Turn your inventory into a concrete growth plan in five steps.
Last updated: September 2026
The Human Growth Calculator is the core tool on this site. You tell it what memories and food you have, and it works out which human types (professions) you can grow, what recipe each one needs, and how much weight it will cost. This walkthrough covers the workflow from entering your inventory to committing a growth.
The calculator has two resource panels: one for memories and one for food. For each item you own, enter the quantity available. You can adjust items one at a time, or use the global percentage slider on each panel to set how much of your total stock you are willing to spend in this session — handy when you want to reserve some resources for later.
If you have a game save file, you can skip manual entry: the import feature reads your save and fills in your memories, food, and already-grown humans automatically. See Importing from a save file below.
The percentage sliders let you decide how aggressively to spend. Setting memories to 80%, for example, tells the calculator it may use up to 80% of each memory's quantity. This is useful when you are comparing several professions and do not want a single recipe to drain everything. Lower percentages show you what is achievable on a budget; raising them reveals more ambitious options.
Once your inventory is entered, the calculator evaluates every profession against your resources. Each human type appears as a card showing whether it is growable with your current inventory. Cards are grouped by status:
Opening a profession's recipe view shows the full breakdown: which memories and food are selected, the effective attribute totals they produce, and how those totals compare against each requirement. Because the calculator applies the game's diminishing-returns curve, the suggested recipes already favor variety over stacking — you do not have to work that out yourself.
When you are happy with a recipe, you can commit the growth from the recipe view. The calculator records the human as in-progress and deducts the resources used from your inventory, so your counts stay accurate as you play. You can mark a growth complete, add notes, or cancel it to return its resources if you change your mind.
Your growth history is saved automatically. If you are using the site without an account, it is stored in your browser; if you log in, it is saved to your profile and available from any device.
Instead of typing your inventory by hand, you can import a The Last Caretaker save file. The importer reads your memories, food, and the humans you have already grown (including any sent to space) and brings them into the calculator. If importing would overlap with records you already have, the tool helps you resolve conflicts — replace, keep, or skip — so nothing is duplicated or lost.
Importing is the fastest way to get an accurate picture of where you stand, especially after a long play session. After import, review the imported quantities and then run the calculator as usual.
The calculator's results make the most sense when you understand the mechanics behind them. If you have not already, read Understanding Attributes & Diminishing Returns and the Memories & Food Resource Guide. Then open the calculator and plan your next growth.