Ceramic

Ceramic is a manufactured solid material used as a mid-to-late game construction and crafting resource. It is produced primarily by Kilns from Clay and Coal, can be created by heating Clay to very high temperatures, and functions as a high-temperature, low-conductivity building material. Ceramic tiles are among the few player-buildable solids that safely contain Magma and are used in large construction projects such as the Monument Midsection.

Kiln production follows the fixed recipe: 100 kg Clay + 25 kg Coal = 100 kg Ceramic. Kilns generate many small supply errands; practical automation is common: set duplicant priority low for manual loading and use an Auto-Sweeper feeding from nearby Storage Bins and Smart Storage Bins to maintain reserves and control Coal consumption. Kilns can be run without Coal by integrating Hatch ranching: a tame Hatch fed 50 kg Clay will excrete 25 kg Coal, so combining this output with Clay inputs makes 150 kg Clay produce 100 kg Ceramic through a Hatch-powered loop.

An alternate production path is to heat Clay to 929.85 °C, which transforms Clay into natural Ceramic tiles at that temperature. Due to how solid transitions work, even small Clay debris heated above that threshold becomes a tile rather than debris. Mining out such Ceramic causes an unavoidable 50% mass loss, so heating 100 kg of Clay then digging it up yields 50 kg Ceramic — strictly worse than Kiln production and Hatch-assisted methods, but usable if Hatches and Coal are unavailable. This heating method is heat-negative and requires very high temperatures and micro-management; the resulting Ceramic is very hot, but placing it as constructed building material resets its temperature to 45 °C.

Ceramic’s material properties make it valuable for thermal and high-heat construction: buildings made from Ceramic gain +200 °C overheat temperature, and Ceramic blocks provide a +20% adjacent decor boost. Ceramic has very low thermal conductivity, which dramatically slows heat transfer; in heat exchange between objects, the system uses the lowest thermal conductivity of the materials involved, which will often be the Ceramic itself unless better Insulation materials are used. Ceramic tiles are one of the few safe linings for Magma in the Magma Biome, surviving temperatures that destroy most earlier-game materials (Obsidian remains the only usual exception).

Ceramic can be recycled mechanically: a Rock Crusher breaks Ceramic into Sand at a 1:1 mass ratio (100 kg Ceramic = 100 kg Sand). This conversion is generally inefficient because Ceramic production tends to be harder than obtaining Sand directly, though it can be mass-positive in niche cases (for example, recovering Clay from a Deodorizer loop). Large constructions require significant Ceramic — the Monument Midsection requires 2500 kg Ceramic among its materials.

Practical notes and interactions:

• Use Auto-Sweepers and Smart Storage Bins to automate Kiln feeding and maintain Ceramic reserves while minimizing duplicant task churn.
• Hatch ranching permits Coal-free Kiln operation when combined with produced Coal from fed Hatches; plan ranches and feed cycles to match Kiln throughput.
• Avoid producing Ceramic by heating Clay solely for mass efficiency unless you lack Coal or Hatch options; expect 50% loss when mining heated natural Ceramic.
• Ceramic’s low thermal conductivity makes it an effective passive thermal barrier; place Ceramic on the hot side of thermal gradients when slow heat transfer is desired.
• When handling hot Ceramic from heating methods, remember construction with Ceramic resets its temperature to 45 °C, which can be used to dump excessive heat into newly placed tiles.
• Rock Crusher recycling yields Sand at parity; use only when Ceramic is surplus or Sand is urgently required.