Deuteron Fuel Rod

Deuteron fuel rod is a fuel item and crafting material made primarily from Deuterium. It stores 600 MJ of energy, making it a very dense power source for Mecha fuel and a useful supply item for stationary power generation. It is also required as an ingredient for Small Carrier Rocket production, so it remains important well beyond the midgame.

The rod is burned in Icarus’s fuel chamber and in Mini Fusion Power Plants, and it is the only fuel used by Mini Fusion Power Plants. Compared with the Hydrogen Fuel Rod, it provides far more energy per item and lasts much longer in the Mecha’s fuel chamber. At a nominal Mecha fuel power of 1.6 MW with the fuel chamber boost, one rod lasts about 93.75 seconds. In a Mini Fusion Power Plant, one rod burns for 40 seconds at 100% load. Because of this high energy density, it is a strong choice for powering outposts and midgame industrial grids, and it is often worthwhile to switch Mecha fuel over to it once production is established.

Its main drawback is not the Deuterium itself, but the production chain around it. Manufacturing the rod requires 10 Deuterium, plus Super-Magnetic Ring and Titanium Alloy, which means it consumes substantial amounts of Iron Ore, Copper Ore, Coal, Titanium Ore, and Sulfuric Acid upstream. For that reason, large-scale production can place heavy pressure on resource supply, especially Deuterium output. If Hydrogen is the bottleneck, Orbital Collector coverage on gas giants or X-ray Cracking can help keep Deuterium production flowing.

• Raw materials for 1 Deuteron fuel rod:
  • 10 Deuterium
  • 1 Titanium alloy
  • 1 Super-magnetic ring
• Deuteron fuel rods are especially valuable once Dyson sphere construction begins, since they are part of the Small Carrier Rocket recipe.
• Proliferation increases their energy output, making them even more attractive as a fuel source.
• Because Mini Fusion Power Plants compete with Ray Receivers for power infrastructure, they are powerful but relatively expensive to deploy.