Building things with refined metals or converting refined to ore?

[Squashie]

Is there any way to do that? I have infinite supply of copper and gold but very little of actual ore.

[The Tempted Man]

Yes, you need to find more ore in space

[Squashie]

Originally posted by The Tempted Man:

Yes, you need to find more ore in space

So no Refined to Ore conversion?

[Battleseed]

Originally posted by Squashie:

Originally posted by The Tempted Man:

Yes, you need to find more ore in space

So no Refined to Ore conversion?

Sucks when folks respond, yet don't answer the question asked. No, you can't convert refined metal back in to ore.

[Hedning]

If you have a lot of heavi watt wire you can upgrade to conductive. That can free up a bunch of ore.

Once you open up the space biome you'll get a steady stream of copper ore and gold amalgam form comets.

[hacksaw12]

Originally posted by Hedning:

If you have a lot of heavi watt wire you can upgrade to conductive. That can free up a bunch of ore.

Once you open up the space biome you'll get a steady stream of copper ore and gold amalgam form comets.

This is the long term answer. If you have lead in abundance, you can replace pretty much all your wiring with conductive wire, you get more power capability and better decor. Just need to be careful with lead's melting point. You can also use lead or steel to build buildings that use metal ore. Here you got the problem that lead reduces your overheat temperature, so you need to be even more careful than the melting point problem, and steel is a resource you usually don't have enough of anyway, but both might help until you can get to the space biome.

[L37]

Steel is essentially the way to convert iron into material which can be used instead of metal ores. Getting enough lime may be a challenge, but is not that hard.
As a bonus - steel has pretty good thermal characteristics, from overheat temp bonus to good conductivity/SHC combination.
Not useful in case of gold/copper though...

[hacksaw12]

[/quote]You can also use lead or steel to build buildings that use metal ore. Here you got the problem that lead reduces your overheat temperature, so you need to be even more careful than the melting point problem, and steel is a resource you usually don't have enough of anyway, but both might help until you can get to the space biome. [/quote]
Oops, I overstated the lead case. You can't use it, like you can steel, in buildings that require metal ore.

[Xuhybrid]

This really should be in the base game but here's a mod.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1729816134

[zOldBulldog]

I have not reached the point in the game where you run out of ores in the original asteroid, but summarizing from the various responses I conclude:

- Ores will run out in the original asteroid.
- Metal volcanoes help with the problem. It is probably a good idea to produce them early, in order to save on ores.
- Some natural metals like lead can be used as an alternative to ores, but are more sensitive to temperature changes, so it might be necessary to tweak the designs.
- Using conductive wire is a good idea once you start exploiting metal volcanoes. Not only will you be using a renewable resource, it supports more wattage.
- Replacing old buildings and wiring with renewable refined metal variants will extend your supply.
- Eventually getting to space will supply additional ores.

Using a mod is an option.
- The mod mentioned let's you use metal ores in buildings that normally require ores. But... If the mod breaks due to an update it might break your base.
- There might be a mod that lets you process refined metals back to metal ores. Have to search for it. That would be a preferable mod since a broken mod would leave you with your current supply of ore, but not break your buildings (except for the inevitable building used to covert metal back to ore).

Did I get that right?

[Xuhybrid]

Originally posted by zOldBulldog:

Using a mod is an option.
- The mod mentioned let's you use metal ores in buildings that normally require ores. But... If the mod breaks due to an update it might break your base.
- There might be a mod that lets you process refined metals back to metal ores. Have to search for it. That would be a preferable mod since a broken mod would leave you with your current supply of ore, but not break your buildings (except for the inevitable building used to covert metal back to ore).

Did I get that right?

I very much doubt it will break your save if the mod is disabled. The material something is made of is variable and decided at the time of building. The thermal properties of each building are defined globally by the material for every building.

[L37]

Originally posted by zOldBulldog:

I have not reached the point in the game where you run out of ores in the original asteroid, but summarizing from the various responses I conclude:

- Ores will run out in the original asteroid.
- Metal volcanoes help with the problem. It is probably a good idea to produce them early, in order to save on ores.
- Some natural metals like lead can be used as an alternative to ores, but are more sensitive to temperature changes, so it might be necessary to tweak the designs.
- Using conductive wire is a good idea once you start exploiting metal volcanoes. Not only will you be using a renewable resource, it supports more wattage.
- Replacing old buildings and wiring with renewable refined metal variants will extend your supply.
- Eventually getting to space will supply additional ores.

Using a mod is an option.
- The mod mentioned let's you use metal ores in buildings that normally require ores. But... If the mod breaks due to an update it might break your base.
- There might be a mod that lets you process refined metals back to metal ores. Have to search for it. That would be a preferable mod since a broken mod would leave you with your current supply of ore, but not break your buildings (except for the inevitable building used to covert metal back to ore).

Did I get that right?

Why would ores "run out"? Nothing consumes/destroys ores directly, apart from smooth haches, which are a trap exactly for this reason. All ores you use you can get back by deconstructing things you've built. You can freely build whole bunch of regular wires, and then when you need ores replace them. The only thing that requires considerable amount are conveyours, and there is a lot of ores on the mep, probably enough to cover large portion of the map with them. The only way you can run out is if you mass-refine them, especially with hatches, which is a mistake and it will feel a bit strange to fix it with mods...

[Hedning]

Originally posted by L37:

Why would ores "run out"? Nothing consumes/destroys ores directly, apart from smooth haches, which are a trap exactly for this reason.

The refinery? Rock crusher? Hatches aren't special. They are just in between the crusher and refinery in efficiency.

[hacksaw12]

Originally posted by zOldBulldog:

I have not reached the point in the game where you run out of ores in the original asteroid, but summarizing from the various responses I conclude:


- Using conductive wire is a good idea once you start exploiting metal volcanoes. Not only will you be using a renewable resource, it supports more wattage.


Did I get that right?

The only thing I would add is you don't really need to wait for metal volcano exploitation. Lead is naturally dug, and counts as refined metal. Making conductive wire requires only being careful of it's melting temperature, since wiring doesn't have an overheat temp.

[fluxtorrent]

Originally posted by Xuhybrid:

Originally posted by zOldBulldog:

Using a mod is an option.
- The mod mentioned let's you use metal ores in buildings that normally require ores. But... If the mod breaks due to an update it might break your base.
- There might be a mod that lets you process refined metals back to metal ores. Have to search for it. That would be a preferable mod since a broken mod would leave you with your current supply of ore, but not break your buildings (except for the inevitable building used to covert metal back to ore).

Did I get that right?

I very much doubt it will break your save if the mod is disabled. The material something is made of is variable and decided at the time of building. The thermal properties of each building are defined globally by the material for every building.

I can confirm it doesn't.

[Squashie]

Originally posted by Battleseed:

Originally posted by Squashie:

So no Refined to Ore conversion?

Sucks when folks respond, yet don't answer the question asked. No, you can't convert refined metal back in to ore.

Thank you!