Soter Wiki

Join our discord by clicking here.

A Planet in Crisis
You are Soter, a living, sentient planet. For eons, you have worked to create life on your surface. You filled your oceans with plants and animals. Life spread to land, growing and changing, until one developed sentience, and the beginnings of civilization. They grew in power and sophistication, creating great cities and wondrous technologies. You were satisfied that there was nothing left for you to do -- that these people would continue your work -- and so you withdrew into yourself and slept.

One day, an astronomer discovered a grave threat. A rogue asteroid was approaching -- a ball of rock and metal large enough to wipe all life from the surface of the planet. Everyone worked tirelessly on ways to deflect or destroy the asteroid before it could strike you.

They failed.

The asteroid crashed into you, and, in a matter of moments, life was virtually erased from your surface. The impact woke you, of course, and you have done your best clean the skies and seas. The only good news is that a single underground shelter endured:  500 of the best and brightest of your people. You must now protect and nurture this small band of survivors as they rebuild. It will not be easy. The global climate is now extremely unstable. To make matters worse, a series of smaller asteroids is approaching -- not as large as the first, but enough to extinguish the last desperate survivors.

Your objective is to endure the asteroid bombardment with as many living people as possible. You will fail if the people are all wiped out, or if the coral reefs -- the source of your power -- are destroyed. Best of luck, Soter.

The Map and Information Panel
To move the map around, use the WASD keys. Soter's surviving land surface is in the middle of the map, and weather fronts can be found in the east and west.

At the top of the screen, you will see an information panel that shows the state of the planet at a glance.


 * Pollution +:  This shows the speed at which CO2 and other greenhouse gases are being added to the atmosphere.
 * Temp Gauge:  This shows you the current global temperature and whether it is trending hotter or cooler.
 * Pollution -:  This shows the speed at which plants are removing CO2 from the atmosphere.
 * Pressure:  This shows the speed at which geological pressure is changing.  If the dots are moving to the right, pressure is increasing; if they are moving to the left, pressure is decreasing.  You can also see the current percentage.
 * Weather:  This toggles the map to display temperatures instead of terrain.
 * Tectonics:  This toggles the appearance of fault lines on the map.
 * Volcano Toggles:  With these two icons, you can cause all volcanoes on the map to become active or dormant with a single click.
 * Population:  The total population of Soter.  If this hits 0, the game ends.
 * Logistics:  The global sum of your cities' investment into logistics.
 * Coral:  You start with 15 units of coral.  If this hits 0, the game ends.
 * Water Pollution:  The biohazard symbol shows how polluted your water has become.  It starts at 50%, and will change depending on your actions.  If water pollution reaches 100%, you will lose a unit of coral, and pollution will drop back to 50%.
 * Features:  Any global bonuses or penalties will appear here as icons.  Mouse over the icons to see exactly what they represent.

To the right of the information panel, you can see how many cycles have been completed. You will also see a panel with a bar, gear, and question mark.

Cycle:  A cycle is a unit of time. It is represented by the sun icon completing a full journey around Soter. If you survive the full 25 cycles, congratulations! The game ends, and you receive a score based on your total population.

Speed toggle:  To increase game speed, left-click on the bar. To lower it, right-click. You can pause the game using this method.

Options:  Click on the gear icon to open the options menu. This will pause the game and let you quit the game, go to full screen, or adjust the volume of music and sound effects.

Help:  Click on the question mark to open this wiki.

Planetary Intervention
Double-clicking anywhere on the map will cause the nearest active volcano to send a ball of lava to that location. The effects vary depending on what the lava strikes.


 * Throwing lava at a flat land surface will create a mountain
 * Throwing lava at a mountain will create a flat land surface
 * Throwing lava into shallow water will allow you to create the elements of life, at the cost of increasing water pollution
 * Quickly throwing two balls of lava at the same shallow water location will create a flat land surface.
 * Throwing lava into deep water will increase water pollution without providing any benefit.

Remember, at least one volcano must be active to produce lava.

Shockwaves
Regardless of where it strikes, throwing lava will produce a small shockwave around the point of impact, as well a slight increase in temperature. An asteroid strike causes a huge shockwave and will scorch land in a large radius.


 * A city hit by a shockwave will be damaged.  If the city has not been reinforced, or if the reinforcement fails, the shockwave will reduce the city's population and infrastructure.
 * Any animal hit by a shockwave will die.
 * If a shockwave travels from water to land, it will cause the land squares to be flooded.
 * If a shockwave hits a mountain, it is blocked.

Terrain and Moisture Levels
All terrain has a moisture level that slowly decreases over time. High temperatures will cause moisture to decrease more quickly, while clouds will provide moisture. In order to support plant life, a flat land square must avoid becoming too dry (which makes it a desert), or too wet (which floods it). Extremely high temperatures, when combined with zero moisture, can cause terrain to become scorched and permanently unable to support life. Extremely low temperatures will cause terrain to freeze. Frozen terrain cannot support life, but can recover with warmer temperatures.

Active volcanoes generate a lot of heat in a small radius. To toggle between active and dormant states, left-click on the volcano.

Geology and Climate
With your surface badly damaged by the first asteroid, your geological pressure is unstable. You will need to manage it carefully in order to be successful.

Geological pressure depends on the terrain. Mountains increase geological pressure (especially when located on a fault line), while active volcanoes reduce it. When geological pressure is above 40%, active volcanoes will emit air pollution, which will increase your temperature. If the pressure stays below 40% for too long, your temperature may become dangerously low. If the pressure reaches 100%, a volcano will emerge somewhere along a fault line and pressure will drop to 50%. (Volcanoes emerging underneath or near cities will, of course, destroy the city entirely).

