Plasma Bore

Plasma Bore is a mining building that extracts deep-ore resources using timed laser shots and can be boosted for significantly higher throughput. It is used to harvest high-value deposits such as beryllium and other deep ores and fits into mid-to-late game logistics chains as a compact, high-rate extractor. Plasma Bore interacts with boosters (which multiply its mining speed) and with conveyor/duct throughput limits when planning dense mining arrays.

Per-tile extraction rates depend on whether the bore is boosted. A single tile of unboosted Plasma Bore produces 0.38 items/sec; when boosted this rises to 0.94 items/sec. The listed maximum per-tile rates (accounting for multi-tile placement and internal timing) are 0.75 items/sec unboosted and 1.88 items/sec boosted. The booster input rate referenced is 0.25/sec, providing a 2.5× speed multiplier while active. The hull/ammo entry in available references lists a damage value of 17 and an ammo figure of 40 ammo/item (these values are presented in source tables as the building’s ammo/damage parameters).

Practical usage and strategy: boosted Plasma Bores are much more efficient in compact arrays than unboosted bores, often producing greater throughput per tile even while consuming less hydrogen overall compared to larger variants. For dense mining lines, run either a liquid pipeline or conveyor directly under the row where the lasers strike; this saves space and makes layout and maintenance simpler. A common benchmark is that 8 boosted Plasma Bores covering 16 tiles will effectively saturate a duct’s maximum throughput of 15 items/sec, so plan collectors and storage accordingly to avoid bottlenecks.

When deploying Plasma Bores, position boosters so they reliably affect each bore you intend to speed up; the 2.5× multiplier makes boosters essential on high-demand deposits such as beryllium, which can deplete fast when logistics and building placement constantly draw ore. Because boosted bores change hydrogen consumption dynamics, compare fuel supply and overall base economy before committing to a fully boosted field.

Historical note: during early development on the Erekir map a placement bug caused Plasma Bores to show the placement arrow used by Cliff Crushers; this was recorded as a development-stage oddity and does not affect normal gameplay behavior.