Plan B: Terraform Wiki
Transform a barren planet into a living world with climate control, water systems, automated logistics, factories, trains, cities, technology and planetary terraforming.
Plan B: Terraform Guides Hub
Everything you need to build, transport, and terraform in Plan B: Terraform
Latest Updates
Discover the newest guides, tips, and content
Plan B: Terraform mac: Compatibility & Setup Guide
Check Plan B: Terraform Mac compatibility, Windows requirements, Steam Deck status, and practical setup options before playing.
Plan B: Terraform ending: Completion Goals & Final Steps
Learn how to define a satisfying Plan B: Terraform ending through factory growth, city support, climate change, oceans, and reforestation.
Plan B: Terraform achievement guide: Hidden Unlocks
Use this Plan B: Terraform achievement guide to prepare your planet, protect progress, and unlock the hidden Lunar Landscape achievement.
Plan B: Terraform factory layout: Setup Guide & Tips
Build cleaner Plan B: Terraform factory layouts with modular supply centers, short delivery routes, scalable depots, and efficient waste handling.
Plan B: Terraform extractor layout: Step-by-Step Guide
Build a scalable Plan B: Terraform extractor layout with depots, factories, assembly plants, and cleaner resource production lines.
Plan B: Terraform space elevator cable: Setup Guide
Learn how to produce Plan B: Terraform space elevator cable, manage its materials, and deliver enough cable to build the Space Elevator.
Plan B: Terraform depot throughput: Setup Guide
Improve Plan B: Terraform depot throughput with practical layouts, warehouse links, drone checks, and train-based logistics troubleshooting.
Plan B: Terraform population: Growth Setup Guide
Learn how to scale population in Plan B: Terraform with balanced supplies, city logistics, food production, and milestone planning.
Plan B: Terraform endgame: Metal Waste Tips & Tricks
Learn how to manage metal waste, aluminum, steel, and high-tech parts in the Plan B: Terraform endgame without relying on recycling alone.
Plan B: Terraform tech tree: High-Tech Parts Route
Plan B: Terraform tech tree guide covering the Level 7 High-tech Parts unlock, factory recipe, production planning, and city growth requirements.
Plan B: Terraform bridges: Road Crossing Guide
Learn how bridges work in Plan B: Terraform and how to route roads and rails around water and mountains.
Plan B: Terraform how to play: Step-by-Step Guide
Learn how to start production, grow cities, manage logistics, unlock trains, and terraform your planet in Plan B: Terraform.
Beginner Guide
Plan B: Terraform Beginner Guide
Start Strong on Your First Planet
Plan B: Terraform is easiest to learn when production, transport, and urban growth are expanded together. Establish basic resource extraction first, then connect processing buildings, build reliable logistics, and only expand cities when their supply chains can support them.
Survey the Starting Area
Identify nearby resource deposits, flat building space, and routes that can support future mines, factories, truck stations, and city expansion. Keep the initial industrial area compact so transport distances remain manageable.
Build the First Extraction Chain
Place mines on accessible deposits and connect their output to the first processing buildings. Prioritize the materials required for construction and early infrastructure before expanding into less urgent production.
Create a Dependable Logistics Network
Use truck stations and transport routes to move raw resources and processed goods between mines, factories, storage areas, and cities. Separate busy routes when congestion begins to slow deliveries.
Establish the First City
Place the first city close enough to receive essential supplies while leaving room for industrial growth. Connect the city to the production network and monitor whether required goods arrive consistently.
Expand Toward Mid-Game Industry
Once the first city and basic supply chain are stable, add more advanced factories, improve transport capacity, and prepare rail-based logistics where longer-distance or higher-volume movement makes trucks inefficient.
Progression
Plan B: Terraform Tech Tree and Progression
Plan Research Around Your Next Bottleneck
Technology progression in Plan B: Terraform is most effective when each unlock supports the next limitation in the colony. Early research should stabilize extraction and construction, followed by logistics and industrial capacity, then city development and terraforming infrastructure.
Secure Basic Production
Priority: HighBegin with technologies that unlock or improve resource extraction, construction materials, and the first industrial buildings. These upgrades provide the foundation for every later expansion.
Improve Logistics and Transport
Priority: HighResearch transport-related technologies when growing distances or production volume make the initial truck network unreliable. Transport upgrades reduce delivery delays and make separated industrial zones practical.
Unlock Stronger Urban Infrastructure
Priority: MediumMove into city and population-support technologies after the resource chain can provide consistent supplies. These upgrades help the colony support larger urban areas and more demanding production networks.
