basic knowledge
Recipes

Refining Recipes — Duplication Loops and Money Chains

Basic KnowledgePublishedUpdated

Refining is partly about making resources you’re short of, and partly about loops that return more than you put in. Once you know the second kind, resource anxiety largely disappears — so this page covers the recipes by chain and flags which ones actually profit.

Resource categories and the refining installations themselves are in Resource Categories and Refiners.

Core recipes

These are verified combinations, written as input × qty → output × qty.

Ferrite chain (building fundamentals)

  • Rusted Metal ×1 → Ferrite Dust ×2 — recycle salvage instead of selling it.
  • Ferrite Dust ×1 → Pure Ferrite ×1 — it’s 1:1. Many old guides say 2:1; the current ratio is one for one.
  • Pure Ferrite ×2 → Magnetised Ferrite ×1 (and back: Magnetised Ferrite ×1 → Pure Ferrite ×2)
  • Pure Ferrite ×1 + Condensed Carbon ×1 → Magnetised Ferrite ×3 — when you need it fast.
  • Platinum ×1 + Oxygen ×1 → Magnetised Ferrite ×10
  • Localised Earth Elements (Ammonia, Dioxite, Paraffinium, Phosphorus, Pyrite, Uranium, Lithium, Crystallised Helium) ×1 → Ferrite Dust ×1 — convert what you don’t need.

Carbon (the fuel axis)

  • Carbon ×2 → Condensed Carbon ×1 (and back: Condensed Carbon ×1 → Carbon ×2)
  • Condensed Carbon ×1 + Oxygen ×2 → Condensed Carbon ×6 ← duplication loop
  • Flora (Cactus Flesh, Gamma Root, Fungal Mould, Solanium, Star Bulb) ×1 → Carbon ×2

Salt and Chlorine (the money loop)

  • Salt ×2 → Chlorine ×1 (and back: Chlorine ×1 → Salt ×2)
  • Chlorine ×1 + Oxygen ×2 → Chlorine ×6 ← the famous duplication loop
  • Di-hydrogen ×1 + Oxygen ×1 → Salt ×1
  • Kelp Sac ×1 + Oxygen ×1 → Chlorine ×2

Oxygen — the fuel behind every loop

One crucial fact: there is no recipe that multiplies Oxygen. Every loop above burns Oxygen to multiply something else, which makes Oxygen supply the real bottleneck.

  • Kelp Sac ×1 → Oxygen ×1
  • Kelp Sac ×1 + Condensed Carbon ×1 + one flora (Fungal Mould, Frost Crystal, Cactus Flesh, Solanium, Gamma Root, Star Bulb) ×1 → Oxygen ×10 (3-slot)

Keep gathering Oxygen from plants and Atmosphere Harvesters.

Cobalt and Sodium

  • Cobalt ×2 → Ionised Cobalt ×1 (reversible)
  • Ionised Cobalt ×1 + Oxygen ×2 → Ionised Cobalt ×6 ← duplication loop
  • Sodium ×2 → Sodium Nitrate ×1, and Sodium Nitrate ×1 + Oxygen ×1 → Sodium Nitrate ×2

Chromatic Metal and stellar resources

Chromatic Metal can’t be mined — it only comes from refining stellar resources.

  • Copper ×2 → Chromatic Metal ×1 · Cadmium ×2 → ×1 · Emeril ×2 → ×3 · Indium ×2 → ×4 · Quartzite ×2 → ×4
  • Pure Ferrite ×1 + stellar resource ×1 → Chromatic Metal (2-slot; higher-tier stellar resources yield more)
  • Gold ×1 + Silver ×1 + stellar resource ×1 → Chromatic Metal ×5–30 (3-slot, the most efficient)
  • Stellar resource ×1 + Chromatic Metal ×1 → stellar resource ×2 ← stellar duplication loop (does not work with Activated Indium)

Hydrogen chain

  • Di-hydrogen ×1 + Tritium ×1 → Deuterium ×1 (Silicate Powder also works)
  • Tritium ×5 → Di-hydrogen ×1 — nothing produces Tritium; it comes only from asteroids.

A practical order

  1. Start with the Portable Refiner (you always know the recipe). Just keep Carbon on hand for fuel.
  2. Always refine Rusted Metal into Ferrite Dust. It’s the fastest early building income.
  3. Build a Medium Refiner at your base to drop the fuel cost entirely — run your loops there.
  4. Get in the habit of stockpiling Oxygen. Chlorine, Condensed Carbon, and Ionised Cobalt loops all consume it.
  5. Once you have a Large Refiner (3 slots), Chromatic Metal and bulk Oxygen production open up.

Cooking is separate

The Nutrient Processor looks similar but is a different device. It has 3 input slots, needs neither fuel nor power, and every cook is 1:1 and takes about 2.5 seconds. Recipes are discovered by experimenting and get recorded automatically once you hit a valid combination. Cooking gets its own page.