What’s new in the Lore & Automation update
Miju Games has released their third major content update for The Planet Crafter, titled the Lore & Automation Update, on the 16th of October 2022. In this update, terraformers are treated to a deeper look into the lore we’ve been fed bits and pieces of since the Early Access release back in March 2022. Who are the Wardens, and why did they come to this planet? Who were they so afraid of that they felt the need to hide behind such large doors? Some of our questions may now have some answers!
In addition to the lore developments, the update provides several new features. Terraformers can now reach a new “breathable atmosphere” stage. This stage results in an infinite oxygen bar and removes the need to replenish air. This bit of progress is advantageous to the exploration-inclined.
For those not yet at the breathable atmosphere stage, a new air filter item can be crafted to help reduce oxygen consumption.
The Warden doors
The new biomes in the Lore & Automation update are hidden. You may already be aware of a few of these hidden places, and now you’ll have the means of unlocking and opening the entrances. To enter the first door, you’ll need to look carefully for a way to unlock it. Riley will give you a clue about where to get started.
New items
A handful of new items are now available to take terraformation to the next level in the Lore & Automation update. These upgrades allow the crafting of higher-tier versions of the terraformation devices. The following items are brand new with the update and will unlock once the required terraformation index or other unit has been reached:
- Air Filter
- Auto Crafter
- Beehive Tier 2
- Butterfly Farm Tier 2 (unlocks at 925t of insect biomass)
- Drill Tier 5
- Exoskeleton Tier 3
- Heater Tier 5
- Insect Rocket
- Mushroom Tree seed
- Mutagen Tier 2
- Ore Extractor Tier 3
- Osmium Rod
New machine tiers
If you’ve found that terraformation has slowed way down after hitting the insects stage and beyond, you may be excited to know that upgrades to the drill and heater are now available. These new machines will require the new Osmium Rods and other rods to produce, so the resource needs will be high. To keep up with the crafting costs of these new machines, an Ore Extractor Tier 3 is also now available.
The tier 3 ore extractor allows the terraformer to select an ore type to extract rather than the hodge-podge of ores that the tier 1 and tier 2 versions collect. The new machines will output considerably more terraformation units and resources but at a much larger energy cost. Time to up the pulsar quartz production and get those nuclear fusion generators going.
Several additional machines have also received an upgraded tier, including the recently-released beehive and butterfly farms.
New tree seed: Seed Shreox
Players can now grow the giant mushroom trees seen in the Mushroom River with the new tree seed, Seed Shreox. Using the DNA Manipulator, craft this tree seed using the following components once unlocked:
- Mutagen Tier 2 x 1
- Tree Bark x 1
- Seed Lirma x 1
Once the Seed Shreox is crafted, simply place it in any tree spreader to begin growing towering purple mushroom trees.
The Auto Crafter
The most exciting new feature of this update is the introduction of the Auto Crafter. This deployable device allows you to select from a list of possible crafting blueprints and automatically produces the selected item.
The auto crafter will pull resources from containers or nature as long as it is within the spherical radius of the device. You can determine what is within this radius by noting the outermost green ring that appears when highlighting the deployed auto crafter. This radius also applies to floors above or below the auto crafter, so clever placement of auto crafters throughout the storage rooms in your base can produce an excellent system for automation. This same principle can apply to ore extractors and algae generators, too.
New Butterflies
A few new butterflies have been added and can be crafted at the Incubator using the new Mutagen Tier 2. These butterflies provide a considerable boost to insect biomass, so consider crafting them as soon as their blueprints unlock:
- Butterfly Golden Larva: 1500% insect modifier (exotic)
- Butterfly Serena Larva: 1200% insect modifier (crafted)
- Butterfly Imeo Larva: 1000% insect modifier (crafted)
These butterflies require that mutagen tier 2 has been unlocked in the biolab and the corresponding butterfly blueprint has been unlocked in the biodome tier 1. Each requires a fertilizer tier 1 and a rare larva.
New insect rocket
The Insect spreader rocket, missing from the previous update, is now available to craft. Achieve an additional +1000% insect modifier per rocket by sending this rocket up into your planet’s atmosphere.
Insect spreader rocket blueprint:
- Rocket Engine x 1
- Bee larva x 3
- Osmium Rod x 1
- Mutagen Tier 2 x 1
Additional changes in this Planet Crafter update
- New golden effigy added
- New Construction microchip
- New messages from Riley
- 2 new achievements
- 3 new golden crates
- The level requirement for insects stage has been increased
- Increase water filter terraformation level requirement
- Base health reduction in hardcore mode has been reduced
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