Iron bacteria

Iron bacteria is an item introduced as part of the Space Age content. It is a biological resource produced by the Bacteria cultivation facility and appears as a discrete craftable item rather than a fluid or raw ore. Newly cultured Iron bacteria always start at maximum freshness.

The production process for Iron bacteria is handled by the Bacteria cultivation recipe in the Bacteria cultivation building. That recipe yields a fixed amount: each culture run produces four Iron bacteria. Productivity effects interact with this recipe differently from ordinary catalyst-style outputs; the recipe’s behavior results in discrete groups of bacteria rather than a simple incremental gain per productivity point.

• Iron bacteria is produced exclusively via the Bacteria cultivation recipe using the Bacteria cultivation building.
• Each culture run produces exactly four Iron bacteria; the output is fixed per recipe execution.
• Newly produced Iron bacteria always have maximum freshness.
• The recipe’s productivity scaling differs from typical catalyst recipes, so productivity modifiers affect the production in the recipe-specific manner rather than as a simple net increase.

This item is part of the Space Age expansion’s bioscience and planetary-resource mechanics and integrates with other Space Age production chains that rely on biological products. The Bacteria cultivation technology unlocks the ability to produce Iron bacteria.