Talk:Hard Drive

Update 4 new recipe analysis
i've run the numbers on these, and come to these conclusions:

--good--

heat-fused frame - uses more nitrogen and oil, only saves on copper. all-round loser, more complex and logistically a total nightmare. https://u4.satisfactorytools.com/production?share=1fsOuZrQuMjdrjHvY7Pc https://u4.satisfactorytools.com/production?share=MWLErb3ifdXPlKeVDSYH

OC supercomputer - uses a very small amount of nitrogen (4 per supercomputer) to save a lot on bauxite, oil, coal, sulfur, quartz, caterium iron, copper, and limestone. also gets a nice speed boost and uses assemblers rather than manufacturers. significantly more complex than the normal recipe however https://u4.satisfactorytools.com/production?share=Er0oabvSwSfJe3yV1ARY https://u4.satisfactorytools.com/production?share=AHSwgJkQZhWRfa1OnPBj

diluted fuel - same as diluted packaged fuel, but doesn't need the water to be packaged and fuel to be unpackaged which is nice. unlocked later though and needs blenders

coated iron canister - 2 iron plates and a copper sheet in exchange for 2 plastic. good trade, though generally you won't need to mass-produce these, so low priority for unlocking. also uses assemblers rather than constructors

cooling unit - more than halves nitrogen usage and also saves bauxite, oil and quartz in exchange for a bit of caterium. significantly more complex than original recipe however https://u4.satisfactorytools.com/production?share=A4HghGdiNZfyjm00NX0b https://u4.satisfactorytools.com/production?share=vJykeEPStUYA8TAL3ADm

alclad casing - 50% more aluminium efficiency and a nice speed boost by adding copper. you'll already have copper ingots at your aluminium facility for alclad sheet production, so this is a no brainer. needs assemblers instead of constructors, but you need less of them so oh well.

turbo rigour motor (updated) - uses slightly more caterium and quartz to save a lot of bauxite and oil

--usable--

super-state computer - compared to the original recipe, it saves caterium in exchange for using more oil, and about the same complexity. it's decent compared to the original, but garbage compared to OC supercomputer, which is amazing

classic battery - uses more quartz and to save on sulfur and bauxite. pretty decent trade-off, but quite a lot more complex than the normal recipe. https://u4.satisfactorytools.com/production?share=CW1aqjmz0ZCWiyHSPRmr https://u4.satisfactorytools.com/production?share=qwKBDDkTTUCPnZeB56od

steel canister - better than original, but probably not as good as coated iron canister. usable though, especially since you probably dont need a whole lot of canisters

electric motor - uses 1.67 caterium and 1.8 copper per motor in exchange for saving 4.75 coal and 7.4 iron, at about the same complexity. it's alright, though caterium is quite rare and valuable

--garbage--

turbo blend fuel - sort of a weird hybrid between turbofuel and turbo heavy fuel. problem is that not only does turbo heavy fuel suck, making this at least half suck, but it requires petroleum coke too. just over half as efficient as the "normal" recipe, in exchange for saving some coal.

electromagnetic connection rod - same as the old one except 20% slower. so it still sucks, i have no idea why they did this

turbo pressure motor - as well as using a lot of nitrogen, also uses way more baux and coal. why would you do this?

--Lillytoujou (talk) 14:28, 24 March 2021 (UTC)

Unlocking all recipes
Do we know what happens if you've unlocked all but one of the alternative recipes? Does it show the same recipe three times in the M.A.M? What if everything is unlocked? --CerbrusNL (talk) 07:51, 27 March 2019 (UTC)


 * As there is currently only 17 Recipes available, And I have collected 18 hard drives so far. When I done researched the 17th drive, there is only 1 choice, not 3 duplicated choices. And completing the 18th drive will simply crash the game, regardless if the engineer opened the MAM UI or not. Crash happens even if the engineer is not at the base. -- Kwjcool321 (talk) 14:41, 27 March 2019 (UTC)


 * So, you can research the 18th drive, but the research just finishes with no rewards? The M.A.M. just resets to an "idle" state? --CerbrusNL (talk) 15:14, 27 March 2019 (UTC)


