The scrapyard permanently dismantles ships or defense units you own and returns part of the resources used to build them. It is useful when changing fleet composition, removing obsolete units or recovering resources from defenses you no longer need.
How many resources are returned?
The current refund ratio is 60% of the base unit cost, calculated separately for metal, crystal and deuterium:
resource refund = floor(unit cost × 0.60) × number scrapped.
If one unit costs 100,000 metal, 50,000 crystal and 10,000 deuterium, dismantling it returns 60,000 / 30,000 / 6,000. Ten units return 600,000 / 300,000 / 60,000.
What can be dismantled?
There are two modes: ships and defense. The list contains only units actually present on the selected planet. You cannot scrap more than you own; a larger requested amount is capped at the current planet quantity.
What are the requirements?
The scrapyard is available only when the planet has Shipyard level 2 or higher. The operation belongs to one specific planet and refunded resources are added directly to that planet.
Does the refund improve with Shipyard level?
Not in the current implementation. Shipyard level is an access requirement, while the refund remains a fixed 60%. The calculation uses unit costs from the selected universe catalog.
Scrapyard vs debris field
Scrapping units does not create a debris field in the galaxy. It directly converts owned units back into part of their cost. This is different from recycling after combat, where Recyclers collect metal and crystal from a debris field.
Additional economic details
The scrapyard requires Shipyard/Hangar above level 1 on the selected planet. The 60% refund is calculated separately for metal, crystal and deuterium: the game first floors the 60% value for one unit and only then multiplies it by the number dismantled. This means rounding can matter when a unit has a small or unusual resource cost.
The requested amount is capped by the number of units physically present on that planet, so the operation cannot create a negative fleet/defense count. Scrapping creates no debris field and refunds no separate premium currency; recovered resources are credited directly to the same planet. Economically, dismantling always destroys 40% of the refundable base value, so it is a liquidity tool rather than a lossless conversion.
FAQ — scrapyard
Can dismantling be undone?
No. Once processed, the units are removed and the refund is credited to the planet.
Does it refund Dark Matter or other currencies?
No. The current scrapyard service returns metal, crystal and deuterium from the unit definition.
Related FAQ: How does the shipyard queue and cancellation work? · How do you collect a debris field with recyclers?