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11 Gathering resources is a foundation of the gameplay loop in SpaceCraft. Planets hold an abundance of natural resources ready to be uncovered and exploited, and mining is how you turn the galaxy into raw materials.
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33 Scan, Then Extract
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55 As you explore and scan new systems, you reveal where valuable resources are located. You equip yourself with a variety of tools to extract raw materials, then scan your environment and use your ship to mine, extract, and gather resources.
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88 Mining With Your Ship
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1010 Gameplay shown by the developer has your ship handle extraction directly using its mining equipment, so in the early game you can gather from a planet without needing to land, mining from the air with your vessel. As your operation grows, you can shift extraction onto dedicated systems and bases rather than mining every load yourself.
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1212 Where Resources Come From
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1414 SourceNotesPlanetsWorlds hold an abundance of natural resources to uncover and exploit once scanned.AsteroidsAsteroid fields are a source of raw materials to mine.Abandoned structuresAbandoned stations and derelict ships are among the sites you can gather from while exploring.
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1616 From Raw Materials to Value
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1818 Raw materials are the input to the rest of your operation. You craft these resources into valuable materials or ship parts, and you can trade or sell what you gather. The cycle of mine, craft, and trade is what drives progression.
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2020 Scaling Up Extraction
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2222 Early on you mine by hand with your ship and tools. As you progress, you can set up automated mining systems so extraction continues without your direct input, freeing you to focus on strategy and expansion. See Automation and Logistics for how automated mining and supply chains work.
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2424 Resource Nodes
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2626 Resources are gathered from resource nodes, minable points that provide materials in limited quantities. Nodes spawn in clusters rather than in isolation, and each planet has its own set of nodes, so where you mine determines what you can collect. Certain landmarks hold rarer, more concentrated nodes. You scan a node to reveal what it contains before mining it.
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28+Scanning Tools and the Encyclopedia
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30+Finding resources starts with scanning. Detector tools sweep the area around you and surface nearby deposits before you commit to mining, and the Crude Resource Detector is the early tool for this; its scanning range was widened in a post-launch update, so it now reveals deposits across a larger area. The first time you obtain a rare find it is recorded in the Resources category of the in-game Encyclopedia, which builds up a personal reference of the materials you have discovered as you explore.
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2832 Tool Tiers and Special Methods
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3034 Mining speed and access depend on tool tiers: lower-tier tools cannot mine higher-tier nodes, while higher-tier tools mine faster and can break through tougher nodes. Some resources need specific methods rather than a basic mining laser.
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3236 Shells must be broken open with missiles.Volatile resources heat up when mined and can explode, sometimes requiring cooling tools.Liquid and gas resources require specialized harvesting tools and storage modules.
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3438 Named Materials
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3640 The tutorial focuses on basic materials such as Iron and Copper, later introducing Quartz, with many more resources becoming available as you progress. Raw forms of the same material can differ: for example, both Iron Ore and Iron Nuggets yield Iron Ingots, but at different ratios and inventory costs. Ore is usually faster to mine per second, while nuggets are more space-efficient.
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3842 Raw FormYieldInventory CostIron Ore2 Ore = 1 Iron Ingot10 Storage UnitsIron Nuggets4 Nuggets = 1 Iron Ingot4 Storage Units
3943 Liquids Are Separate
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4145 Beyond solid resources, the game has a distinct liquid system (Water, Sulfuric Acid, and more) collected from geysers and stored in tanks and cisterns. See Liquid Resources for the full system. Refining solids into usable ingots happens at a station; see Crafting.