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Blast furnace

Turns pig iron into metal, the most important building material in the game. Without enough pig iron supply the furnace stalls.

Blast furnace

The Blast furnace is your only production source of metal – apart from trading, loot and recycling. Metal goes into almost everything: ships, research and most buildings. The table shows metal output per level next to the pig iron consumption: the furnace burns through considerably more pig iron than it gives back as metal.

If your Pig iron mine produces less than the furnace consumes, the furnace first eats into your pig iron stock. Once that's empty, it only makes as much metal as fresh pig iron comes in. So always upgrade pig iron mine and blast furnace as a pair – and mind the energy, because the furnace needs power too.

Keep an eye on your Metal warehouse: when it's full, the furnace also drops to 5%. Since the Development center, the Microsystem accelerator and large fleets devour huge amounts of metal, the warehouse should be able to hold your next big projects.

Background

The age of metal began when experiments showed that the properties of pig iron could be changed by modulating the structure of carbon. The blast furnace is regarded as the most efficient means to produce metal without having to halt production. Upgrading improves the technology and the heat generation to ensure increased daily production. Metal is harder, more resistant and more malleable than pig iron and is used primarily for ship construction and for more delicate structures.

Levels at a glance

LevelPig ironKryptoniteBuild timeMetal / hourPig iron used / hourEnergy needed
175258 s1224-2
21143812 s2754-5
31725819 s4794-9
42598728 s73146-13
539013043 s105210-20
65891971 min 5 s145290-27
78902971 min 37 s195390-37
81,3434482 min 27 s256512-48
92,0286763 min 42 s332664-63
103,0611,0215 min 35 s424848-80
114,6231,5418 min 26 s5371,074-102
126,9802,32712 min 44 s6741,348-128
1310,5393,51319 min 13 s8391,678-159
1415,9145,30529 min 1 s1,0402,080-198
1524,0308,01043 min 50 s1,2812,562-244
1636,28512,0951 h 6 min1,5723,144-299
1754,78918,2631 h 39 min1,9203,840-365
1882,73227,5782 h 30 min2,3384,676-445
19124,92541,6423 h 47 min2,8395,678-540
20188,63662,8795 h 44 min3,4366,872-654
21284,84094,9478 h 39 min4,1508,300-790
22430,108143,37013 h 4 min4,9999,998-952
23649,463216,48819 h 44 min6,01112,022-1,145
24980,689326,8971 d 5 h 48 min7,21314,426-1,374
251,480,840493,6141 d 21 h8,64117,282-1,645
262,236,068745,3562 d 19 h 58 min10,33420,668-1,968
273,376,4631,125,4884 d 6 h 37 min12,34224,684-2,350
285,098,4581,699,4866 d 10 h 58 min14,71929,438-2,803
297,698,6722,566,2249 d 18 h17,53135,062-3,339
3011,624,9943,874,99814 d 17 h20,85641,712-3,972
3117,553,7415,851,24722 d 5 h24,78449,568-4,720
3226,506,1498,835,38333 d 13 h29,42158,842-5,604
3340,024,28513,341,42950 d 16 h34,89269,784-6,646
3460,436,67020,145,55776 d 13 h41,34282,684-7,874
3591,259,37230,419,791115 d 13 h48,94297,884-9,322
36137,801,65145,933,884174 d 12 h57,891115,782-11,026
37208,080,49269,360,164263 d 12 h68,424136,848-13,033
38314,201,543104,733,848397 d 22 h80,814161,628-15,393
39474,444,330158,148,110600 d 21 h95,382190,764-18,168
40716,410,938238,803,646907 d 8 h112,502225,004-21,429
411.08 B360,593,5061,370 d 2 h132,612265,224-25,259
421.63 B544,496,1942,068 d 20 h156,224312,448-29,756
432.47 B822,189,2523,123 d 23 h183,935367,870-35,035
443.72 B1.24 B4,717 d 4 h216,444432,888-41,227
455.62 B1.87 B7,122 d 22 h254,568509,136-48,489
468.49 B2.83 B10,755 d 15 h299,259598,518-57,001
4712.82 B4.27 B16,241 d 1 h351,629703,258-66,977
4819.36 B6.45 B24,523 d 23 h412,977825,954-78,662
