Electric smelter

The electric smelter is a production building used to extract steel from steel slag chunks and metal weapons and armor. Colonists assigned to crafting will make use of it.

Acquisition[edit]

Electric smelters can be constructed once the Electricity research project has been completed. They require 170 Steel, 2 Components, 3,500 ticks (58.33 secs) of work, and a Construction skill of 4.

Summary[edit]

Electric smelters are placed on the ground and require 700 W of power. Powered electric smelters can convert steel slag chunks, metal weapons, and metallic armor pieces into usable metal. Smelting Speed is not affected by skills, but can be increased by manipulation and Global Work Speed.

While powered, smelters output light in a 6 tile radius; the nearest 3.442 tiles are above 50% light level and considered "lit", negating the work speed penalty from darkness. Smelters also produce heat while in process of smelting things (amount comparable to output of one heater). No heat is produced when idle, even if powered on.

Work[edit]

Steel slag chunks are melted into 15 steel after 400 ticks (6.67 secs) of work.

Weapons and armor can be smelted to return 25% of their crafting cost, minus any components, advanced components, or chemfuel, after 1,600 ticks (26.67 secs) of work. Smelting will convert the same items to the same materials, regardless of quality, damage, biocoding, or tainting.

The smelter also has the option to destroy weapons and apparel for no gain, which works even for nonmetallic items.

Analysis[edit]

Smelters are undoubtedly useful for steel slag chunks, tainted clothes, and biocoded weapons, which are all outright unsellable. Meanwhile, damage will quickly reduce the value of an item, so you could receive more silver by smelting. When making smelting bill(s), take these factors into account.

Destroying items is rarely worth it. The destroy bill can help get rid of unsmeltable items like cloth apparel and stone clubs. However, most of them can be sold for silver, which brings a little profit (as opposed to none at all). It has some use in wealth management, though you can also create a caravan and drop items on the world map, destroying them all the same.

As smelting is unaffected by skill, the fastest smelters are those with bionic arms (or better), or have work speed modifying traits like Industrious.

Sell vs Smelt[edit]

This graph shows dependence item sell price multiplier($) from item hit points.

For items that you can both sell and smelt, the table below describes the sale value (excluding sell/buy penalties and pawn trade skill) of the items at each quality, alongside the value of the raw resources that can be attained by smelting. Items made of different kinds of stuff do not have data. In parenthesis are the hit point percentages at which the item's value is equal to that of the raw resources. Above this percentage it is better to sell the item, where as below the percentage it is better to sell the raw resources. Note that this only considers selling each, so the cost to buy the same raw resources is not included.

In general, very damaged items are better to smelt (under 60% health remaining, the value of an item drops rapidly after 60 percent), as the sale price is reduced while the amount of resources recovered are unaffected. Note that items with 90% or more health remaining retain full value.

Sell vs Smelt table[edit]