To survive, you will need to keep the climate from becoming too hot or too cold. If you overheat, your terrain will lose rapidly lose moisture. Devastating tropical storms will also form. These storms move quickly, and will damage or destroy any cities or animals they pass over. On the other hand, if the temperature drops too low, the surface will begin to freeze up. When land or water freezes, any animal or planet on that square will die. At either extreme, people in the cities will begin to die off.

At the edge of both sides of the map, you will find a large arrow. An arrow represents a weather front. Left-click and hold to change the direction that the arrow is pointing; right-click and drag to move the arrow. Weather fronts will periodically spawn clouds, which will bring moisture and cooler temperatures to the squares that they pass over. If a cloud encounters a mountain, it will be slightly diverted:  north if the mountaintop is white, and south if it is not (right-click a mountain to toggle between the two states).

Note that a weather front must be located far away from land. Clouds need to pass over a decent amount of water in order to work.

Finally, we have the sun. The sun icon will travel slowly across the map. It shows where the sun's energy is strongest, and so local temperatures will increase when the sun icon passes over.

Life and Evolution
As a planet on a mission, you don't have time to wait for evolution to take its course. You have the power to forcibly evolve creatures, instantly bumping them up several rungs on the evolutionary ladder. You can also move an animal to a specific location be left-clicking on it and dragging it to another square. Otherwise, animals will move on their own, choosing locations that have food and comfortable temperatures.

Creating Life
Throwing lava into shallow water will create the elements of life -- this will appear as a swirling mass of plankton.


 * To create water plants, simply leave the plankton alone, and it will soon evolve into kelp.
 * To create basic animals, left-click or right-click on the plankton. If you left-click, it will evolve into krill.  If you right-click, it will evolve into a clam.
 * To cause an animal to evolve, click and drag the plankton onto that animal.

Plants and Animals
Kelp:  A simple water plant. Over time, kelp will spread to adjacent squares. Kelp is vital -- it provides food for animals, and also absorbs carbon dioxide. If you want to lower your temperature, create kelp... just be careful not to overdo it! Kelp can also provide food for humans. Cities receive a small bonus to population growth for each nearby kelp.

Grass:  A simple land plant. If kelp spreads onto a suitable flat land surface, it will become grass. Grass can spread on land, and, like kelp, provides a small bonus to population growth to any nearby city.

Krill:  A tiny shelled water creature. Krill eat kelp, but only a small amount at a time.

Crab:  A much larger shelled water creature. Crabs evolve from krill, and eat larger amounts of kelp.

Turtle:  A shelled creature that can live on land or in the water. Turtles evolve from crabs, and eat large amounts of kelp.

Fish:  No more shells. Fish evolve from turtles that are in the water. Fish are self-sustaining, but if you drag them onto another square, they will eat any animal in their path. They also improve the population bonus from kelp.

Squirrel:  A small land mammal. Squirrels evolve from turtles that are on land. They will forage around a small area, and will cause trees to grow there. This is most useful near cities, since trees provide a strong bonus to population growth.

Clam:  A simple shelled creature that lives on the ocean floor. Clams will slowly soak up water pollution, which eventually kills them, but they are otherwise immune to bad conditions. Clams cannot move.

Starfish:  An odd, five-limbed creature that lives on the ocean floor. Starfish are better than clams at absorbing water pollution, and do not die from it. They also lower the amount of water pollution caused by lava throws. This bonus can stack, so more starfish provide more protection against pollution. Starfish can move.

Coral:  Coral reefs are usually formed over time from the exoskeletons of tiny water creatures. On Soter, the coral reefs are what give you life and power. Coral cannot be created or made to evolve. If water pollution reaches a certain level (100% polluted on the information panel), one reef will be destroyed, and the pollution level will drop down to 50%. If all the coral dies, so does the planet.

Cities and Projects
You start the game with a single city of 500 people. They are technologically advanced, and have basic equipment for construction and electronics.

You can create new cities by left-clicking on a city and dragging to a suitable building site. This will cause 100 citizens to travel to the new location. Your citizens can travel over any terrain, but crossing dangerous terrain -- deserts or mountains, for example -- may cause a few to die on the journey. You can also use this method to transfer citizens between cities.

Cities must be built next to water. They cannot be built near volcanoes or other cities, nor can they be built on mountains.

A city's population will naturally grow over time, but shockwaves, weather extremes, and tropical storms can reduce population. Cities work on a single project, which you can cycle by right-clicking on the city.

Building infrastructure will help your cities run more smoothly and complete some projects more quickly. Infrastructure can be damaged by shockwaves or storms.

Building missiles will create a single surface-to-air missile. If a missile is built and ready when a asteroid enters the atmosphere, it will launch automatically and, hopefully, destroy the asteroid before it strikes. A city can only have one missile at a time. Switching away from this project will prevent that city from launching a missile, which is a good idea if the asteroid is too far away to intercept, if it is landing somewhere where the shockwave won't hit anything important, or if another city is armed and closer to the point of impact.

Building fortifications will help your city absorb damage from shockwaves or storms. As long as the fortification holds, your people and infrastructure are protected. Fortifications will not prevent population loss from other sources, such as extreme temperatures. Their construction speed is not based on population or infrastructure.

Building logistics contributes to a global bonus to production. This is a way for large cities to help smaller cities work more quickly. When your cities have built up a high enough logistics total, a blue icon will appear in the Features section of the information panel. 

 Photos and videos are a great way to add visuals to your wiki. Add one below! 