Resources, By-Products & Outposts v1.0
Resources & Production Chains: All 60+ Materials & By-Product Loops
Complete Beyond These Stars resource guide: all 60+ raw and refined materials, by-product recycling loops (Wood Waste, Soot, Slag, Goo), and Cement/Steel trees.
How Do Primary Outputs & By-Products Work?
Unlike traditional city-builders where 1 Iron Ore cleanly smelts into 1 Iron Bar, almost every extraction and manufacturing recipe in Beyond These Stars produces two outputs simultaneously:
- Primary Resource: The material you actually want (Planks, Copper, Iron, Steel, Cement, Chemicals).
- Secondary By-Product: Industrial waste generated alongside the primary output (Wood Waste, Soot, Slag, Goo, Sludge, Organic Waste).
Complete By-Product Recycling & Disposal Matrix
Use this verified lookup table to turn every industrial waste stream into a useful colony input:
| By-Product Name | Generated By (Source Buildings) | Temporary Storage | Profitable Recycling / Downstream Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood Waste | Woodcutter, Sawmill | By-Product Yard | Composter → Compost (drives all Terraforming & Saplings); emergency Burner Generator fuel |
| Organic Waste / Manure | Vegetable Farm, Wheat Farm, Flour Mill, Pasture, Drink Maker | By-Product Yard | Composter → Compost; Kewa Feeder nutrient base (Kewa Care) |
| Soot | Ore Smelter, Metal Smelter, Brickworks, Bakery, Fuel Maker | By-Product Yard | Chemical Factory → carbon reagents & industrial Chemicals |
| Slag / Rubble | Mine, Blast Mine, Ore Smelter, Metal Smelter, Glassmaker | By-Product Yard | Brickworks / Cement Factory filler aggregate; Landscaper rock fill |
| Sludge | Cement Factory, Trawler, Chemical Factory | Liquid Tank / Yard | Treated in Chemical Factory or scrubbed via advanced Cleaners |
| Goo (Toxic Waste) | Chemical Factory, Fuel Maker, Battery Plant | Hazardous Yard | High-tier Chemical / Fuel reprocessing; keep away from housing! |
Core Construction & Industrial Production Chains
Below are the 5 essential material flowcharts that take your settlement from wooden Huts to high-tech Apartments and Space Exploration domes (see All Buildings List for exact worker and MW stats):
Chain 1: Timber, Compost & Terraforming Loop (Tier 1)
- Woodcutter (on Forest) → Wood + Wood Waste
- Wood → Sawmill (4 MW) → Planks + Wood Waste
- Wood Waste + Organic Waste → Composter → Compost
- Compost + Water → Landscaper & Tree Nursery → Fertile Soil & Saplings (new Forests!)
Chain 2: Basic Metallurgy, Power Lines & Tools (Tier 1–2)
- Mine (on Iron/Copper vein) → Iron Ore / Copper Ore + Slag
- Copper Ore → Ore Smelter (5 MW, touching Burner Generator) → Copper + Soot
- Copper + Wood → Power Lines (unlocks ranged electrical grids!)
- Iron Ore → Ore Smelter (5 MW) → Iron + Soot
- Iron + Planks → Toolsmith (4 MW) → Tools (required for Mines, Quarries, and Landscapers)
Chain 3: Masonry, Glass & Mid-Game Housing (Tier 2)
- Quarry → Stone, Sand, Limestone, Clay
- Clay/Stone + Sand → Brickworks (5 MW) → Brick + Soot
- Sand / Quartz → Glassmaker (8 MW, High Pollution) → Glass + Slag
- Unlocks Solar Panels, Homesteads, Apartments, and Drink Makers.
Chain 4: Heavy Steel & Cement (Tier 3)
- Iron + Coal → Metal Smelter (12 MW, High Pollution) → Steel + Heavy Slag
- Limestone (or Outpost Shell) + Sand + Water → Cement Factory (15 MW, Very High Pollution) → Cement + Sludge
Chemical, Fuel & High-Tech Electronics Chains (Tier 4)
Late-game research domes, Battery Plants, and Scout Spaceship upgrades rely on the Chemical and Electronics tree:
| Advanced Product | Producer Building | Required Inputs | Primary Consumers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chemicals | Chemical Factory (12 MW) | Soot / Organics + Minerals + Water | Fuel Maker, Battery Plant, Advanced Cleaners, Kewa Medicine |
| Refined Fuel | Fuel Maker (14 MW) | Chemicals + Coal / Bio-Oil | Fuel Generator (60 MW), Scout Spaceship, Cargo Lander |
| Battery Cells | Battery Plant (15 MW) | Copper + Chemicals + Steel | Grid Batteries (200 MWh), Space Transmitters, Robotics |
| Electronics | Electronics Plant (18 MW) | Copper + Glass + Quartz | Science Domes, Strange Transmitter, Orbital Scanners |
Tier 4 High-Tech Value (Electronics & Battery Cells) Powers Space Domes, Strange Transmitter & Grid Storage
Tier 3 Heavy Construction (Steel & Cement) Unlocks 15-Peep Apartments & Planetary Outpost Landers
Tier 2 Refined Materials (Brick, Glass, Tools, Copper) Unlocks Power Lines, Houses & Clean Renewables
Tier 1 Starter Loop (Wood, Planks, Stone, Compost) Bootstraps Huts, Roads & Oxygen Terraforming
Unlocking Production Efficiency in the Research Tree
Every resource chain can be upgraded in the Research Tree to reduce input waste and train faster specialists:
Top 3 Production Research Priorities
- By-Product Compaction & Recycling: Doubles the capacity of By-Product Yards and unlocks Soot/Slag reprocessing recipes so your smelters never stall.
- Colonist Training: Trains specialized Peeps who complete smelting and crafting cycles 25% faster per shift (pair with Cooked Meals from our Peeps Happiness Guide).
- Shell-to-Cement Calcination: Allows your Cement Factory to consume renewable marine Shell from Planetary Outposts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did my Sawmill or Ore Smelter stop working when it has full inputs?
In Beyond These Stars, industrial buildings halt production the moment their secondary By-Product output slot fills up (such as Wood Waste in a Sawmill or Soot/Slag in an Ore Smelter). Build a By-Product Yard or downstream recycler (like a Composter) within hauling range to clear the backlog.
What is Wood Waste used for?
Wood Waste is produced by Woodcutters and Sawmills. Instead of letting it clog storage, feed Wood Waste into a Composter to create Compost—the essential material for turning Barren Rock into fertile soil and growing Tree Nursery Saplings.
How do I make Cement in Beyond These Stars?
Cement is produced in a Cement Factory by combining Limestone (or Shell harvested by Trawlers on Planetary Outposts) with Sand and Water. Because the Cement Factory emits Very High pollution, always pair it with a powered Cleaner.
Does the Home Spaceship produce by-products?
No. The Home Spaceship fabricates starter quantities of Wood, Stone, Iron, and Tools with zero pollution and zero by-products, making it a safe fallback if your main industrial chain deadlocks.
What do I do with Soot, Slag, Goo, and Sludge?
Store them temporarily in a dedicated By-Product Yard, then research Industrial Recycling and Chemical Processing to convert Slag into construction aggregate/Brick, Soot into carbon filters/Chemicals, and Organic Sludge into Compost or Fuel.
Gameplay Footage & Walkthroughs
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