Planet Crafter Super Alloy: Crafting the Rod, Locations and How Much You Need

In the late game, you mostly need Planet Crafter super alloy in the form of the Super Alloy Rod: 8 Super Alloy plus 1 Aluminum make one rod, crafted at the Advanced Craft Station. According to the game database, the recipe unlocks at 750 MTi.

This guide covers the recipe, station and unlock, where the ore comes from on each world, which buildings use the rod and how many rods a complete run really eats. It also covers how to automate production.

⚒️ Turning Planet Crafter Super Alloy into Rods: Recipe and Station

In The Planet Crafter, the rod is a pure compression product. The in-game description reads "Extremely condensed Super Alloy". Unlike the Uranium, Iridium and Osmium Rods, which are each made from 9 units of a single ore, this rod needs a second ingredient: one Aluminum.

For comparison: the Iridium Rod and Uranium Rod have a trade value of 10, and so does the Osmium Rod. The higher value reflects the eight units of ore plus Aluminum. How the other rods are made is in the Uranium Rod guide, which uses the same station. The Iridium and Osmium Rods are made there as well.

The Advanced Craft Station itself costs 3 Aluminum, 1 Titanium, 1 Magnesium and 1 Silicon, draws 12.5 kW and, according to the game database, unlocks at 175 kTi. So you'll have it standing long before the rod recipe. You don't need the Quartz craft station for this recipe.

Don't Forget the Aluminum

The most common stumbling block is a simple one: you have 40 units of ore in storage and still can't craft the rod, because the one Aluminum is missing. Keep a stock of it right next to the station. Locations and mining are covered in the Aluminum guide.

On PC there's a Nexus mod that changes the recipe to 9 units of ore without Aluminum, to match the other rods. That's a mod, not a game change. On PS5 and Xbox the original recipe always applies.

🗺️ Where Planet Crafter Super Alloy Comes From on Each World

In The Planet Crafter, Super Alloy is an ore you pick up or mine with an extractor. The map on planetcrafter.th.gl lists more than a thousand known loose deposits, spread across exactly four maps: Prime, Humble, Aqualis and Toxicity. The map lists no spawn points for Selenea and Skeo.

The database lists ore veins for the extractor on Prime, Humble and Toxicity. That's the point most guides skip: if you want a steady supply on Aqualis, Selenea or Skeo, there's no listed vein, and you depend on picking it up, crafting it or bringing it in.

On Prime, English community guides name three classic gathering areas: the base of the sandfalls, a cave south of the big spaceship wreck in the dunes and the labyrinth canyon northeast of the iridium mine. These come from fan guides and aren't officially confirmed.

The Second Source: Crafting Super Alloy Yourself

According to the game database, you can also craft Super Alloy at the Advanced Craft Station from one unit each of Cobalt, Iron, Magnesium, Silicon, Titanium and Aluminum. The database shows no amounts for these ingredients, which means one unit each. It doesn't list a separate unlock threshold for this recipe.

For worlds without listed deposits, that's the key way out. Six base ores for one unit is expensive, but the base ores are everywhere. If you'd rather bring it along, read up first on what survives the flight in the Skeo inventory guide and the guide to changing planets.

📦 What You Need the Super Alloy Rod For

The rod is part of about two dozen recipes in The Planet Crafter. The table below shows the buildings and items whose amounts can be read clearly in the database. Where the database shows no number, it means one unit.

On top of that come a good ten more recipes whose amounts aren't listed here: several rockets for map data, GPS and oxygen, a vehicle module and a few comfort and decoration buildings.

The Portal generator needs two rods plus two Energy multiplier fuses. What those are about is in the Planet Crafter fuses guide. Besides the rod, the T3 Ore Extractor needs one Osmium Rod and one Iridium Rod. Get the Osmium as described in the Osmium guide.

📊 The Total: 18 Rods, 144 Planet Crafter Super Alloy

If you build exactly one of each of the 14 targets in the table, you need 18 rods. That's 144 units of Planet Crafter super alloy and 18 Aluminum, just for this list.

That's the minimum. If you set up several T2 Ore Extractors or build a row of T5 Heaters, you quickly reach double that. Five T5 Heaters alone cost 15 rods, so 120 units of ore. At three rods each, the T5 Heater is the single biggest item.

🔗 Automation: Extractor, Auto-Crafter and Drones

Gathering by hand gets you through the first rods, not through 144 units of ore. The chain for series production has three links.

1. Place a T2 Ore Extractor on a vein. It "extracts rarer ores from the ground" and draws 164 kW. According to the database, it's the first tier that mines this ore. The basic Ore Extractor can't. It costs a rod itself, so you build the first one from gathered ore.
2. Drones deliver the ore into a locker. How to link supply and demand lockers is shown in the guide to drones and logistics.
3. The Auto-Crafter makes the rods. According to its description, it automatically crafts the selected recipe as soon as the ingredients are within range, in storage lockers or directly in the world. It draws 155 kW and has 8 slots.

A note on the third link: the patch notes for the v2.102 test version state that Solar Quartz and Pulsar Quartz can be selected in the Auto-Crafter again before the Quartz craft station is unlocked. Whether the rod recipe shows up in the Auto-Crafter before the station is documented neither in the changelog nor in the database. Check it in your save before you plan a production line around it.

Also make sure both ingredients are within the same range. If the Aluminum is missing, the whole line stops.

💡 Practical Tips

• Pre-produce rods: once you reach 750 MTi, a stock of five rods pays off. The T3 Exoskeleton, Auto-Crafter and T2 Ore Extractor come in quick succession.
• Transport rods, not ore: one rod bundles eight units of ore into one inventory slot. That saves a lot of space before you change planets.
• Don't sell: a trade value of 15 per rod is little for nine ingredients. Until the portal and the travel rocket are built, every rod belongs in a building.
• Prepare for Skeo: the T2 Incubator and the Underground living compartment need rods, and there are no listed deposits there. Bring rods or plan to craft them from base ores.

❓ FAQ about Planet Crafter Super Alloy

How much ore does a Super Alloy Rod take?

Eight units plus one Aluminum. That sets it apart from the Uranium, Iridium and Osmium Rods, which each consist of nine units of one ore.

Where do I craft the rod?

At the Advanced Craft Station. According to the game database, the recipe unlocks at 750 MTi, the station itself already at 175 kTi.

Is there Planet Crafter super alloy on Skeo?

The planetcrafter.th.gl map lists no deposits there, and none on Selenea either. You can bring rods, or, according to the database, craft Super Alloy from six base ores at the Advanced Craft Station.

How many rods does the Portal generator need?

Two. On top of that come two Energy multiplier fuses, two Circuit boards and other parts. The Portal generator unlocks at 250 GTi.

Which extractor mines Super Alloy?

According to the game database, the T2 and T3 Ore Extractor, not the basic Ore Extractor. The database lists ore veins on Prime, Humble and Toxicity.

Can I craft Super Alloy Rods automatically?

The Auto-Crafter crafts a selected recipe as soon as the ingredients are within range. Together with an extractor and drones, that makes a closed production line. When the rod recipe becomes selectable there isn't documented.

Checked against version 2.103 as of October 2026. Recipes, client names, unlock values, trade values, extractor tiers and ore veins checked against the community database planetcrafter.th.gl, which reads the game files, and against Miju Games' patch notes on Steam up to v2.103. There is no official wiki for The Planet Crafter.

Community information and not officially confirmed: the gathering areas on Prime. The Nexus mod is a fan modification. Not confirmed: the unlock threshold for the ore crafting recipe and the amounts in the other recipes not listed in the table.