- Home
- Wiki: Alloys and the Forge
Wiki
Alloys and the Forge: metals melted together.
At a Forge Bench you melt two or three metals into something tougher. Hit a classic recipe and you get the real alloy. Try your own proportions and the game works out a new one.
How to make an alloy
- Open a Forge Bench (see Crafting stations).
- Choose two or three different metals and how many units of each. The total can be at most 32 units in one go.
- Choose a fuel that burns hot enough to melt the mix. The heat needed is 85 per cent of the highest melting point among the metals.
- The fuel used is one unit per four units of metal, rounded up.
- Wait a few seconds (2.5 seconds plus a sixteenth of a second per unit, never more than 4.5). You receive ingots, one for each unit you put in.
Only metals melt together. Anything without the metal quality is refused. Compounds from non-metals are made at the Lab Bench instead.
The recipe book lists every classic alloy with a split of units that works, and shows what is missing from your bag.
The classic alloys
Mix close to these proportions and you get the named alloy. The "units" column is a split that works, and the total it makes.
| Alloy | Mix | Units for a batch | Fuel must burn at least |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 88% Copper, 12% Tin | 7 Copper + 1 Tin (8) | 922 |
| Brass | 67% Copper, 33% Zinc | 5 Copper + 3 Zinc (8) | 922 |
| Steel | 98% Iron, 2% Charcoal (or Coal, or Graphite) | 31 Iron + 1 Charcoal (32) | 1307 |
| Stainless Steel | 72% Iron, 18% Chromium, 10% Nickel | 6 Iron + 1 Chromium + 1 Nickel (8) | 1621 |
| Solder | 60% Tin, 40% Lead | 5 Tin + 3 Lead (8) | 278 |
| Pewter | 90% Tin, 10% Copper | 7 Tin + 1 Copper (8) | 922 |
| Electrum | 60% Gold, 40% Silver | 5 Gold + 3 Silver (8) | 904 |
| Sterling Silver | 92.5% Silver, 7.5% Copper | 9 Silver + 1 Copper (10) | 922 |
| Nichrome | 80% Nickel, 20% Chromium | 6 Nickel + 2 Chromium (8) | 1621 |
| Cupronickel | 70% Copper, 30% Nickel | 6 Copper + 2 Nickel (8) | 1237 |
| Invar | 64% Iron, 36% Nickel | 5 Iron + 3 Nickel (8) | 1307 |
| Titanium Alloy | 90% Titanium, 6% Aluminium, 4% Vanadium | 14 Titanium + 1 Aluminium + 1 Vanadium (16) | 1624 |
| Aluminium Alloy | 95% Aluminium, 5% Copper | 11 Aluminium + 1 Copper (12) | 922 |
| Tungsten Carbide | 94% Tungsten, 6% Graphite (or Charcoal) | 11 Tungsten + 1 Graphite (12) | 3060 |
| Nova Alloy | 50% Stellarite, 50% Titanium Alloy (or Tungsten) | 4 Stellarite + 4 Titanium Alloy (8) | none: Stellarite supplies its own heat |
The match is forgiving: each proportion may be off by 4 percentage points, or by 35 per cent of its size if that is more, but every part must be in range. Seven copper to one tin is bronze. Eight to zero is just copper.
Tungsten Carbide burns at a heat few fuels can reach: see Smelting, furnaces and fuel.