 * Update, you cannot research the 18th drive as it will crash the game once it complete the research. -- Kwjcool321 (talk) 15:16, 27 March 2019 (UTC)

Ingredients multiplied by 3
As for original recipes, should the original ingredients be multiplied by 3 so that the comparison can be justified? --Kwjcool321 (talk) 20:57, 3 April 2019 (UTC)


 * No, not all recipes multiply the output items by 3. I've added a footnote. --CerbrusNL (talk) 21:12, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

Comparing alternate and original recipes
Could someone come out with an idea to add in the info about comparison of the alternative recipes compared to the original? For example the raw resources consumed. For me the item per minutes doesn't really matter, what matter is the items consumed to make another item. --Kwjcool321 (talk) 05:21, 11 April 2019 (UTC)

Alternate recipe infobox
I have looked at the biomass page. I would suggest create a new infobox for every possible alternative recipe, such as for steel ingot. That means that would be 3 infoboxes for steel ingot. This will make the crafting usage for respective ingredients automatically updated, easing the maintenance. --Kwjcool321 (talk) 08:22, 4 May 2019 (UTC)

Quickwire Cable
Quickwire Cable isn't an available recipe in the game as of Build 99427. 68.43.207.195 22:04, 30 May 2019 (UTC)
 * It is listed as a recipe in the official data-file. Maybe you haven't unlocked it yet ingame? --Cadaei (talk) 08:14, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

I've DM'd you on Discord @Cadaei if you want to discuss it there, if not here's a copy of my DM to you;

Can confirm from 3 different members, including greeny, that the Quickwire Cable recipe is not unlockable via HDDs. Attempting to unlock the recipe will spit the HDD back out stating there aren't any available alt recipes on a fully unlocked save. It is also not unlockable via a HUB milestone, and cannot be seen in the Assembler. Greeny also doesn't use that recipe in his calculator because it's not available in the game. 68.43.207.195 16:24, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

Hard Drive Item ID
I think people might be interested in the ID for some items, in order to cheat them if they so desire, or generally, it's a good idea to have that information available.

Below is the Hard Drive item ID, which I found by checking the save file data while the item was in my inventory.

/Game/FactoryGame/Resource/Environment/CrashSites/Desc_HardDrive.Desc_HardDrive_C — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.253.99.154 (talk • contribs) at 06:39, 9 June 2019‎ (UTC). Please sign your posts with
 * I haven't found a way to spawn in items, is this possible?--Cadaei (talk) 12:47, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Blueprint paths are added now. Currently I know of no way to use them, though. --Cadaei (talk) 13:55, 16 June 2019 (UTC)

Unlocking Silica Recipe
I was only able to obtain the Silica alternate recipe AFTER unlocking the alternate recipes for Concrete then High Speed Connectors. I hope that helps zero in on what prerequisite unlocks are necessary before unlocking Silica!

Verified. I also obtained the Alternate High Speed Connector before Unlocking silica. Scienceguy31415 (talk) 03:13, 19 June 2019 (UTC)

I haven't seen the alt silica recipe. The only alts I haven't unlocked are: Enriched Steel Ingot, Plastic, Screw, Caterium Wire. Silica seems to have multiple prerequisites.--Stannius (talk) 16:53, 10 September 2019 (UTC) Update: I am 97.5% sure Screw is a prerequisite. I burned a drive on Screw and after that, Silica finally showed up. --Stannius (talk) 02:26, 13 September 2019 (UTC)

New Experimental recipes June 14 2019
Havent seen a list of new recipes yet, here's the ones I've found so far

Expanded Pocket Dimension +5 Inventory Slots

Inflated Pocket Dimenstion +5 Inventory Slots

Interitus384 (talk) 18:08, 15 June 2019 (UTC)

Some more: Uranium Cell: 45 Uranium, 45 Sulfur, 45 Silica, 60 Quickwire => 35 Uranium Cell @ 17,5 per minute

Electromagnetic Control Rod 6 Stator, 3 High-Speed Connector => 3 Electromagnetic Control Rod @ 2 per minute

Nuclear Fuel Rod 50 Uranium Cell, 10 Electromagnetic Control Rod, 3 Crystal Oscillator, 6 Beacon => 3 Nuclear Fuel Rod @ 0.6 minute

Alternate for RCU and Turbo Motor
I've got RCU rught after unlocking alternate for Concrete.

