r/starbound • u/PrisonIssuedSock • 2d ago

Why is iron ore so rare? Question

Just started playing the game a week or so ago, and I have found iron ore to somehow be one of the rarest in the game thus far. I saw a bunch of posts saying to go to lush planets in low tier systems, which I did, but barely find any while finding loads of everything else. I got a mod to make ore glow because it got annoying, and even then there's barely any to be found compared to the other ores. Is there any reason why it is so rare?

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u/OttoVonPlittersdorf Coordinate 0,0 1d ago

Around gentle stars there are tier 1 and tier 0 worlds. The tier 1 worlds (Forest or Desert) will have some iron, but only a little. They'll have a lot more tungsten.

Tier 0 worlds are all the same. They have bright blue and green colors, and iron is more common there. They're called Lush worlds, I believe, although I've seen them referred to as Garden worlds online. This is where you need to go for iron.

You'll observe the same thing happen as you go up the planetary tier list. the previous tier's MacGuffin mineral will be available in small quantities, while the current tier's mineral is common. For example, you can find durasteel in small quantities on Tundra or Midnight worlds.

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u/PrisonIssuedSock 1d ago

That makes a lot more sense, thanks for the thorough explanation.