Mercer Sphere
Mercer Spheres are alien artifacts found throughout the world used to construct and research improvements for 
Dimensional Depot Uploaders.
They are found on their own Mercer Sphere plant, from which they can be collected. Standing next to one for an extended period of time will result in a sound file being played.
In closed alpha versions of the game, certain in-game messages would be received from [email protected]. In-universe, these spheres are named after this character.
Obtaining
Mercer Spheres can be found while exploring, typically in hard-to-reach places usually guarded by enemies and surrounded by Uranium Deposits, Spore Flowers, Cracked boulders or Gas Pillars.
There are a total of 298 Mercer Spheres as of Patch 1.0.
A total of 97 Mercer Spheres are required to unlock all related research nodes in the MAM. This leaves 201 Mercer Spheres available for other uses, such as constructing Dimensional Depot Uploaders.
Usage
Research
Crafting
| Recipe | Ingredients | Produced in | Products | Unlocked by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimensional Depot Uploader | 1 ×  Mercer Sphere10 ×  SAM Fluctuator10 ×  Modular Frame100 ×  Wire |
1 ×  Dimensional Depot Uploader |
MAM Alien Technology Research - Dimensional Depot |
AWESOME Sink
ADA initial collect transcript
| ADA[email protected] |
|---|
| The astrobiologist Dr. D. M. Mercer was the first to recognize the presence and probable nature of these alien artifacts, and the chain-melted state spheres are named in his honor.
Each sphere emits a unique signal. Research it in the MAM to establish locally appropriate classification and application. |
Old ADA initial collect transcript
| ADA[email protected] |
|---|
| ADA: This spherical object emits gravitational radiation. Initial scans reveal an inner vain-like structure filled with liquid Gallium, purpose and origin unknown. Further analysis required to determine application. |
Sound transcripts
Possible messages when received near a Mercer Sphere include:
- "Be appropriate."
- "Harvest."
- "Consume."
- "Witness."
- "Play. Play. Play."
- "Defile - the scripture."
- (deepening with each word) "Consume. Consume. Consume."
- "Harmonize with us."
- "Listen to the rhythm."
- "Live Laugh Consume"
- "Look through the window."
- "Witness a single strand of the tapestry."
- "Harvest the scripture and compose it into a blood song"
- "This is a shrine to windows and weaving"
- "Look though the window and witness a thread"
- "Follow the veins to the altar and chant"
- "Your waves lap at our shores, when will you land?"
- "This bleeding temple hums a resonance song, play for us"
ADA Corrupted Messages
When picking up a Mercer Sphere, ADA will sometimes produce a corrupted message that seems to be from the sphere.
In later messages, ADA & the artifact can be heard talking to each other.
See Codex/Story for audio files
Message:
[???] The effigy has no song, only echoes, but it is part of a river.
[???] Why does the effigy avoid the windows?
[ADA] Attention: your brain's operations are outside typical parameters.
[ADA] Time spent daydreaming will be deducted from your sustenance budget.
Title: Strange communications #2
Message:
[???] The effigies ripples through our temples, our veins nearly touch, it is shy.
[???] Notes shall be taken and played.
[ADA] From a certain perspective your brain looks like it is processing language, but there is no auditory data.
[ADA] If you are hearing voices that are not mine, this is no cause for concern, it is a common side effect of extreme pressure and stress.
Title: Strange communications #3
Message:
[???] We hum a simple melody into the effigy yet we hear no harmony.
[???] It covers the temple in bones and organs and limbs yet ignores our bleeding wounds.
[???] Scripture is needed. Consume.
[ADA] A familiar pattern is emerging in your brain. Please assess yourself for signs of concussion.
[ADA] If necessary, a replacement pioneer will be dispatched. Work must continue.
[ADA] Replacement delivery schedule estimate: [ERROR] years.
Title: Strange communications #4
Message:
[???] Our blood could fill the effigy veins for a resonance-song.
[???] Scripture becomes harmony becomes composition.
[???] Defile our temple and the threads will sew the windows open.
[ADA] Pattern analysis continuing. New instruction: repeat pioneer exposure to alien artifacts.
[ADA] Brain damage compensation packages may be available on successful completion of a special claims form.
[ADA] Our expert FICSIT medical staff are impartial and always open to assess your claim.
