How to Use the Smelter in StarRupture

A key part of survival games like StarRupture is being able to build numerous buildings around your base that aid in your survival. In this instance, these buildings allow you to take basic materials like Calcium, Titanium, and Helium, and turn them into complex materials used for crafting high-end items to appease your corporate overlords.

The first of these buildings you will unlock is most likely the Smelter. This building is your gateway to learning the game's crafting system and how you will ultimately thrive on this alien planet.

Let's break down everything you need to know about building, operating, and upgrading the Smelter in StarRupture.

Unlocking and Building the Smelter

The Smelter is one of the basic structures in StarRupture; as such, you will have access to it relatively quickly. You get the Smelter as part of the first level of the Selenian Corporation.

You gain access to the items in the Selenian Corporation's first level during the game's tutorial. During this time, you will get the Base Core, Basic Item Printer, Ore Excavator, Smelter, and Habitat.

The Smelter can be built around your base for 100 Basic Building Materials. Similar to other structures, you cannot move this building after it has been placed, and will instead need to delete it if you place it in the wrong spot.

When building the Smelter, you will see arrows leading into and out of the machine. Since the Smelter is a drone-operated structure, these arrows indicate how the drones will move through the machine.

When you place the Smelter, it is a good idea to make the machine face the direction of the other machines to avoid overly complicated drone rails.

Using the Smelter

The Smelter is a machine that takes raw materials like Wolfram Ore and turns them into constructed blocks. At first, the Smelter will be able to create Wolfram Bars and Titanium Bars. Later on, you can upgrade the Smelter, allowing it to create Calcium Blocks.

To operate the Smelter, walk up to it and press the E key. This will bring up the crafting menu. Select the symbol on the left that looks like a piece of paper with a folded corner.

This symbol will bring up the recipe list. From here, you can choose which item you want the Smelter to make. I recommend having a Smelter for each of your resources, as this will help with your material output.

The Smelter will continuously make the material you select until you tell it to stop or it is full. From here, you can connect the Smelter to other machines to create more complex materials out of the items the Smelter creates.

Upgrading the Smelter

The Smelter, along with other structures used for crafting, is upgraded using the Recipe Station. This will allow you to unlock new recipes to create in the Smelter.

Along with the two basic recipes the Smelter starts with, you can unlock one additional recipe: Calcium Blocks. To unlock this recipe, access the Recipe Machine, select the Smelter, and then give the Recipe Station Calcium Ore until the recipe is unlocked.

Once you have given enough ore, the recipe will unlock, and you will be able to craft it using the Smelter. Other machines behave in a similar way, but have more recipes to unlock.