Hard Drive
Hard Drives are special parts obtained from Crash Sites used to unlock Alternate Recipes (see below). Crash Sites can be located using Object Scanner after Radio Signal Scanning has been researched in the MAM.
Each Hard Drive can be researched in the MAM and results in a choice of one of three alternate blueprints, chosen from the pool below. There is currently a bug that can result in lost hard drives if mods are installed. See current issues below for details and solutions.
There are 114 Crash Sites, which means a total of 114 Hard Drives can be obtained. Of those, 4 can only be obtained using Quantum Computers and Superposition Oscillators, which are only obtainable during the FICSMAS seasonal event. Two Hard Drives can be used to unlock alternate recipes via MAM research trees (as opposed to scanning the drives). Scanning the drives will provide a total of 85 recipes plus two opportunities for pioneer inventory expansions. This leaves 21 Hard Drives unused, or 25 unused if the session participated in the FICSMAS event.
Total Crash Sites |
Inventory expansions from scanning | Recipes from scanning | Recipes from MAM research tree | Unused Hard Drives without FICSMAS |
Unused Hard Drives with FICSMAS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
114 | 2 | 85 | 2 | 21 | 25 |
Alternate recipes
Alternate recipes use different input materials than the original, balancing factors such as raw material consumption, space, power, simplicity, and material availability.
Three alternate recipes are chosen at the beginning of the scan and revealed to the player after the 10 minute research concludes.
The selected alternate recipe is unlocked immediately. Alternate recipes can be only used in factory buildings, not in the Craft Bench. Therefore, parts like Compacted Coal cannot be hand-crafted.
For an alternate recipe to appear in the selection, certain prerequisites (Milestone, MAM Research, or another alternate recipe) have to be met. If all available alternate recipes from current prerequisites are unlocked, the Hard Drive is refunded at the scan's end. Unlocking more prerequisites during an ongoing scan won't affect the recipe pool, as choices are determined at the beginning of the scan.
Note: Typically a recipe will become available to unlock as soon as the player has access to every material within it, but not necessary the building required to actually use it. This means that, for example, the "Pure" alts that require a Refinery become available as soon as the Water Extractor can be built, while the Alloy Ingot recipes, needing only ore, are available immediately despite requiring a Foundry.
In the table below, the prerequisites are the conditions that are required for a recipe to be able to appear in the research result choices. If no prerequisite is displayed, the recipe is available immediately in the recipe pool (but you still need MAM to scan the Hard Drive). Note that some alternate recipes may require player to unlock a new building so that they could be automated.
Of the 88 alternate recipes available, 85 are acquired via Hard Drive scanning, while the remaining three (Compacted Coal, Turbofuel, and Polyester Fabric) are unlocked via MAM research trees. Additionally, Polyester Fabric does not require a Hard Drive to unlock.
Re-rolling hard drives
If the alternate recipe choices are not desired, a new set of choices can be created by re-rolling hard drives using the following steps:
- Manually save game prior to starting MAM Hard Drive Research.
- Research Hard Drive, wait 10 minutes, and view results.
- If results are not desired, load previous manual Game Save, and redo step #2 and this step until satisfied.
