Materials

Polonium and SRV

Materials are small resources that are primarily used in Engineering, Synthesis, and unlocking specialised items through a Technology Broker. Material Traders found at certain stations can exchange Materials within one category for a different quantity of another Material in the same category.

Materials do not take up space in Cargo Racks. Instead, Materials have a separate inventory and are stored in quantities that are small enough that they do not affect a ship's overall mass. Materials remain accessible when switching between a ship, SRV, or Ship-Launcher Fighter, and in the event a pilot loses their vehicle or is critically injured, none of their Materials are lost.

Categories

Materials are classified into one of three different categories determined by their origin and composition:

• Raw Materials - Naturally-occurring chemical elements; usually obtained by mining and SRV prospecting.
• Manufactured Materials - Artificial components from ships and structures; usually obtained by salvaging.
• Encoded Materials - Pieces of data, such as files, chunks of code, and scans; usually obtained by scanning objects.

Grades

All Materials are sorted into different grades representing their rarity, with rarer materials providing greater effects when used. Manufactured and Encoded Materials use five grades, from Very Common to Very Rare, while Raw Materials only use four, from Very Common to Rare. A Material's grade determines how much of it can be stored at once.

Symbol	Grade	Rarity	Storage Capacity per Material
	1	Very Common	300
	2	Common	250
	3	Standard	200
	4	Rare	150
	5	Very Rare	100

Videos

HOW TO FIND RARE ENGINEERING MATERIALS ELITE DANGEROUS

See also

• Commodities
• Components
• Goods
• Data