Algae is an essential crafting materialonce biomass starts increasinginThe Planet Crafter. The only blueprints that use algae are bacteria samples and fertilizer, but these items are essential for just about every biomass machine in the game.
However, the only way to get this ball rolling is by creating algae, and aside from the first few tasks,The Planet Crafterdoesn’t hold players' hands and tell them exactly what to do. So if any player is wondering how to get started or whether they’re doing something wrong, this guide will hopefully point them in the right direction.
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Algae Generators
The Planet Crafterfeatures two algae generators. The first one unlocks at 2 μK, and the second one unlocks when the planetary biomass hits 25 kg. The first algae generator needs onebioplastic nugget,one eggplant, one water bottle, one magnesium, and one super alloy.None of these should be hard to find or craft by the time the algae generator unlocks.
However, the T2 algae generator needs two bioplastic nuggets and one fertilizer instead of an eggplant. This means that unless the player gets lucky and finds fertilizer in a random chest, the only way to make the second generator is by building the first one and harvesting some algae.
The first thing to understand about algae generators is thatplayers can only place them on a water surface.This means players should always build their main basenear a water sourceunless they want to regularly hike back and forth to collect algae. Players should also make sure the green radius around the algae generator is also on the water surface. This radius shows where the algae will grow, and the more water it can grow in the more algae players will get.
Fortunately,the water level will continue to risethroughout the Liquid Water and Lakes stages of terraformation. So while a player’s first algae generator may have barely enough water to fill the radius, eventually lakes will become big enough to sustain as many T2 generators as players can craft.
Algae Harvesting
Much like grass and flower spreaders, algae generators take a few minutes to spread their algae across the water, and they won’t create the algae players can harvest until after they finish. The algae with fronds that go deep into the water is the harvest-ready variety, and it lights up when the player gets close. These fronds take a few minutes to fully grow, butplayers can harvest them earlyif they can spot them.
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