Salt Water

Salt Water is a liquid element found naturally in the Tide Pool Biome and periodically emitted by a Salt Water Geyser. It is one of the planet’s basic water sources, but unlike clean Water it carries dissolved Salt, which makes it useful in some processes and undesirable in others.

The most important way to process Salt Water is with a Desalinator, which converts it into Water and Salt. The standard conversion rate is 93% Water and 7% Salt by mass. Salt Water can also be boiled to the same end result: once heated past its vaporization point, it becomes Steam and Salt at the same mass ratio. This means Salt Water is functionally a mixed resource, and both desalination and evaporation can be used to extract fresh Water from it.

Salt Water can also be frozen. When cooled below its turning point, it separates into Ice and Brine at a rate of 77% Ice and 23% Brine by mass. That makes it part of the usual phase-change loop for managing liquids, especially when a player wants to store or redirect its contents rather than immediately desalinate it.

It is also an important irrigation source for Waterweed, which requires 5 kg of Salt Water per cycle for domestic growth. Because of this, Salt Water is not just a nuisance fluid to be processed away; in the right biome or setup it directly supports Waterweed production.

• Naturally available in abundance in the Tide Pool Biome.
• Produced periodically by a Salt Water Geyser.
• Can be harvested on rocket missions from renewable space POIs, including Salty Asteroid Fields and Interstellar Oceans.
• Can be desalted into Water and Salt.
• Can be boiled into Steam and Salt with the same mass split as desalination.
• Can be frozen into Ice and Brine.
• Serves as irrigation for Waterweed.

In practice, Salt Water is most valuable early on when a colony has access to coastal or geyser-based supply, or later when a base is built around Waterweed farming. Its byproducts are also useful: the Water produced by desalination can support general industry and farming, while the Salt can be retained for other production chains.