TerraBite Contamination Guide: Tile Pollution & Recovery

Contamination is TerraBite's per-tile ecological damage score — visible on every revealed sector from 0 to 100 in the tile inspector. Some buildings add pollution over time; others reduce it. Terrain types spawn with different baseline contamination. This guide explains how contamination works and how to recover sectors in Phase 1 prototype.

Read the Biomass guide for Bio-Reclaimer details and play TerraBite with the tile inspector expanded on a toxic sector.

What contamination measures

Each sector tracks an independent contamination value from 0 to 100. The tile inspector displays this on revealed tiles — hidden and scannable sectors do not show values until scanned.

Contamination is not a game-over meter in the current build — it is a local ecological state that signals damage and responds to building effects. High contamination tiles still accept most buildings; the strategic cost is visual recovery progress and long-term restoration planning.

Scanning reveals baseline contamination set by terrain generation — it does not add or remove pollution by itself.

Baseline contamination by terrain

Each terrain type spawns with a characteristic base level when the world generates:

Toxic Sectors and Industrial Ruins start hot — prioritize them for Bio-Reclaimers when you want visible recovery. Rock and forest tiles need less urgent cleanup unless polluting buildings stack on them.

Buildings that add contamination

Operational buildings with positive contaminationEffect raise local pollution every simulation second:

Salvage Station — +2/s

The strongest polluter among standard producers. High Materials output trades against local ecology. Place on sectors you accept as industrial sacrifice zones, or pair with immediate cleanup plans.

Water Extractor — +1/s

Moderate pollution for aquifer access. Common on wetlands that already carry base 30 contamination — extractors push sectors hotter without Bio-Reclaimer support.

Geothermal Tap — minor positive rate

Research-gated Energy producer on rock. Adds a small positive contamination rate (0.005/s at level 1 config values) — lower than Salvage but nonzero. Weigh against Solar Arrays on the same tile budget.

Positive contamination stacks over time while the building operates, capped at 100 per tile.

Buildings that reduce contamination

Bio-Reclaimer — −0.5/s on own tile

The primary direct cleanup tool. Produces Biomass while lowering contamination on the same sector. Soil Recovery research (220 Data) adds +25% to reduction rate.

One Bio-Reclaimer on a Toxic Sector at 80 contamination needs roughly 160 seconds at base reduction to reach 0 — longer with concurrent polluters on the same tile.

Eco Seeder — adjacent reduction

Research-gated structure (Ecological Seeding, 400 Data). Reduces contamination on adjacent revealed sectors over time — not primarily its own tile. Consumes Energy and Water while operating.

Use Eco Seeders to heal perimeters around cleaned cores — ring contaminated frontiers with seeders after Bio-Reclaimers stabilize hotspots.

Requires 10 Biomass per build — see Biomass guide.

Neutral buildings

These do not directly change tile contamination rates:

Solar Array, Data Relay, Battery Node, Material Depot, Water Reservoir

They still enable economies that fund cleanup — neutral contamination does not mean ecologically free in narrative terms, but mechanically they do not tick pollution up or down.

Reading contamination in the inspector

Select a revealed tile and expand the tile inspector:

• Summary line shows contamination percentage collapsed
• CONTAMINATION section shows full value when expanded
• Values update live as simulation runs (one-second ticks)

Compare before and after placing polluters or reclaimers to verify net direction. If contamination rises despite a Bio-Reclaimer, a stronger polluter on the same tile may be winning the net battle.

Cleanup strategy checklist

For a sector you want healed:

1. Scan the tile — confirm starting contamination and terrain. 2. Pause polluters on that tile — remove Salvage/Extractor plans from high-priority heal targets. 3. Place Bio-Reclaimer — ensure Water and Energy supply first. 4. Monitor inspector — confirm contamination trends downward. 5. Add Eco Seeders adjacent after research unlock for area recovery. 6. Upgrade reclaimers and complete Soil Recovery research for faster cleanup.

Contamination vs expansion trade-offs

Restoration games often force production vs ecology choices — see environmental trade-offs in strategy games and games with pollution mechanics.

TerraBite's trade-off is local and readable:

• Rush Salvage Stations → fast Materials, rising contamination
• Rush Bio-Reclaimers → slower Materials, falling contamination, Biomass income
• Balance both on different sectors — dirty industrial ring around a clean core

Do not place Salvage (+2/s) and expect one Bio-Reclaimer (−0.5/s) on the same tile to net clean — the polluter wins 4:1 at base rates.

Map-wide restoration pacing

The map spans 21×21 sectors. Full-map decontamination is a long-term project across multiple sessions — autosave every 30 seconds in localStorage preserves progress, but there is no cloud sync in Phase 1 prototype.

Prioritize sectors near your building core first — visible recovery reinforces economy loops. Push Eco Seeder rings outward as Bio-Reclaimers stabilize inner tiles.

Contamination and deposits

High contamination does not block deposit extraction — Salvage Stations work on Toxic Sectors with materials deposits. The cost is rising pollution while you extract. Sometimes accepting contamination debt for Materials income is correct — pay it down elsewhere with reclaimers.

What contamination does not do

Current build limitations worth noting:

• No automatic game loss at contamination 100
• No multiplayer shared pollution
• No global atmosphere meter separate from per-tile values
• No narrative lockouts tied to contamination thresholds

Focus contamination guidance on building placement and restoration pacing, not hidden story triggers.

Related guides

• Buildings guide — full contamination column for all structures
• Water guide — extractor pollution trade-off
• Materials guide — salvage pollution trade-off
• Exploration guide — revealing contamination before building
• restoration game loop — design context

Return to the Guides hub or play TerraBite and track contamination falling sector by sector.