Various resources are available in the Out There universe. Most resources are elements, but there are also several other specialized items, such as Omega, Cocoons, Emissaries, and Humans.
Elements[]
Thirteen different elements exist, all of which can be extracted from planets (either by drilling or probing). Each type of planet has one guaranteed element, plus one or more elements that may randomly be present. The available elements on a given planet, and the amounts of each, are randomly determined the first time you visit a system. The following table lists the chances an element appears on a planet, plus the range of possible amounts for that element (i.e., the amount extracted from then planet when drilling/probing to depth 10).
All of the elements except Helium are necessary components to build one or more modules. In addition, all elements are necessary for ship maintenance (e.g., refill fuel or oxygen, or repair hull or storage slots) on at least one ship.
All elements except Oxygen may be requested by Aliens during conversations. The list of possible wanted elements increases gradually over the course of the game, in a fixed order: Fe, H, Hf, Th, then W. Finally, the remaining elements except oxygen (i.e., Pt, Si, Cu, C, Au, He, and Co) are all added at the same time.
| Symbol | Name | Source | Chance | Amount | Uses | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Gold | Garden planet | 60% | 1-24 |
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Carbon | Garden planet | 95% | 1-49 |
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Cobalt | Garden planet | 60% | 1-9 | 
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Copper | Garden planet | 60% | 2-48 |
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Iron | Rocky planet | 100% | 10-49 | 
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Hafnium | Rocky planet | 40% | 1-9 |
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Helium | Gas Giant, Star |
40%, 50% |
15-20 |
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Hydrogen | Gas Giant, Star |
100% | 10-49 |
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Oxygen | Garden planet | 100% | 10-49 |
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Platinum | Rocky planet | 40% | 1-9 |
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Silicon | Rocky planet | 40% | 1-49 |
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Thorium | Rocky planet | 40% | 1-24 |
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Tungsten | Rocky planet | 40% | 1-24 |
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Extracting Elements[]
The primary source of every element is extraction from appropriate planets: drilling on rocky and garden planets, or probing on Gas Giant planets.
The type of planet that provides each element is specified in the above table. Every planet has a random, predetermined composition -- it has a list of specific elements and total amounts for each element that are the same every time you visit a star system. Leaving a star system and returning causes all planet compositions to be reset to their original values.
Amount Extracted[]
The amount extracted for each element during a single drill/probe operation is:
[Extracted] = max(1, floor( [Available] * [Depth]/10 * [Planetary Expander Factor])) * [Hit-or-Miss Factor]
where:
[Available]is the total amount of the element present in the planet.[Depth]is the selected drill/probe depth, in km.[Planetary Expander Factor]= 1, 1.5, or 1.8- 1 for a Hydrogen Probe, Ultraprobe, or Drill without Planetary Expander
- 1.5 for a non-adjacent Planetary Expander
- 1.8 if an adjacent Planetary Expander.
[Hit-or-Miss Factor]= 0 or 1- For
, , , , and : the chance that [Hit-or-Miss Factor] is 1 is [Depth]*10%. - For all other elements,
[Hit-or-Miss Factor]is always 1 - The implication is that some elements can be missed (the extracted amount is 0) when drilling to a depth less than 10; the shallower the drill depth, the greater the chance of missing these elements.
- For
- The
max()andfloor()functions mean that the calculated amount is rounded down — unless the amount is less than 1, in which case it is rounded up to 1.
The player is not necessarily able to obtain the extracted amounts of all elements, however. Only six storage slots exist on the drill/probe screen, where each slot can hold at most 20 units of one element. This capacity is always sufficient when using the Hydrogen Proble, but is not sufficient when drilling on many rocky and garden planets, especially at depths greater than 6 km (even when not using a Planetary Expander). Any time the extracted elements require more than six storage slots, elements are placed in the slots based on a preset priority order, which is:
Any "overflow" elements that cannot fit into the six display slots are completely lost. The player has no way to obtain the elements; the [Extracted] amount is still removed from the [Available] left in the planet, meaning that even repeat drilling does not help.
Effect of Depth[]
A key parameter when using a Drill or Hydrogen Probe is the [Depth] (in kilometers), which can range in value from 1 to 10 (the maximum value may be less than 10 when the fuel reservoir is nearly empty). The depth has several implications:
- The depth equals the amount of energy used.
- The amount of each element extracted increases with depth: at depth of 10, 100% is extracted; at a depth of 1, only 10% of each element is extracted. See above equation.
- The chance of hitting certain elements (, , , , and ) increases with depth (
[Hit-or-Miss Factor]above). - At depths of 7 km or larger, there is a chance of damaging equipment, destroying equipment, and/or damaging a storage slot; the chance increases with depth. See Special Events.