Invest in Terraforming Efficiency
Priority: Medium to HighPrioritize technologies that increase the ability to generate greenhouse gases, manage water, support vegetation, and improve the environmental conditions needed for a habitable planet.
Balance Late-Game Infrastructure
Priority: SituationalAt the advanced stage, choose research according to the current bottleneck rather than following a fixed order. Production capacity, transport throughput, city demand, and terraforming progress should be upgraded as a connected system.
Production
Plan B: Terraform Resource and Production Guide
Build Supply Chains That Scale
A stable colony depends on more than having deposits nearby. Each resource must be extracted, processed, transported, and delivered to the buildings that consume it. Plan production around the next construction or terraforming requirement, and expand transport capacity before congestion becomes a colony-wide problem.
Raw Mineral Resources
- Role in Production
- Basic inputs for construction and industry
- Production Chain
- Deposit → Mine → Transport network → Processing building
- Main Uses
- Construction materials
- Factory inputs
- Infrastructure expansion
- Logistics Need
- Short routes are effective early; separate high-volume routes as production expands.
- Common Bottleneck
- Insufficient mining capacity or delayed delivery from distant deposits
Processed Construction Materials
- Role in Production
- Manufactured goods used to place and expand buildings
- Production Chain
- Raw minerals → Factory → Storage or direct delivery → Construction site
- Main Uses
- Mines
- Factories
- Transport infrastructure
- Cities
- Logistics Need
- Factories should remain connected to both raw-material sources and building sites.
- Common Bottleneck
- Factories waiting for inputs or construction consuming output faster than it is produced
Advanced Industrial and Technology Materials
- Role in Production
- Higher-tier inputs for advanced buildings, research progression, and infrastructure
- Production Chain
- Processed minerals → Advanced factory chain → Specialized consumers
- Main Uses
- Advanced production
- Technology progression
- Late-game infrastructure
- Logistics Need
- Use reliable routes and increase throughput before adding several advanced factories.
- Common Bottleneck
- A missing intermediate product stopping the entire advanced chain
Greenhouse Gases
- Role in Production
- Environmental input for raising planetary temperature
- Production Chain
- Industrial production → Greenhouse-gas output → Atmospheric terraforming
- Main Uses
- Temperature increase
- Terraforming progression
- Logistics Need
- Prioritize the production systems that generate the required atmospheric output.
- Common Bottleneck
- Terraforming progress limited by insufficient industrial capacity
Water and Environmental Resources
- Role in Production
- Inputs and conditions associated with water circulation, rainfall, and surface transformation
- Production Chain
- Environmental conversion and planetary warming → Water cycle → Surface water and rainfall
- Main Uses
- Water cycle
- Rainfall
- Ocean formation
- Vegetation support
- Logistics Need
- Environmental progress is global, but supporting infrastructure still requires nearby industrial supply.
- Common Bottleneck
- Improving one environmental condition before the temperature and water prerequisites are ready
Organic Resources
- Role in Production
- Biological and urban-support inputs connected to vegetation and colony development
- Production Chain
- Environmental improvement → Vegetation and organic production → City and terraforming support
- Main Uses
- Vegetation
- Oxygen generation
- Urban development
- Logistics Need
- Connect organic-resource production to cities and other consumers with dependable delivery routes.
- Common Bottleneck
- Insufficient environmental conditions for sustained biological expansion
Terraforming
Plan B: Terraform Terraforming Guide
Turn a Barren World into a Living Planet
Terraforming is a linked environmental process rather than a collection of independent objectives. Atmospheric warming helps unlock water-related change, water supports rainfall and vegetation, and vegetation contributes to oxygen and a more habitable surface. Plan industrial expansion and terrain changes around these dependencies.
Logistics & Transport
Plan B: Terraform Logistics and Transport Guide
Build a Transport Network That Keeps Every City Supplied
Efficient logistics in Plan B: Terraform depends on separating short-range distribution from high-volume regional transport. Use warehouses to extend coverage, connect production chains to consumption centers, and plan routes around terrain, bridges, water crossings, and overloaded junctions before population growth turns a small delay into a supply crisis.
Trucks
Local DistributionBest For
- Connecting nearby mines, factories, warehouses, and cities
- Filling short gaps between a production building and a transport hub
- Supporting newly founded cities before larger infrastructure is available
Planning Notes
- Place warehouses so cities and industrial buildings remain inside their service coverage
- Avoid routing too many independent truck paths through one narrow crossing
- Use bridges when terrain or water prevents a direct road connection
Bottleneck Signal
Long routes, repeated crossings, and congested road junctions reduce the reliability of local deliveries.
