ARK 2 Polymer and Cementing Paste, Mass Production Guide

hard polymer is made from 2 obsidian plus 1 cementing paste giving you 1 polymer and you craft it in a fabricator, this is honestly the best method for bulk production because it doesn't spoil and you can store stacks of it in your vault basically forever. Organic polymer you get from harvesting Kairuku penguins up at the north pole or Mantis in the desert and it's great in a pinch but it spoils so fast, like literally use it immediately or watch it turn into nothing in your inventory, you can try to preserve it but I've never had much luck keeping it around. So honestly for any serious crafting project you want hard polymer and just keep a little organic on the side for emergencies or whatever. It's kind of the same deal as everything in this game honestly.

beaver dams are hands down the best source for cementing paste and I've spent so many hours doing dam runs I could probably do them blindfolded at this point, you find the dams along rivers around 30,50 and each dam gives 50 to 100 CP which is kind of insane for how little effort it takes. But beavers aggro on dam destruction so kill them or kite them away first because getting swarmed by a dozen angry beavers while you're overencumbered with paste is a death sentence I've learned that the hard way more than once. And you can also craft CP the old fashioned way with 4 chitin or keratin plus 8 stone giving you 1 CP in a mortar and pestle, it's slow and grindy but it works when the dam spawns are being stingy which happens sometimes and you just gotta deal with it. I mean you could also trade for it or find it in drops and stuff like that.

the industrial forge handles obsidian turning it into crystal and the industrial grinder turns stone into flint, you want multiple mortar and pestles or ideally a chemistry bench for CP crafting because the bench is way faster and you can queue up big batches. And the Beelzebufo frog is honestly the secret weapon here, take a high-melee frog into any insect-heavy area use its tongue attack on bugs and it converts them directly into cementing paste without any crafting at all, it's basically magic and I love it. Farm beaver dams every 30 minutes so new ones can spawn and you'll build up a paste stockpile fast, it's all about consistency and setting a routine and stuff like that. You get into a rhythm of flying your route checking dams killing bugs with the frog and before you know it you're drowning in paste, it's honestly kind of satisfying.

if you need organic polymer fast Kairuku penguins up in the north pole region are your best friends, the icebergs around 15,20 and the northern coast around 10,25 are absolutely packed with them and a single Kairuku drops 5 to 15 organic polymer when harvested with a club or a pelagornis. There are dozens of them clustered together on those ice floats so you can pull 200 plus organic polymer in like 10 minutes of penguin hunting which is honestly kind of broken. The Mantis in the desert biome around 80,50 is another solid source, they drop a good amount when harvested with a metal pick or a chainsaw but the desert is way more annoying to farm because of the heat and the sandstorms and the random deathworms that pop up out of nowhere. The icebergs up north are just easier to work with tbh. For cementing paste, beaver dams along the main river system are still the meta, the stretch from 30,50 down to 45,40 usually has 3 to 5 active dams if the spawns are cooperating and each dam gives 50 to 100 cementing paste. Just make sure you empty the dam completely so it despawns and a new one can spawn in its place, otherwise you're leaving paste on the table and that's just wasteful.

for organic polymer from Kairukus the Pelagornis gets bonus polymer yield from penguins it's kinda its special thing, fly up to the icebergs land murder penguins with the pelagornis and you'll get noticeably more polymer per penguin than using a club or a sword. A chainsaw also works great on penguin corpses if you have one and I've tested this extensively. For Mantis farming in the desert a high-melee Thylacoleo or a good Sabertooth will shred through them fast and you can harvest the corpses with a chainsaw for max yield. For cementing paste from beaver dams you don't actually need a harvesting creature since you're just looting the dams, but you absolutely need a fast flyer to get in and out before the beavers swarm you. An Argentavis with good stamina or a Pteranodon with speed levels pumped works great. And for the chitin farming method the Beelzebufo frog is the absolute best, take a high-melee frog into the swamp cave or any insect-heavy area use its tongue attack on bugs and it converts them directly into cementing paste no need to craft it at all, a good frog run through the swamp cave can net you 300 plus CP in about 15 minutes and it feels so satisfying every single time. Literally one of the best feelings in the game.

here's the thing about polymer that trips up a lot of new players, organic polymer spoils and it spoils fast, you have about 30 minutes before it turns into a useless pile of nothing in your inventory. So organic polymer is great for when you need polymer right now, like you're standing at the fabricator and you realize you're short 20 polymer for your new shotgun, fly up north kill some penguins come back craft immediately. But for bulk storage and long-term crafting projects hard polymer made from obsidian and cementing paste in the fabricator is the way to go, it doesn't spoil you can store stacks of it and it's ready whenever you need it. The tradeoff is that hard polymer costs obsidian which means you need to do mountain runs with an Anky plus cementing paste which isn't always abundant early game. IMO the smart play is to keep a small emergency stash of organic polymer in your fabricator room and use hard polymer for everything else. And remember organic polymer stacks with regular polymer for crafting so if you're short on hard polymer for a big craft you can top off with organic to make up the difference, it's saved my butt more times than I can count honestly. The convenience factor is huge tbh.

the absolute dumbest thing you can do with polymer and I've done this at least five times is farm 200 organic polymer from penguins fly it back to base and then leave it sitting in a storage box while you go do something else, by the time you remember it exists it's gone spoiled every single time. If you farm organic polymer use it immediately, don't put it in a box don't go on a metal run first don't get distracted by a supply drop, craft your stuff right then and there. Another mistake is destroying beaver dams without clearing your inventory first, cementing paste is heavy like really heavy for what it is and if you loot three dams in a row without dumping the paste somewhere you'll be encumbered and the beavers will catch you and it's game over. So empty your inventory except for essential gear before you hit the dam circuit. And for the love of god don't try to fight the beavers, just grab the paste and fly away, they're faster than they look and they hit surprisingly hard in numbers. Last thing, don't build your base near beaver spawns because the dams stop spawning if there are player structures too close and you'll wonder why your cementing paste supply dried up overnight. I've done that too. Kinda tragic but you learn. Etc etc.