The Planet Crafter drops you alone on a dead world with a single objective: make it breathable. You build heaters, drills and greenhouses to push a terraformation index through oxygen, heat, pressure and biomass stages until the sky changes colour and rain falls on ground that was bare rock when you landed.
This walkthrough takes you from your first session to endgame content. Each phase has specific goals, priorities, and milestones. New to the game? Start with our beginner's guide first.
Quick Progression Summary
| Phase | Area | Focus | Build | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Start | Landing site | Terraformation index basics | Oxygen specialist | 1-2 hours |
| 2. Early | Iridium Cave | Oxygen and heat stages mastery | Oxygen specialist | 3-5 hours |
| 3. Mid | Meteor Field | Resource mining and crafting + gear | Heat rusher or Oxygen specialist | 5-10 hours |
| 4. Late | Aluminium Cave | Build optimization | Heat rusher | 5-10 hours |
| 5. Endgame | Crashed wrecks | Min-max | Heat rusher or Automation builder | Ongoing |
See our maps guide for detailed area breakdowns.
Phase 1: Getting Started (Landing site)
Where the first base goes up. Flat, safe and close enough to starter ore that early trips stay inside one oxygen tank.
Level/Difficulty: Opening hours Key Rewards: Iron, silicon, safe building space
What to Do in Landing site
- Learn Terraformation index. A single running score fed by every machine you place. Spend your first session getting comfortable with this.
- Pick Oxygen specialist as your starting build. See our builds guide for why.
- Heat is the first gate and everything else waits behind it. Put your opening resources into heaters rather than storage or comfort, because the index thresholds unlock the machines that make later stages fast.
- Acquire your first equipment upgrade: Heater or whatever's available.
- Clear all main content before moving on.
Phase 1 Checklist
- Understand Terraformation index fundamentals
- Oxygen specialist selected and functional
- Landing site main content cleared
- Ready for Iridium Cave
Phase 2: Early Game (Iridium Cave)
Deep cave holding iridium, one of the ores that gates the later terraformation machines.
Level/Difficulty: Mid game Key Rewards: Iridium, rare ores
What to Do in Iridium Cave
- Work on Oxygen and heat stages. Progress runs through heat, pressure, oxygen, biomass and beyond in order. This system becomes critical from here on.
- Farm for Heater if you haven't already. It's the key upgrade for this phase.
- Track generation and draw as one number. Machines that lose power stop contributing to the terraformation index entirely, and a base that silently browns out can sit at the same index for an hour.
- Complete all objectives before pushing to Meteor Field.
- Consider whether Heat rusher might suit your playstyle better than Oxygen specialist.
Phase 2 Checklist
- Oxygen and heat stages integrated into gameplay
- Heater acquired
- Iridium Cave fully cleared
- Ready for Meteor Field
Phase 3: Mid Game (Meteor Field)
Open ground littered with impact debris and scattered resources, exposed and worth visiting with a full tank.
Level/Difficulty: Mid game Key Rewards: Rare materials, debris salvage
What to Do in Meteor Field
- Master Resource mining and crafting. Iron, silicon, titanium, cobalt and rarer ores gate what you can build. This unlocks a new layer of gameplay.
- Start working toward Mining drill. It's the best equipment and becomes accessible around now.
- Never enter a cave on a partial tank. Oxygen is the only real death mechanic early on, and the deep ore you actually need is always further in than the tank comfortably allows.
- This area is the main skill check. If you can clear it, you're ready for late game.
- Start investing in Base power management for the tactical depth you'll need going forward.
Phase 3 Checklist
- Resource mining and crafting mastered
- Mining drill acquired or in progress
- Meteor Field fully cleared
- Ready for Aluminium Cave
Phase 4: Late Game (Aluminium Cave)
Cave system rich in aluminium, needed in volume once base construction scales beyond the first few machines.
Level/Difficulty: Early to mid game Key Rewards: Aluminium, construction materials
What to Do in Aluminium Cave
- Finalize your build. You should be running Heat rusher or Oxygen specialist with optimized gear.
- Mining drill should be your primary. If you don't have it yet, prioritize getting it.
- Wrecks are worth visiting long before you feel ready. Blueprint chips found there unlock machines that would otherwise be many hours of grinding away, which reshapes the whole midgame.
- Wreck exploration optimization starts here. Small improvements compound into massive advantages.
- Farm this area for the resources needed to push into Crashed wrecks.
Phase 4 Checklist
- Build fully optimized
- Mining drill upgraded to max
- Aluminium Cave fully cleared
- Ready for Crashed wrecks
Phase 5: Endgame (Crashed wrecks)
Scattered ship remains containing blueprint chips and manufactured parts that cannot be crafted from raw ore.
Level/Difficulty: All game Key Rewards: Blueprints, chips, rare components
What to Do in Crashed wrecks
- Crashed wrecks tests everything. Come prepared with your best build and gear.
- Automate ore extraction as soon as the blueprint allows. Hand mining scales linearly with your time while base demand scales with the index, and the gap only widens.
- The endgame loop: run Crashed wrecks, optimize gear, push harder content.
- Experiment with Automation builder for a fresh take once you've mastered the standard builds.
- This is where Wreck exploration mastery separates good players from great ones. See our tips guide for advanced strategies.
Phase 5 Checklist
- Endgame content on farm
- Best-in-slot gear acquired
- Crashed wrecks fully cleared
- Ready for challenge content
Common Progression Mistakes
- Building storage and decoration before the first heaters
- Adding machines until the base browns out and the index stalls
- Entering deep caves without spare oxygen and losing the haul
- Ignoring wrecks and grinding for blueprints that were sitting in a crash site
- Hand mining well past the point where extractors were available
Key Tips for Smooth Progression
- Heat is the first gate and everything else waits behind it. Put your opening resources into heaters rather than storage or comfort, because the index thresholds unlock the machines that make later stages fast.
- Track generation and draw as one number. Machines that lose power stop contributing to the terraformation index entirely, and a base that silently browns out can sit at the same index for an hour.
- Never enter a cave on a partial tank. Oxygen is the only real death mechanic early on, and the deep ore you actually need is always further in than the tank comfortably allows.
- Wrecks are worth visiting long before you feel ready. Blueprint chips found there unlock machines that would otherwise be many hours of grinding away, which reshapes the whole midgame.
- Automate ore extraction as soon as the blueprint allows. Hand mining scales linearly with your time while base demand scales with the index, and the gap only widens.
For more advanced strategies, see our tips & tricks guide.
More The Planet Crafter Guides
- The Planet Crafter The Planet Crafter Overview
- The Planet Crafter Best Builds
- The Planet Crafter Tier List
- The Planet Crafter Beginner's Guide
- The Planet Crafter Tips & Tricks
- The Planet Crafter Weapons Guide
- The Planet Crafter Combat Guide
- The Planet Crafter Boss Guide
- The Planet Crafter Maps & Locations
- The Planet Crafter Crafting Guide
- The Planet Crafter Classes & Characters
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