Trains
High-Volume Land TransportBest For
- Moving large quantities of raw materials over long continental distances
- Linking mining regions with industrial centers and city clusters
- Reducing pressure on long truck routes
Planning Notes
- Place rail infrastructure along the main flow of bulk resources rather than building isolated branches
- Connect rail lines to warehouses or production zones with sufficient local coverage
- Reserve direct rail corridors for the resources that would otherwise create the greatest road congestion
Bottleneck Signal
A single rail connection can become a regional choke point when several cities depend on the same production corridor.
Drones
Fast Aerial DistributionBest For
- Reaching difficult terrain and separated settlements
- Providing flexible links where roads or rails are expensive to extend
- Supporting remote facilities and late-stage logistics networks
Planning Notes
- Use drones to solve access problems rather than replacing every efficient ground route
- Keep the supply source, warehouse coverage, and destination close to a clear logistics chain
- Prioritize remote or terrain-blocked demand centers when aerial capacity is limited
Bottleneck Signal
Aerial transport is most valuable when it removes a geographic barrier; using it on simple short routes can waste network capacity.
Cargo Ships
Maritime Bulk TransportBest For
- Moving resources between separated landmasses
- Connecting coastal production areas with distant industrial or urban regions
- Creating long-distance supply links across open water
Planning Notes
- Develop ports and coastal logistics around the actual direction of resource flow
- Use maritime routes for large, steady shipments instead of small local deliveries
- Protect the land-based connection between ports, warehouses, and cities from becoming the new bottleneck
Bottleneck Signal
Port access and inland distribution can limit the throughput of an otherwise efficient sea route.
Airships
Long-Range Aerial TransportBest For
- Connecting separated regions where surface infrastructure is difficult to build
- Supporting large-scale networks with long-distance aerial links
- Reducing dependence on continuous land corridors across challenging terrain
Planning Notes
- Use airships for strategic regional connections rather than dense local distribution
- Pair aerial links with warehouses and local transport so cargo can reach its final destination
- Plan the network around major resource centers and city groups
Bottleneck Signal
An airship route still requires well-positioned endpoints and dependable distribution on both sides.
Hovercraft
Water-Crossing TransportBest For
- Linking coastal areas and settlements separated by water
- Providing an alternative to long bridge or land detours
- Improving regional connectivity in water-heavy environments
Planning Notes
- Use hovercraft where water crossings are the main obstacle to a direct route
- Connect both shores to warehouses, production buildings, or city demand centers
- Compare the cost of a hovercraft link with the value of a permanent bridge or longer land route
Bottleneck Signal
Poor shore-side coverage can make a water route appear connected while leaving the final delivery chain incomplete.
Multi-City Logistics Network
Regional PlanningBest For
- Supplying several cities from shared mining and industrial zones
- Balancing production across a growing urban region
- Preventing every city from requiring a separate full production chain
Planning Notes
- Group cities around shared warehouses and trunk transport corridors
- Separate bulk-resource routes from short urban delivery routes
- Add alternative crossings or secondary links before one route becomes indispensable
- Expand production and storage capacity together as the connected population grows
Bottleneck Signal
When several cities request the same resource, the limiting factor may be extraction, transport throughput, warehouse coverage, or the final city connection.
Cities & Population
Plan B: Terraform City Growth and Population Guide
Turn Stable Supply Chains Into Growing Cities
A successful city network starts with understanding what each urban area consumes and how those goods travel from extraction and factories to the city. Supply centers, warehouses, waste processing, research progression, and connected transport routes must grow alongside population so expansion does not create sudden shortages or waste backlogs.
1. Establish a Supply Base
- City Need
- Basic city goods and dependable delivery access
- Supporting System
- Nearby extraction, production, warehouse coverage, and a functioning transport link
- Population Effect
- Creates the stable foundation required for a city to begin expanding
- Recommended Action
- Build the first supply chain close enough to the city that short local routes can cover the initial demand.
2. Expand Supply Coverage
- City Need
- A broader and more consistent flow of required goods
- Supporting System
- Additional warehouses, improved routes, and sufficient production capacity
- Population Effect
- Reduces interruptions that can stall urban growth
- Recommended Action
- Check whether the shortage comes from production, transport distance, warehouse placement, or a disconnected final segment.
3. Process Waste
- City Need
- Waste collection and treatment capacity
- Supporting System
- Waste-processing infrastructure connected to the growing urban area
- Population Effect
- Prevents population growth from being undermined by unmanaged waste
- Recommended Action
- Expand waste handling before adding another major residential or urban expansion wave.
