Lets Go To Vulcanus
Lets Go To Vulcanus
Vulcanus, source of big mining drill, green’ish turbo transport belts, and the metallurgic science packs, is either your first or second planet you want to visit. I went first to Fulgora as it seemed to be a bit easier, and I wanted to get the Mech Armor first. But it is totally up to you where you want to head first. Let’s have a look at what I and others think you should bring on your first visit.
From various videos, I collected a list of items you want to bring along to make things a bit easier when you first arrive on Vulcanus.
Minimum Things You Should Bring
- 10 to 20 Steam Turbines
- 20 to 40 Pumpjacks
- 100 to 200 Pipes
- 100 to 200 Underground pipes
- 20 Storage tanks
- 200 Electronic Circuits (Green Chips)
- 200 Refined Concrete
- 300 Steel Plates
- 50 Electric Mining Drills
- 10 Oil Refineries
- 50 Long-handed Inserter (Red)
- 50 Fast Inserter (Blue)
- 20 Chemical Plants
- 10 Offshore pumps (half a stack)
- 10 to 20 Roboports
- 100 to 200 Construction robots
- 100 to 200 Logistic robots
- 50 of each logistic chest (Active-, Passive-, Storage-, Buffer-, Requester-chest)
- 50 Substations
- 50 Solar panels
- 50 Accumulators
- 400 Transport belts (any type you have and want)
- 50 Underground belts (any type you have and want)
- 50 Splitters (any type you have and want)
- 1 Cargo Landing Pad (Important to bring!)
Most numbers represent whole stacks of items.
After the Landing
Upon landing on Vulcanus, deploy your cargo landing pad to establish a point for receiving supplies from space. Position four substations around the pad to create an efficient power grid, simplifying the distribution of electricity to your machinery.
Open your map to identify areas marked in red, which denote demolisher territories. These creatures remain passive unless you build within their zones or initiate an attack. To maintain safety, avoid constructing structures inside these regions.
Set up solar panels and accumulators to make use of Vulcanus’s intense sunlight, providing a reliable initial power source for your operations.
Next, locate and mine accessible coal and calcite deposits within your landing area. Calcite is essential for various processing recipes, and mining it will unlock these necessary processes. Additionally, manually collect rocks and trees to gather initial supplies of stone, coal, and tungsten ore, which are vital for early construction needs.
To ensure a sustainable water supply, you should locate sulphuric acid geysers in your area. By attaching pumpjacks to these geysers and connecting them to chemical plants, you can perform acid neutralisation with sulphuric acid and calcite. This process produces large amounts of steam which, when fed into steam turbines, will boost your energy infrastructure. Store steam in storage tanks to maintain a surplus. Be mindful of your initial resources; use pumpjacks and turbines wisely to maintain balance.
With power stabilized, focus on producing lubricant, a critical component for crafting foundries. This can be achieved by liquefying coal in chemical plants to produce heavy oil, which is then processed into lubricant.
Begin crafting tungsten carbide by processing tungsten ore, which can be obtained by manually mining large volcanic rocks or by deploying construction drones to assist in collection. Producing tungsten carbide will unlock the foundry recipe, enabling the construction of foundries—central to Vulcanus’s production capabilities. Utilize the electronic circuits, refined concrete, and steel plates you’ve brought to assemble your initial foundries.
Once operational, assign foundries to produce molten iron and copper, which can be cast into plates and other necessary components. Be aware that these processes yield stone as a byproduct; establish a system to manage and utilize this excess material, such as converting it into concrete, to prevent operational bottlenecks. Or just bring it back to the lava and dump it to get rid of it.
To get to the tungsten deposits, you will have to deal with the Demolishers—the native creatures that guard certain areas. These areas are marked in red on your map. The Demolishers will remain passive as long as you do not invade their territories. To take them out, you should have a large number of turrets with at least Piercing ammunition (better uranium ammunition) in their territory. With this strategy, you can quickly neutralize the destroyers so that you can safely mine tungsten. Be careful, because small destroyers have about 30,000 hit points, regenerate 2,400 HP per second, and can do a lot of damage if not defeated immediately. It is also advisable to craft a stack of defender capsules or bring them from Nauvis.
Once you have secured tungsten resources, build large mining drills to extract the ore efficiently. Build transport logistics, such as conveyor belts or trains, to transport the materials from the mining sites to your new Vulcanus base. This infrastructure is crucial for increasing production and creating metallurgical science packs, which are essential for expanding your technological capabilities.
By systematically tackling these tasks, you will establish a solid foothold on Vulcanus and pave the way for further expansion and integration into your interplanetary industrial network.
Recommended Things to Bring
- 50 Roboports
- 400 Construction robots
- 400 Logistic robots
- 100 Passive provider chests (red)
- 50 Yellow, Blue, Purple (Storage-, Requester-, Active-) logistic chests
- 100 Lamps
- 200 Substations
- 100 Solar Panels
- 100 Accumulators
- 30 Steam Turbines
- 20 Pumpjacks
- 20 Offshore pumps
- 100 Electric mining drills
- 1 Cargo landing hub
- 2,000 transport belts (red or blue)
- 250 Underground belts
- 100 Splitters
- 200 Underground pipes
- 200 Pipes
- 50 Pumps
- 200 Bulk-inserters (green)
- 50 Fast-inserters (blue)
- 100 Long-handed-inserters (red)
- 50 Storage tanks
- 100 Assemblers (MK3 green)
- 20 Oil refineries
- 50 Chemical Plants
- 50 Electronic furnaces
- 40 Beacons
- 200 MK2 Modules for each Speed, Efficiency, Production, Quality
- 50 Radar
- 600 Processing units (blue chips)
- 1,000 Advanced circuits (red chips)
- 200 Light density structures
- 200 Rocket fuel
- 400 Electric engines
The Demolisher
Learn more about Demolishers.