Plastic

Plastic is a refined material used in many late-game and mid-to-late-game constructions. It is especially important for advanced infrastructure, including Steam Turbines, Comfy Beds, Plastic Ladders, Plastic Tiles, and Transit Tubes. Because many colonies do not have reliable access to it on the starting asteroid, Plastic often becomes a goal of oil processing and space progression.

Its main strengths are its excellent radiation absorption and very low thermal conductivity. With an 85% radiation absorption rate, Plastic is tied with Lead and Depleted Uranium as one of the best buildable radiation absorbers. It is also described as antiseptic, but that trait has no in-game effect. In practical terms, Plastic is valued less for raw durability and more for unlocking high-end buildings and for use in specialized systems.

Plastic is produced primarily in the Polymer Press from Petroleum. The conversion rate is:

• 833.33 g/s Petroleum → 500 g/s Plastic + 8.33 g/s Steam + 8.33 g/s Carbon Dioxide

It can also be generated indirectly through other systems: Orbital Data Collection Labs can produce Data Banks from Plastic during rocket flight, at a rate of 5 kg Plastic = 1 Data Bank. Glossy Dreckos are another source, since they grow Plastic scale when kept in a Hydrogen atmosphere. This makes them a renewable source of the material once the ranching setup is established.

Plastic also has an important thermal interaction: when melted, it becomes Naphtha. Buildings and objects made primarily from Plastic follow the same rule, so if they overheat and melt, their material changes to Naphtha as well. This matters for anything exposed to extreme heat, since losing a Plastic structure can also leave behind a different liquid-state material.

A few practical notes make Plastic especially useful:

• It is one of the best materials for radiation shielding when a buildable absorber is needed.
• It is commonly reserved for late-game buildings, since many of its uses are tied to advanced power, comfort, and transit systems.
• Because it melts into Naphtha, it should not be relied on in very hot environments unless that transition is acceptable.
• The material is often a bottleneck on starts with limited oil access, especially before rocket travel or teleporter routes open access to oil-rich regions.

The in-game chemical symbol for Plastic is (C3H6)n, matching the real-world formula for polypropylene.