4. Support Research
- City Need
- Research capacity for new technologies and infrastructure
- Supporting System
- Research facilities and the resources needed to keep them operating
- Population Effect
- Unlocks more effective production, transport, terraforming, and city-development options
- Recommended Action
- Treat research as part of the logistics plan instead of building it without a reliable resource supply.
5. Connect Multiple Cities
- City Need
- Shared access to goods, production, and transport corridors
- Supporting System
- Regional warehouses, trunk routes, and transport links between city clusters
- Population Effect
- Allows several cities to grow as one coordinated development area
- Recommended Action
- Centralize high-volume production where practical, then use rail, ships, airships, drones, or hovercraft to distribute resources.
6. Diagnose a Supply Interruption
- City Need
- The specific missing good shown by the city demand chain
- Supporting System
- A complete chain from resource extraction to factory, storage, transport, and city delivery
- Population Effect
- A missing link can pause growth even when the city appears close to a functioning supply source
- Recommended Action
- Inspect the chain in order: resource availability, factory output, warehouse coverage, route capacity, crossings, and final delivery.
7. Plan Urban Expansion
- City Need
- More demand capacity without overloading the current network
- Supporting System
- Reserve production, transport, storage, and waste-treatment capacity
- Population Effect
- Makes growth predictable instead of causing repeated stop-and-start expansion
- Recommended Action
- Expand the supporting infrastructure first, then increase the number of cities or enlarge the existing urban region.
Building Priority
Plan B: Terraform Building Tier List
Prioritize Buildings by Their Role in the Full Development Chain
Building value changes throughout a campaign. Early infrastructure should create reliable extraction and delivery, mid-game upgrades should increase throughput and connect regions, and late-game systems should support large cities and planetary transformation. Use the tiers as a planning framework rather than a universal ranking detached from terrain or network design.
Early Game
Buildings
Why It Matters: These buildings establish the first complete chain from raw resources to processed goods and city delivery.
Unlock Cost: Low to moderate and available near the start of development
Resource Consumption: Creates the initial demand for raw materials and transport
Coverage: Direct local coverage is highly valuable before regional networks exist
Transport Efficiency: Short truck routes are simple to establish and easy to troubleshoot
Development Impact: Essential for starting city growth and unlocking the next layer of infrastructure
Buildings
Why It Matters: These systems support healthy expansion and unlock more advanced development, but they require a functioning supply base to operate effectively.
Unlock Cost: Usually manageable once the first resource chain is stable
Resource Consumption: Adds operational demand that must be included in early logistics
Coverage: Their value increases when placed near the cities and regions they support
Transport Efficiency: Benefits from short, dependable supply routes
Development Impact: Prevents waste-related stagnation and accelerates access to later infrastructure
Mid Game
Buildings
Why It Matters: These buildings and systems remove the most common mid-game limits: distance, bulk throughput, missing crossings, and fragmented storage coverage.
Unlock Cost: Higher than starter infrastructure but justified by regional throughput
Resource Consumption: Requires larger and more coordinated production chains
Coverage: Extends reliable service across multiple cities and industrial zones
Transport Efficiency: Greatly improves long-distance movement of bulk resources
Development Impact: Transforms separate settlements into a connected development region
Buildings
Why It Matters: These options solve geographic problems and broaden the reach of the logistics network, especially across difficult terrain or water.
Unlock Cost: Requires more advanced development and a larger supporting network
Resource Consumption: Should be assigned to routes where their special access is valuable
Coverage: Extends supply to remote or separated regions
Transport Efficiency: Strong on difficult routes but unnecessary for simple short-distance links
Development Impact: Opens new resource regions and allows cities to grow beyond the original land corridor
Late Game
Buildings
Why It Matters: Late-game development depends on connecting large regions, overcoming water and terrain barriers, and supporting the resource demands of mature urban networks.
Unlock Cost: High, with value realized after the network reaches significant scale
Resource Consumption: Requires dependable high-volume production and distribution
Coverage: Can connect regions that conventional routes cannot serve efficiently
Transport Efficiency: Excellent for strategic long-distance and water-crossing logistics
Development Impact: Supports planetary-scale population growth and advanced terraforming goals
Buildings
Why It Matters: These buildings help maintain growth after the basic network is already established and the main challenge becomes scaling without interruption.
