Iron: ore, smelting and a reliable supply
Iron Ore and Iron are different resources. The official starter guide identifies Iron as the Ore Smelter’s main output, with Soot as a by-product. Mining a deposit is not the same as producing smelted Iron. Check the selected resource in the flow screen before adding more mines to solve a smelter bottleneck.
Trace ore through the smelter
- Select Iron in the resource-flow screen and identify the producer and consumers. Then check Iron Ore separately so an input shortage is not mistaken for a full Iron store.
- Inspect the Ore Smelter’s active Work method, required inputs, road and power connection. Staff must be within their housing employment boundary, and resource-producing buildings need all work slots filled.
- Inspect both output stores. The official guide specifically says a full Soot by-product store stops the Ore Smelter even when it has room for more Iron.
- Before spending the remaining construction materials, check the current Mine build panel and another reachable deposit. No Demo-era construction cost or ore-to-Iron ratio is assumed here.
What players report about the home ship
A reply in Running out of stone says the Home Spaceship’s Stone, Iron and Tools supply depends on ground deposits in its range and stops when those deposits run out. This is a community explanation, not an official production specification; the original poster initially reported that Tools were still arriving. Inspect your own Location Summary rather than assuming every save loses all three at once.
If the construction reserve is already exhausted, use the iron/stone softlock checklist before demolishing anything. Refund settings and the current demolition preview matter. For the related raw building material, see Stone.
Sources
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