Superalloy Production Guide: Scale Your Manufacturing

Raw Materials

You need two ores:

• Tungsten Ore 閳?mined from Tungsten asteroids (rare, usually in the Asteroid Belt or outer planets)
• Titanium Ore 閳?mined from Titanium asteroids (common, found in most sectors)

Processing Chain

Superalloy production chain combining tungsten and titanium ore through smelters into the forge

Simple on paper. The problem is volume.

Ingredient Ratios

A single Superalloy Forge running at full capacity produces 1 Superalloy every 3 seconds, or about 20 Superalloy per minute.

But “full capacity” means a constant feed of 2 Tungsten Ingot + 1 Titanium Ingot every 3 seconds. That requires:

• 40 Tungsten Ingot/min 閳?1 Tungsten Smelter running at full tilt (barely enough)
• 20 Titanium Ingot/min 閳?1 Titanium Smelter at moderate capacity

And each Smelter needs a constant stream of ore. Which means your miners need to be producing enough raw ore to feed the smelters that feed the forge.

Step 1: Secure Tungsten

Before building anything, find a reliable Tungsten source. Check your star map for asteroids marked with the Tungsten icon. Ideally, find one that:

• Has 2+ Tungsten veins close together
• Is within 1-2 sectors of your main station
• Does not have heavy enemy activity

Build a mining outpost (see our Freighter & Mining Guide) specifically for Tungsten.

Step 2: Scale Titanium

You probably already have Titanium miners running. If not, set one up. Titanium is common enough that you shouldn’t have trouble finding it.

Minimum Titanium setup: 2 Miners on Titanium veins 閳?1 Smelter 閳?Storage Buffer.

Step 3: Build the Superalloy Forge

Place your Superalloy Forge at your main station, close to your Smelter cluster. The layout should look like this:

Full superalloy supply chain from remote miners through freighters and smelters into the forge

Step 4: Buffer Everything

Put Storage Containers between each stage. This is non-negotiable:

• Smelter input buffer: 50+ ore waiting
• Smelter output buffer: 30+ ingots waiting
• Forge input buffer: 40 Tungsten + 20 Titanium waiting
• Forge output buffer: 50+ Superalloy waiting

Without buffers, any hiccup in the chain (freighter delay, power dip, miner relocation) cascades into a complete shutdown.

One Forge produces ~20/min. Mid-game needs 10-15/sec (600-900/min). Late-game needs 30-50/sec (1800-3000/min). Here is how you get there.

The Parallel Forge Array

Scaling superalloy production with multiple parallel forges sharing a single output buffer

Each Forge needs its own dedicated input buffers but can share a common output buffer.

Scaling Targets

The Superalloy Belt

At scale, you want a dedicated production zone 閳?not a few Forges stuck in the corner of your main station.

1. Clear a large area (at least 20x20 building spaces)
2. Build Tungsten Smelters on one side, Titanium Smelters on the other
3. Run parallel input lines to a row of Superalloy Forges
4. Collect all output into a central Superalloy Storage

This is your Superalloy Belt. Feed it with freighters from multiple mining outposts and wormhole links from remote Tungsten sites.

Every advanced building and ship in the game needs Superalloy. Here are the biggest consumers:

Total mid-game Superalloy demand: ~800-1,200 units Total late-game demand: ~2,000-5,000+ units

You can see why a single Forge won’t cut it past Station Level 8.

Forge Keeps Starving

Cause: Not enough Tungsten. This is the #1 problem.

Fix: Add another Tungsten mining outpost. Or upgrade your existing Tungsten miners to Mk2.

Forge Running but Output Is Low

Cause: Connector bottleneck. The Forge produces Superalloy faster than the Connector can pull it out.

Fix: Use Mk3+ Connectors between the Forge and the output buffer. Check our Pipe Bottleneck Guide for detailed diagnosis.

Tungsten Outpost Gets Raided

Cause: Tungsten is often in hostile sectors.

Fix: Add a Missile Turret and Drone Bay at the outpost. See our Drone Defense Guide for outpost defense layouts.

Ratio Keeps Shifting (Too Much Titanium, Not Enough Tungsten)

Cause: Tungsten and Titanium miners have different extraction rates.

Fix: Throttle the Titanium Smelter. Use a Connector with lower throughput on the Titanium input, or set a limit on the Titanium buffer (overflow goes to storage instead of the Forge).

Common Mistakes

Not Enough Buffer Storage

Each Forge cycle consumes a full stack of ingredients instantly. If your input belt is fed by a single Mk2 Connector, the buffer empties before the Forge finishes, and the next cycle starts late 閳?making output run at 2/sec instead of 5/sec.

Fix: Add at least one Large Buffer per Forge on the input side, fed by a Mk3+ Connector. This smooths supply and keeps the Forge at full speed.

Forgetting Tungsten Mining Speed

Tungsten asteroids have lower yield per minute than Titanium. Players often build one miner for each and wonder why the Tungsten line is always empty. The ratio is roughly 2 Tungsten miners per 1 Titanium miner per forge.

Fix: Overbuild Tungsten. If Forges idle waiting for Tungsten, add 2 more miners before scaling anything else.

Production rates verified in version 1.0.0.2. Ratios and costs may change with future updates 閳?always check your in-game crafting menu for current values.