Biome

Each planet is made up of a combination of Biomes, that each have their own appearance, from soil color and hardness, flora, and resources. Biomes can overlap to create unique terrain for the player to explore.


 * Purple Forests: Sylva's Purple Forests scatter the surface of the planet, marked with hills of blue and purple Soil and tall conifer-shaped trees. They are also a good source for early Ammonium. Research Items are green or blue organic leafy galls found in forked trees.


 * Grey Plains: Desolo is covered in these flat plains that are situated above the craters, the soil is grey as the name suggests, and there are occasional spikes and rocks dotting the landscape. There are generally Compound and Resin and rarely Ammonium deposits located near to or next to the small craters, but apart from this there are very few other resources.This is the arguably the best biome to set up solar power, as there are no crater walls to obstruct the sun at certain angles, which is important as Desolo has an extremely short Day-Night cycle. The Apollo Lunar Module is also commonly found in this biome. Research Items are blue-on-purple mineral crystals atop rock columns.


 * The Great Desert: The Great Desert is the largest biome on Calidor, and is the best place to find Resin, and Compound. It has a light orange soil, similar to Earth's desert sand. There are many cacti and other desert plants scattered about, with many dunes that vary in height and shape. This is the best biome to build a rover in, as the land is smother than any other biome. The only disadvantages to building a base here are that there are a few Hazardous Flora living in this biome, (such as the one in the foreground of the second picture) and that the mesa's sometimes obstruct the sun at certain angles, blocking off the best power source. Research Items are purple-on-brown organic crystals or orange organic melons in cactuslike cradles.


 * Bubble Tree Forest: This forest is known for it's interesting trees that look vaguely like the blue colored trees that used to be found exclusively underground before patch 1.0, and appear to have a fruit resembling bubbles. There is also a flora that appears to be a variant of this plant found much more rarely in this biome, which has a thinner stem, is a bit smaller, and has the same fruit, which has a curious flashing pattern when it falls. The soil is a deep fuchsia color, with some darker shades of purple mixed in (very rarely orange soil forms as well on the absolute highest terrain). This forest has a decent amount of underbrush, but not as much as the asparagus forest, being a more open type of forest. It is almost always located on the highest elevated land on the planet, and as such is relatively rare. This is also the biome that the probe scanner will direct you to on this planet. Research Items are purple organic onions atop bubble-tree snags.


 * The Great Polka-Dot Craters: These large craters are fairly rare on Novus' surface, and generally contain a decent amount of resources such as Resin and Compound. It's soil is primarily colored light pink, and because of their circular shape can look like large pink polka dots from a great height or orbit. At least one Gateway Chamber is generally located in this biome, due to it being pretty flat overall. Research Items are pink-on-gray mineral crystals atop rock columns.


 * Tundra: Broad plains of snow, broken into a jigsaw of very flat areas separated by stair-step minor elevation changes, with occasional giant ramps leading to cliffs. Features large amounts of wreckage and deposits of Hematite, and ammonium, but few other resources. Clusters of Volatile Cataplants and on foot, Boomalloons make some areas dangerous. Bases here should be dug into the ground or cliffs to avoid the constant howl of wind. Large wrecks can often be found here, which often contain Titanium alloy and Steel, meaning that with enough exploration you should have a pretty easy time getting one or two Nanocarbon alloys by combining these two substances with helium (found on Atrox). Research Items are black-and-white or blue-and-white mineral rocks.


 * Toxic Canyons: Steep-walled lowlands with hard yellowish soil, forested with funguslike trees with bulbous rootballs and tall glowing-green stalks. This biome is very smooth making it easy to explore with small rovers. The main hazards here are clusters of Daggerroots, which are easy to spot due to their white coloration. Resin and Compound can be found here, but there is little Organic cover. Research Items are yellow mineral cubes atop glowing lumpy plants on the surrounding cliffs. Sturdysquash are found down here during autumn, which were used for the EXO Biofuel Obtainment Operation and EXO F.A.R.M. events.

Outer Space
The Great Void: This biome is only accessible with a rover equipped with thrusters, although shuttles can also technically pass through it on the way to other planets. It has no malleable terrain to speak of, although certain structures such as the unidentified satellite can be found here and interacted with. The sun and the orbital space station (seen on the main menu) can also be found here, though neither are physical objects. Stepping out of the vehicle while it is traveling to another planet/object is ill advised, as you will most likely remain in the same position you start in, (the jetpack will not work in this biome) and you will be forced to respawn at the starting shelter. It is assumed that certain Flora spread through this biome to other planets, based on the fact that many hazardous Flora can be found on multiple planets. It is highly likely that this biome is located within a star cluster, due to the massive amount of visible stars in the system.