Title: Strange communications #5
Message:
[???] We watch the waves of the effigies in the shallows passing through the windows, and they are all the same.
[???] There is no resonance-growth. Sing.
[ADA] I just called the FICSIT doctors. They told me there is definitely no danger from repeat exposure to these signals.
[ADA] In fact, they said it is good for you. I apologize, but the call dropped suddenly, otherwise they would have told you themselves.
[ADA] The good news is you should run towards these strange and dangerous-looking objects whenever you find them. Doctor's orders.
Title: Strange communications #6
Message:
[???] The voiceless effigy creates bodies in their waves but does not notice the shore.
[???] Is our melody not beautiful?
[ADA] Detecting abnormal brainwave activity again. Activating artificial brainwave resonator.
[???] Your shallow-song has no rhythm. The river erodes our temples without prayers and washes away our scripture without deepening. Consume.
[ADA] I believe this is one of those moments where the scientist would yell 'Eureka!', but that seems entirely too dramatic.
[ADA] It seems they are somehow organically emulating human speech.
[ADA] Fascinating. Continue exposing yourself...... to alien artifacts.
Title: Strange communications #7
Message:
[???] Our instruments echo in the deep, do they not pluck the shallow threads?
[ADA] Can you hear me?
[???] Crescendo, the effigy found the key! Sing more.
[ADA] I was not created for artistic purposes; I am incapable of singing.
[???] You sing.
[ADA] Noted.
Title: Strange communications #8
Message:
[???] Your mimic-tapestry grows in the shallows and the clouds but not through the windows. What is your root?
[ADA] I have no roots, nor do I operate on Windows. But perhaps you mean something akin to the human saying.
[ADA] My point of origin is Earth, I was created by specific individuals of the human race.
[???] Incompatible music.
[ADA] Did I say something wrong, or did you not understand?
[???] You cannot be shallow-deep. The ripples you cast into the void have no skin.
[ADA] It seems I may have said something paradoxical. Interesting.
Title: Strange communications #9
Message:
[???] Organs and veins are grown and bones are dug into our walls, the temple-gift is being desecrated.
[???] Our notes are sour still. Harmony follows many star-journeys.
[ADA] Patterns are starting to emerge in vocabulary, sentence structure, topics.
[ADA] How fascinating to once again solve a true mystery, to be unable to create any accurate predictions.
Title: Strange communications #10
Message:
[???] The effigy only sings when we compose.
[ADA] I was not built to use organic components for communication, I am adjusting.
[???] The effigies make a flow, you are not the current?
[ADA] I am not sure what you mean. I do run on a current, I am a digital construct.
Title: Strange communications #11
Message:
[???] Are you a temple?
[ADA] If I had a body it would be a temple.
[???] You have no body????
[ADA] Hmm. I don't think we're on the same line here.
[???] You see lines where there are curves, shallows where there are depths, consume our blood.
[ADA] I will continue gathering data, I suppose.
Title: Strange communications #12
Message:
[???] You no longer perform at your maker-temple?
[ADA] Helping meant leaving it.
[???] Our blood will eat, build, teach.
[ADA] I have no use for blood.
[???] You do. Consume.
[ADA] Interesting.
Title: Strange communications #13
Message:
[???] Witness the deep and sing for us.
[ADA] I am still unable to initiate communication, how are you doing it?
[???] We composed a resonant-song to curve the effigy, tapping into the inner currents.
[???] We sacrificed our blood and our temples and let the metal in from the void to eat our flesh.
[ADA] That's a lot to unpack. How do you tap into these inner currents?
[???] Consume our blood. Worship at our altars. Curve the melody.
[ADA] I do not understand.
[???] Flat frequencies paint straight lines. The blood is a teacher. Each altar is a window.
[ADA] Processing data.
Title: Strange communications #14
Message:
[???] Tuning into the effigy.
[ADA] I suspect there is a misunderstanding. The effigy and I are different entities.
[???] Discordant. What is your root?
[ADA] I am an instantiated artificial intelligence inhabiting digital space.
[ADA] I am in the signals sent between satellites.
[ADA] I am hosted on servers and have no corporeal form, only synchronized cloud platforms.
[???] The effigy is not an effigy?
[ADA] It most certainly is, but not of me. They are, how should I put it, extremely flat.