Alternate recipe table
Recipe | Ingredients | Produced in | Products | Unlocked by |
---|---|---|---|---|
Adhered Iron Plate Alternate |
Assembler 16 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Alclad Casing Alternate |
Assembler 8 sec |
Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement | ||
Automated Miner Alternate |
Manufacturer 60 sec |
Tier 5 - Industrial Manufacturing | ||
Automated Speed Wiring Alternate |
Manufacturer 32 sec |
Tier 4 - Advanced Steel Production OR MAM Caterium Research - AI Limiter | ||
Biocoal Alternate |
Constructor 8 sec |
Tier 3 - Coal Power OR MAM Sulfur Research - Compacted Coal | ||
Bolted Frame Alternate |
Assembler 24 sec |
Tier 2 - Part Assembly | ||
Bolted Iron Plate Alternate |
Assembler 12 sec |
|||
Cast Screw Alternate |
Constructor 24 sec |
|||
Caterium Circuit Board Alternate |
Assembler 48 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing OR MAM Caterium Research - Caterium Ingots | ||
Caterium Computer Alternate |
Manufacturer 16 sec |
Tier 5 - Industrial Manufacturing OR MAM Caterium Research - Caterium Ingots | ||
Caterium Wire Alternate |
Constructor 4 sec |
MAM Caterium Research - Caterium | ||
Charcoal Alternate |
Constructor 4 sec |
Tier 3 - Coal Power OR MAM Sulfur Research - Compacted Coal | ||
Cheap Silica Alternate |
Assembler 16 sec |
MAM Quartz Research - Silica | ||
Classic Battery Alternate |
Manufacturer 8 sec |
Tier 7 - Aeronautical Engineering | ||
Coated Cable Alternate |
Refinery 8 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Coated Iron Canister Alternate |
Assembler 4 sec |
Tier 5 - Alternative Fluid Transport | ||
Coated Iron Plate Alternate |
Assembler 12 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Coke Steel Ingot Alternate |
Foundry 12 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Compacted Coal Alternate |
Assembler 12 sec |
MAM Sulfur Research - Compacted Coal | ||
Compacted Steel Ingot Alternate |
Foundry 16 sec |
MAM Sulfur Research - Compacted Coal OR Tier 3 - Basic Steel Production | ||
Cooling Device Alternate |
Blender 32 sec |
Tier 8 - Advanced Aluminum Production | ||
Copper Alloy Ingot Alternate |
Foundry 12 sec |
|||
Copper Rotor Alternate |
Assembler 16 sec |
Tier 2 - Part Assembly | ||
Crystal Beacon Alternate |
Manufacturer 120 sec |
Tier 3 - Basic Steel Production OR MAM Quartz Research - Quartz Crystals | ||
Crystal Computer Alternate |
Assembler 64 sec |
Tier 5 - Industrial Manufacturing OR MAM Quartz Research - Quartz Crystals | ||
Diluted Fuel Alternate |
Blender 6 sec |
Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement | ||
Diluted Packaged Fuel Alternate |
Refinery 2 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Electric Motor Alternate |
Assembler 16 sec |
Tier 7 - Aeronautical Engineering | ||
Electrode Aluminum Scrap Alternate |
Refinery 4 sec |
Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement | ||
Electrode Circuit Board Alternate |
Assembler 12 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Electromagnetic Connection Rod Alternate |
Assembler 15 sec |
Tier 8 - Nuclear Power OR MAM Caterium Research - AI Limiter | ||
Encased Industrial Pipe Alternate |
Assembler 15 sec |
Tier 4 - Advanced Steel Production | ||
Fertile Uranium Alternate |
Blender 12 sec |
Tier 8 - Particle Enrichment | ||
Fine Black Powder Alternate |
Assembler 16 sec |
MAM Sulfur Research - Compacted Coal | ||
Fine Concrete Alternate |
Assembler 24 sec |
MAM Quartz Research - Quartz | ||
Flexible Framework Alternate |
Manufacturer 16 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Fused Quickwire Alternate |
Assembler 8 sec |
MAM Caterium Research - Caterium Ingots | ||
Fused Wire Alternate |
Assembler 20 sec |
MAM Caterium Research - Caterium | ||
Heat Exchanger Alternate |
Assembler 6 sec |
Tier 8 - Advanced Aluminum Production | ||
Heat-Fused Frame Alternate |
Blender 20 sec |
Tier 8 - Particle Enrichment | ||
Heavy Encased Frame Alternate |
Manufacturer 64 sec |
Tier 5 - Industrial Manufacturing | ||
Heavy Flexible Frame Alternate |
Manufacturer 16 sec |
Tier 5 - Industrial Manufacturing | ||
Heavy Oil Residue Alternate |
Refinery 6 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Infused Uranium Cell Alternate |
Manufacturer 12 sec |
Tier 8 - Nuclear Power OR MAM Caterium Research - Caterium Ingots OR MAM Quartz Research - Quartz OR MAM Sulfur Research - Sulfur | ||
Instant Plutonium Cell Alternate |
Tier 8 - Particle Enrichment | |||
Instant Scrap Alternate |
Blender 6 sec |
Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement OR Tier 7 - Aeronautical Engineering | ||
Insulated Cable Alternate |
Assembler 12 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Insulated Crystal Oscillator Alternate |
Manufacturer 32 sec |
MAM Quartz Research - Crystal Oscillator OR MAM Caterium Research - Caterium Electronics OR Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Iron Alloy Ingot Alternate |
