U4GM What You Need to Know About Making Stabilized Carbon

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    At some point in Arknights: Endfield, you stop losing fights and start losing time, because your AIC can't spit out enough industrial mats to keep upgrades moving. Carbon is usually the first real bottleneck. You can explore, you can grind, you can try to "make do," but sooner or later you'll be staring at a halted queue and wondering what you missed. If you're trying to speed through that awkward mid-game stretch, it helps to treat your base like a proper production line, the same way people talk about Arknights endfield boosting when they want momentum without the stop-start frustration.

    Getting Basic Carbon Online

    You don't pick Carbon up off the ground, so don't waste time hunting for it. You make it. Open the AIC planning screen and make sure the Refine I node is unlocked, then drop a Refining Unit where you can actually feed it consistently. Early on, plant matter is the easiest fuel, and that's the part most folks underestimate. Buckflower and Sandleaf are both fine. Pick one, commit to it, and keep it simple. The Refining Unit turns those plants into Carbon at a clean one-to-one rate, which means you can do quick mental math on how many planters you'll need to keep the belt from going dry.

    Powder Steps People Forget

    Here's the annoying bit: raw Carbon isn't the "real" end goal for higher recipes. You've got to run it through the middle machines, even if it feels like busywork. First, route Carbon into a Shredding Unit to get Carbon Powder. Then send that into a Grinding Unit for Dense Carbon Powder. The order matters, and so does your throughput. A common mistake is building extra shredders because Carbon Powder looks like progress, then everything backs up because grinding can't keep pace. If your lines are stalling, check which buffer is full and fix that specific choke point instead of adding random storage.

    Closing the Loop for Stabilized Carbon

    Once Dense Carbon Powder is steady, you loop it back into a Refining Unit to make Stabilized Carbon. That's the Tier 3 material you'll care about when late-game crafting starts asking for serious inputs, like when you're eyeing Xiranite at the Forge of the Sky. The loop is simple on paper—refine, shred, grind, refine—but it only feels good when it runs without babysitting. Automate the input with Planting Units and Seed-Picking Units so Sandleaf keeps coming, and don't be shy about tuning the ratios until the last refiner is busy most of the time. If you want a smoother climb without constant factory triage, it's the same mindset as Arknights endfield boosting buy—keep the pipeline moving, keep the downtime out of your way, and let the progress stack up.