Ores & Materials FAQ

How do I get Chromite? Are the Metal Detector and Nightstar Sand prerequisites?

Chromite is buried underground and never enters the quarry line; the official item text says it can be detected with a Metal Detector on certain islands. For stable volume, follow the chain: gather Nightstar Sand in the desert at night (it shares the (591, 155) field with coal at Desert Backbone; Feybreak beaches carry more; Starryon Primo and Wistella drop a guaranteed 1–2) → unlock the Metal Detector at level 58 (20 Nightstar Sand + 30 Plasteel + 100 Paldium Fragments + 15 Computers) → carry it into Feybreak caverns and random dungeons and mine the marked deposits with a pickaxe.

The detector is not the only lane: Smokie's dedicated gear (also level 58) lets its partner skill "Dig, Smokie! Dig!" detect Chromite outright, with acquisition +100%–200% while fighting together (skill levels 1–5); Smokie and Silvegis drop Chromite themselves (1–2 / 2–3), and Feybreak expeditions and supply chests pay out in bulk. Prerequisites in one line: Nightstar Sand is the material prerequisite of the Metal Detector, and the detector (or Smokie's gear) is the tooling prerequisite for stable volume — both land around level 58. Full locations and lines are in the mining guide.

Source: Site 1.0 data layer

How do I get Nightstar Sand, and why can't I find it by day?

The official item text says it is sand found only in the desert at night — invisible by day, glowing on the ground after dark. So failing to find it at noon does not mean the intel is wrong; wait for night and look for the glow. The smoothest route is the dual-resource field at Desert Backbone (591, 155): mine coal by day, gather sand by night. Site field checks: Feybreak beaches yield more at night, and there is a small patch behind the desert tower fast-travel point. Starryon Primo and Wistella drop a guaranteed 1–2, so hunting along the way tops you up.

Its main sink is the level 58 Metal Detector: the recipe takes 20 Nightstar Sand + 30 Plasteel + 100 Paldium Fragments + 15 Computers, making the sand the material prerequisite of the Chromite chain. If Chromite is your goal, stock the 20 the guide's chain calls for — no need to hoard more.

Source: Site 1.0 data layer

Always short on Ancient Civilization Cores, Coralum Ore or Chromite?

First separate Cores from Parts: Ancient Civilization Parts drop from every field Alpha and are rarely short — the Core is what gates your tech. The Core line lives at the World Tree: the level 78 Alpha Dandilord drops a guaranteed 1 each, so catch a male and female, breed same-species (an ignoreCombi Pal) and butcher the offspring for 1 Core apiece. Before endgame, bridge with expedition reward pools and raid-boss guarantees; from level 74 the Ancient Relic Recycler batch-converts relics plus water into Cores most efficiently.

Coralum Ore has three lanes: ocean salvage with the fishing magnet, hunting Whalaska on the frozen seas (guaranteed 2–3, Alpha 5–10), or catching a pair of Whalaska / the level 60 Alpha Neptilius (guaranteed 10) to breed same-species and butcher. Chromite is the ore that never enters the quarry line: take a Metal Detector into Feybreak caverns and dungeons to dig buried deposits, and bring Smokie to detect them directly and boost Chromite drops. Locations and full lines are in the mining guide.

Source: Community findings, pending on-site verification

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