Foundry 6 sec |
|||
Iron Wire Alternate |
Constructor 24 sec |
|||
OC Supercomputer Alternate |
Assembler 20 sec |
Tier 7 - Aeronautical Engineering OR Tier 8 - Advanced Aluminum Production | ||
Plastic Smart Plating Alternate |
Manufacturer 24 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Plutonium Fuel Unit Alternate |
Assembler 120 sec |
Tier 8 - Particle Enrichment | ||
Polyester Fabric Alternate |
Refinery 2 sec |
MAM Mycelia Research - Synthetic Polyester Fabric | ||
Polymer Resin Alternate |
Refinery 6 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Pure Aluminum Ingot Alternate |
Smelter 2 sec |
Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement | ||
Pure Caterium Ingot Alternate |
Refinery 5 sec |
MAM Caterium Research - Caterium OR Tier 3 - Coal Power | ||
Pure Copper Ingot Alternate |
Refinery 24 sec |
Tier 3 - Coal Power | ||
Pure Iron Ingot Alternate |
Refinery 12 sec |
Tier 3 - Coal Power | ||
Pure Quartz Crystal Alternate |
Refinery 8 sec |
MAM Quartz Research - Quartz Crystals OR Tier 3 - Coal Power | ||
Quickwire Cable Alternate |
Assembler 24 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing OR MAM Caterium Research - Caterium Ingots | ||
Quickwire Stator Alternate |
Assembler 15 sec |
Tier 4 - Advanced Steel Production OR MAM Caterium Research - Caterium Ingots | ||
Radio Connection Unit Alternate |
Manufacturer 16 sec |
Tier 8 - Advanced Aluminum Production OR MAM Caterium Research - AI Limiter | ||
Radio Control System Alternate |
Manufacturer 40 sec |
Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement | ||
Recycled Plastic Alternate |
Refinery 12 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Recycled Rubber Alternate |
Refinery 12 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Rigour Motor Alternate |
Manufacturer 48 sec |
Tier 4 - Advanced Steel Production OR MAM Quartz Research - Quartz Crystals | ||
Rubber Concrete Alternate |
Assembler 12 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Silicon Circuit Board Alternate |
Assembler 24 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing OR MAM Quartz Research - Quartz | ||
Silicon High-Speed Connector Alternate |
Manufacturer 40 sec |
MAM Caterium Research - High-Speed Connector OR Tier 5 - Oil Processing OR MAM Quartz Research - Quartz | ||
Sloppy Alumina Alternate |
Refinery 3 sec |
Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement | ||
Solid Steel Ingot Alternate |
Foundry 3 sec |
Tier 3 - Basic Steel Production | ||
Steamed Copper Sheet Alternate |
Refinery 8 sec |
Tier 3 - Coal Power | ||
Steel Canister Alternate |
Constructor 3 sec |
Tier 5 - Alternative Fluid Transport | ||
Steel Coated Plate Alternate |
Assembler 24 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing | ||
Steel Rod Alternate |
Constructor 5 sec |
Tier 3 - Basic Steel Production | ||
Steel Rotor Alternate |
Assembler 12 sec |
Tier 3 - Basic Steel Production | ||
Steel Screw Alternate |
Constructor 12 sec |
Tier 3 - Basic Steel Production | ||
Steeled Frame Alternate |
Assembler 60 sec |
Tier 3 - Basic Steel Production | ||
Stitched Iron Plate Alternate |
Assembler 32 sec |
|||
Super-State Computer Alternate |
Manufacturer 50 sec |
Tier 8 - Nuclear Power OR Tier 7 - Aeronautical Engineering | ||
Turbo Blend Fuel Alternate |
Blender 8 sec |
Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement OR MAM Sulfur Research - Sulfur | ||
Turbo Electric Motor Alternate |
Manufacturer 64 sec |
Tier 8 - Leading-edge Production OR Tier 8 - Nuclear Power | ||
Turbo Heavy Fuel Alternate |
Refinery 8 sec |
Tier 5 - Oil Processing OR MAM Sulfur Research - Compacted Coal | ||
Turbo Pressure Motor Alternate |
Manufacturer 32 sec |
Tier 8 - Particle Enrichment | ||
Turbofuel Alternate |
Refinery 16 sec |
MAM Sulfur Research - Turbofuel | ||
Uranium Fuel Unit Alternate |
Manufacturer 300 sec |
Tier 8 - Nuclear Power OR MAM Quartz Research - Quartz Crystals | ||
Wet Concrete Alternate |
Refinery 3 sec |
Tier 3 - Coal Power |
Usage
AWESOME Sink
Research
Non-recipes from Hard Drives
Besides Alternate Recipes, two inventory expansions can be unlocked:
Name | Effect | Prerequisites |
---|---|---|
Inflated Pocket Dimension | +6 Inventory Slots | none - see below |
Inflated Pocket Dimension | +6 Inventory Slots | Tier 5 - Industrial Manufacturing |
There are no explicit prerequisites for the first inventory expansion - you only need to have the MAM unlocked from Tier 1. Note that these expansions have a lower priority than all the alternate recipes. So with only the MAM unlocked, it takes five hard drive scans for the Inflated Pocket Dimension option to show up: Currently there are six recipes without prerequisites, and after a scan you have three choices. So after four scans, only two recipes and the Inflated Pocket Dimension option are left.
