Solid Gunk is an in-game element classified as a solid that appears in the world as a mineable, low-purity bulk material. It functions like other solid elements in its basic thermodynamic behavior and in how duplicants interact with deposits during excavation.
When a Solid Gunk tile is mined, only half of the tile’s original mass is recovered as usable material; the other half is lost during the digging process. This loss matches the standard behavior for solid tiles and affects planning for resource extraction and production chains that rely on bulk solids.
Solid Gunk follows the game’s phase-change hysteresis rules for solids and liquids. A solid will melt when its temperature rises above its melting point plus 3°C; conversely, the liquid form will solidify when its temperature drops below the liquid’s freezing point minus 3°C. Liquid forms will vaporize if their temperature exceeds their boiling point plus 3°C. These temperature offsets mean Solid Gunk (and its liquid counterpart, if present) can persist slightly beyond their nominal melting/freezing/boiling thresholds, which is important for designing thermal management and processing systems.
Practical notes for use and handling:
Expect 50% mass loss when mining Solid Gunk; always account for this in supply estimates and when placing mines or planning refineries.
Thermal control matters: keep Solid Gunk below its melting threshold to prevent unintended liquefaction and potential spread; conversely, deliberate heating above melting+3°C will produce the liquid state for processing, if the game defines one for this element.
Because of the +3°C hysteresis on melting and boiling and the −3°C offset on freezing, design temperature buffers into conveyor, storage, and processing systems to avoid accidental phase changes during transient events (e.g., nearby heat sources or cooling failures).
Treat Solid Gunk like other bulk solids for logistics: storage, transport, and use in buildings will follow the usual mechanics for solid materials.
Solid Gunk integrates into the same resource and thermal ecosystems as other solid elements, so standard methods for extraction, containment, and thermal processing apply, with the caveat of the guaranteed 50% mass loss on mining and the ±3°C phase-change margins.
