To produce alloys, you needed minerals.
Most minerals came from planets. Of course, the mining stations in each system could also produce large quantities, and in the early stages, spaceborne mining stations were a key source of the Empire's mineral supply.
As the Empire's territory expanded, some systems proved exceptionally rich in minerals. An average system might produce ten units of minerals, for instance, while others could yield more than thirty.
These mineral resources generally came from asteroid belts or mineral-rich molten worlds.
Some terrestrial planets were too close to their stars and absorbed too much heat, while others had only just formed and had yet to cool into barren worlds. Magma flowed freely across their surfaces, their crusts fractured, and their mantles welled up directly. These were molten worlds.
In theory, molten worlds could contain vast mineral deposits, but the magma covering their surfaces made those minerals difficult to extract.
Still, encouraged by the Empire's domestic exploration policy of "efficiency first-more, faster, better, cheaper," a few brilliant engineers managed to come up with something promising.
They reasoned that rather than mining a molten world, they could use it as a natural smelting furnace. With the aid of a large mechanical structure, they could dump other minerals onto the planet and use its magma activity to refine ordinary minerals into high-quality ones.
It could even further the development of the molten world itself!
Working on the same principle as burning rocks to power planetary thrusters, such a mechanical structure could reach deep into the molten world and drill for minerals that would normally be inaccessible, effectively multiplying the planet's output!
Guided by this theory, they developed a new megastructure technology: the Arc Furnace: Equatorial Ring.
Once the Grand Marshal gave his approval, the engineering department quickly authorized the proposal. In