If you have reached Aquilo and your next step feels blocked by ice, fluids, and unfamiliar recipes, this guide shows you how to turn that into a working ammonia-and-lithium supply chain. Ammonia is the key to powering Aquilo logistics, building ice platforms, and feeding late-game production, while lithium is the required step toward lithium plates and cryogenic science. The trick is not to treat Aquilo like a normal outpost: you need to build locally, stabilize the fluid flow, and scale in the right order so you do not strand yourself with one missing input.
Unlock Aquilo production before you try to build a full supply chain
Start with Planet discovery Aquilo. That is the gate that opens Lithium processing, and it is the point where Aquilo-specific production becomes worth planning around. Do not try to solve this by shipping fluids from elsewhere: Ammonia cannot be put into barrels, so it cannot be transported off of Aquilo, and Lithium brine is also an Aquilo-bound fluid resource. The entire chain lives on the planet.
That means your first goal is simple: get the research done, then build the local infrastructure to process what Aquilo gives you. Once Planet discovery Aquilo is unlocked, you can begin turning Ammoniacal solution into Ammonia, and then use that Ammonia as the backbone for the rest of your build. Only after that should you move into Lithium processing, because lithium depends on the same local fluid network.
Set up your first ammonia line from ammoniacal solution
Your first practical build on Aquilo should be a clean separation step for Ammoniacal solution. In a Chemical plant, Ammoniacal solution separation takes 50 Ammoniacal solution and gives you 5 Ice and 50 Ammonia in 1 second. That is the recipe that turns the raw fluid into the two things you actually need: expansion material and a core industrial input.
Treat Ammoniacal solution like a proper fluid system, not a hand-fed trickle. It can go through Pipe, be moved by Pump, and be buffered in Storage tank, so use those tools to keep the line steady before you scale. You want a small, reliable loop first: bring the fluid in, split it, buffer it, and only then add more consumers. If you let demand outrun supply too early, your whole Aquilo base will stall.
The first big consumer to reserve for is terrain growth. Ice Platform is made in Assembling machine 1 over 30 seconds from 400 Ammonia and 50 Ice, producing 1 Ice platform. That recipe is expensive enough that you should not casually divert all your Ammonia elsewhere. Keep a dedicated buffer for platforms so your base can keep expanding across Aquilo’s oceanic terrain instead of locking itself in place.
Here is the quick reference for the core Aquilo recipes you need online first:
Choose the right ammonia product for heat, power, and movement
Once Ammonia is flowing, decide what you need it for before you scale the line. On Aquilo, Ammonia is not just another ingredient; it supports heat, fuel, terrain expansion, and late-game intermediates. The most immediate use is local power support. Solid fuel from ammonia takes 15 Ammonia and 6 Crude oil in a Chemical plant for 0.5 seconds, producing 1 Solid fuel. If you need better fuel, Ammonia rocket fuel takes 10 Solid fuel, 50 Water, and 500 Ammonia in a Chemical plant over 10 seconds, producing 1 Rocket fuel.
Use those recipes deliberately. If you only need a burnable item for heating support, make Solid fuel first; if you need a denser fuel for logistics or more demanding power needs, step up to Rocket fuel. Do not overbuild fuel production before your platform network is healthy, though. On Aquilo, the real bottleneck is usually not the recipe itself; it is keeping your Ammonia supply reserved for the things that let the base survive.
Also remember that Solid fuel is a useful intermediate, not just a burnable item. It is an alternative fuel source, and on Aquilo the ammonia route is especially attractive because it uses the planet’s own resources. Use it when the chain is already in place and you want local convenience more than the simplest possible setup.
Bring lithium online after your ammonia line is stable
Only start Lithium production once your Ammonia line is dependable. Lithium requires 1 Holmium plate, 50 Lithium brine, and 50 Ammonia in a Chemical plant over 20 seconds, producing 5 Lithium. That means you need three things ready at once: imported Holmium plate, local Lithium brine, and a stable Ammonia supply.
The safest order is clear. First, get Ammonia working. Second, bring in Holmium plate from Fulgora. Third, connect a pumpjack to the Lithium brine vent. Lithium brine is extracted from vents on Aquilo’s surface, but unlike most fluids extracted that way, a deposit can run out. That is the bottleneck to watch. Do not assume a vent will support endless scaling; plan for a finite deposit and leave yourself room to add another source or pivot if needed.
You can also mine big or huge lithium ice formation for some Lithium, which gives you another way to keep the chain alive if your brine supply gets tight. That is worth using as backup insurance, not as your primary plan.
Turn lithium into the materials your late-game science needs
Once Lithium is flowing, keep the rest of the chain compact. Lithium Plate is made in a Stone furnace: 1 Lithium becomes 1 Lithium plate in 6.4 seconds. Smelt it close to where you use it so you are not hauling a fragile intermediate farther than necessary.
This matters because Lithium is not an end product; it is a stepping stone toward Lithium plates and fluoroketone (hot), both of which feed the cryogenic science pack chain. If you are thinking about quality, focus on the Holmium plate feeding the Lithium recipe. The quality of Lithium is governed entirely by the quality of the Holmium plate used, because the inputs are fluids and the Holmium plate determines the result in practice.
That makes your import lane from Fulgora more important than it looks. If the Holmium plate delivery is inconsistent, your Lithium line will wobble even if your local Ammonia and Lithium brine are perfect.
Scale carefully so ammonia does not become your new bottleneck
The biggest mistake on Aquilo is spending all your Ammonia on one flashy chain and starving everything else. Ammonia feeds Solid fuel, Rocket fuel, Ice platforms, fluoroketone (hot), and Lithium. That is a lot of pressure on one local fluid, and because Ammonia cannot be exported, the only answer is good on-planet prioritization.
Build in this order: get Ammoniacal solution separation stable, reserve enough Ammonia for Ice platform production, add local fuel only as needed, then bring Lithium online, and only after that push deeper into downstream production. Keep buffers on the Ammonia line so a temporary spike in one consumer does not collapse the rest of the base. If you see Lithium brine thinning out, do not ignore it; that is your cue to prepare a backup source rather than waiting for the line to dry up completely.
If you keep the chain local, buffered, and ordered correctly, Aquilo stops feeling like a wall and starts feeling like a controlled expansion problem. Solve the fluids first, protect your Ice platform supply, then let Lithium and its downstream products follow.