And Turbo Motor after Crystal Computer. But at that time I already had opened alternate for Motor and High Speed Connector.

79.164.89.143 19:09, 9 August 2019 (UTC)


 * Your RCU appearing in that order was a coincidence - I have it and to this day have not unlocked "alt" Concrete (and never will!) I am pretty damn sure RCU does have some prerequisites.  I have been making a detailed list, and can tell you all with 99% certainty that the following were not required: Turbo Motor, Turbofuel.  Also, I have seen it as an option but never spent a hard drive on the following, which I saw before RCU showing up: the alts Crystal Oscillator, Silica, anything with nuclear power, Black Powder, Enriced Steel Ingot, Rubber Cable, Caterium Wire, Motor, Rotor, Stator, Caterium Computer, Caterium Circuit Board.  I probably had Heat Sink unlocked, but not claiming that it's one of the reqs.


 * As for Turbo Motor, I did probably have Crystal Computer, too, but since it was one of the latest ones I have observed (I scan through them with save/load like 15 times every time I unlock), I can only confirm the ones i haven't unlocked or didn't see until after I unlocked it: Crystal Oscillator, Silica, anything with nuclear power, Black Powder, Enriched Steel Ingot, Rubber Cable, Caterium Wire, Motor, Rotor, Stator, Caterium Computer, Caterium Circuit Board, Radio Control Unit, Steel Screw, Modular Frame, Encased I-Beam. Checking my saves showed that I chose to unlock Turbo Motor, saved, and unlocked Crystal Computer *after*.  Between me and the above post, we can know that neither is dependent on the other.


 * I didn't make a list of every item, just ones i thought might count. I'm going to dig in the game files (where is the file for the list people are referencing?) and might even start a new game to find out.


 * Team a113 (talk) 02:54, 12 January 2020 (UTC)

Fuel (Alternate )
There is an alt recipe for fuel, however I'd put it right in the 'bad' section. Requires more oil and power. Reddrummer (talk) 03:24, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

Cancel my last. It was plastic I was thinking of. Already listed as 'litterally useless' Reddrummer (talk) 03:26, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

Alternate Uranium Cell
I finally got the alternate Uranium Cell right after the Enriched Steel Ingot.


 * (the post above is anonymous, and I forget how you deal with that on wikis to insert a signature.)


 * The fact that I have never been shown nuclear alts but just saw Enriched Steel Ingot for the first time *might* be evidence (but not for sure). Team a113 (talk) 02:57, 12 January 2020 (UTC)

Cannot reroll recipes anymore ?
I'm currently playing on the experimental build and wanted a specific recipe. I tried the old trick of saving few seconds before the research is complete, so I can reload and have new options... Looks like it it doesn't work anymore ! Guess we will have to save before a drive analysis and load if the recipes are not the one wanted, but we will have to wait 10min every time...

Ang3lus033 (talk) 04:32, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
 * As you might have guessed, to prevent 'cheaty' reroll, save-load doesn't work anymore. You have to save before scanning the hard drive, which means 10mins for the reroll.Kwjcool321 (talk) 15:12, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

Afaik it has always been like that, i.e. save before starting the research. Willi3591 (talk) 09:08, 15 March 2020 (UTC)

Good and Bad Alternate Recipe Names
Should the good and bad alternate recipes have the name of the good or bad recipe instead of the name of the product of the recipe? For example: "Rotor" is listed as a good recipe because it removes the need for screws, but there are two alternate recipes for rotors and only one removes the need for screws. Should the good recipe be listed as "Steel Rotor" with a link to the rotor page? 72.199.206.112 23:40, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes, it should be like that, it is just because that section of this page is still holding information from Update 2.Kwjcool321 (talk) 23:53, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Distinguish between early and late game for recipe recommendations
With such a huge number of recipes, not every one of them stays that good as you progress through the game. It depends on which resources you have already automated and how much of them. There are already some words about this in the section, but splitting the useful recipes up into different stages of the game would be pretty handy imo. What do you say?

