Carbon

Carbon is a refined solid fuel resource used for power generation and research. It is produced by smelting Organic in a Smelting Furnace, and it plays a direct role in mid-game logistics because it can be burned in a Medium Generator. Carbon is also a return from the older Coal resource, which was removed in Update 0.10.1 and replaced by Carbon.

Its main practical use is as generator fuel. A Medium Generator can burn Carbon to produce a steady stream of Power, making it one of the most efficient portable fuels available. Carbon can also be placed in a Research Chamber, where it yields 75 bytes. In addition, Carbon is used in crafting, though the available source data does not list the full set of recipes here.

A few power-related details make Carbon especially notable:

• Carbon produces more total power than a nugget of Organic when used as fuel.
• Smelting Organic into Carbon costs 60 Units in a Smelting Furnace, which increases the material’s effective power output.
• Carbon has the highest consumable power yield per single T1 slot of any item in the game, but that advantage depends on spending a T2 slot for the Medium Generator and additional space for storage.
• When inventory space is tight, carrying Organic can sometimes store more total portable power than Carbon because a Medium Generator takes up more space than the fuel it burns.
• Once a player is transporting more than about 12 T1 slots’ worth of fuel, using a Medium Generator with Carbon becomes the better option for total carried power.
• The Tapper can be used to set up automated Carbon-burning power stations.

Historically, Coal served the same general role before being removed. It powered the Medium Generator and was considered a solid fuel resource, while also being valuable as a trade item. Carbon inherited that role and became the standard refined fuel resource afterward.