How do I get enough copper ore and aluminum ore?

Question

In Astroneer (early access on Steam, Windows 7), I'm having real difficulty finding enough copper/aluminum ores to build a vehicle. I'm in a mostly flat tropical world and all the mountains are a LONG way away. I have researched more than 20 of the alien blobs and I have the "TRUCK" tech unlocked but I can't build a "vehicle bay" yet because I cannot find the metals or their ores.

I consider vehicle acquisition a high priority because it would extend my range and carrying capacity a great deal and make gameplay a bit less grindsome.

Answer 1

I was given bad info before I began playing this game. My best friend of 30 years told me that the ores only spawn inside mountains. This isn't true and now we are enemies forever. I will never forgive him, ever.

After briefly mourning this sad incident, I discovered that you can simply dig a long way downwards to find it! Carefully descending into the ground at a shallow angle (so you can walk out again) will sooner or later bring you out in an underground cave system and chances are there will be at least some Laterite (aluminum ore), Malachite (Copper ore) and probably a decent amount of oxygen and energy (which makes it easier to explore faster).

I suspect that a seriously organised "open cast mining" operation centered around your home base will yield very large amounts of metal ores, hydrazine and other goodies. If you have rover or truck already, then you can use that as a portable base (remember to fill it up with solar panels and storage racks).

Answer 2

I dont know about alumininum but copper can be made by putting malicite in a smelter. you can find malichite in caves

Answer 3

Another thing you can do for most, if not all resources, is when you research Fuel Condensers and also Trade Platforms ,you can create Hydrazine with power and then put it onto the trade platform.

Answer 4

As of the "Research Update":

In addition to mining ores and using a Trade Platform, the Mineral Extractor now allows you to convert plain old dirt into ores (and other stuff).

You'll need canisters to store soil, and one unit of the substance you'd like to make. Below is a table from the wiki showing conversion rates:

For instance, filling the extractor with soil (ten canisters I believe) and adding one unit of Compound will use all of the extractors stored power to:

• Generate 8 units of Compound (in addition to the original unit)
• Use 50% of the stored soil