Crude Oil Extractors are one of the new structures that were introduced with the Sakurajima Update, and these are meant to provide you with a way to produce Crude Oil.
Obtaining Crude Oil is essential as this is an endgame resource required to craft Plasteel and other items that you may need later.
To produce Crude Oil, you will need to unlock the Crude Oil Extractor, build it, and make sure it has enough power to run.
How To Unlock Crude Oil Extractor?
The Crude Oil Extractor becomes unlockable once you reach Level 50 in the game and this can be found in the Technology Menu.
You will need 2 Technology Points to unlock the Crude Oil extractor and will need to produce 250 Pal Metal Ingots and 50 Circuit Boards to build it.
By the time you reach Level 50, you should be able to craft both materials required to build it, leaving the next step to build the structure.
How To Build Crude Oil Extractor?
Once you have the required materials to build a Crude Oil Extractor, you will need to look for an Oil Field, which is where you will build it.
The Crude Oil Extractor must be built on top of the Oil Field or else it cannot be placed, which makes it best to plan out where you set up your base first.
Instead of moving your base, you can set up a mining base or outpost where Oil Fields can be found and build your Crude Oil Extractor there.
How To Power Crude Oil Extractor?
Crude Oil Extractors take up a lot of electricity, which makes it important to have a good way to supply power to it.
Making use of the new Large Power Generator (Unlocked at Level 49 in Ancient Technology) is the best source of power for the Crude Oil Extractor.
Using an Orserk to provide power is the best option for an Electric Pal since they have a Level 4 Generating Electricity Work Skill.
Additionally, unlocking the Electric Pylon structure is a good idea as this improves the Generating Electricity Work Skill of all Pals within a base.
Collecting Crude Oil
Once you have the whole setup going, which includes the Crude Oil Extractor and large Power Generator with the option of having an Electric Pylon, the waiting game begins.
The Crude Oil Extractor will produce Crude Oil until its capacity reaches 9,999 and it will stop producing more until you collect this.
A good way to make sure this is automatically collected is to make sure that you have some type of storage nearby and some Pals who have the Transporting Work Skill.
Verdict
Once you reach Level 50, a lot of materials become more in demand and Crude Oil will often be one of them if you plan on making better equipment.
Having multiple bases where there are Crude Oil Extractors is a good way to produce as much as possible over time since they take quite a while before you get a lot.
If you have bred your Pals, you can eventually breed an Electric Pal that can work better when it comes to Generating Electricity.