Once Human throws dozens of different resources and currencies at you, and the longer you play, the harder it gets to keep track of what’s temporary, what stays with you and what you should spend before it slips through your fingers. This overview shows you what each currency and resource is for, how to farm them most efficiently and, above all, what happens to them when the current season ends. The information is based on version 3.0.5 (September 2026), because the game’s economy changes with literally every patch.
Overview of currencies and resources
Before you start farming, it helps to know which category an item falls into. Otherwise you can easily pour time into a resource that will be useless to you once you move to a new season anyway.
| Currency / resource | What it’s for | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Starchrom | main seasonal currency, purchases from seasonal NPCs and scenario-bound items | purifying Cortexes, world events, elite enemies, dungeons and silos, seasonal quests |
| Crystgin | premium currency bought with real money, cosmetics, Lightforge crates | in-game purchase, occasionally a reward from events and the Meta Pass |
| Mitsuko’s Mark | event currency, exchanged for cosmetics and crates | compensation for maintenance updates, monthly quests on permanent servers |
| Colorful Badge | currency tied mainly to dyeing your appearance | rewards from updates and events |
| Energy Links | seasonal resource bound to the current scenario | playing within the current scenario |
| Astral Sand | Eternaland currency, the off-season base | converted from Energy Links when you leave a scenario |
| Resource Inheritance Points | a “credit” you use to carry specific items from your backpack between scenarios | granted when you move to a new scenario |
| Chaosium | fuel for the Thermal Tower in the Way of Winter scenario, keeps an area at a survivable temperature | red-marked resource nodes on the map, guarded by enemies |
| Stardust Source | universal resource for upgrading gear, building your territory and partly for trading | dangerous locations, bosses, mining nodes, events |
| Gold Ore, Silver Ore | basic crafting resources for gear and upgrades at crafting stations | mining in the open world, dismantling items |
| Acid | material for crafting and upgrading gear | Polluted Water-type locations, where it leaks from damaged pipes and tanks |
| Mod Dust | resource for weapon and gear mods | dismantling mods, monthly challenges on permanent servers |
Starchrom: the main seasonal currency
Starchrom is the currency you’ll see most often, since the vast majority of seasonal purchases and rewards are tied to it. The most reliable source is purifying Cortexes with the Stardust Resonant Filter in your territory. You collect Cortexes by clearing world events, killing elite enemies and running dungeons or silos. They come in three tiers, and a higher tier yields more of the resource. You can also combine Cortexes at the Synthesis Bench and upgrade them to a higher tier, so it pays not to sell them right away but to combine them first.
Purification has a catch, though: it triggers waves of enemies that can damage your base, so before you start it, check your territory’s defenses (more on that in the separate article on territories). The second source is seasonal quests, which hand out Starchrom as a reward for specific goals, and the third is exchanging through an NPC, where you get it in return for another seasonal currency.
As for the old advice “don’t save Starchrom for the end of the season”, it dates back to the days when seasonal currencies were lost during the transition. According to the current official FAQ for the console launch (August 2026), however, most currencies carry over directly when you leave a scenario, without having to spend Resource Inheritance Points. The FAQ doesn’t name Starchrom specifically, so keep an eye on your own stock and don’t blindly follow two-year-old advice about spending everything before the season ends until you have checked it in the description of the current scenario.
Other currencies and how they are handled at the end of the season
When a scenario ends and you decide to leave it, instead of staying on a server that automatically merges into a permanent one after the rest phase, you don’t lose your progress or resources all at once. The transfer follows clear rules from the official FAQ for the console version:
- Gear and resources go through your backpack for points. Weapons, armor, materials, medicine, Deviants and calibration blueprints move to Eternaland, but each item costs a certain number of Resource Inheritance Points. How many you get and what you choose to carry over is handled in the backpack menu when you leave a scenario. It pays to take only what you will actually use next season, not to pile in absolutely everything.
- Energy Links don’t carry over as Energy Links. They are converted into Astral Sand, the Eternaland currency, at a rate the game sets at the moment you leave the scenario.
- Most other things go straight through, without points. Cosmetics, part of your character data, most currencies, blueprints, recipes, building layouts, quest progress, utility items and event items carry over automatically. You don’t pay points for them or have to select anything.
In practice, the main thing you deal with at the end of the season is the gear and materials in your backpack, because that is where you decide what fits into your points budget. Currencies as such (apart from Energy Links) typically come with you without any action. More about what survives the wipe and how Eternaland itself works is in the separate article on seasons.
