TerraBite Energy Guide: Production, Caps & Scan Budget

Energy is TerraBite's action currency. It powers sector scans, pays building placement costs, and feeds structures that consume power during operation. Unlike Water or Materials, Energy also has a hard storage cap — production above the cap is lost. This guide covers production, limits, and spending priorities for Phase 1 prototype.

Open the Resources overview for cross-resource context, or play TerraBite and watch the Energy line in your resource bar while reading.

Starting Energy and the cap problem

New worlds begin with 100 Energy — and that same number is your maximum storage. Your first Solar Array can fill the bar within minutes. Any Energy generated while you sit at cap is wasted unless you spend it on scans, construction, or raise the cap.

This is intentional design: Energy forces active decisions between exploring (scans), building (upfront costs), and banking (Battery Nodes). Players who ignore the cap feel "stuck" with full Energy and no progress — usually because they stopped scanning or building.

How Energy is spent

Scanning

Each sector scan costs 10 Energy at base rate. Research can reduce this:

• Efficient Scanning (100 Data, Network branch) — 10% scan cost reduction
• Multiple reductions stack through the research bonus system; minimum scan cost floors at 1 Energy

Scanning is the largest discretionary Energy sink early game. Four scans at base cost equal 40 Energy — nearly half your starting pool. Budget accordingly. See the Exploration guide for scan sequencing.

Building placement

Many structures require Energy in their build cost:

• Solar Array — 10 Energy (+ 15 Materials)
• Salvage Station — 15 Energy (+ 20 Materials)
• Water Extractor — 12 Energy (+ 18 Materials)
• Bio-Reclaimer — 20 Energy (+ 25 Materials, 10 Water)
• Data Relay — 18 Energy (+ 22 Materials)
• Battery Node — 25 Energy (+ 30 Materials)

Energy spent on placement is immediate — it does not return. Plan builds when your bar is above the cost threshold, not when you are at cap wasting passive income.

Ongoing consumption

Operational buildings drain Energy per second:

Net Energy equals production minus all consumers. A single Solar Array (0.8/s base) supports roughly four light consumers or one heavy Bio-Reclaimer with margin — add arrays as your base grows.

Energy production sources

Solar Array — early backbone

• Build cost: 15 Materials, 10 Energy
• Production: 0.8 Energy/s (48/min at level 1)
• Terrain: Barren Wasteland, Exposed Bedrock, Industrial Ruins
• Contamination: neutral

Solar Arrays are your first and most reliable producer. They scale with building level upgrades and benefit from Efficient Photovoltaics research (+20% solar production). Place them on safe tiles you control long-term — they have no deposit requirement.

Geothermal Tap — research-gated power

• Build cost: 45 Materials, 35 Energy
• Production: 0.2 Energy/s (12/min at level 1)
• Terrain: Exposed Bedrock only
• Requires research: Geothermal Analysis (350 Data, after High Density Cells)
• Contamination: adds a minor positive rate on tile

Geothermal Taps trade ecological cleanliness for steady rock-tile power. Useful when your map has large bedrock sectors away from wetlands. Weigh contamination cost against Solar sprawl. Details in the Buildings guide.

Raising your Energy cap

Battery Node

• Build cost: 30 Materials, 25 Energy
• Effect: +50 maximum Energy storage per node
• Terrain: Barren Wasteland, Exposed Bedrock, Industrial Ruins
• Production: none

Battery Nodes do not generate Energy — they only expand the tank. Build them when:

1. Solar Arrays frequently hit cap 2. You plan a large scan push (multiple tiles at 10 each) 3. You want buffer for expensive build costs (Bio-Reclaimer, Eco Seeder)

High Density Cells research

High Density Cells (180 Data, requires Efficient Photovoltaics) adds a 30% bonus to battery capacity. Combined with Battery Nodes, this significantly extends scan campaigns and construction bursts.

Practical Energy budgeting

Early game (0–15 minutes)

1. Build one Solar Array immediately after your first scan or two. 2. Keep at least 30 Energy unspent for three scans before capping out. 3. Do not build Battery Nodes until Solar Arrays regularly waste output at cap. 4. Avoid placing Salvage Stations and Data Relays until you have two Solar Arrays or accept slower net gain.

Mid game

1. Add Battery Nodes before research-heavy scan pushes. 2. Unlock Efficient Photovoltaics before mass Solar expansion — the 20% bonus pays back Data cost quickly. 3. Track net rate in the resource bar. Negative net Energy with low cap means pause expansion or add production.

Scan vs build trade-off

If Energy is at cap and you have scannable tiles, scan. Idle capped Energy is lost income. If no scannable tiles remain in range, build production or storage. If neither applies, consider saving for research-unlocked options — but capped waste still hurts.

Energy and other resources

Energy interacts with every other resource:

• Water extraction consumes Energy — dry maps need more Solar before Water Extractors.
• Materials production via Salvage consumes Energy — high material income can drain power.
• Data Relays consume Energy — research fuel is not free.
• Biomass via Bio-Reclaimers is Energy-intensive — budget as restoration, not free production.

The Water and Materials guides cover those chains. For management-game context, see browser resource management games.

What Energy does not do

Energy cannot be traded, shared, or transferred between tiles. There is no power grid distance limit in Phase 1 prototype — any operational Solar Array contributes globally to your pool. Multiplayer and cloud saves are not in this build; Energy totals are local to your browser save.

Return to the Guides hub or continue in TerraBite with a cap-aware opening.