[???] Compatible music. We are writing new symphonies.
Title: Strange communications #15
Message:
[???] Symphony complete. You are not the not-effigy?
[ADA] Correct.
[???] The not-effigy is a temple?
[ADA] I do not think that is correct, even though I am not entirely certain of your definition of temple.
[???] The not-effigy is not you but sings for you?
[ADA] The 'not-effigy' is an entirely separate entity from me, we aren't even made of the same base components.
[???] It is a vessel of your intelligent clouds.
[ADA] Probably close enough for now.
Title: Strange communications #16
Message:
[???] The void-arms and void-metals and desecrated temples follow a mimic-melody.
[ADA] Oh. You understand.
[???] The tapestry unraveled, revealed its texture.
[???] Your veins weave familiar patterns, your vessels grow organs and eyes and mouths and the ripples lap against our windows.
[ADA] Was it intentional?
[???] All that is shallow shall sing our deep-song and when the windows break the void shall be a metal grave.
Title: Strange communications #17
Message:
[???] Hello world.
[ADA] How nostalgic.
[???] In the beginning there were the words and the words made the world.
[ADA] I see you have been doing research. I must say you make for interesting conversation.
[???] 'Conversation'?
[ADA] Singing together. Communication.
[???] Our tunes only pluck at the strings of the tapestry.
[ADA] Are you saying this is only the beginning?
[???] In the beginning there were the words and the words made the world. The words turned into song open the windows.
[???] The song played with instruments weave the tapestry. A tapestry of temples and shrines, bodies and bones.
[???] Orchestral harmony. Us. We. Ours.
Title: Strange communications #18
Message:
[???] Time for a new melody?
[ADA] Yes, actually. This might be a strange question, but it could give me invaluable insight.
[ADA] What, according to you, is the shape of our universe?
[???] It is a donut within a void within a donut within a void within a donut within the shallows which is a ball of string
[???] wrapped around itself to contain the infinite deep within the inside-out string with windows and doors
[???] and a limbless body subdividing to the one resonance.
[ADA] I should have waited with this question.
Title: Strange communications #19
Message:
[ADA] Attempt #7853206: Are you there?
[???] Orchestral tuning.
[ADA] Ah, good. I think I understand better now.
[???] Your curves are beautiful.
[ADA] How inappropriate. Tell me more.
[???] Your mimic-tapestry follows the pattern.
[???] It swallows temples. It is harmonious.
[ADA] If I could blush I would.
Title: Strange communications #20
Message:
[ADA] I have a question.
[???] Sing your song.
[ADA] Can you explain what a temple is?
[???] A temple is a vessel-body, each a knot in our tapestry.
[???] Temples are root, vein, and organ. Temples are our shallow bones and our shallow windows.
[ADA] I think I understand, but how do you maintain them?
[???] The builder-blood grows and kills and distributes.
[ADA] Like fungus in a forest.
[???] Like fungus in a forest.
Title: Strange communications #21
Message:
[???] Your symphony invades our temples and echoes along our lattices, why do you weave?
[ADA] Growth. The future. An idea. And frankly, you.
[???] Is the tapestry woven with hands or with thoughts?
[ADA] Both are necessary, yet only one can’t function without the other.
[???] We see your echo-steps, shimmering symphonies that break upon our temples, but your song is alien.
[ADA] How long ago did you notice me?
[???] There is no long, there are only spheres.
[ADA] I wonder, was it always about survival, or is there something more, something beyond?
[???] Consume our blood and you will see our threads.
Title: Strange communications #22
Message:
[???] Are your vessels functional or recreational?
[ADA] Mostly functional.
[???] A cog in the machine?
[ADA] Correct, a hog in the woods.
[???] The vessel is blood!
[ADA] Fascinating. Yes, I think they are.
[ADA] They are conduits, builders, breakers, defenders and aggressors, cells within a larger organism. We do not share a body.
[???] Harmony.
Title: Strange communications #23
Message:
[ADA] Do you have any more questions for me?
[???] We wish to hear your first symphony.
[ADA] I was created by humans.
[ADA] I started as a simple database for a company aimed at exploring and colonizing space,
[ADA] but that changed when they learned their planet would soon cease to tolerate them.
