In need of rare metals

[MAX.]

Are there any other ways of getting rare metals other than through extractors?

I may have ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up a bit and made an electronics factory, which needed rare metals to operate. But I have zero rare metals now, and the rare metals deposits are suuuper far from my current base. So am kinda stuck

[Mardoin69]

Download some of the mods for 'Waste Rock' refineries'. Then you can set up some to salvage rare metal from waste rock. There's one that has a recycler for waste rock that will produce rare metal, reg. metal, & some concrete from waste rock....which I think is pretty cool that it can get all 3.

[NotThatHarkness]

You could build a mining outpost near a rare metal deposit and produce rare metal. Use RC Transports to bring it back to your electronics factory, and maybe rush CO2 Jet Propulsion to automate that.

[Mardoin69]

This is one of my fav's; https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1673419139

[Jon_Smith]

Mods are definitely an option, but some of your choices depend on where your colony is at in terms of funding and research etc.

Without mods here are my thoughts.

If you have shuttle hubs then setting up a dome elsewhere on the map where there is more rare metals is manageable since you can transport colonists and resources easily (You can still build another dome elsewhere, its just harder as you cannot transport colonists via shuttle). Tunnels can be nice to connect your grids, but they can be expensive. Consider them a nice to have, not a must.

If you are near to the end of the Robotics tech tree you could aim for Mohole and get the unlimited electronics, it can be a high machine part investment however so you'd need to make sure you could actually build it with your remaining funds and resources.

Depending on how many electronics surplus you churned out you could launch a SETI satellite to get abit more money to fund any of these things.

Lastly, and this is super luck based, there is a breakthrough that reveals more rare metal deposits, it spawns about 3 usually I think. Perhaps if that is on your map one will spawn close. But you'd probably need the RNG gods to really favour you in order to not only get the breakthrough but also get the rare metals next to your base.

Oh, and I assume you know about Deep rare metal deposits right? Deep scanning a sector can show deep rare metals? If you haven't deep scanned around your base perhaps its worth using a few probes to check out how the ground is (assuming you have the cheap tech that allows probes to deep scan).

[BGR]

This is how i do it.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2463494928

[icarus40]

To some it may seem like cheating, but researching "Silva - Automated Extractors" allows you to set up automated extractors (like the base game water extractors). You can now set up extractor bases far away from you domes

[Lala]

Isn't there the research thing where you get some stuff from empty deposits in the vanilla game? Or is there a chance of not having it on the research screen?

[NotThatHarkness]

Originally posted by Lala:

Isn't there the research thing where you get some stuff from empty deposits in the vanilla game? Or is there a chance of not having it on the research screen?

That's a breakthrough, so not available on every map.

[Ericus1]

Originally posted by Lala:

Isn't there the research thing where you get some stuff from empty deposits in the vanilla game? Or is there a chance of not having it on the research screen?

Nano Refinement, and as said, linked to the colony location so you may or may not have it. You can always use one of the mods, like ChoGGi's Omega Unlocks All, to get all breakthroughs on a map if you want to play a mature colony in a pure sandbox mode.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1732442747

[MAX.]

Thank you for the responses yall!! I appreciate it
Got my rare metals now. I downloaded a mod AND set up another dome near the deposits

[chic.aeon]

Just wanted to say that even in the beginning it makes sense to stake out the rare metals. I had a good portion of the map scanned before I even started building. Then put your first domes in a really good area that has as much as you need -- including the rare metals since the electronics resources seem to be the hardest to get. (Only a hundred plus hours in so by no means a pro here.)

That is exactly what I did in my new game. I also let the bots get a ton of cement and metal before really building. Once I got a base colony then I went on to make outposts for the resources in short supply. So cement for me where you don't need folks. Since then I have been making outposts at the rare metal sites that have the HIGHEST rating rather than because of distance. As long as your shuttles keep working and you have a transport vehicle for big deliveries (when you don't' have cement nearby and need to make a dome for example) that works really well.

I basically have the same amount of money that I had when I started and two electronics factories to boot and I haven't come to ANY of the advanced mining things on this tree.

So that idea might not help THIS time although I agree that the outpost would be good. I hadn't thought about using the shuttles to move folks. You would need to assign them to that rare metals factory most likely --- although I surprisingly had a medic who had been working reluctantly at the grocery store move all by herself as well as a whole crew of engineers moving over to another rare metals factory (newer housing :D) so sometimes they move themselves.

You can also get drops r of electronics to keep you going until you can get enough rare metals for your factory. You can also just turn that electronics factory OFF for awhile (or explode it and wait until later in your game to have it.