I’m guessing Mark is an Eve player, in which tungsten carbide is used for spacecraft armor.
There’s some science behind that, in that IRL it’s been proposed as a catalytic element in hydrazine monopropellant thrusters used by spacecraft and satellites for station keeping and vector trimming. It’s expensive though.
I have this mental image of aliens picking up the mascot’s exile pod and deciding on the spot to nova the sun. And in the aliens’ defense, it’s the only way to be sure.
