Terraforming in Beyond These Stars changes Kewa’s biome and creates usable settlement space. The Landscaper lowers or raises ground with Debris, channels water, spreads Compost to turn bare tiles into dirt, and plants Saplings that become Forest. The goal is not merely flat land: fertile, watered, breathable territory improves Kewa’s health and supports Peeps, agriculture, and expansion.
Start with the Landscaper and Debris
The Landscaper is the first main terraforming building. Its workers create Debris when digging and consume stored Debris when building ground upward. Lowering and raising therefore form a material loop. Before issuing a large dig, leave storage or a planned fill job so the Landscaper does not fill and stop.
Create a job at the desired height, then select it again to add nearby tiles to the same batch. Batching helps workers finish a coherent channel or platform together. Small test batches are safer near roads, buildings, and water because they reveal the chosen level before a whole district changes.
Do not cover active routes or resource caches. Landscaping can be blocked by objects, and redesign debris must be moved into valid storage before the tile becomes usable.
Channel water deliberately
Watered land is one half of fertility and keeps Forest atmospheric coverage active. When workers dig beside flooded tiles, a temporary barrier holds water back. Complete the channel job to release the water. Batch connected tiles at the intended depth so the flow opens across the planned route instead of one awkward pocket at a time.
Lower land
Produces Debris and can open a water route; maintain output storage or a fill project.
Raise land
Consumes Debris to make platforms, crossings, or usable contours.
Add Compost
Turns bare tiles into dirt so watered ground becomes fertile for agriculture and Forest.
Plant Forest
Consumes Saplings and, when watered, expands breathable atmosphere and helps suppress pollution.
Preserve important natural water features until you know the result. The official guidance notes that underwater tiles cannot be composted and that decorative lily pads, cattails, or grasses removed by height changes cannot be replaced.
Make fertile ground with Compost
The Compost Heap supplies Compost to Landscaper jobs. Early Compost depends on Wood Waste, so Woodcutter output and by-product storage are part of the terraforming chain. Compost is time-consuming and can create pressure elsewhere in storage; expand in measured blocks rather than painting every visible tile.
Compost dry bare land only after you have a water plan, or it becomes dirt without becoming fertile. Conversely, flooding bare ground does not supply the dirt condition. The useful sequence is determined by access and material buffers, but both conditions must meet.
Keep farming footprints and roads in mind. Fertile tiles are valuable, yet an agriculture building still needs access and workers. Reserve enough room for fields, pumps, storage, and housing rather than maximizing a raw fertility count in a disconnected corner.
Plant Forest for atmosphere and defense
The Tree Nursery produces Saplings. Landscaper workers plant them into Forest, and watered Forest projects breathable atmosphere four tiles around itself according to the current official biome reference. Reviving a dead Forest by bringing water to it can be an efficient first expansion; planting a new Forest near the breathable edge extends the frontier.
Forests also reduce nearby pollution, making them valuable around early industrial sources. They can block unprotected Power Lines, however, so route lines along roads and preserve access corridors before planting.
A healthy biome depends on fertile tiles, flooded tiles, and enough Forest to cover playable land with atmosphere. This is why terrain work supports Kewa directly rather than serving only city geometry.
Troubleshoot a stalled project
If workers stop:
- Check that the Landscaper has an eligible worker, road access, and the job is reachable.
- For digging, clear Debris output; for raising, supply Debris input.
- For composting, supply Compost and confirm the tile is not underwater.
- For planting, supply Saplings and verify the terrain can support the task.
- Check that another footprint, cache, toxic tile, or route blockage is not covering the job.
- Reduce the batch and complete one connected section before expanding it.
Use the Pollution Guide to place Forest defensively, the By-Products Guide to protect Compost supply, and Kewa Health and Happiness to read the biome’s wider effect.
References checked for this route
- Official Terraforming page for Landscaper, Debris, batching, waterways, Compost, Saplings, and Forest jobs.
- Official Biome page for fertility conditions, atmosphere range, health, and breathable expansion.
- Official Pollution page for Forest mitigation and cleanup context.
- Official Power Line page for Forest blockers and road-based routing.