- At depths of 7 km or larger, there is a chance of hitting a helium pocket; the chance increases with depth. See Special Events.
The color of the drill-depth meter changes from green to yellow to red to indicate the risk of equipment damage. However, most "yellow" depths (4-6 km) are in fact just as safe as "green" depths (1-3 km) — -- only at and below 7 km is there any risk of damage.
Repeat Drilling[]
If a [Depth] less than 10 is chosen, it is possible to repeat the Drill/Probe operation (at the same depth or a different depth).
The only difference on repeat drilling/probing is that the [Available] amount in the planet is decreased — all previous [Extracted] amounts are removed from the planet's [Available] reservoir of each element. Even extracted elements that were lost because of the six-slot limit are removed from the planet (but elements missed because of the [Hit-or-Miss Factor] remain in the planet).
All [Hit-or-Miss Factor] values are randomly regenerated for each drill operation. In other words, missing an element does not imply that the drill depth needs to be increased because it only exists deep in the planet.
Repeat drilling is possible until the sum of all elements' [Extracted] values is greater than or equal to the sum of all elements' original [Available] amounts. In the typical, simplest case, this means that the total extracted amount of each element matches the original amount in the planet.
However, anomalies are possible, especially with shallow drilling. Repeatedly missing hit-or-miss elements is one reason for anomalies. Also at depth=1, it is possible to "over-drill" any non-hit-or-miss element whose total amount is less than 10. This can be exploited for Cobalt (
) in particular... making it much easier to fuel the the Podracer. For example, on a garden planet with a composition of 40 C, 40 O, 20 Cu, and 1 Co, repeatedly drilling (18 times) to depth=1 yields 18 Co, a dramatic increase, at the expense of the other elements (totals 32 C, 32 O, and 19 Cu). In general, on any Cobalt-containing planet, drilling to depth=1 always yields 1 Co, every time, regardless of the planet's nominal cobalt amount.
Note that when using a Planetary Expander, the [Available] amounts are not increased in any way, limiting the ability to do repeat drilling. Drilling just once to depth=7 with a Planetary Expander typically empties the planet (unless high quantity hit-or-miss elements were missed).
Example: Garden planet with 40 
, 40 
, 20 
- Using Planetary Expander (adjacent) to depth=7:
- Extracted amounts = 50 , 50
- 70% chance that 25 was extracted from planet, but it is never available to player. If extracted, there are no slots available for it. If not extracted, the total of all extracted amounts is still 100 units, equalling the available total. Therefore, drilling is no longer allowed.
- Extracted amounts = 50
- Using Planet Expander (adjacent) to depth=6:
- Extracted amounts = 43 , 43
- 60% chance that 21 was extracted. It is not available to player (no slots), and repeat drilling is not possible (total extracted = 107).
- 40% chance that no Gold was extracted. In this case, repeat drilling is possible (total extracted = 86), yielding 1 , 1 , 60% chance for 21 . Repeat drilling possible until Gold is hit or worst case, after 7 repeats planet is empty.
- Extracted amounts = 43
Special Events[]
There are a few special events that can randomly happen during drilling or probing.
Cocoon: About 40% of the time if all conditions are met, one Cocoon is found and added to the extracted resources. This is possible when drilling or probing, and is independent of other events (e.g., helium pockets, equipment damage). The conditions necessary are:
- The ship must not already have any cocoons.
- The drilling/probing operation must have just emptied the planet, i.e., trying to drill/probe again would trigger the message "There is nothing left to drill". This condition is always met at depth=10; it can also be met at any other depth, but at other depths repeated drilling/probing is necessary.
- There must be an empty slot.
Helium Pocket: At depths of 7-10 km, a helium pocket is encountered 1-10% of the time. This is considered to be a lucky event; equipment is never damaged when a helium pocket is hit. The results are slightly different for drilling vs probing:
- Drilling:
- Message: A pleasant surprise: while drilling, I found a pocket full of fuel! I filled my tanks!
- Effect: the ship's fuel is refilled (meter set to 100), even on ships that do not use helium as a fuel. No change to the extracted elements.
- Probing:
- Message: I found a helium pocket on the planet and scooped up a lot of it. Always nice when the day starts off well.
- Effect: all hydrogen is converted to helium, plus 0-2 bonus helium added. Happens even on ships that do not use helium as a fuel, and message is same -- even though it's more likely to be disastrous than "nice" or a good start to the day when useful hydrogen is replaced by useless helium.
Damaged Equipment: At depths of 8-10 km, the active equipment can be damaged: it remains present in the slot, but needs to be repaired to continue using it. When probing, a functional Ultraprobe is always damaged first; otherwise, the Hydrogen Probe is damaged. Similarly when drilling, a Planetary Expander is damaged before the Drill. The message in each case is:
- Drilling message: Ouch, a layer of harder rock broke my drill. Digging this deep can be hazardous.
