Additionally Recyclers had the ability to alter the properties of certain materials - turning metal into dilithium or visa versa. Should the collective require more of one resource than they otherwise had available within an area of space they were operating. (TNG video game: Armada II) Within game play the recycler was the Borg's equivalent of a trading station, affording the same ability to exchange one material for another allowing a player to continue accumulating enough of each type of resource required even if certain resources were limited on the map they were playing.