Lead

Lead is a refined metal found naturally in abundance in the Oil Biome. Unlike most refined metals, it exists there as natural tiles rather than as a raw ore, so it can be obtained directly by mining instead of being manufactured through an industrial refinement chain. This makes it one of the easiest refined metals to acquire, especially early in a colony if the Oil Biome has already been reached.

As a construction material, Lead is valuable for jobs where low cost matters more than high temperature tolerance. It has strong thermal conductivity for a refined metal, making it a practical choice for low-temperature heat exchange in Radiant Liquid Pipe, Radiant Gas Pipe, Metal Tiles, and Tempshift Plates. It is also widely usable for power systems, automation systems, and other buildings that are not sensitive to decor. Because its overheat penalty lowers the overheat temperature of the buildings it is used in, Lead is not suitable for hot machinery such as most power generators or batteries, but it is still good enough for any type of wire.

Lead is also notable as a radiation-shielding material. Among building materials, Lead has 68% radiation resistance, which is the highest among standard building tiles. This makes Lead tiles especially useful for enclosing radiation-heavy installations such as research reactor chambers and nuclear waste storage, where they can retain most radiation and prevent it from spreading.

Lead’s thermal properties also open up a few specialized uses. Its wide liquid temperature range and high thermal conductivity make Molten Lead an effective heat-transfer fluid in very hot systems. It can be useful where ordinary liquids would fail, but care is required around volcanic Magma, since Molten Lead can vaporize into Gas Lead under extreme heat. Its relatively low melting point also means it is a poor choice for geothermal or crude oil cracking applications and other high-temperature machinery.

Lead can be used in the Exosuit Forge to produce the Lead Suit. The recipe is 200 kg of Lead and 10 kg of Glass for 1 suit. Since the suit helps Duplicants resist radiation, Lead also indirectly supports radiation work by supplying the material required to make that gear.

• Best uses: low-temperature heat exchange, wires, automation, and radiation shielding
• Excellent for: Metal Tiles, Tempshift Plates, and Radiant Pipe setups where cost matters
• Poor for: power generators, batteries, and other buildings that overheat easily
• Notable advantage: naturally mined from the Oil Biome, so it needs no refining
• Special application: can be used as Molten Lead in extreme heat transfer systems