Refinery

Refineries allow the colony to mine the surface of Mars. It can be placed anywhere, and does not need to be connected to the rest of the colony structures. The refinery can be upgraded in the Geology Lab. Return a Mineral Extractor to the refinery to process raw minerals into usable materials.
 * Cost: 4 supplies


 * Requires: 6 KW
 * Footprint: 8x8

Upgrading the Refinery

The Refinery upgrade has to be the hardest aspect of the game. You have to use Dozer to get 3 boulders into the Geology Lab for each level (that's 8x3=24 boulders to max out the Refinery at level 9).

Dozer has two functions: "Move boulder to here" and "Move boulder to not here". It's great at the second, but really not at the first. Here are some hints to upgrade your dozing skill from "Dreadful" to "Tedious" (which I think is as good as it gets).

1. Dozer is haphazard enough at normal speed, but 2x just seems to amplify the weirdness. Never, EVER operate Dozer at 2x speed.

2. Dozer has two modes: "Doze" and "Navigate". It's supposed to retract the blade when in Navigate, but it seems Earth skimped on the actuators and sometimes it gets stuck. Always assume Dozer is in Doze mode, and will push boulders it comes across.

3. You keep your research even if your Geology lab is destroyed. (But don't destroy an old Geology lab if you're part-way through an upgrade level - you'll lose the 1 or 2 boulder progress.) For that reason, don't bother pushing boulders around the map. Bring Mohammed to the mountain. Or, erm, some form of analogy that makes sense. Build a new Geology lab near the boulders you're using.

4. But not too near - boulders that enter your lab while it's not researching for the refinery are just ground down to provide 100 Ore. Don't waste your boulders! Always make sure you're actively researching the Refinery Upgrade before pushing a boulder in.

5. For some reason, when Dozer first touches a boulder, the boulder tends to spin off quite far in a somewhat unpredictable direction (but usually more or less forwards). Approach a boulder heading in a direction that has a lot of empty space.

6. When turning with a boulder, the boulder generally recentres itself on Dozer's blade, but if you turn too sharply, it tends to spin off to the side. '''Turn slowly, in small increments. If you need to turn in a large angle, make a big circle, or circle Dozer around the boulder before re-engaging it.'''

7. If you think Dozer copes with one boulder badly, there's no hope with you for two boulders! '''Push boulders one at a time. Choose your boulder and get it into the Geology lab, before going for a second one.'''

8. Obstacles make Dozer very unhappy. If it, or its boulder, wander anywhere near a piece of building, that boulder is going to have a mind of its own. '''Do your dozing early on. Make it the first thing you do when moving into a new area. And don't be afraid to temporarily dismantle structures that might get in the way.'''