Beyond These Stars Technology Tree Guide

The Beyond These Stars technology tree unlocks most buildings by having the settlement construct and successfully use earlier buildings. It is a production-driven tree rather than a single pool of abstract research points. When a node remains locked, select it and follow the highlighted prerequisite line to the building or output that has not completed its condition.

Understand the starting nodes

Every settlement begins with Hut, Potato Patch, Water Pump, and Woodcutter available. These establish housing, provisions, and the first construction resource. Subsequent nodes branch into accommodation, agriculture, construction, power, transport, terraforming, Peep resources, hazardous work, advanced buildings, decoration, and pathing.

The tree displays those families in colored columns, but a prerequisite often crosses from one column to another. A transport unlock can depend on advanced production; a terraforming unlock can depend on a construction chain. Do not read the columns as nine independent ladders.

Clicking a locked node highlights the line coming from its prerequisite and may also reveal what follows it. Use that visual path before building a random duplicate.

Complete the prerequisite, not just the building

The official example is the Compost Heap. The Landscaper must first be unlocked and constructed. The Tree Nursery then requires the Compost Heap to be built and to produce an initial quantity of Compost. This shows three possible gate types: access to a predecessor, successful construction, and successful output.

If a node shows progress but does not finish, inspect the predecessor’s live task. A full Soot or Slag output, missing power, absent worker, or paused upstream factory can stop an unlock indefinitely.

Choose a route that solves a current need

The tree is not a checklist that must be cleared left to right. Follow the branch that resolves the settlement’s limiting system. Construction nodes open stronger materials; power supports advanced production; transport enables storage and planet routes; terraforming expands fertile, breathable space; accommodation and Peep-resource nodes protect the workforce.

Before pursuing a node, identify its support cost. A new powered factory may also need a generator, Power Lines, housing within 16 tiles, input storage, by-product storage, and pollution control. Unlocking it does not make that infrastructure free.

Keep survival chains above speculative progress. If homes lack drink or Energy is falling, pause the technology push. A stable settlement completes unlock tasks faster than one whose workers are sick or on strike.

Avoid unlock deadlocks

Power is a common circular problem. Advanced generators can require inputs made by powered factories. Preserve an early open-loop Burner Generator and enough fuel/output room to start the grid. By-products create another loop: the prerequisite producer stops when its secondary output is full, so the node waiting for its main product never advances.

Construction can also appear frozen because most time is spent gathering resources. Select the footprint and trace the missing item to its producer. Check that the producer is not paused and that the resource has a valid route.

For planet-dependent resources, verify the current story has revealed an appropriate world and that Space Port shipping is configured. Do not assume a locked late node can be solved entirely on Kewa.

A clean progression routine

For each target unlock:

1. Select the node and name its immediate prerequisite.
2. List construction resources and any required supporting power or transport.
3. Place the building within work range and complete it.
4. Supply the exact task while reserving output and by-product capacity.
5. Watch the task finish, then reopen the tree and follow the next highlighted line.
6. Stabilize the new chain before starting another branch.

This creates a readable sequence and prevents half-built factories from consuming every worker. For line-level failures see Production Chains; for electricity gates see Power Grid and Lines.

References checked for this route

• Official Technology tree page for starting buildings, prerequisite behavior, columns, highlighting, and the Compost Heap/Tree Nursery example.
• Official Buildings page for construction, power, roads, building families, and listed prerequisites.
• Official Power page for advanced-generation dependency risks.
• Official Resources page for multi-output production and by-product constraints.