Several systems get harder over time on one shared clock: the campaign day minus your average terraforming. Each full 1% of average terraforming rolls the clock back one day, so raising terraforming slows inflation, research decay and every disaster at the same time. All of them top out together at escalation sol 201.
| System | Escalation sol 1 | Escalation sol 201 | After 201 | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dust Storm / Cold Wave (share of sols active, each) | 10% | 50% | held (cap) | Disasters |
| Dust Storm / Cold Wave overlap | off | on (from escalation sol 100) | on | Disasters |
| Meteors (map struck per sol) | 0.1% | 1% | held (cap) | Disasters |
| Dust Devils (map covered) | 0.1% | 1% | held (cap) | Disasters |
| Inflation (Earth import prices; not Rocket or Supply Pod) | +0% | +200% | held (cap) | Resupply costs |
| Research output | 100% | 33% | held (cap) | below |
Every ramp runs on the escalation sol, not the raw campaign day, and each reaches its own magnitude at escalation sol 201.
The escalation sol is your campaign day minus your average terraforming percent - the average of the four terraforming parameters (Atmosphere, Water, Temperature, Vegetation). At 0% terraforming it equals the day; at 30% average terraforming it runs 30 days behind the day, so everything above is set back to where it stood 30 sols earlier. Each full 1% of average terraforming buys back one sol. Because the prices are recomputed live, a jump in terraforming can even lower import prices that had already climbed. The "Survive the Storm: Escalation and Terraforming" screen (bottom bar) shows the current day, your average terraforming and the resulting escalation sol.
Earth import prices rise +1% of base per escalation sol from sol 2, and hold at +200% (triple price) at escalation sol 201. It covers every resupply import - all resources, all prefabs and rovers - but not the two delivery prices: the Rocket purchase price and the Supply Pod price both stay at their base (the cargo you load into a rocket or pod still inflates; the vehicle price does not). Full detail on the Resupply costs page.
Each research point is worth less over time: 100% at escalation sol 1, 50% at escalation sol 101, 33% at escalation sol 201, then held. Every tech's shown cost stays at its honest base; only the value of each point drops, including the on-screen "Research per Sol", which reads the same figure.
Escalation sol 201 is the deep late-game mark where the ramps top out rather than scaling forever. Terraforming pushes the actual day on which a colony reaches that cap further out.
Part of the Survive the Storm mod. See also Disasters and Resupply costs.