Minerals are the fundamental building materials of every starship and starbase in the game, along with the fuel used to move them. They can be found naturally on the surface of planets, and they can be extracted from a planet's core via the construction of Mineral Mines. Minerals can also be produced by Alchemy Ships.
The minerals used in Planets.nu are as follows:
Almost every hull or part uses some of each of the last three minerals in various amounts.
At the beginning of a game, each planet has some of each mineral on the surface, and additional amounts in the core. Minerals on the surface are available for immediate use, while those in the core must be mined. In additional to these minerals, planets receive additional minerals from meteor impacts , the impact of Horwasp Rocks , and Trans-Uranium Mutation.
Trans-Uranium Mutation occurs each turn, as the radioactive elements in a planet decay. As this occurs, the four critical minerals, along with other, less important minerals, are produced. The rate of production of the critical minerals is dependant on the density of those minerals, according to the following table:
Trans-Uranium Mineral Density Mutation yield 10%-20% 1 KT per turn 21%-40% 2 KT per turn 41%-60% 3 KT per turn 61%-80% 4 KT per turn 81%-100% 5 KT per turn