Basic resources: how to farm efficiently and what to avoid
For basic resources such as Acid, Stardust Source, ores or plant materials, a few universal principles apply that work regardless of the current game version:
- Prepare for the environment, not just the enemies. Locations like Polluted Water are contaminated with toxic substances, so a protective suit and antidotes are a necessity, not a bonus. The same goes for underground areas and closed sewers, where a leak is all the more dangerous because you have nowhere to retreat.
- Watch for color-coded nodes on the map. The game typically marks rarer resources (such as Chaosium in Way of Winter) with a different node color, and those nodes tend to be guarded by enemies, so bring gear for ranged combat.
- Don’t pick unnecessary fights in dangerous areas. It’s faster to avoid combat and focus on gathering. In closed or contaminated locations, a pointless fight can cost you more medicine and time than the resources you actually get.
- Plan your route. Whether you farm Acid in the swamps or ore in abandoned buildings, it pays to know in advance where your loop will go instead of running around at random.
- Bosses and elite enemies have a higher chance to drop rarer resources such as Stardust Source. If you can choose between farming regular nodes and clearing a stronger target, the second option usually pays off more.
- Gardening is a slower but steady source. Growing crops gives you food, medicinal herbs and ingredients for advanced items over the long term, but it requires care (watering, fertilizing, pest protection), so it’s no help when you need a resource right away.
Automation through your territory: let resources work for you
Your territory isn’t just a base to sleep in. You can turn it into a small production line that gathers resources even while you’re away from the game.
At its core is the Stardust Resonant Filter, where you purify collected Cortexes into Starchrom without farming by hand: just put the Cortexes in and let the process run. The price for this convenience is defense. Purification attracts waves of enemies, so fortify your territory properly before you leave the process running unattended.
The second part of automation is trading. The Vending Machine and the Online Trading system let you offer surplus resources and items to other players instead of leaving them sitting in storage. It works as a full exchange between players, not just selling to NPCs. It’s especially handy for resources you have too much of while another player happens to need them for their own crafting.
The most common resource management mistakes
- Hoarding without a plan. The most common mistake is leaving a resource lying around “for later” and then finding out that the season has ended and different transfer rules came with it. Keep checking what the scenario you’re currently in says about the end of the season.
- Ignoring defense when automating. Starting Cortex purification without a secured territory is the fastest way to lose more than you gathered.
- Farming dangerous locations without preparation. A protective suit, antidotes and a route plan aren’t a luxury. In contaminated or closed areas, going without them costs you extra time and resources.
- Spending Resource Inheritance Points on things you won’t use anyway. Before you carry gear over into a new season, consider whether you will replace it with something new right at the start.
- Overlooking trading. You can exchange surplus resources through the Vending Machine or Online Trading for what you’re missing, instead of farming it all again yourself.
FAQ
Starchrom is the main seasonal currency. You earn it fastest by purifying Cortexes collected from world events, elite enemies and dungeons with the Stardust Resonant Filter in your territory, topped up with rewards from seasonal quests.
Not entirely. Weapons, armor, materials, medicine, Deviants and calibration blueprints move to Eternaland for Resource Inheritance Points, Energy Links are converted into Astral Sand, and most other currencies, recipes and quest progress carry over automatically without points.
It’s the currency of Eternaland, the off-season base. It is converted from Energy Links at the moment you leave the current scenario.
The exact number depends on the specific transition between scenarios, and the game shows it to you directly in the backpack menu when you leave a scenario.
Mainly through the Stardust Resonant Filter, which purifies Cortexes into Starchrom without any manual input from you. Purification triggers waves of enemies, though, so it isn’t worth leaving it running unattended without a secured territory.
In locations like Polluted Water, bring a protective suit and antidotes, stay away from unnecessary fights and focus on active resource leaks from damaged structures instead of running around the map at random.
Yes, through the Vending Machine and the Online Trading system, where you offer your surplus in exchange for what you currently need.
Information verified for version 3.0.5 (2026-09-10). Once Human updates its economy practically every season, so always check specific locations, exchange rates and limits in the current scenario description directly in the game. If you’re just starting out, take a look at the beginner’s guide. What survives the end of the season and how Eternaland works is covered in detail in the article on seasons, wipes and Eternaland. How to fortify your base before starting automated purification is explained in the article on territories. Deviants that also help you farm have their own overview and tier list. You’ll find the rest of the Once Human topics in the hub overview.