Components
Components are the essential construction items within Space Engineers. They are the parts and pieces that compose every block and tool in the game, giving them structure and functionality. Components can vary from commonly-used (Steel Plate) to highly specialized (Reactor Components), but all of them will be used at one point or another for any mature Survival build.
Components are seldom used in Creative Mode due to the fact that block placement in that mode is instant and does not use resources.
Life Cycle of a Component
Components have a fairly hefty infrastructure requirement before they can be made. Ores must be processed within a Refinery first and foremost. This will extract the Raw Materials which can then be placed into an Assembler. The Assembler can then be instructed to create the desired component in the desired amount, limited only by the resources on hand.
For any block to be placed, an Engineer must have at least one of the block's basic structural component to start with, and the block is placed. After it is placed, a Welder can be used to weld the remaining required components until the block is complete (or at least functioning). See Building for more information.
If a block is damaged but not destroyed, components making up the structure may be obliterated, requiring additional copies of those components to repair the block. For this reason, it is always a good idea to keep a few extra copies of some of the more exotic components in the cargo hold of your exploring ships--a few extra Displays won't hurt, and they just might save your life when your Cockpit has a few too many chunks blasted out of it.
List of Components
Here is a generated list of all the Components currently within the Space Engineers Alpha.