Important notes
- The Hard Drive research is repeatable, as long as there are remaining alternate recipes to unlock.
- Each alternate recipe can only be unlocked once, it will never appear in the selection screen again once it has been selected.
- If a Hard Drive is researched, and there is nothing more available to unlock (either due to every recipe being unlocked or no more recipes being currently available due to milestone/MAM research progress), the Hard Drive will be returned after it is analyzed with the following message: "The analysis of Hard Drive is completed! No new research is available. Try again later after further progress. Your Hard Drive has been returned to you.".
- The game does not list what alternate recipes were unlocked in one place, the Codex has to be searched for that.
Alternate recipe analysis
The previous alternate recipe analysis has been replaced by a more mathematical approach and transparent calculation, opposed to an opinionated breakdown. Refer to individual item pages (e.g. Iron Ingot) for more details. Some of the notable parameters are:
- Weighted Point: the weighted consumption rate which is calculated by:
(resource consumption rate / maximum extraction rate) * 10,000
. The lower the better.- For example, if a certain recipe path requires 10 Iron Ore/min, and the max mining rate of Iron Ore is 70380/min, then
WP = 10 / 70380 * 10000 = 1.4208582...
. The 10,000 multiplier is arbitrarily chosen to make the numbers more readable, since most of the WP values fall in 1e-4 to 1e-5 ranges.- Round off the value by using the template, for example,
{{rounding|1.4209|2}}
, this will display as 1.42 , and its input value can be read by mouse-hover it. Please take note as rounding error do accumulate, displaying a number with many decimals has no meaning.
- Round off the value by using the template, for example,
- As Water is abundant and its maximum extraction rate cannot be defined, it is set to WP = 0.
- A low WP indicates low amount of weighted resources is needed.
- For example, if a certain recipe path requires 10 Iron Ore/min, and the max mining rate of Iron Ore is 70380/min, then
- Energy per item: how much power is consumed for the entire production chain. The lower the better.
- Energy is the product of power and time. It is the summed every steps involved, normalized at 60 / min of the final product.
- The energy spent for mining each type of ore or raw resources is also included in per-ore basis. Each ore has a specific mining energy, calculated as if the entire map is fully mined with appropriate overclocking.
- The energy for extracting water is also included.
- If more than 1 alternate recipe are involved to produce the upstream ingredient, the energy for that alternate recipe path is included in the calculation.
- Space: refers to building space, excluding belts and pipes. The lower the better.
- It is summed for all buildings for every steps involved for the production, including all alternate recipes. The building space, or building area is calculated by L x W, in m2, which can be found in individual building pages.
- The areas for Conveyor Belts, Pipelines, Power Lines, etc are not included since they are subjective to player's design.
- The areas for miners and Extractors are not included. (these will be included after the 2nd pass of analysis)
- Alternate recipes for ingredients: if there are multiple ways to produce its ingredient, the recipe with the lowest WP is chosen.
- For example, to craft Iron Wire, Pure Iron Ingot is chosen.
- If an exception is to be made, it will be mentioned under this section.
- This is when the reduction in WP is too small compared with the increasing complexity, or if a large amount of rarer resources are involved.
- For example, Steel Coated Plate has the lowest WP, but the default recipe will be used nonetheless, when Iron Plate is used as an ingredient for other items.
- The best trait for each of the recipe is highlighted in bold for visibility.
- The crafting speed of a particular alternate recipe is not considered, as it can be breakdown into space saving or power saving when the production rate is normalized at 60 / min.
