Resources
Rare Minerals
Rare minerals gate advanced infrastructure, sophisticated hulls, and high-tier research. They are extracted in smaller quantities and deserve deliberate reserve planning.
Ground, Core, and Asteroid Mines
Abundance-sensitive
Advanced project bottleneck
01
How it works
- Ground and Core Mines yield some rare minerals, while Asteroid Mines specialize in orbital extraction and add strategic materials. Orbital Miners deliver a strong rare-mineral yield from orbit, including at uncolonized systems, based on the system's deposits.
- Rare output is modified by local abundance and the same operating limits that affect other buildings: labor, condition, power, inputs, stability, and technology.
- Factories consume rare minerals every tick, creating a continuous demand alongside one-time construction and research costs.
02
Command advice
- Survey abundance before choosing a dedicated mining world; a well-sited mine can outperform several poorly supplied ones.
- Reserve rare minerals for unlocks that change your strategic position rather than spreading them across too many queues.
- Watch recurring factory demand when preparing an advanced ship or research program.