Unlock Cost: High relative to early infrastructure
Resource Consumption: Can create substantial secondary demand across the network
Coverage: Most effective when integrated into established regional hubs
Transport Efficiency: Depends on trunk routes and sufficient warehouse capacity
Development Impact: Improves the ceiling of population growth, research progress, and planetary development
All Phases
Buildings
Why It Matters: These choices are not inherently weak, but their value depends strongly on timing, terrain, and the actual source of the bottleneck.
Unlock Cost: May consume resources that would be more useful elsewhere
Resource Consumption: Can increase maintenance or supply pressure without immediate benefit
Coverage: May overlap with existing service areas
Transport Efficiency: Often lower than targeted infrastructure built for a known problem
Development Impact: Situational; becomes stronger when the network reaches the scale it was designed for
Versions & Worlds
Plan B: Terraform DLC and Update Guide
Compare the Classic Planet, Fire Worlds, and Water Worlds
Plan B: Terraform grows from a resource-and-city management game into a broader planetary engineering experience through its major update and DLC content. The central loop remains recognizable across worlds—extract resources, manufacture goods, transport supplies, grow cities, and terraform the planet—but environmental conditions change the value of routes, facilities, and transport methods.
Version 1.0
Base Game FoundationKey Content
- The original terraforming campaign structure
- Resource extraction and factory production chains
- City growth supported by goods, transport, research, and waste processing
- Core logistics using roads, warehouses, and the original transport network
Gameplay Focus: Learn the complete production-to-city loop and build a stable infrastructure network before scaling population or terraforming.
Planning Notes
- Start with short and readable supply chains
- Treat warehouses and transport coverage as part of every production plan
- Expand cities only after the supporting resource and waste systems are stable
1.1 Free Update
Major Free ExpansionKey Content
- Additional systems and balancing beyond the original 1.0 release
- Expanded options for managing transport and planetary development
- A broader foundation for connecting cities and adapting infrastructure to different world conditions
Gameplay Focus: Revisit established networks and use the expanded systems to improve throughput, access, and long-term development.
Planning Notes
- Review existing routes instead of assuming the original layout is still optimal
- Check whether new or revised systems change the best solution to old bottlenecks
- Use the update as an opportunity to reorganize regional logistics before further population growth
Worlds of Fire and Water
Paid DLCKey Content
- New planetary environments centered on fire and water themes
- New world-specific challenges that alter terraforming priorities
- Additional buildings, mechanics, and transport considerations for specialized planetary conditions
- New planets that require adapting the familiar logistics and city-growth loop
Gameplay Focus: Apply the base game's production and population principles to environments where terrain, water, heat, and access can change the optimal infrastructure plan.
Planning Notes
- Expect environmental conditions to influence route design and terraforming order
- Use the transport method that best matches the world's geography instead of copying a classic-planet layout
- Build flexible regional supply networks before committing to large city clusters
Classic Planet
- Environmental Identity
- The original setting for learning the standard resource, transport, city, and terraforming progression
- Logistics Priority
- Short local routes first, followed by rail and regional connections as cities multiply
- City-Growth Lesson
- Reliable supply coverage and waste processing are the foundation of expansion
- Best Starting Strategy
- Create one complete production chain, establish warehouse coverage, and scale only after delivery is stable
Fire Planet
- Environmental Identity
- A harsher world where environmental conditions make terraforming order and infrastructure resilience more important
- Logistics Priority
- Plan around difficult terrain and prioritize transport links that preserve access to essential production zones
- City-Growth Lesson
- Population expansion must be synchronized with environmental improvement and dependable supply routes
- Best Starting Strategy
- Secure the core resource chain, then invest in the terraforming and transport systems needed to open safer development areas
Water World
- Environmental Identity
- A world where water coverage and separated land areas make crossings and maritime access central to planning
- Logistics Priority
- Use ports, cargo ships, hovercraft, bridges, and aerial links according to the distance and shape of the separated regions
- City-Growth Lesson
- A city can be close in map distance yet poorly supplied if its connection across water is incomplete
- Best Starting Strategy
- Establish dependable shore-side production and storage first, then build the water-crossing network that links cities into one supply region
Save and World Planning
Compatibility and Campaign OrganizationKey Content
- The base game, free update, and DLC worlds are best treated as distinct campaign environments
- A familiar logistics layout may not suit a new planet's geography or environmental rules
- Existing saves should be reviewed for newly available systems before major expansion decisions
Gameplay Focus
Keep established campaigns organized while learning the differences between classic and DLC worlds.
Planning Notes
- Back up or preserve important saves before making large network changes
- Do not assume a classic-world supply chain can be transferred unchanged to a fire or water world
- When starting a new world, re-evaluate extraction sites, city locations, crossings, and transport priorities from the beginning