Refining Guide — AlbionCalc

1. What is Refining?

Refining is the conversion of raw resources gathered from the open world into processed materials utilized for crafting weapons, armor, tools, and consumables. Because every item in Albion Online requires refined components, refiners form the backbone of the player-driven marketplace.

2. The 5 Resource Branches

Resource Branch	Raw Input	Refined Product	Station	Bonus City (+40%)
Hide	Raw Hide (Scraps, Medium, Heavy...)	Leather	Tanner	Martlock
Stone	Rough Stone (Limestone, Sandstone...)	Stone Blocks	Stonemason	Bridgewatch
Fiber	Raw Fiber (Cotton, Hemp, Flax...)	Cloth	Weaver	Lymhurst
Wood	Raw Logs (Birch, Pine, Cedar...)	Planks	Lumbermill	Fort Sterling
Ore	Raw Ore (Copper, Iron, Titanium...)	Metal Bars	Smelter	Thetford

3. Exact Input Ratios (T2–T8)

The input ratio formula is universal across all 5 resource branches. Refining any tier from T3 upward requires both raw materials of the current tier and 1 refined item of the preceding tier.

Tier	Raw Material Input	Lower Tier Refined Input	Output	Enchantment (.1 / .2 / .3 / .4)
T2	1× T2 Raw Material	None	1× T2 Refined Material	Flat only
T3	2× T3 Raw Material	1× T2 Refined Material	1× T3 Refined Material	Flat only
T4	2× T4 Raw Material	1× T3 Refined Material	1× T4 Refined Material	Requires 2× T4.x Raw + 1× T3.0 Refined
T5	3× T5 Raw Material	1× T4 Refined Material	1× T5 Refined Material	Requires 3× T5.x Raw + 1× T4.x Refined
T6	4× T6 Raw Material	1× T5 Refined Material	1× T6 Refined Material	Requires 4× T6.x Raw + 1× T5.x Refined
T7	5× T7 Raw Material	1× T6 Refined Material	1× T7 Refined Material	Requires 5× T7.x Raw + 1× T6.x Refined
T8	5× T8 Raw Material	1× T7 Refined Material	1× T8 Refined Material	Requires 5× T8.x Raw + 1× T7.x Refined

4. City Refining Specialties

Refining stations in Royal Cities receive an innate +40% local production bonus when processing their designated specialty. This reduces total raw material requirements by up to half over sustained production runs.

City	Refining Specialty	Base Return Rate	With Focus
Martlock	Hide → Leather	36.7%	53.9%
Bridgewatch	Stone → Stone Blocks	36.7%	53.9%
Lymhurst	Fiber → Cloth	36.7%	53.9%
Fort Sterling	Wood → Planks	36.7%	53.9%
Thetford	Ore → Metal Bars	36.7%	53.9%

5. Return Rate Formulas & Yield Multiplier

Because returned materials can themselves be re-refined in iterative cycles, your effective yield multiplier follows a geometric series:

Total Output Formula:
Yield Multiplier = 1 / (1 - RRR)

• At 15.2% RRR (base Royal City): multiplier is 1 / (1 - 0.152) = 1.18×
• At 36.7% RRR (specialty city): multiplier is 1 / (1 - 0.367) = 1.58×
• At 53.9% RRR (specialty city + Focus): multiplier is 1 / (1 - 0.539) = 2.17×

This means that at 53.9% RRR, an initial batch of 1,000 raw resources yields enough product to process over 2,170 resources worth of output.

6. Refining Economy & Best Practices

Never refine on player islands: Personal islands provide 0% return rate, causing direct financial loss compared to city stations.
Transport raw materials from gathering hubs: Purchase raw materials in biomes where they naturally occur (e.g. fiber in Thetford/Fort Sterling) and transport them to the bonus city (Lymhurst) for maximum margin.
Check station associate fees: City plots charge a user nutrition fee per 100 nutrition. Look for stations offering competitive fees below 500 silver per 100 nutrition.

Refining Guide Intermediate

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