SOLID METAL is a stockpile mission for the ACS faction, who need resources for future prospects of their own. You’ll need to collect and craft a significant amount of resources in order to fill their order. This walkthrough will provide a list of required tools and deployables, as well as offer a specific strategy for completing your objectives.
Prospect Details
Difficulty: Hard ()
Recommended Level: 20 – You’ll need to be at least level 20 to unlock the tech required for this mission.
Since this is a Stockpile mission, you will need to collect and/or craft the listed resources. You will then need to deliver them to two different dropships. While the mission objectives you’re given upon landing indicate that you should head to the two locations indicated on your map, don’t do that. Instead, follow the directions below (or simply refer to the list above) and craft all required items in the location(s) suggested by the guide.
Following the indicated route will save you the headache of having to make your way around steep cliffs. Note the location of both mines; the two drop pods are circled in red.
Thanks to FinallyRage and his wonderful resource Icarus Intel — if you want to be able to zoom in on the map to find the caves, go check it out.
Preparing for RAMP UP
Wood Breakdownis almost a mandatory talent for this mission. You can get by without it, but then you’ll need to bring a lot of sticks (thousands) with you when you head into the desert in Step 2 — you’ll need the sticks to craft tree sap for your Biofuel Composter.
You’ll need to be at least level 20 to craft all the necessary items for this mission. See below for the full list of necessary blueprints:
If possible, bring a high-tier Workshop Knife and Pickaxe with you, as this will significantly shorten the time it takes to tech up.
Mission Walkthrough
Step 1: Teching to Tier 3 & Pod 1
You’ll be dropped in the Riverlands; this area is full of high-level bears and wolves, so move slowly and carefully while you collect the resources you need for your starting equipment. Get a bow and arrows, hunt a bit and cook some meat — all the usual starting stuff! As you do this, make your way northeast to C-3; you’ll set up your first base in the cave there. On your way, be sure to mine any Silica deposits you find, as you’ll be needing a ton of it later.
This cave is unfinished, which means it has no worms, no cave debuff, and no darkness! Additionally, it has an insane amount of ore, so even if the developers end up finishing the cave, this will still be the optimal place to tech up to Tier 3.
Hopefully, you brought a nice high-quality pickaxe from orbit. If you didn’t, you should tech directly to the Anvil Bench and craft yourself an Iron Pickaxe. Once you’ve got one, start mining, and work on teching up to the Machining Bench. After you’ve got the Machining Bench, your next goal is the Cement Mixer, followed by the Concrete Furnace.
Once you’ve got the Concrete Furnace, pack up your entire operation (bringing all your deployables) and move it to the blue objective marker in D3. Set up a base close to the drop pod that lands, and then start gathering Silica. You need a whopping 350 glass, which means you’ll need 350 Silica just for the glass — and you’ll need another 1,000 for all the Cement Mix you have to make. For now though, focus on feeding the Concrete Furnace Silica.
Once you’ve managed to craft 350 Glass, you’re going on a cement expedition! Since Silica Ore is kind of heavy and Concrete Mix is not, pick up your Cement Mixer and craft enough wooden walls and floors for a 1×1 shelter. Also craft a bunch of Tree Sap — you’ll eventually need 250, so you might as well create it all now and take it with you. Then go around mining Silica deposits, and once you’ve over-encumbered, set up your little Cement Mixer house and make cement. You’ll probably have to put your Silica in the mixer, then go and mine some stone and then return to the mixer.
Make one wall a window variant so you can interact with the mixer from outside the little shelter
Continue doing this until you’re out of inventory carry weight, then take the Cement Mix to the drop pod. Repeat until you’ve brought all 250 Cement mix to the pod. Note that depending on your luck in finding Silica, you may have to venture pretty far from the pod to find all that you need. Before you move on, make 12 extra Concrete Mix, and take it with you during the next step.
Step 2: Into the Desert & Pod 2
Now we’re going to leave the Riverlands and set up a new base in a cave in the Desert. You’ll want to bring your Machining Bench, Concrete Furnace, Mortar and Pestle, Concrete Mix (12), mining equipment, and any extra Epoxy and Steel related materials that you have. If you don’t have the Wood Breakdown talent, craft the 600 tree sap you’ll need before you enter the desert. Head east, and through the pass that begins in the H-4/H-3 border. Make your way to the cave in M-4 — it sits just opposite the southern edge of the lake.
The cave entrance as viewed from the northwest
Set up shop here — there should be enough ore for everything you need. Your end goal is to have 6 full Biofuel Cans and 10 full Oxygen Tanks; this will require crafting a Biofuel Composter and an Oxite Dissolver. The oasis outside your new cave home has plenty of plants and animals, so you have all the organic materials you require nearby.
Once you have the 6 full cans and 10 full O2 tanks, put them all in your inventory and make your way to the objective marker in K-3. The pod will land, you can put all the Oxygen and Biofuel inside, and you’ll have completed all the mission objectives! You can now head back to the drop pod and leave the planet whenever you’re ready.
We hope this guide for RAMP UP was helpful! Please leave questions, suggestions, or thoughts on what you think biofuel smells like in the comments below.
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DanielD
Unabashed FromSoftware fanboy still learning to take his time with games (and everything else, really). The time he doesn't spend on games is spent on music, books, or occasionally going outside.
Fantastic, Ive just started this mission now and are looking forwards to completing it quickly as the first pod requirements made this look like a bad choice of mission! Haha.
Nathan
2 years ago
I did this with the regular oxite dissolver. It didn’t seem nessasary to build the metal oxite dissolver. Also having the wood to sticks talent would have helped a lot. Sticks are hard to come by in the desert so I had to make a couple trips back to the riverlands to chop down small trees with my axe to make all the tree sap for the biofuel composter.
Appreciate your comment Nathan! I shouldn’t have assumed the regular oxite dissolved wouldn’t work with O2 tanks. Also, great point about the woods to sticks talent, I think I assume everyone has it but clearly that’s incorrect — I’ll put a note in the “Preparing” section about that talent, and tell people to bring sticks with them when they head to the desert.
Baku
2 years ago
If you make the Carpentry Bench, you don’t need the skill to turn wood into sticks.
Ajnajera11
2 years ago
You also dont need to waste time with steel you can use 50 lether oxygen containers if you have the material it saves time by killing on your way to the pod
Fantastic, Ive just started this mission now and are looking forwards to completing it quickly as the first pod requirements made this look like a bad choice of mission! Haha.
I did this with the regular oxite dissolver. It didn’t seem nessasary to build the metal oxite dissolver. Also having the wood to sticks talent would have helped a lot. Sticks are hard to come by in the desert so I had to make a couple trips back to the riverlands to chop down small trees with my axe to make all the tree sap for the biofuel composter.
Appreciate your comment Nathan! I shouldn’t have assumed the regular oxite dissolved wouldn’t work with O2 tanks. Also, great point about the woods to sticks talent, I think I assume everyone has it but clearly that’s incorrect — I’ll put a note in the “Preparing” section about that talent, and tell people to bring sticks with them when they head to the desert.
If you make the Carpentry Bench, you don’t need the skill to turn wood into sticks.
You also dont need to waste time with steel you can use 50 lether oxygen containers if you have the material it saves time by killing on your way to the pod