4929.24 B9.75 B37,031 d 5 h484,818969,636-92,346
5044.15 B14.72 B55,917 d 3 h568,9201,137,840-108,365
5166.67 B22.22 B84,434 d 20 h667,3431,334,686-127,113
52100.67 B33.56 B127,496 d 15 h782,4921,564,984-149,046
53152.01 B50.67 B192,519 d 22 h917,1711,834,342-174,699
54229.53 B76.51 B290,705 d 2 h1,074,6482,149,296-204,694
55346.59 B115.53 B438,964 d 16 h1,258,7312,517,462-239,758
56523.35 B174.45 B662,836 d 16 h1,473,8602,947,720-280,735
57790.26 B263.42 B1,000,883 d 9 h1,725,2063,450,412-328,610
581.19 T397.76 B1,511,333 d 21 h2,018,7944,037,588-384,532
591.80 T600.62 B2,282,114 d 4 h2,361,6414,723,282-449,836
602.72 T906.94 B3,445,992 d 10 h2,761,9195,523,838-526,079
614.11 T1.37 T5,203,448 d 13 h3,229,1436,458,286-615,075
626.20 T2.07 T7,857,207 d 7 h3,774,3927,548,784-718,931
639.37 T3.12 T11,864,383 d 1 h4,410,5608,821,120-840,106
6414.15 T4.72 T17,915,218 d 10 h5,152,65410,305,308-981,458
6521.36 T7.12 T27,051,979 d 19 h6,018,13912,036,278-1,146,312
6632.25 T10.75 T40,848,489 d 13 h7,027,33514,054,670-1,338,540
6748.70 T16.23 T61,681,219 d 5 h8,203,88216,407,764-1,562,644
6873.54 T24.51 T93,138,641 d9,575,27719,150,554-1,823,862
69111.04 T37.01 T140,639,347 d 22 h11,173,50322,347,006-2,128,286
70167.68 T55.89 T212,365,415 d 9 h13,035,75426,071,508-2,483,000
71253.19 T84.40 T320,671,777 d 5 h15,205,27630,410,552-2,896,243
72382.32 T127.44 T484,214,383 d 14 h17,732,35035,464,700-3,377,590
73577.30 T192.43 T731,163,719 d 6 h20,675,42741,350,854-3,938,176
74871.72 T290.57 T1,104,057,216 d 2 h24,102,45048,204,900-4,590,943
751.32 Qa438.77 T1,667,126,396 d 7 h28,092,38356,184,766-5,350,930
761.99 Qa662.54 T2,517,360,858 d 10 h32,736,99065,473,980-6,235,617
773.00 Qa1.00 Qa3,801,214,896 d 5 h38,142,90176,285,802-7,265,314
784.53 Qa1.51 Qa5,739,834,493 d 7 h44,434,00388,868,006-8,463,619
796.84 Qa2.28 Qa8,667,150,084 d 21 h51,754,221103,508,442-9,857,946
8010.33 Qa3.44 Qa13,087,396,628 d 4 h60,270,738120,541,476-11,480,140
8115.60 Qa5.20 Qa19,761,968,908 d 13 h70,177,741140,355,482-13,367,188
8223.56 Qa7.85 Qa29,840,573,051 d 22 h81,700,753163,401,506-15,562,048
8335.58 Qa11.86 Qa45,059,265,308 d 9 h95,101,669190,203,338-18,114,603
8453.72 Qa17.91 Qa68,039,490,615 d 16 h110,684,593221,369,186-21,082,779
8581.12 Qa27.04 Qa102,739,630,829 d 16 h128,802,607257,605,214-24,533,829
86122.49 Qa40.83 Qa155,136,842,552 d 20 h149,865,622299,731,244-28,545,832
87184.96 Qa61.65 Qa234,256,632,254 d 19 h174,349,482348,698,964-33,209,425
88279.29 Qa93.10 Qa353,727,514,704 d 18 h202,806,524405,613,048-38,629,814
89421.73 Qa140.58 Qa534,128,547,204 d 4 h235,877,815471,755,630-44,929,107
90636.81 Qa212.27 Qa806,534,106,278 d 8 h274,307,347548,614,694-52,249,018
91961.58 Qa320.53 Qa1,217,866,500,480 d 6 h318,958,487637,916,974-60,753,997
921.45 Qi484.00 Qa1,838,978,415,725 d 5 h370,833,054741,666,108-70,634,867
932.19 Qi730.83 Qa2,776,857,407,745 d 2 h431,093,426862,186,852-82,113,033
943.31 Qi1.10 Qi4,193,054,685,695 d 2 h501,088,1651,002,176,330-95,445,364
955.00 Qi1.67 Qi6,331,512,575,399 d 14 h582,381,7241,164,763,448-110,929,852
967.55 Qi2.52 Qi9,560,583,988,853 d 9 h676,788,8661,353,577,732-128,912,165
9711.40 Qi3.80 Qi14,436,481,823,168 d 15 h786,414,5631,572,829,126-149,793,250
9817.21 Qi5.74 Qi21,799,087,552,984 d 14 h913,700,2191,827,400,438-174,038,137
9925.99 Qi8.66 Qi32,916,622,205,006 d 18 h1,061,477,2452,122,954,490-202,186,141
10039.24 Qi13.08 Qi49,704,099,529,560 d 5 h1,233,029,1232,466,058,246-234,862,690

Values without premium, Synth or specialization bonuses. Costs are for upgrading to the given level. Set your development center, microsystem accelerator and universe above and the build times adjust.