There are 5 different resource families in Firefall, with 3 different resource types each – one type with Power as the main stat, one with Mass, and one with Cores.

Each group has its own colour, which is relevant for several things:

• Colour of surface deposits
• Colour of the vein indicators when using a scanhammer
• What kind of bonus materials you can get out of refining the resource

These are the materials in their groups and with their main stat each:

Ceramics (green)

• Ceramic Insulators - Cores
• Ceramic Dialectrics - Power
• Ceramic Composits - Mass

Polymers (purple)

• Electroactive Polymers - Cores
• Conductive Polymers - Power
• Hi-Strength Polymers - Mass

Metals (red)

• Computational Metals - Cores
• Conductive Metals - Power
• Hi-tensile Metals - Mass

Carbons (blue)

• Electroactive Carbons - Cores
• Energized Carbons - Power
• Carbon Composites - Mass

Biomaterials (yellow)

• Bio-Organic Smartgels - Cores
• Bioactive Compounds - Power
• Bio-Organic Stintergels - Mass

The main stat is always the highest one in any given material – for example, in Bioactive Compounds the Power-stat will always be higher than Cores or Mass. The second highest stat will be around 2/3 of the highest, and the low stat will be around 1/3.

The stats are used for the constraints system in Firefall: When you use a material with high Mass, the item produced with it will weigh a lot (and your battleframe has limited carrying capabilities). More on this can be found on the “Crafting II: Quality and Constraints” page.

One thing to note is that over time new Quality levels of each resource will be found in Firefall. For example, There might be a Bioactive Compound Ql 174 today, which displays as white and has a Power value of 174 (Cores and Mass are lower accordingly).
Tomorrow though, you might find a Bioactive Compound Ql 695, which will display as purple and has a Power value of 695! This would be significantly better for creating high quality equipment that requires Power-materials, but it will also be harder on the constraints.

Here’s a short table displaying how material quality is coded by certain colours (independently from the previously mentioned group colours):