Cobalt shows up on your radar early in Solarpunk when you spot the broken vending machine sitting next to the Traderbot. The machine needs 1x Cobalt to repair, and at that point you probably have none. The frustrating part is that Cobalt is not available anywhere near your starting base. Getting it requires a specific progression milestone, and skipping steps is not an option.
What do you need before finding Cobalt?
You cannot access Cobalt until your Airship reaches level 3. That is the hard gate, and everything else feeds into it. To reach Airship level 3, you need to complete a specific sequence of Traderbot trades in order. Here is the full list of what those trades require:
That final egg trade is what pushes the Airship to level 3 and opens up new islands. If you are still working through the early Traderbot progression, the Solarpunk beginner's guide covering base building and airship launch has the full context for getting there faster.
Southern island Cobalt node
Where is the Cobalt node in Solarpunk?
Once Airship level 3 unlocks, new islands open both north and south of your starting base. The northern islands do have a few scattered Cobalt Ores, but these are one-time pickups, not infinite spawns. For a renewable supply, you need the big island to the south of the starting base.
That southern island is where the Cobalt node sits, and unlike the loose ores on the northern islands, this node can be drilled repeatedly for an ongoing supply. Fly south, land, and head to the node with your Pickaxe ready.
Smelting Cobalt Ore into bars
How do you smelt Cobalt Ore into Cobalt Bars?
Smelting Cobalt follows the same process as every other ore in the game. Take your Cobalt Ores back to base and drop them into the Furnace. They convert into Cobalt Bars, which are what you actually need for upgrades and the vending machine repair.
There is no special setup required beyond having a working Furnace. If you have already been smelting Copper, the process is identical. For a refresher on the smelting workflow, the guide on finding and smelting Copper in Solarpunk covers the Furnace mechanics in detail.
Vending machine needs 1x Cobalt
What is Cobalt used for beyond the vending machine?
The vending machine repair is the first Cobalt task you encounter, but it is not the last. Cobalt Bars feed into a range of late-game upgrades that open up after hitting Airship level 3. The research table tracks most of these unlock paths, and understanding which tier requires Cobalt can help you prioritize how many bars to stockpile on your first southern island run.
For a full breakdown of what unlocks at each research tier, the Solarpunk Research Table guide maps out every blueprint and resource gate.
Research Table Cobalt upgrades
Getting the Traderbot trades done faster
The ten trades between you and Airship level 3 are not all equally difficult. The Copper requirement (32x) and the Egg requirement (6x) tend to be the slowest if your farms are not set up yet. Getting a wheat farm and carrot farm running early keeps the food-based trades moving without constant manual gathering.
Silicon comes from Quartz, Cloth comes from Cotton, and Beeswax requires beehives. None of these are complicated once you know the chain, but stacking the farms before you start trading keeps the progression from stalling.
For everything else you need to progress through Solarpunk's resource systems, the full Solarpunk guides collection covers each material and mechanic in detail.