Do machines work underwater in Planet Crafter?

Landing on a distant, desolate planet, it’s up to you to terraform and revive the dust bowl into a vibrant home for animals and vegetation. However, The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and you might find your initial base submerged as the planet comes to life. So, the question stands, will your hard earned machines work underwater in The Planet Crafter?

Will machines function underwater in Planet Crafter?

Nope, once they get submerged, all your machines are out of action. You may notice it as your early power suppliers, such as solar panels and wind turbines, go offline. All of a sudden, you’re low on power, and you can’t figure out why.

I noticed my heat levels stagnating drastically as the water rose. This made me realise that, in fact, machines do not work underwater in Planet Crafter.

How to avoid losing machines in Planet Crafter

The first thing you should do is make sure you build your first base high up on a plateau. There is a fantastic one just north of the starting area, full of resources and high enough to avoid being submerged. However, I am pretty sure everyone is going to make the mistake of building on low ground initially. I certainly did.

Stage a rescue mission. Empty your whole pack and swim down to the wreckage of your underwater machines in The Planet Crafter. This may take a few trips, but getting the resources back is guaranteed, and you can always replace them. It’ll take a while, but abandoning your base is wasteful. The Planet Crafter returns all resources used when you dismantle machines.

I found building multiple bases around the Planet Crafter map helped me negate the possibility of losing them and the machines. The bases don’t have to be huge but more like outposts to store materials and craft the necessary items. Just make sure they’re all above the waterline. You can kind of tell where it is by the plateaus and other landscape clues.

Make sure you grab all the golden chests before they’re submerged. It’s much easier to see them when they’re above water.