Asteroid Harvesting

Asteroid Harvesting is a fleet-based resource extraction system where players deploy Orbital Refineries to process finite asteroid nodes.

Unlike mines, asteroid nodes:

Have finite resource pools
Require active fleet deployment
Scale by realm
Become contested in higher realms

System Overview

Asteroid harvesting consists of:

Discovering a node
Scanning it for composition
Deploying Orbital Refineries
Extracting refined resources
Transporting output via Orbital Refineries or Cargo ships

Nodes are temporary and disappear when fully processed.

Node Discovery

Spawn Sources by Realm

Realm	Discovery Source
Realm 2	Pirate Bases drop node coordinates
Realm 3	Expeditions reveal anomalous clusters
Realm 4+	Legendary pirate raids and alliance events

Nodes are visible and can be harvested immediately.

Node Properties

Each asteroid node contains:

Finite resource pool
Mixed composition
Possible rare drops

Node Size by Realm

Realm	Node Size Range	PvP Risk
R2	5,000,000 – 30,000,000	None
R3	10,000,000 – 60,000,000	Pirate convoy risk
R4+	30,000,000 – 100,000,000	Full PvP enabled

Resource Composition

Resource Type	Distribution
Regular (Steel, Quartz,)	70–80%
Rare Traces (Realm-dependent)	20–30%
Special Drops	2-3%

Rare trace resources by realm:

Realm	Rare Resources
R2	Iridium (5–10%)
R3	Silicium (10–15%), Iridium (5%)
R4+	Elerium (10–20%), Silicium (10%), Iridium (5–10%)

Special Drops may include:

Relic pieces
Boost items

Fleet Requirements

Orbital Refinery (Mandatory)

The Orbital Refinery is required to process asteroid nodes. To improve harvest capacity and increase harvest cycle, Advanced Resource Extraction and Debris Mastery researches.

Base Stats by Realm:

Realm	Processing Power	Refinery Hold Capacity
R2+	3,000 units/cycle	40,000

Functions:

Extracts and refines raw asteroid materials
Stores processed output internally
Halts if internal storage becomes full

Cargo Ships (Optional)

Cargo ships:

Remove refined resources from refinery hold
Allow continuous processing
Prevent idle time

At later realms, without cargo ships, refineries frequently stop due to full storage.

Processing Mechanics

Core Processing Formula

Processing Time = Node Size ÷ (Number of Refineries × Processing Power)

Example (Realm 2, 200,000 node):

1 Refinery:
200,000 ÷ 2,000 = 100 minutes
3 Refineries:
200,000 ÷ (3 × 2,000) = ~33 minutes