Aluminum
This article is timeless and should be accurate for any version of the game.
| “ | Aluminum can be refined into Aluminum Alloy, which is used in the prototyping process for items. | „ |
| — In-game description |
Aluminum is a type of raw resource (also known as a tmat) that must be refined in order to be used. It is only used to advance your faction's technology in the Weapons and Equipment 
tech tree.
Acquisition
Aluminum can only be obtained at Salvage Fields by mining Aluminum nodes, which only spawn after harvesting Salvage nodes. These can be harvested with any tool (either a Hammer, Sledge Hammer, or Harvester). Similar to other technology materials, the amount of Aluminum dropped at a Salvage Field is randomly determined when a Salvage Field respawns. Depending on the spawn rates, a field may not spawn any technology materials.
All technology materials have a shifting spawning rate, with the rate depending on various factors such as player population, harvesting rates, and enemy faction tech progression.
NOTE: Despite Stationary Harvesters extracting salvage from Salvage Fields, their usage does not affect tech drop rates. As such, players are able to use them without worrying about hurting the faction (though it is still highly recommended to manually harvest them in order to increase the chances of them appearing).
Use
| Structure | Input(s) | Output | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refinery | 1 x Aluminum  |
1 x Aluminum Alloy  |
00:00:00.24 |
Aluminum cannot be used for anything, however its Alloy version can be used at an Engineering Center to advance the Weapon and Equipment tech tree and produce Weapon and Equipment Prototype Kits.
Storage
It stacks up to 100 per slot in inventories. It can be stored in the stockpiles of Bases (32k max) and Resource Containers (5k) but not in Resource Transfer Stations or Resource Ships.
It can't be packed into crates.
It can be transported by almost any vehicle with inventory slots, but is most commonly transported by normal Trucks, Resource Trucks, Small Container Car, or shipping vehicles carrying Resource Containers.
Tips
- Since technology materials are important to advance your faction's research, it is highly recommended not to store them in Reserve Stockpiles or Refinery personal queues. As such, they should be spent or stored in visible stockpiles on the map, preferably in Refineries.
Gallery
Render Model of an Aluminum node
An Aluminum node on the ground
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