- Probing message: Damn! The extreme atmosphere has broken my probe! Drilling this deep can be hazardous.
Destroyed Equipment: At depths of 7-10 km, the active equipment can be destroyed: it is completely removed from the slot, and the element(s) yielded by dismantling the equipment are added to the ship inventory (if storage space is available). In addition, there is a ~10% chance that the storage slot occupied by the equipment is damaged: nothing can be placed in that location until the slot is repaired, using the ship-specific repair element. The message is different when probing or drilling, but the message does not specify whether a storage slot was also damaged.
- Drilling message: Oh no... A lava flux melted my drill. I'll have to rebuild it. Digging this deep can be quite hazardous!"
- Probing message: Oh no... A sudden pressure surge destroyed my probe! I was quite shaken as well... I'll have to rebuild it. Drilling this deep can be hazardous.
| Depth | Helium Pocket | Damaged Equipment | Destroyed Equipment | No Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-6 km | 0% | 0% | 0% | 100% |
| 7 km | 1% | 0% | 5% | 94% |
| 8 km | 4% | 10% | 15% | 71% |
| 9 km | 7% | 25% | 25% | 43% |
| 10 km | 10% | 40% | 35% | 15% |
Other Resources[]
Cocoons[]
A cocoon may randomly appear in the list of extracted elements when drilling or probing. The conditions necessary for a cocoon to appear are:
- The ship must not already have a cocoon in storage
- At least one of the six resource slots in the drilling interface must be empty
- The drilling/probing operation emptied the planet, e.g., the "Nothing to Drill" message pops up if you try to extract again. This condition is always met if extracting to depth=10. Otherwise, repeated extractions are necessary.
Whenever these conditions are met, there is a 40% chance that a cocoon is extracted.
If the player is about to die (e.g., the ship runs out of fuel or oxygen, or the ship's hull is destroyed) and there is a cocoon in storage on the ship, the cocoon transforms into a Flea, preventing the player from dying. Cocoons are used after last chances (e.g., after a "Desperate Action" warning is ignored), but before Stellar Embryos. All contents of the original ship (resources and modules) are irretrievably lost (the original ship is not even added to the graveyard ships). The usefulness of cocoons as a safety net decreases as the game progresses: the Flea may not be able to jump to another star system as the spacing between the stars increases, leaving you stranded and unable to reach any other ship.
Multiple cocoons can be collected (stacking up to 20 in one storage slot), for example by placing each cocoon on an abandoned ship after it is found. However, there is no advantage to owning more than one cocoon (nor do cocoons provide any benefit when stored on abandoned ships).
Emissaries[]
Alien emissaries may randomly be encountered when landing on a rocky planet. The race of the emissary is random, and may correspond to any alien race that you have encountered during the current game.
If you do not transfer the emissary onto your ship when prompted, the emissary is permanently lost.
Emissaries may be returned to their home planet, in which case you are rewarded with 1-5 Omega. Or else they may be used to complete the Orange Objective.
Special random encounters are unlocked while travalling with an emissary.
Humans[]
Humans are found on Ark ships, each of which contains a random number of humans (typically 60-120). You can also get 2 humans during one random encounter.
The only relevance of Humans for gameplay is when completing the Yellow Objective. At least 1 human is necessary to complete the Yellow Objective, and there is a score bonus of 999 points per human. Even when pursuing the Yellow Objective, however, there is no need to keep the humans on your current ship while exploring. Instead, it is easier to store them on an abandoned ship; they can be left in storage on any type of ship (not just Ark ships), even if the ship contains no Cryonics module.
If you are not pursuing the Yellow Objective, there is no penalty caused by dropping Humans.
Omega[]
Omega is the most powerful resource in the game. It serves as fuel for three powerful modules, and can also generally be used in place of any other element.
Although there are several sources for omega, the sources are all limited in number.
- Encounter Life: 1 omega is possible each time you land on a new garden planet.
- Random Encounters: various random incidents yield omega. Typically omega is only possible if your ship has the module required by the specific dialog.
- Emissaries: returning an emissary to its home planet yields 1-5 Omega.
Three modules are powered by Omega:
- Wormhole Generator: each trip through a wormhole costs 1 omega
- Life Seed: each terraformed planet costs 1 omega
- Death Seed: each collapsed star costs 1 omega
In addition, Omega is a possible substitute for other elements:
- Any damaged module can be repaired, at a cost of 1 omega
- On all ships, the fuel, oxygen, and hull meters can be refilled. Each unit of omega adds 25 to the meter.
However, Omega is not all-powerful. In particular, it can not be used to build new modules (and therefore can not help if a random encounter completely destroys a module). It also cannot repair damaged storage slots.