TerraBite Materials Guide: Salvage, Depots & Expansion Costs

Materials pay for every structure in TerraBite — placement costs, upgrades, and the steady drain of expansion across a large map. You start with a modest stockpile that runs out fast if you build blindly. This guide covers extraction, passive production, deposit requirements, and budgeting for Phase 1 prototype.

Pair this with the Resources overview and play TerraBite while scanning ruin sectors for material deposits.

Starting Materials

New worlds begin with 40 Materials. That funds two early structures with change — for example, a Solar Array (15 Materials) plus a Water Extractor (18 Materials) leaves 7 Materials, which is tight for further expansion.

Every building in the current roster costs Materials to place. Upgrade tiers add additional Material costs per level. Treat 40 as roughly two to three placements, then you need income.

Materials production sources

Salvage Station — high yield, high cost

• Build cost: 20 Materials, 15 Energy
• Production: 0.5 Materials/s (30/min at level 1)
• Consumption: 0.15 Energy/s
• Valid terrain: Industrial Ruins, Barren Wasteland, Toxic Sector
• Requires: ruins terrain and materials deposit on tile
• Contamination: adds +2/s on tile

Salvage Stations are the fastest Material producer when placed correctly. They demand Industrial Ruins (or compatible terrain with ruins flag) plus a materials deposit revealed by scanning. Scan messages may show "MATERIAL RESERVES DETECTED" when a deposit is present.

The +2 contamination per second is the highest positive contamination rate among standard producers. Salvage on toxic sectors compounds existing pollution — budget Bio-Reclaimers or accept contamination debt while rushing Materials.

Material Depot — passive fallback

• Build cost: 35 Materials, 20 Energy
• Production: 0.2 Materials/s (12/min at level 1)
• Consumption: 0.1 Energy/s
• Valid terrain: Barren Wasteland, Industrial Ruins, Exposed Bedrock
• Requires: no deposit
• Contamination: neutral

Material Depots trade higher upfront cost for flexibility — any valid terrain without deposit requirements. Output is slower than Salvage Stations but cleaner ecologically. Useful on rock or wasteland sectors where ruins deposits are absent.

Deposit discovery workflow

Materials deposits appear on scannable/revealed tiles, often on Industrial Ruins. Workflow:

1. Scan outward from your revealed center until you hit ruins terrain. 2. Read the tile inspector deposit section after reveal. 3. Confirm materials deposit type before placing Salvage Station. 4. If no deposit appears, keep scanning — do not force Salvage on incompatible tiles.

Deposit Analysis research (180 Data) adds quality labels to deposit readouts, helping you pick the best salvage site before committing build costs.

Materials spending map

Every building costs Materials. Common early placements:

Mid-game bases with ten or more structures have spent 200+ Materials cumulative. Without Salvage or Depot income, you stall. Plan production before your starting 40 runs dry.

Expansion budgeting checklist

Before each build spree, run through:

1. Current stockpile — click Materials in the resource bar. 2. Net rate — positive means safe expansion; negative means pause builds. 3. Next scan targets — ruins sectors for deposits beat random wasteland scans for Material strategy. 4. Contamination budget — each Salvage Station adds +2/s locally; can you clean or tolerate? 5. Energy headroom — Salvage consumes 0.15 Energy/s; add Solar Arrays before Salvage sprawl.

Salvage vs Material Depot decision

Choose Salvage Station when:

• You have revealed ruins with materials deposit
• You need Materials quickly for multi-building push
• You can manage +2 contamination on that tile

Choose Material Depot when:

• No materials deposit is available yet
• You want neutral contamination on rock/wasteland
• You can afford the 35 Material upfront for slower steady income

Many maps run one Salvage on the best deposit plus one Depot elsewhere for baseline income.

Materials and other resources

Materials production consumes Energy (Salvage, Depot). Materials placement often also costs Energy and sometimes Water (Bio-Reclaimer, Water Reservoir, Eco Seeder). The economy is interconnected — see Energy guide and Water guide.

Data is not spent on buildings directly but unlocks research that improves Material efficiency indirectly (solar bonuses free Energy for Salvage consumption).

Contamination trade-off

Salvage Stations are powerful but dirty. On a tile at contamination 55 (typical Industrial Ruins base), +2/s reaches high thresholds quickly. The tile inspector shows contamination 0–100; watch it after placing Salvage.

Bio-Reclaimers reduce contamination −0.5/s on their own tile — they do not offset a Salvage Station alone. Plan cleanup structures or place Salvage on sectors you deprioritize for healing.

Full contamination strategy: Contamination guide.

Map scale and Materials pacing

The map is 21×21 sectors. Covering it with useful buildings requires sustained Material income over hours of play (with autosave every 30 seconds). Rush-scanning without Material production leaves you map-aware but build-poor — a common beginner trap described in the Beginner guide.

For scarcity design in similar games, see browser resource management games.

Version notes

Phase 1 prototype has no Material trading, shipping, or shared warehouses beyond the global pool. Single-player localStorage saves only. Full building economics: Buildings guide.

Return to the Guides hub or play TerraBite and secure a salvage site before your starting 40 Materials disappear.