Sol One Crafting Guide: Extraction, Processing and Fabrication
How Sol One's three-tier crafting chain works, what to build first, and how to keep the fabricator fed without turning the base into a factory simulator.
Sol One describes its production as three tiers: extraction, processing and fabrication. That is a clean way of saying that nothing comes out of the ground ready to use, and the interesting decisions are about where you put each stage. A fabricator at the base needs processed inputs; a processor at the base needs raw inputs; and every step between the deposit and the finished part is a trip unless you design it away.
This guide covers the chain and the habits that keep it running.
The three tiers
Extraction is mining and gathering: regolith, ore, ice. It is the only tier that requires you to leave the base, and it is therefore the tier that competes with exploration, research and building for your time.
Processing turns raw material into usable stock: ore into metal, ice into water or gas, silica into glass. Processing is power-hungry and usually wants to sit between the mine and the fabricator.
Fabrication turns stock into parts: panels, machines, tools, and eventually rocket components. This is the tier that consumes the output of the other two, and the tier where the game's tech tree is felt most directly.
Every tier can be at the base, at the mine, or somewhere in between. The right answer changes as you get vehicles. Early on, keep everything at the base and accept the hauling. Later, move processing to the deposit and keep fabrication at home.
What to build first
The first fabrication priorities are the ones that make the next hour easier:
- A furnace or smelter. Without it, ore is a rock.
- A power source and storage. Every tier above extraction runs on electricity.
- An oxygen producer and a water processor. The base cannot grow without them.
- A fabricator. The machine that turns stock into every other machine.
- Storage. Not glamorous, but the difference between a workshop and a pile.
The order is deliberately survival-first. A base with a beautiful fabricator and no air is a very short game.
Feeding the fabricator
A fabricator is only as good as its input buffer. Three habits prevent the classic "I have the recipe but not the material" stall:
- Keep a standing stock of the basics. Metal stock, glass, wire and a handful of components cover most early recipes.
- Craft in batches. If a part takes five units of stock, make twenty while you are at the machine; the setup cost is the trip, not the craft.
- Queue with intent. If the build allows a queue, fill it with things you will need for the next build, not with things you might need someday.
Raw ore in one crate, processed stock in another, finished parts in a third. The labels are for you, not the game. It cuts the time you spend opening containers.
Processing and power
Processing is where the power budget gets real. A smelter running all night will flatten a solar-only base, and a water processor that shuts off at midnight is a water processor that fails.
Practical rules:
- Put processing on the critical circuit if it feeds life support.
- Batch processing during daylight if you have solar and no storage.
- Do not run the smelter and the fabricator at once on a marginal grid. Stagger them.
The power grid guide→ covers sizing and priority in detail.
The workshop
A workshop is an unpressurized or separately sealed room with the dirty machines in it. Keeping it out of the habitat has three benefits:
- Crafting does not consume habitat air.
- Heat and dust stay out of the living space.
- You can work in a suit without cycling the main airlock every time.
The trade-off is that you need a second door or a connecting corridor, and you need light and power out there. It is still worth it.
Workshop layout
A layout that works:
- Furnace against the outside wall, near the ore storage.
- Fabricator central, with clear floor space in front of it.
- Input crates on one side, output crates on the other.
- A charging point for the suit and the rover.
- A light over every workstation.
Nothing here is decorative. Every element is about reducing the number of trips between the machine and the material.
Research and the crafting tree
Fabrication unlocks are gated by research. The launch build ships a tier-one tech tree, and the pattern is familiar: gather samples and data points, spend them at the research bench, unlock better recipes.
The practical consequence is that your crafting priorities should follow your research priorities, not the other way around. If you have unlocked a better oxygen processor, build it before you build a second furnace. The research guide→ covers how to choose.
The rocket as a crafting project
The rocket is the largest fabrication project in the game, and it is the reason the chain exists. Treat it as a multi-stage build:
- Stage one: stock. Accumulate the refined materials and components the rocket needs before you start assembly.
- Stage two: fabrication. Build the rocket-specific parts, which will compete with base upgrades for machine time.
- Stage three: assembly. Put the parts together at the launch site or assembly structure.
The rocket guide→ breaks this down in detail. The crafting takeaway is simple: do not let base expansion eat the rocket stock. Separate storage, separate priorities.
Common crafting mistakes
- Crafting one of everything. Batch the things you need, ignore the things you do not.
- Building the fabricator before the power. A fabricator with no grid is a sculpture.
- Processing at the base and mining far away. Move one of them.
- No input buffer. The machine idles while you walk.
- Ignoring the by-products. Processing often produces something useful; check before you dump it.
FAQ
Can I craft anywhere? Small items can be made at the fabricator; large structures are placed from blueprints and assembled on site. The crafting station is a fixed installation, not a portable menu.
Do I need a separate building for crafting? No, but it is better. A workshop annex keeps heat, dust and power draw out of the habitat, and it lets you work without spending habitat air.
What is the fastest way to get a fabricator? Mine regolith and the nearest ore, build a furnace, process enough metal for the fabricator, and power it. That is the first full loop of the game, and it is worth doing deliberately.
Are recipes randomized? No indication of that. Recipes are unlocked through research and fixed by the build; the variation is in what you choose to make first.
How do I know what to craft for the rocket? The rocket's requirements are shown when you start the project. Work backwards: list the parts, list their inputs, and stock the inputs before you start fabrication.