Eruption Drill

The Eruption Drill is an advanced 5x5 ore extractor introduced in Build 136. It functions like an improved impact drill with the specific capability to mine thorium and other high-hardness ores; it requires hydrogen to operate and can optionally consume cyanogen as a booster to double its drilling speed. The drill generates resources in batches: each batch contains one unit per covered ore tile, so its throughput scales with how many ore tiles fall under its 5x5 footprint.

The drill's per-tile and maximum rates differ by resource and whether cyanogen is supplied. For Beryllium the per-tile rate is 0.43/sec (boosted 0.85/sec), giving a maximum of 10.66/sec unboosted and 21.32/sec when boosted across all covered tiles. For other ores the per-tile rate is 0.21/sec (boosted 0.43/sec), with a maximum of 5.33/sec unboosted and 10.66/sec boosted. The listed input requirements show 360/sec and 4/sec (the drill consumes both power and a Hydrogen input to function; cyanogen is supplied at 0.75/sec when used as a booster and provides a 2× speed multiplier).

Batch timing is resource-dependent: for Beryllium a batch is produced every 2.34s (or 1.17s when boosted), while other ores produce batches every 4.69s (or 2.34s when boosted). In mixed-technology environments, all non-Beryllium ores follow the same rates used for Tungsten and Thorium.

The Eruption Drill received balance changes in Build 147: build cost was increased (Thorium to 150, Silicon to 300, Tungsten to 250), build time rose from 10.26 to 13.4 seconds, Beryllium drill speed was slightly increased, non-Beryllium drill speeds were increased more noticeably, and the cyanogen booster option was added. These changes also revised the item description to note the optional cyanogen boost.

Practical notes and strategy:

• The 5x5 coverage makes placement important: maximizing the number of ore tiles under the drill directly multiplies each batch size and thus total output.
• Using cyanogen doubles cycle speed and greatly increases peak throughput; it is especially effective when mining Beryllium because boosted Beryllium throughput becomes exceptionally high.
• Ensure steady hydrogen and power inputs to maintain consistent output; the drill will only produce at listed rates when required inputs are supplied.
• Compared to other high-end drills (for example the Airblast Drill), the Eruption Drill has higher raw drill rates at full coverage; with boosters its Beryllium rate can significantly outpace some alternatives, though absolute performance depends on resource hardness and available boosters.
• The drill unlocks under the game’s sector unlock system: items unlocked in Sectors persist across modes; to unlock all high-tier items in Sectors you must accumulate the listed high-tier materials in inventory (for a full-unlock requirement reference, see the overall unlock guidance).