Metallic Biome

The Metallic Biome is a late-game space biome associated with the metallic asteroid cluster. It is one of the biomes found there, alongside Swampy Biome, Marsh Biome, Space Biome, and Magma Biome, and it is notable for being a source of refinery-grade materials and metal-focused space rewards.

Exploration and rocket missions to the Metallic Biome can yield resources from meteorites including Algae, Slime, Gold Amalgam, and Regolith. It is also tied to several geyser and volcano features, with guaranteed Natural Gas Geyser, Gold Volcano, and Cobalt Volcano spawns, plus additional possibilities such as Hydrogen Vent, Iron Volcano, Aluminum Volcano, Copper Volcano, Volcano, Minor Volcano, Chlorine Gas Vent, Infectious Polluted Oxygen Vent, Hot Polluted Oxygen Vent, Carbon Dioxide Geyser, and Carbon Dioxide Vent.

The asteroid’s crust is covered in ice, polluted ice, and brine ice exposed to space. These outer layers start very cold, around -40°C to -60°C, but they are not insulated from the rest of the asteroid and will eventually melt over many cycles, with much of that melt lost to space. If the Metallic Biome is not part of the starting world, the melting timer does not begin until a rocket is first placed in orbit around the asteroid. Because of this, it can be worthwhile to delay discovery until you are ready to send rovers in to recover the ice before it disappears.

From a practical standpoint, the biome is relatively easy to work in because it has no breathable gas to manage, and its temperatures are generally Duplicant-friendly. The lack of gas makes oxygenation straightforward, and the biome is especially useful when you want access to metal-heavy resources without depending on steel infrastructure.

For space missions, the metallic asteroid is a renewable source of Refined Metal and Raw Mineral. A rocket setup using either 4 cargo modules and 2 Liquid Fuel Tanks, or 6 cargo modules and 3 Liquid Fuel Tanks, returns 2.22 kilograms of cargo per 1 kilogram of Petroleum fuel when using Cargo Bays. Using a Biological Cargo Bay instead will return Smooth Hatches.