Planet Crafter Terraformation Stages: Beginner's Guide with All Ti Values (2026)

In The Planet Crafter you're a convict of Sentinel Corp, dropped on a dead red desert planet with no atmosphere and no life. Your job: terraform this wasteland into a livable world with blue skies, lakes and forests. There's no combat. Your only enemies are low oxygen, hunger, thirst and slow progress.

This guide explains how terraforming really works, lists all Planet Crafter terraformation stages with their exact Ti values and gives you the starting tips that save you hours of trial and error.

🌍 How terraforming works: the Ti index

Your progress is measured by the Terraformation Index (Ti). It's built from several values that you push up with machines:

Important: a Vegetube only produces oxygen with a seed inside. Seeds come with big bonuses: a Pestera Seed gives +200% oxygen, a Nulna Seed even +300%. A T1 Drill releases 0.2 pressure per second, the T2 Drill (1 Iron, 2 Titanium) already 1.5. Upgrades pay off massively.

📈 All Planet Crafter terraformation stages

Each stage visibly changes the planet and unlocks new blueprints. These are the thresholds on Prime (kTi = thousand, MTi = million, GTi = billion Ti):

After that come fish, amphibians and larger animals in the higher ranges. Keep in mind: a Breathable Atmosphere only arrives at 32 GTi. Until then you always need oxygen outside.

⚖️ The most important tip: keep the values balanced

The most common beginner mistake is focusing on one value. Oxygen, heat and pressure should rise roughly in step. If one of them runs far ahead of the others, your Ti index stalls and you hit phases where almost nothing moves. Spread your machines evenly across all three values instead of building ten drills and no heater.

🏠 First steps: survival and your base

At first it's all about survival. If oxygen, water or food hit zero, you die and lose part of your inventory. So:

• Build a base from a Living compartment and a Living compartment door. Inside, your oxygen refills without limit. Small outposts (one module plus a door) spread across the map make long trips possible.
• Secure supplies: an Oxygen capsule (2 Cobalt) and a Water bottle (Ice) are easy to craft. Fill a storage crate about two thirds with Cobalt and one third with Ice and you'll always have stock.
• Put up screens: the "Screen - Terraformation" (Iron, Cobalt, Silicon) shows oxygen, heat and pressure in real time. The "Screen - Progress" shows your current stage and how much is left to the next one.
• Power: Wind turbines (Iron, +1.2 energy each) are enough at first. Later you need solar panels and finally nuclear reactors. Without power your machines stop and the Ti index stands still.

Iron, Silicon, Titanium and Cobalt are the base materials for almost everything, so always grab them on the way.

🧰 Your first crafting order

So you don't start without a plan, craft and equip this in your first minutes:

1. T1 Backpack and T1 Oxygen Tank (more space and more air)
2. Microchips for Construction, Deconstruction and Torch (they unlock your multitool functions)
3. Living compartment plus door (your first oxygen base) and a Craft Station
4. Wind turbine (power for your first machines)
5. T1 Drill, T1 Heater and a first T1 Vegetube with a seed (to kick off the three core values)
6. Terraformation and Progress screens (always keep the numbers in view)

🔓 Unlocking blueprints: Sentinel Corp and microchips

You get new tech in two separate ways that don't overlap:

• Sentinel Corp unlocks blueprints automatically as you reach certain Ti milestones.
• Blueprint microchips are found in crates and shipwrecks. Keep the chip in your inventory, go to the "Screen - Blueprints" and decode it.

Pro trick: hover your mouse over a locked item and the game shows you the Ti value it unlocks at. That way you work toward what you actually need.

💡 Pro tips for the start

• Don't build your base in the deepest valley! When the ice melts later, lakes form there and your base floods. Build a bit higher. Our guide to the best Planet Crafter base locations shows safe spots.
• Upgrade your jetpack early: mobility matters here, both for looting wrecks and for getting back to an oxygen source in time.
• Watch seed bonuses: better seeds (like the Nulna Seed with +300%) turn one Vegetube into several times the oxygen.
• Upgrade drills and heaters instead of placing twenty T1 machines. Higher tiers produce a lot more per machine.

🚀 Later on: power and rockets as a turbo

When your solar field stops being enough, the next step is nuclear power: in the glowing green uranium cave you mine Uranium and craft Uranium Rods (9 Uranium each), which let nuclear reactors solve your power problem in one go. The biggest endgame boost, though, comes from rockets: each one gives +1000% to one value, and several rockets of the same type stack. Launch Seed spreader, Asteroid attraction or Magnetic field protection rockets for oxygen, heat and pressure, and your Ti index jumps.

Once a world is fully terraformed, you can travel on. Which worlds exist and how the travel rocket works is in our overview of all Planet Crafter planets. The newest moon has its own guide: Planet Crafter Skeo.

🚫 Common beginner mistakes

• Pushing only one value, which makes the Ti index stall again and again
• Placing Vegetubes without seeds (they barely produce oxygen then)
• Running too far from your base without an Oxygen capsule
• Building your main base at the lowest point of the map (flood risk)

🔗 More Planet Crafter guides

Keep going with the guide to all Planet Crafter fuses, the guide to larvae and butterflies for insect biomass, and everything about The Planet Crafter on PS5 and crossplay between platforms.

❓ Frequently asked questions

Are there enemies or combat?

No. The Planet Crafter is a pure chill experience. The only dangers are your survival values (oxygen, hunger, thirst) and the occasional meteor.

When does the air become breathable?

At a Terraformation Index of 32 GTi (the Breathable Atmosphere stage). Until then you always need oxygen outside.

Can I play with friends?

Yes. Co-op has been in since the 1.0 release. On PC it was documented for up to 10 players at 1.0, on PS5 and Xbox Series the stores list up to 8.

How long does full terraforming take?

It's a marathon, not a sprint. Most players need many hours to reach the final stage and the end of the story. The Ti index climbs slowly at first and speeds up with better tech. That steady progress is the whole appeal.

As of October 8, 2026 (version v2.102). Building names, recipes and production values were checked against the item database on planetcrafter.th.gl; stage thresholds against established community sources. The Planet Crafter launched on Steam in 2022 and has been on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S since July 21, 2026. Recipes and thresholds can change with updates.