Oil Extractor

The Oil Extractor is a ground extractor that produces oil by mining specific terrain tiles. It cannot be placed on arbitrary ground or on natural oil tiles; placement is restricted to certain tile types that grant different extraction efficiencies. Oil Extractors are a mid-to-late economy building used to supply large-volume oil consumers such as Plastanium Compressors and Coal Centrifuges, and they interact well with drills, pulverizers, and Water Extractors when surface water is unavailable.

Placement and tile affinities determine output. As of current builds, usable tiles and their affinity bonuses are: Salt — 30% efficiency, Sand — 70%, Shale — 100%, and Dark Sand — 150%. Extraction yields scale with how many affinity tiles the extractor covers, and a fully covered extractor on Shale produces 30 oil/sec (this is the maximum per-extractor rate in modern versions). Dark Sand yields the highest per-tile rate, while Salt produces very little oil and is generally undesirable unless no other option exists.

Practical notes and common ratios:

• Oil Extractors cannot extract from any tile types other than their listed affinities and cannot be placed on natural oil tiles.
• Salt tiles are inefficient: with full salt coverage you would need four Oil Extractors to sustain a single Plastanium Compressor, so avoid Salt if possible.
• On Dark Sand, 2 Oil Extractors produce enough oil to feed 3 Plastanium Compressors; on light Sand the ratio is reversed (3 extractors for 2 Compressors).
• With full Shale coverage, a single Oil Extractor can evenly supply either 2 Plastanium Compressors or 5 Coal Centrifuges (both use 30 oil/sec total), making Shale the most straightforward single-extractor setup for those consumers.
• Historical and versioned tuning: earlier versions allowed wider placement and different per-tile efficiencies; current affinities and per-tile values reflect the consolidated behavior described above.
• Sand can be farmed via boosted Pneumatic Drills at roughly 2 drills per 3 extractors at full coverage; if sand is unavailable but you have scrap, Pulverizers can convert scrap into sand at equivalent ratios (two Pulverizers can produce enough for three Oil Extractors).
• If surface water is absent, Water Extractors can supply the water needs of setups that require it; for example, two Water Extractors can support both a sand drill and an Oil Extractor on most terrain types (Salt being the notable exception because of its poor yield).
• For large-scale coal production on Dark Sand, four Oil Extractors (full coverage) can provide enough oil for 15 Coal Centrifuges, producing about 30 coal/sec in aggregate.

Because Oil Extractors are terrain-dependent, they are best used in bases that can secure favorable tiles (Shale or Dark Sand) or that can convert/transport sand efficiently. Plan placement to maximize tile coverage, pair extractors with appropriate drills or Pulverizers for sand supply if needed, and route water with Water Extractors when surface sources are not present.