Arboria asteroid guide: a forest start short on metal, with example seeds

• Wood and ethanol. Arbor Tree grows in the start biome and turns Polluted Water and dirt into Lumber for the Wood Burner and the Ethanol Distiller.
• Rust biomes everywhere: Rust feeds a Rust Deoxidizer for oxygen and Bleach Stone feeds the Waterweed farm.
• Tundra cold and, when they roll, AETN heat sinks give natural cooling that Verdante lacks.
• Dirt is common, about 3,000 to 5,000 tonnes on the sample seeds.

• Metal is the bottleneck on a normal seed. Copper ore is rare near the start, so batteries, refined wire and pumps have to wait for exploration.
• Algae is limited, so the first oxygen phase is short.
• The jungles bring heat, chlorine and polluted oxygen next to the forest.
• Nothing is guaranteed: a seed can roll few water sources near the start.

1. Cycle 1: Research Station, Outhouse, Wash Basin, and a Mealwood farm on Farm Tile.
2. Cycle 1 to 5: Oxygen Diffuser on whatever algae is close, and leave the Oxyferns where your Duplicants breathe out CO2.
3. Cycle 5 to 15: scout for the first metal deposit and the first water source. Mark both before building anything that needs pipes.
4. Cycle 10 to 30: plant Arbor Trees on polluted water, run a Wood Burner, and set up a Water Sieve or a water source for the Electrolyzer.
5. Cycle 20 to 50: ranch Hatch. They eat the dirt, sand and sedimentary rock you dig out and return coal for a Coal Generator and meat for the kitchen.

Arboria punishes metal-heavy plans. Build what the forest supports first: wood power, plant food, critter ranching. Keep the few metal finds for the machines that cannot be replaced, such as the electrolyzer, pumps and the first refined wire.

The jungles are the heat source on this map. Wall them off early and route your industry toward the tundra side, where cold rock and any AETN you find can absorb the heat.

Metal Rich, Trapped Oil, Mixed Boulders and Magma Channels. With Metal Rich this seed holds about 4,300 tonnes of Iron Ore and 4,400 tonnes of Rust, very unlike a normal Arboria.

The Water Geyser at (38, 156) is 67 cells to the left of the Printing Pod and gives 2.5 kg/s: tame it early. Three Hot Polluted Oxygen Vent vents sit within 71 cells, so polluted oxygen will reach the base if you leave paths open.

Three Copper Volcano rolls make copper a non-issue later; the closest is 88 cells to the right at (188, 193).

Large Boulders, Subsurface Ocean, Alternate Pod Location and Metal Rich. The pod sits at the far left at (24, 253), with a Salt Water Geyser 44 cells above it and a Cool Steam Vent 56 cells to the right at (77, 236).

Everything else is far: the next vents are more than 110 cells away. Build a compact base between the two water sources before expanding across the map.

Geodes, Metal Rich, Slime Molds and Frozen Core.

This is the water-friendly Arboria of the three. A Salt Water Geyser sits 62 cells to the right at (187, 215) and a Cool Slush Geyser 70 cells to the left at (59, 183); a Cool Steam Vent and a second Salt Water Geyser follow on the right side within 90 cells.

Frozen Core leaves about 5,500 tonnes of Ice on the map. Power is farther away: the closest Natural Gas Geyser is 87 cells down at (171, 124).

The Spaced Out! Arboria Cluster is also rated Moderate. Its teleporter target, the Radioactive Terra Asteroid, has the sandstone, metal and uranium the forest start lacks. Read the Radioactive Terra Asteroid guide before the first teleport.

Arboria's mid game is a wood and ethanol economy: Arbor Trees on polluted water, ethanol for Petroleum Generator power, and polluted dirt back into the farms. Metal comes from patient exploration, metal volcanoes and, in Spaced Out!, from the neighbouring asteroids. Plan rockets or the teleporter as your metal supply rather than mining the start out.