A game of The Planet Crafter starts out simple, with players building a few heaters and vegetubes inside a cramped base with a few drills and wind turbines outside. Much later in the game, players will have sprawling bases, heaters and drills the size of buildings, and automated systems that do all the material gathering for them.

One of the materials that makes this happen is the circuit board. This late-game material can be salvaged from shipwrecks, and eventually players of The Planet Crafter can craft them independently. However, it can take some effort to get all the necessary items.

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Circuit Board Requirements and Materials

Planet Crafter Gas Extractor T2

The first thing players will need if they want to craft a circuit board is a Terraformation Index score of 160 GTi. This is a very high number to reach, and it's very close to the pulsar quartz requirement of 175 GTi.

Fortunately, players can get their hands on circuit boards much earlier in the game. The deconstruction microchip T2 is unlocked by a blueprint microchip, and it lets players demolish technical debris to get free circuit boards. However, the supply of technical debris on the map is limited, and players may eventually run out.

To build their own circuit boards, players who have unlocked the recipe can build them at an Advanced Craft Station for one silicon, one iron, one aluminum, one bioplastic nugget, one zeolite, and one nitrogen. The nitrogen can be especially hard to find, but players can get some from Gas Extractors once they've reached the Breathable Atmosphere milestone.

Where to Use Circuit Boards

Planet Crafter Drone Station

Circuit boards are a part of a wide variety of late-game recipes. In particular, players will need three circuit boards to build a Drone Station and then one more board for each drone they want to craft. Drones can help automate the material collection process, so getting a pile of drones is well worth the effort of salvaging and constructing a pile of circuit boards.

Both the Aquarium T1 and T2 also need a circuit board each, and these machines are necessary for starting to build up the "Animals" category of biomass. Players will also need a circuit board to build the Gas Extractor T2, which allows players to choose which gas they want to extract. Then there are two rockets, the GPS Satellite T4 and the Drones Visualization Rocket, that use the boards. The developers may add even more items that need circuit boards in future updates, and so players should consider crafting a supply of them even after they've built up a fleet of drones.

The Planet Crafter is available now in early access on PC.

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