What the classic alloys are like
| Alloy | Hardness | Density | Melts at | As a tool head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 3.6 | 8.8 | 950 | Tier 3 (Bronze) |
| Brass | 3.3 | 8.5 | 930 | Tier 2 (Copper) |
| Steel | 5.5 | 7.85 | 1450 | Tier 5 (Steel) |
| Stainless Steel | 5.7 | 8.0 | 1420 | Tier 5 (Steel) |
| Solder | 1.5 | 8.4 | 183 | Tier 0 |
| Pewter | 1.8 | 7.3 | 240 | Tier 0 |
| Electrum | 2.5 | 15.0 | 1010 | Tier 1 (Flint) |
| Sterling Silver | 2.7 | 10.4 | 893 | Tier 1 (Flint) |
| Nichrome | 4.2 | 8.4 | 1400 | Tier 3 (Bronze) |
| Cupronickel | 3.5 | 8.9 | 1170 | Tier 2 (Copper) |
| Invar | 4.0 | 8.05 | 1427 | Tier 3 (Bronze) |
| Titanium Alloy | 6.2 | 4.43 | 1650 | Tier 6 (Tungsten) |
| Aluminium Alloy | 3.2 | 2.8 | 640 | Tier 2 (Copper) |
| Tungsten Carbide | 9.0 | 15.6 | 2870 | Tier 6 (Tungsten) |
| Nova Alloy | 10.8 | 12.0 | 7000 | Tier 6 (Tungsten) |
Hardness is what the rock-mining rules use. Melting points are in degrees. To use any of them in a tool, see Tools and tiers.
Your own alloys
Mix metals in proportions that match no classic alloy and the game makes a new alloy from the ingredients. It is named after its parts, biggest first, for example "Iron-Copper Alloy". The same mix always gives the same alloy, and you can rename it in the Codex. The rules are:
- Hardness is the weighted average, raised by up to a quarter when the metals differ a lot in density.
- Melting point is the average, then 8 per cent lower.
- Heat conduction is the average times 0.7, and electrical conduction times 0.55. Alloys conduct worse than their parts.
- Chromium at 12 per cent or more makes the alloy stainless: it stops rusting and loses its iron quality.
- Radioactive, toxic or glowing parts pass their quality on.
An example: half Iron and half Copper by weight comes out with hardness 4, density 8.42 and a melting point of 1207 degrees, a Bronze-tier head.
New alloys are recorded in the Codex.
The Coreforged alloy
This is the one to aim for. An alloy made only from Outer Core metals becomes coreforged: its hardness rises by a fifth, and as a tool head it is tier 8, Coreforged. It is the only way to mine Stellarite, Diamond and the toughest rock.
The Outer Core's own rock gives you the ingredients: Taenite and Kamacite. Both can be mined with a Tungsten-tier tool. Here is the route:
- Make a Tungsten-tier pickaxe and a Cooling Suit and a Pressure Suit good enough for the Outer Core (see Going deep).
- Mine Taenite and Kamacite in the Outer Core layer, 2200 to 2800 m down.
- At a Forge Bench, mix them (for instance 8 units of each) with a fuel that burns at 1258 degrees or more, such as coal or charcoal.
- The result is a Taenite-Kamacite Alloy: hardness 9.3, density 7.95, melts at 1348 degrees, and it is magnetic like iron.
- Forge a pickaxe from it. Its tier is 8.
Pyrrhonite, the Outer Core's glowing ore, is itself a Coreforged metal. Taenite with Pyrrhonite also makes a coreforged alloy, with hardness 11.5.
Nova Alloy
With a Coreforged pickaxe you can mine Stellarite from the inner core. Melt equal parts Stellarite and Titanium Alloy at a Forge Bench (or Stellarite and Tungsten) and you get Nova Alloy, the rarest metal there is. Stellarite burns with its own heat, so you do not need any fuel for this.
Nova Alloy is hardness 10.8 and melts at 7000 degrees. Making 40 of it begins the Nova Age (see The eight ages). The Vector Drive takes 24 units of Nova Alloy or Stellarite, and Nova Alloy can be rolled into hull plating at the Lab Bench.
Compounds
At a Lab Bench you can combine two or three non-metal materials. If they match one of the listed reactions you are told to pick it from the list. If not, the game blends a new compound the same way it blends alloys. Metals are refused: they belong at the Forge Bench. See Research and the Lab Bench.
Tips
- Bronze is the first alloy and starts the Tinmelt Age. Every batch counts, so make plenty.
- Steel needs 31 iron per batch. Smelt iron in bulk first.
- Titanium Alloy is both a top tool head and the base for hull plating.
- A fuel that is too cool is refused with the temperature it needs, so you lose nothing by trying.
← Back to the wiki · Last updated 25 October 2026. Mantlenaut is in alpha, so things change.