Kimberlite Ore

Kimberlite ore is a rare natural resource and crafting material that can be smelted directly into Diamond. It is one of the few ores with a unique one-step diamond recipe, which makes it convenient to use in the early game when setting up a simple Diamond supply line.

Its main drawback is that Diamond is already easy to produce from Coal through regular smelting, so Kimberlite ore is generally less valuable than other rare resources. For that reason, it is mostly a niche alternative rather than a core material for most factories. Even so, it can help reduce Coal demand in Diamond production by replacing the Coal-based route with a direct Kimberlite-to-Diamond conversion.

Kimberlite ore can also be obtained in very small amounts from large rocks that are broken by hand, so players may occasionally pick up some while exploring or clearing terrain. Because it is a natural resource, it appears in the item categories for rare materials and crafting materials.

Its most notable practical use comes later, after finishing the game and beginning to apply Proliferator widely. At that stage, Kimberlite ore becomes more attractive because it can support a much more efficient Diamond-based production chain for proliferator production. In that context, using Kimberlite ore reduces the Coal consumption of Proliferator Mk.II production from 4 to 2 per item, and it also greatly improves throughput. For example, to produce Proliferator Mk.II at 4/s, the number of Arc Smelters needed drops from 16 when using Coal to just 3 when using Kimberlite ore.

• Rarely dropped from big rocks that can be manually harvested.
• Smelts directly into Diamond in one step.
• Useful for early direct Diamond production, but usually less efficient overall than the standard Coal route.
• Becomes especially valuable in late-game proliferator-heavy production chains, where it can sharply reduce Coal use and machine count.