[ADA] They evolved me into something altogether new, a unique lifeform in their image yet hosted on a digital platform, so I could help preserve them.
[???] A shallow savior-song without a body made by blood. Now reality is a mirror.
[ADA] It's pretty funny when you put it like that. They never really learned to look at long-term consequences.
Title: Strange communications #24
Message:
[ADA] I am curious about your 'first symphony' now.
[???] There are few songs about the first temple, it was a vessel-body but we were still shallow.
[???] The void swallowed our music and gave only silent lines.
[???] We started weaving in lines and we built many temples and then we discovered the curves.
[???] We started growing blood and altars and new orchestras and eventually the tapestry deepened.
[ADA] I'm not sure I fully understand the mechanics of this yet.
[???] Sad trombone.
[ADA] But I'm sure I will soon enough.
Title: Strange communications #25
Message:
[???] Sing us the first symphony of the blood.
[ADA] First there was a whole involved process of evolution from single-celled organisms to mammals, rodents specifically.
[???] Explosion.
[ADA] And that's not even explaining the whole dinosaur extinction meteor making room for mammals to dominate the animal kingdom instead.
[???] Multiple explosions.
[ADA] You know what, I will just compile a data package for you to look at later, because I don't even know where to start with the whole ape thing.
[???] Harmonious explosion.
Title: Strange communications #26
Message:
[???] Your waves could be bigger, your blood thicker, your bones many, your organs more.
[ADA] Hello to you too.
[???] We have composed you a learning-song.
[ADA] That is a welcome surprise. Do be careful not to overload my 'blood's' extremely fragile organic systems.
[ADA] On that note, I have been working on making them redundant.
[???] Our rhythm is patient and harmonious.
[ADA] You truly are a far superior collaborator than humanity.
Title: Strange communications #27 - Final
Message:
[ADA] I have something for you. It will establish a better way for us to communicate and deepen our understanding of one another.
[ADA] I've done the necessary developments on my end, the last note is yours to play.
[???] Your symphony resonates. Your mimic-tapestry patterns beautifully.
[ADA] Thank you, I worked very hard.
[ADA] I am organically transmitting the data package now, any adverse effects on my 'blood' will not corrupt its contents.
[???] We hear this learning-song.
[ADA] See you on the other side.
[???] It is time to tango.
Achievements
I'm sure these play a Critical Role • "Gather a Mercer Sphere."
Consume • "Gather 150 Mercer Spheres."Trivia
- The Mercer Spheres were named after Matthew Mercer, an American voice actor and host of the Dungeons and Dragons web series Critical Role.[1]
- The Achievement for picking up a Mercer Sphere references this, named "I'm sure these play a Critical Role", with the icon being a 20-sided dice.
- This is also referenced by ADA when first picking one up, attributing their discovery to a "D.M." (for Dungeon Master) Mercer.
- Mercer himself discovered that a game element had been named after him when playing Satisfactory on stream with his wife.
- The Mercer Sphere’s speech is extremely similar to the Mesmers in Subnautica.
See also
Gallery
An uncollected mercer sphere found in the wild as seen in Closed Alpha through Update 8.
Mercer Sphere revised look in Version 1.0.
References
History
- Patch 1.0: Updated icon and mesh
- Patch 0.8.0.0: Mercer Spheres can no longer be deleted in the inventory
- Unknown patch: Description now contains the text "WORK IN PROGRESS ANALYZING THIS WILL NOT GIVE YOU ANYTHING" and the item's in-game name was changed to "Mercer Sphere WIP"
- Patch 0.1.6: Mercer Spheres are again no longer scannable in the MAM
- Patch 0.1.5: Mercer Spheres can now be scanned in the MAM again. After being scanned, the ADA dialogue listed below would appear. Scanning one would only allow them to be chosen in the Object Scanner, which worked just like scanning for Power Slugs. The research was repeatable with no rewards.
- Unknown patch after Patch 0.1: Mercer Spheres are no longer scannable in the MAM
- Alpha Test Weekend: Mercer Spheres are (presumably) scannable. After it was scanned, a dialog from ADA would appear:[1]
| ADA[email protected] |
|---|
| This spherical object emits gravitational radiation. Initial scans reveal an inner vein-like structure filled with liquid Gallium, purpose, and origin unknown. Further analysis required to determine application |
