Life is one of the three elements capable of producing and distributing Power . The tools to do so are collectively referred to as Life Power .
Life is the only element that allows the player to generate Power passively, without the use of any structure. Biorhythm is a spell that provides Power to all structures in a small radius around the player, and automatically refills any Mana Flares in that same radius. This is convenient for bootstrapping small builds that the player interacts with often, but can't power a large base on its own.
Life gives the player two different ways to produce Power at scale. First, Tree of Life unlocks Mana Cultivator . This structure produces Power steadily, but must be constantly fed reagents as fuel. Later on, Mana Leaves and Mana Canopies offer an alternative solar Power approach, which requires no fuel but is influenced by the day/night cycle.
A Mana Cultivator consumes Life reagents as fuel to produce its Power. If it runs out of this fuel, it will not produce any Power. It accepts two different fuel types, which produce varying amounts of Power:
In the Adept tier, you unlock Mana Leaves , which provide access to solar Power. Solar Power production changes over the course of a day, providing full Power for most of the day but none at night, with transitional warm-up and cool-down periods at dawn and dusk. The player can use Daycaller to control the time of day.
A Mana Leaf provides 20 Power in full daylight, without needing to be supplied with any other resources. They can be upgraded to provide more power as more Mana Leaves are added to the same network.
Mana Canopies scale solar power further, each one providing as much power as all connected Mana Leaves combined. Because each additional Mana Leaf makes each Mana Canopy more effective, and vice versa, an efficient power network will have a good mix of the two, without either one dominating. The exact optimal ratio between the two structures depends on what you want to minimize: number of structures, total space footprint, or reagents spent to produce the structures. In practice, though, space and resources are plentiful enough, and the super-linear scaling effect is powerful enough, that you can easily meet any Power demands by placing a modest number of solar Power structures in just about any ratio.
Understanding the day/night cycle is an important part of building a reliable Life Power system, especially if you plan to use Mana Pools (a Water structure) to keep your structures working through the night. Each day lasts 12 minutes, split up into four phases:
Life power is distributed through Mana Roots . Mana Roots connect together in a continuous network. The network is spread through specifically the green tiles of power-producing buildings (shown when selected).
All structures directly adjacent to a Mana Root will draw power from it. To spread power further out, Mana Blooms will distribute power in a five-tile radius. Rampant Bloom will also allow Mana Blooms to connect to the network through adjacent Production buildings.
With hybrid technology, Burrow Roots , Verdant Streams , Verdant Deltas , Rootbound Grippers and Ancient Chests can also all help to extend the power network through other infrastructure.