No. The game has no violence. The hostile environment is the only threat.

**What is the next update?**
Miju Games said v2.103 should be the final Skeo patch, and the team is now working on its next DLC.

## Sources

- [Steam store page: The Planet Crafter](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1284190/The_Planet_Crafter/)
- [Steam news: The Planet Crafter (Skeo, v2.103, dev branch notes)](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1284190)
- [Steam News API feed for The Planet Crafter](https://api.steampowered.com/ISteamNews/GetNewsForApp/v2/?appid=1284190)
- [Wikipedia: The Planet Crafter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Planet_Crafter)