Project Tomorrow Population and Settlements Guide

Every region in Project Tomorrow has a population target. Reach it and you complete the region; fall short and you keep building, defending and terraforming until you do. The system is simple on paper and full of traps in practice.

This guide covers the Habitat chain, the Settlement ruins, the Barracks, and the fastest safe route to the population target.

The two sources of population

Population comes from:

1. Habitats — built inside the base with Housing Frames and Oxygen.
2. Settlements — ruined settlements found on the map, rebuilt and repopulated by settlers from hibernation.

The May 25 patch introduced Settlements. The design is that exploration finds ruins, rebuilding them awakens settlers, and a growing population completes the region. Habitats are the steady, controllable source; Settlements are the exploration reward.

Both feed the same target. A region with three rebuilt Settlements needs fewer Habitats, and a region with a strong Habitat chain can ignore the ruins.

The Habitat chain

A Habitat requires:

• A Housing Frame, crafted at the Workbench (one Iron and one Magnetite in the demo).
• Oxygen, roughly 5,000 for the first Habitat in the demo, rising with each additional Habitat.
• A valid footprint inside the green zone and the power grid.

The catch: population does not increase when the Habitat is placed. It increases after a survived wave. That means the Habitat is a promise: you spend the resources, defend the base, and collect the population afterward.

The practical loop:

1. Craft a Housing Frame.
2. Confirm the Oxygen budget (the cost rises with each Habitat).
3. Place the Habitat inside the inner ring.
4. Survive the next wave.
5. Collect the population.
6. Repeat.

Do not build three Habitats at once unless you can defend all three through the next wave. A destroyed Habitat is a lost frame, lost Oxygen and lost time.

Why the Oxygen cost rises

Each Habitat consumes more Oxygen than the previous one. That is the game's way of forcing you to keep terraforming. A player who builds housing without expanding the Oxygen cluster hits a wall: the next Habitat is unaffordable.

The answer is not to stop building housing. It is to upgrade the Oxygen Emitter and add adjacent machines. The adjacency bonus makes a compact, upgraded cluster the cheapest route to a higher Oxygen budget.

If the next Habitat is unaffordable, check:

• Is the Oxygen Emitter upgraded?
• Are the machines adjacent for the bonus?
• Is a turret or wall eating the power budget?
• Is the cluster fully inside the green zone?

The terraforming guide→ covers the cluster layout.

Settlements and settlers

Settlements are ruins you find while exploring. Rebuilding one awakens settlers from hibernation and adds them to your population. The patch notes describe the loop as: find a settlement, rebuild it, defend it, grow the population.

What to expect:

• Exploration matters. Settlements are not in the starting clearing.
• Defense matters. A rebuilt settlement is a new asset to protect.
• Population is the reward. Settlers increase the count toward the region target.
• Soldiers come later. Settlers can be assigned to a Barracks, which turns them into soldiers.

Do not rebuild a Settlement you cannot defend. A ruin on the frontier is a liability until you have a wall and a turret near it.

Barracks and soldiers

The Barracks converts settlers into soldiers. The May 25 patch describes an AI soldier system: settlers assigned to the Barracks fight for you.

This is a mid-game system:

• You need a population surplus before you can spare settlers.
• You need a Barracks building and the resources to support it.
• Soldiers supplement your turrets; they do not replace them.

Build the Barracks after the first Habitat chain is stable. Do not convert your only settlers into soldiers before the population target is met.

The population target

Each region has a target. The demo's first region used 30 and awarded four stars on completion; five stars required continuing to optimize. The full game's targets may be higher.

The fastest safe route:

1. Reach a stable defense. One lane walled, turrets powered.
2. Build the Habitat chain. One at a time, surviving a wave between each.
3. Rebuild Settlements when you find them, if they are defensible.
4. Upgrade the Oxygen cluster when the next Habitat is unaffordable.
5. Add the Barracks only after the target is in sight.

Do not optimize for population before defense. A region with 25 population and a broken wall is worse than a region with 15 and a stable base.

Population and region completion

Completing a region requires the population target and, in some regions, the terraforming goal. The achievements confirm the pattern:

• Just The Start — restore Suncrest.
• An Oasis Once Again — restore Tidehaven.
• Winter's Last Bloom — restore Winterbloom.

The region completion is the combination of population and terraforming, not just one. If the population target is met but the region is not complete, check the terraforming progress and the Settlement objectives.

Common population mistakes

Building Habitats before defense. They will be destroyed.

Assuming placement adds population. It does not; you must survive a wave.

Ignoring the Oxygen cost. The next Habitat is more expensive.

Rebuilding a Settlement you cannot defend. It becomes a target.

Converting all settlers to soldiers. Population is the goal; soldiers are support.

Rushing the target with unpowered Habitats. A Habitat outside the grid does not function.

The walkthrough→ shows where population fits in each region. The crafting guide→ covers the Housing Frame recipe.

FAQ

How do I increase population in Project Tomorrow?

Build Habitats with Housing Frames and Oxygen, then survive a wave. Rebuilding Settlements also adds settlers.

Why is my Habitat not adding population?

Population increases after a survived wave, not at placement. Defend the base and check again after the wave.

Why does each Habitat cost more Oxygen?

The cost rises with each Habitat to force terraforming upgrades. Upgrade the Oxygen cluster when the next one is unaffordable.

What is the population target?

Each region has its own target. The demo's first region used 30; the full game's targets may differ.

Sources

• Project Tomorrow on Steam ↗
• Project Tomorrow Steam news: Settlements ↗
• Project Tomorrow achievements ↗
• Wolfman Mazy demo gameplay ↗

Official source: Project Tomorrow on Steam ↗ Project Tomorrow guides and walkthroughs