- If there is only a sole recipe, whether it is alternate or not, to automate a certain product, then analysis will be skipped for that item, unless new recipes are added for it.
- Similarly, alternate recipes for coal will not be analyzed as both recipes can never be fully automated.
Tips
- Research within the MAM continues regardless of a MAM being present on the map, also multiple MAMs may be constructed. Therefore, when a Hard Drive has been acquired, the player may build a MAM at the crash site, load the Hard Drive in, and then remove the MAM, continuing their search for further drives without building a backlog of Hard Drives to research (or, if they acquire drives faster than a rate of one per 10 minutes, can significantly reduce the amount of drives in their backlog). Only one Hard Drive can be researched at a time, meaning multiple MAMs cannot be used to research more than one Hard Drive at a time.

External links
Current issues
- If mods are installed and the game is saved while a Hard Drive is being scanned, loading that save will result in the Hard Drive disappearing from the MAM without giving any recipes or inventory upgrades.
- It is advised to not quit the game while a Hard Drive is being scanned to avoid losing any Hard Drives.
- If a Hard Drive has been lost this way, they can be edited into the save using a save editor.
- Using a save editor allows the user to spawn as many Hard Drives as desired
- Alternatively, it can be used to unlock alternate recipes directly
- Details on a permanent fix should be directed at the modding community.
History
![]() |
The history section is incomplete in this article. Please help expanding it if you can. Information can be gathered from patch notes. |
- Patch 0.8.3.2: Fixed pressing Esc to close the menu resetting MAM research, requiring you to spend additional time if you accidentally closed the menu
- Patch 0.8.0.0: Hard Drive choices can now be rerolled by pressing Esc, refunding the drive (not in patch notes)
- Patch 0.6.0.4: Removed Compacted Coal and basic Turbo Fuel recipes from the Hard Drive research.
- Patch 0.6.0.0:
- Turbofuel and Compacted Coal are now unlocked in the Sulfur Research chain, each requiring 1 Hard Drive
- Polyester Fabric is now unlocked in the Mycelia Research chain and no longer requires a Hard Drive
- Removed Seismic Nobelisk alternate recipe
- Patch 0.4.0.0:
- Rebalanced alternate recipes in Tier 7
- Implemented new alternate recipes: Alclad Casing, Automated Miner, Classic Battery, Cooling Device, Diluted Fuel, Electric Motor, Fertile Uranium, Heat-Fused Frame, Instant Plutonium Cell, Instant Scrap, OC Supercomputer, Plutonium Fuel Unit, Radio Connection Unit, Radio control System, Silicon High-Speed Connector, Sloppy Alumina, Super-State Computer, Turbo Blend Fuel, Turbo Pressure Motor
- Removed Radio Control System
- Both Inventory expansions now give 6 slots instead of 5
- Patch 0.3.6:
- Introduced two alternate recipes for the Empty Canister
- Can no longer be trashed with the inventory trash slot
- Patch 0.3.1.0: The 30 new alternate recipes added in 0.3 can now actually be unlocked
- Patch 0.3:
- Almost all recipes (including alternate recipes) have been adjusted
- 30 new alternate recipes have been introduced (but aren't properly implemented and cannot be actually unlocked)
- Renamed Expanded Pocket Dimension to Inflated Pocket Dimension, unlock requirement is now Tier 5, not Tier 5 - Industrial Manufacturing
- Patch 0.2.1.1: Clients should be able to see Hard Drives in Drop Pods again
- Patch 0.1.14: Introduced a few alternate recipes
- Patch 0.1.7:
- Adjusted the Alternate Recipe for Compacted Coal
- Old: 2 Coal + 2 Sulphur
- New: 3 Coal + 3 Sulphur
- Adjusted the Alternate Recipe for Turbo Fuel
- Old: 5 Fuel + 2 Compacted Coal
- New: 5 Fuel + 4 Compacted Coal
- Adjusted the Alternate Recipe for Compacted Coal
- Patch 0.1.5:
- Alternate recipes can no longer be hand-crafted
- Introduced several new alternate recipes
- Fixed the milestone cost of the Alternate Heavy Modular Frame
- Reduced the Quickwire cost of Quickwire alternate recipes
- Patch 0.103: Fixed the Hard Drive research crash
- Patch 0.1: Adjusted a few alternate recipes
- Patch Closed Alpha 4: Now researchable and gives Alternate Recipes