Welding Torch

Without a welding torch you will not get far with building. 193 build stages in 167 structures require it – from the Furnace to batteries, frames and airlocks and on to the rocket parts. In 126 cases welding is the last step. It cannot deconstruct anything, though; that is usually the Angle Grinder's job.

Instead of a battery it has a slot for a gas canister (slot 0). According to the game code it must hold a burnable mix: a fuel such as Methane or Hydrogen plus Oxygen or another oxidiser, because the flame burns in a 1-litre chamber of its own with nothing but canister gas. The starting canister holds 100 mol of volatiles and 50 mol of oxygen.

Gas is used twice. While the torch is on, 0.01 mol per tick, so 0.02 mol per second – even without welding. On top of that, every finished welding stage costs its consumption value · 0.01 mol, with 0 counting as 100. A steel sheet stage on a frame therefore costs 1 mol, a stage on an engine mount 10 mol. The starting canister lasts a little over 100 simple stages if you close the torch in between. If the flame is above 3000 °C, it welds faster according to the code (speed factor 1.5 instead of 1.2).

The tool itself is not used up when building, only its gas. The sheets you weld on come from your own supply.

An alternative without gas logistics is the Arc Welder. The game data explicitly list it as a substitute for the welding torch, so it may be used wherever a build stage asks for the torch. In return it needs a lot of power and alloys in its recipe.

Two notes from the game data: the torch has a high heat exchange factor of 0.56, and its autoignition point is 250 °C. So do not leave it near a fire.

Which tool is for what is covered in Tools at a glance: which one you need for what.