Name	Material Return	Material Value	Awful Sale Value	Poor Sale Value	Normal Sale Value	Good Sale Value	Excellent Sale Value	Masterwork Sale Value	Legendary Sale Value
Steel slag chunk	15	28.5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gladius	12 (125)*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Longsword	25 (250)*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Knife	7 (75)*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Ikwa	13 (125)*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Spear	19 (188)*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Mace	13 (125)*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Club	10 (100)*	?	-	-	?	-	-	-	-
Axe	13 (125)*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Warhammer	37 (375)*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Autopistol	7	13.3	14 (87%)	20.8 (68.4%)	27.8 (59.5%)	34.8 (57.1%)	42 (55.4%)	69 (52.3%)	139 (47.8%)
Revolver	7	13.3	13.6 (88.7%)	20.2 (69.5%)	27 (59.8%)	33.8 (57.3%)	40 (55.8%)	67 (52.5%)	135 (49.3%)
Pump shotgun	15	28.5	25.6 (never)	38.2 (74.8%)	51 (63.5%)	64 (58.6%)	76 (56.9%)	127 (53.1%)	255 (50.3%)
Machine pistol	11	20.9	22 (87%)	33 (68%)	44 (59.4%)	55 (57%)	66 (55.4%)	110 (52.3%)	220 (47.5%)
Bolt-action rifle	15	28.5	25.6 (never)	38.2 (74.8%)	51 (63.5%)	64 (58.6%)	76 (56.9%)	127 (53.1%)	255 (50.3%)
Assault rifle	15	28.5	48 (65.6%)	72 (57.4%)	96 (54.9%)	120 (53.4%)	144 (52.4%)	240 (50.5%)	480 (29.7%)
Sniper rifle	15	28.5	53 (62.3%)	79 (56.5%)	106 (54.2%)	132 (52.9%)	159 (52%)	265 (50.2%)	530 (26.9%)
LMG	19	36.1	42 (81.6%)	64 (63.8%)	85 (58.1%)	106 (56%)	127 (54.6%)	212 (51.8%)	425 (42.5%)
Heavy SMG	19	36.1	35.6 (never)	53 (70.9%)	71 (60.5%)	89 (57.6%)	106 (56%)	177 (52.6%)	355 (50%)
EMP grenades	10	19	-	-	63 (55%)	-	-	-	-
Chain shotgun	18	34.2	40 (81.3%)	61 (63.6%)	81 (58.1%)	101 (56%)	121 (54.6%)	202 (51.7%)	405 (42.2%)
Minigun	40	76	116 (69.3%)	174 (58.4%)	232 (55.7%)	290 (54.1%)	348 (53%)	580 (50.8%)	832 (45.7%)
Incendiary launcher	19	36.1	34 (never)	51 (72.5%)	68 (61.9%)	85 (58.1%)	102 (56.3%)	170 (52.8%)	340 (50.2%)
EMP launcher	19	36.1	50 (73.3%)	76 (59.4%)	101 (56.4%)	126 (54.7%)	151 (53.5%)	252 (51.1%)	505 (35.7%)
Smoke launcher	19	36.1	38 (87%)	57 (68%)	76 (59.4%)	95 (57%)	114 (55.4%)	190 (52.3%)	380 (47.5%)
Charge rifle	13	117	101 (never)	151 (76.5%)	202 (64.8%)	252 (59.1%)	303 (57.2%)	505 (53.3%)	802 (51.1%)
Charge lance	15	135	135 (90%)	203 (69.9%)	271 (60%)	339 (57.5%)	406 (55.8%)	671 (52.5%)	871 (51.4%)
Shield belt	12 + 5	67.8	68 (89.8%)	101 (70.3%)	135 (60.1%)	169 (57.5%)	200 (56%)	335 (52.6%)	675 (50%)
Simple helmet	10 (100)*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Flak helmet	10 (100)* + 2	? + 18	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Recon helmet	8	72	260 (54.4%)	395 (52.1%)	525 (50.9%)	655 (50.2%)	785 (45.9%)	1310 (27.5%)	2625 (13.7%)
Marine helmet	10	90	315 (54.6%)	475 (52.2%)	635 (51%)	795 (50.3%)	950 (47.4%)	1585 (28.4%)	3175 (14.2%)
Cataphract helmet	13	117	370 (55.4%)	560 (52.7%)	745 (51.4%)	930 (50.6%)	1115 (50.1%)	1860 (31.5%)	3725 (15.7%)
Prestige recon helmet	10 + 3 + 1	118	355 (55.8%)	535 (53%)	715 (51.6%)	895 (50.8%)	1070 (50.3%)	1785 (33.1%)	3575 (16.5%)
Prestige marine helmet	13 + 5 + 2	167	425 (57.3%)	635 (54.1%)	850 (52.4%)	1060 (51.4%)	1275 (50.8%)	2125 (39.3%)	3850 (21.7%)
Prestige cataphract helmet	19 + 12 + 2	263	575 (58.9%)	865 (55.1%)	1155 (53.2%)	1445 (52.1%)	1730 (51.3%)	2885 (45.6%)	4155 (31.6%)
Plate armor	43 (425)*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Flak vest	15 + 8	40.5	113 (56.5%)	169 (53.5%)	225 (52%)	280 (51.1%)	335 (50.5%)	560 (36.2%)	1125 (18%)
Flak pants	15 + 7	39	113 (56.1%)	169 (53.3%)	225 (51.8%)	280 (51%)	335 (50.4%)	560 (34.8%)	1125 (17.3%)
Flak jacket	17 + 13	51.8	145 (56.4%)	215 (53.5%)	290 (52%)	360 (51.1%)	435 (50.5%)	725 (35.7%)	1450 (17.9%)
Recon armor	20 + 3	198	770 (53.9%)	1155 (51.8%)	1540 (50.7%)	1925 (50.1%)	2310 (42.9%)	3540 (28%)	4540 (21.8%)
Marine armor	25 + 5	255	1015 (53.8%)	1525 (51.7%)	2035 (50.6%)	2535 (50%)	3035 (42%)	4035 (31.6%)	5035 (25.3%)
Cataphract armor	37 + 13	411	1560 (54.1%)	2340 (51.9%)	3120 (50.8%)	3620 (50.3%)	4120 (49.9%)	5120 (40.1%)	6120 (33.6%)
Prestige recon armor	25 + 3 + 3	273	985 (54.4%)	1480 (52.1%)	1975 (51%)	2470 (50.3%)	2960 (46.1%)	3975 (34.3%)	4975 (27.4%)
Prestige marine armor	30 + 5 + 3	411	1265 (55.6%)	1895 (52.9%)	2530 (51.6%)	3030 (50.9%)	3530 (50.4%)	4530 (45.4%)	5530 (37.2%)
Prestige cataphract armor	48 + 12 + 4	544	1965 (54.4%)	2945 (52.1%)	3930 (51%)	4430 (50.6%)	4930 (50.3%)	5930 (45.9%)	6930 (39.2%)
Locust armor	30 + 3	288	1965 (51.2%)	2945 (48.9%)	3930 (36.6%)	4430 (32.5%)	4930 (29.2%)	5930 (24.3%)	6930 (20.8%)
Grenadier armor	25 + 5 + 19	291.1	1150 (53.8%)	1730 (51.7%)	2305 (50.7%)	2805 (50.1%)	3305 (44%)	4305 (33.8%)	5305 (27.4%)
Phoenix armor	38 + 12 + 18	448.2	1740 (53.9%)	2610 (51.8%)	3480 (50.7%)	3980 (50.3%)	4480 (50%)	5480 (40.9%)	6480 (34.6%)
Visage mask	4	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?