Mammals are the final stage of terraformation in The Planet Crafter, before you hit Complete Terraformation. This stage begins at 1.25 TTi, and it unlocks two new structures: the Animal Shelter and the Animal Feeder.
These two structures, along with the Genetic Extractor and Genetic Sequencer, are how you bring mammals to the planet. However, mammals work very differently compared to other creatures in The Planet Crafter. It helps to understand exactly what steps you need to take to bring them to life.
The Planet Crafter: Best Structures To Construct First
These structures are important for players to build as soon as possible in The Planet Crafter in order to ensure their survival.
How to Use the Genetic Extractor
The first thing you need to create mammals is a set of genes. You can find random genes in crates once you reach the Amphibian stage, but your most reliable source is a Genetic Extractor. This machine unlocks once you reach 800 tons of Insects.
The Genetic Extractor converts a variety of items into Genetic Traits. They include insect larvae, flower seeds, frog seeds, fish seeds, and even certain types of quartz. Not every larva or egg will become a Genetic Trait, but those that do follow a few general rules:
- Common butterflies become Color A.
- Rare butterflies become Skin Patterns.
- Common flower seeds become Color B.
- Common fish eggs become Color B.
- Quartz becomes Bioluminescence.
- Frog eggs become Skin Pattern Colors.
- Generic common and uncommon larvae become Sizes.
- Bee larvae, silk worms, and generic rare larvae become Species.
You can always see which item produces which type of genetic sequence by hovering over their icon in the lower-right corner of the Genetic Extractor interface. However, the interface won't tell you exactly which sequence it becomes.
Each gene type has several variations. Species, Skin Pattern, Variant, Bioluminescence, and Size can all be a number between 1 and 10. Color A, Color B, and Skin Pattern Color each come with a variety of shades. However, the numbers and colors you get from putting something into a Genetic Extractor don't change. A Bee Larva always produces a Species 1 Genetic Trait, and an Aemel Butterfly Larva always produces a Red Color A Genetic Trait.
Something else to note is that the items listed in the Genetic Extractor only include items you've seen or crafted. If you never crafted a certain species of butterfly, it won't appear in the extractor list. However, if you've found a butterfly larva, and it doesn't appear on the list, the Genetic Extractor won't convert the larva into a Genetic Trait.
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How to Use the Genetic Sequencer
The next step is to combine a set of Genetic Traits into a single sequence. You do so with the Genetic Sequencer, which unlocks when you reach 70 kt of Biomass. To craft a Creature DNA item, you must include three specific traits, and you can add up to five optional traits. The required traits are:
- Species
- Color A
- Color B
The optional traits are:
- Skin Pattern Color
- Skin Pattern
- Variant
- Bioluminescence
- Size
Every trait influences the appearance of the animal, but the Species trait has the biggest impact. Skin Pattern adds a third color to the animal, Variant adds a few small cosmetic differences, Bioluminescence can allow an animal to glow at night, and Size determines how big it can grow.
Of course, even after you craft a Creature DNA item, you need an Animal Shelter to see that creature in the world. And unlike other stages, you won't spot any mammals in the wild until you reach 1.25 TTi and can build a shelter.
How to Build and Stock an Animal Shelter
An Animal Shelter uses the following materials:
- Water Bottle
- Circuit Board
- Silk
- Lirma Seed
- T2 Fertilizer
- Methane Cartridge
On its own, the shelter produces a small boost to Heat, Pressure, Plants, and Insects, along with a big boost to Animals. You can increase this Animals boost by stocking the Animal Shelter with up to five Creature DNA. The shelter's interface is on the right post.
Each Creature DNA in an Animal Shelter boosts its Animals output by 1,000%, for a possible total of 5,000%. No Genetic Traits change this number, so feel free to get as creative as you like with mammal designs.
For each Creature DNA in an Animal Shelter, an animal will appear and start to wander around the area. This animal matches the Genetic Traits you gave it. These animals start out small, but will grow to full size over time. They can also give you free Genetic Traits if you pet them, but only if you keep them fed.
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How to Use the Animal Feeder
The Animal Feeder is just as important as the Animal Shelter. Animals won't die if you forget to feed them; however, unfed animals will stop growing, stop contributing to the shelter's Animals rating, and won't provide free Genetic Traits.
To avoid this, you'll need to build an Animal Feeder somewhere close to each Animal Shelter. The feeder unlocks at the same time as the shelter, and it requires:
- Water Bottle
- Circuit Board
- Flour
- Bioplastic Nugget
- Honey
- Silk
This is the only construction recipe that requires Flour, so it may catch you off guard. To create Flour, you'll need to complete the following steps:
- Build the Space Trading Rocket.
- Use the rocket to buy Wheat Seeds for 150 Terra Tokens and the Cooking Station blueprint for 400 Terra Tokens.
- Grow some wheat (an Outdoor Farm works best).
- Build a Cooking Station and interact with it to convert six wheat into one Flour.
An Auto-Crafter can also create Flour, but only if you build a Cooking Station somewhere on the map.
You must also make sure your Animal Feeder is in range of the Animal Shelters you want to feed. You won't see a radius when building an Animal Feeder, but it can feed any number of Animal Shelters up to around 20 to 30 meters away. To see if a feeder covers a shelter, get close to a feeder and look at it. Every shelter in the feeder's range will turn green.
After building the Animal Feeder, you can stock it with up to ten food items. Any item that restores health will work, but keep in mind that better food items are more filling. You'll need to keep restocking the Animal Feeder as the animals eat from them, but you can automate this process with a few Outdoor Farms and some drones.
Mammals in The Planet Crafter are more complicated than other life forms, but they also give you more customization options than anything else. By building and stocking your animals, you can make a big impact on the biosphere of the planet.
The Planet Crafter
- Released
- April 10, 2024
- Developer(s)
- Miju Games
- Genre(s)
- Open-World , Survival
- How Long To Beat
- 19 Hours
