After a battle, a debris field containing metal and crystal may remain in the galaxy. These resources can be recovered with a recycling mission. In the galaxy view, a debris field is treated as its own target type.
How do you send recyclers?
- Select the debris field at the required coordinates.
- Send Recyclers or Giga Recyclers.
- Set the target type to debris field and choose the recycling mission.
- On arrival, the fleet collects as many resources as its capacity allows.
A debris field can only be targeted by a recycling mission. After collecting resources, the fleet returns to its origin and delivers the recovered metal and crystal.
Why should you watch debris fields?
Large battles can leave a substantial amount of resources behind. Sending recyclers quickly can recover part of the value of destroyed fleets before another player reaches the field.
Exact rules and formulas
Only the cargo capacity of recycler-type ships counts when collecting a debris field. A standard Recycler has 20,000 capacity and a Giga Recycler has 50,000,000.
Formula: collection capacity = sum(recycler count × unit capacity) − current fleet cargo. Metal, crystal and deuterium already loaded all reduce free recycling space.
The game collects metal first, then crystal with the remaining capacity. For one recycler type, the minimum ship count can be estimated as ceil((debris metal + debris crystal) / recycler capacity).
Example: a field with 300,000 metal + 100,000 crystal totals 400,000. With empty holds you need ceil(400,000 / 20,000) = 20 standard Recyclers.
Quick recycle automatically prefers Giga Recyclers first, then standard Recyclers when available.
FAQ — recycling
Will recyclers collect the entire field?
Only if their total capacity is high enough. Otherwise some resources remain.
Can I send a normal mission to a debris field?
No. Debris fields accept recycling missions only.
Recycler calculation examples
A practical capacity formula is 20,000 × Recyclers + 50,000,000 × Giga Recyclers − current cargo. For example, 500 standard Recyclers provide 10,000,000 capacity, while 4 Giga Recyclers provide 200,000,000. Together they can collect 210,000,000 resources when launched empty.
If a debris field contains 150,000,000 metal and 100,000,000 crystal, a fleet with 210,000,000 free capacity takes all 150,000,000 metal first and then 60,000,000 crystal. 40,000,000 crystal remains. This metal-first order matters whenever your recyclers cannot clear the entire field.
How does quick recycling select ships?
Automatic recycling from the galaxy view uses available Giga Recyclers first because one Giga Recycler has the same collection capacity as 2,500 standard Recyclers. Standard Recyclers are then added for any remaining capacity requirement. Required ship counts are rounded up with ceil, so even a small remainder requires another recycler.
If several fleets reach the same debris field, each fleet can only collect what is still present when its arrival is settled. The mission can never harvest more metal or crystal than the field currently contains.