Space · Machine
Thermal crucible
A fire-clay crucible under a dish of mirrors: by a molten pool on Mercury it skims a hermesite bead every 30 s.
In the game
How to get it
Craft it: three mirrors / titanium ingot, brick, titanium ingot / three titanium ingots. Take it to Mercury and set it within 3 m of a pool of molten metal, on the day side.
What it is for
Hermesite beads, nothing to put in, no fuel: four make a hermesite ingot.
Why it exists
Mercury's metal is liquid in the sunlight: a machine skims it where no hand could.
The same text the game shows in its progress tree and on the item's sheet (I).
Recipe
| mirror | mirror | mirror |
| titanium ingot | brick | titanium ingot |
| titanium ingot | titanium ingot | titanium ingot |
How it works
On Mercury, beside a pool of molten metal (within 3 m): the mirrors gather the Sun, the crucible skims a hermesite bead every 30 s. Off Mercury, or when the night has frozen the pool, it waits -- its screen says why. No fuel, no power.