--Scan (talk) 06:27, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

Unlocked all recipes but do not possess all recipes
Hi everyone! I've unlocked all hard drive available in the early access. I can't put more hard drive in the M.A.M now because it told me that I have researched everything - but the "Heat Exchanger" and "Insulated Crystal Oscillator" recipes are not available... Do you know how it is possible?
 * Some might be still locked behind M.A.M., the worst case is either save edit for unlock or restart game.Kwjcool321 (talk) 01:06, 30 March 2020 (UTC)

I'm in a similar position - I have unlocked everything available in MAM (and hub terminal, of course), and I'm still missing the recycled plastic recipe which I really wanted. This is a pre-update 3 save, so maybe it's bugged? -Ygg
 * Update - It's definitely a bug. I managed to fix it by editing my save. There were five recipes that I had to change from "Purchased" to "Not yet available" in Satisfactory Calculator. I suspect it's because the alternate recepies are unlocked by opening higher tier stuff in hub terminal, and update 3 messed up some of the status flags. Like you needed to research oil processing to unlock the recycled plastic recipe, but when you have already researched oil on a pre-update 3 save, and you then load that save into update 3, it never gets unlocked. Something like that. (After I fixed my save, the hub terminal is no longer bugged either - before there were several tiers that were highlighted, indicating there was stuff to unlock, even though there was nothing. Now, none are highlighted.) - Ygg

Add Prerequisites for Inventory Expansion
I’m currently at the beginning of Tier 5 and have researched a total of 57 alternate recipes and Expanded Pocket Dimension, but Inflated Pocket Dimension is not yet showing up, which indicates to me that Inventory Slots obtained from Hard Drives have some prerequisites, which should be listed on the wiki. --ExE Boss (talk) 20:50, 15 July 2020 (UTC)


 * So, I’ve unlocked Industrial Manufacturing and Inflated Pocket Dimension showed up among the Hard Drive research results, which leads me to believe that it’s the requirement, but it could also be the total number of scanned Hard Drives, which is at 60 (59 alternate recipes + Expanded Pocket Dimension). --ExE Boss (talk) 00:55, 16 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Prior to Update 3, where MAM research appeared as HUB milestones, the Expanded Pocket Dimension was a Tier 2 milestone and Inflated Pocket Dimension was a Tier 5 milestone. The prerequisites are all stored in docs.json, which confirm that (Exp. Pocket Dimension has, Inf. Pocket Dimension has  ). Ondar111 (talk) 09:14, 16 July 2020 (UTC)

Recipe categorisation changes
the analysis of these is good, but there are some i think could be changed:

turbofuel - i think maybe in useful recipes. it's been stated that it's useful pre-nuclear, but i think it's nice late game to save on nuclear waste as well. nuclear power is technically not sustainable as it requires large nuclear waste dumps, and in the (very) long term even these will fill up and you'd have to start filling more and more of the map up with waste, so could it be argued that in the endgame oil power is technically better?

conversely, i think turbo heavy fuel should go into inefficient recipes. it is admittedly quite a bit better than using the normal residual fuel recipe and putting the compacted coal into coal generators, at 8000MJ compared to 2000 + 2520 = 4520 MJ, but it falls short of diluted packaged fuel which is 6000 + 2520 = 8520 MJ. additionally, it doesn't produce any polymer resin, you can't use excess fuel for plastic/rubber production, and you can't use the other turbofuel recipe later for maximum efficiency. overall i don't really see any reason to use this, unless the game is absolutely refusing to give you the diluted packaged fuel recipe.

fused wire - i don't necessarily think this should be moved up, but it might be worth noting that with this and fused quickwire, you can produce more of both from the same materials. though as has been said, caterium is more precious than copper so it makes sense to keep it in niche.

compacted steel ingot - i feel like this is better than solid steel ingot if you've got a good supply of sulfur. 45% less coal is a big win, and iron is plentiful. --Lillytoujou (talk) 02:52, 9 September 2020 (UTC)


 * I agree 50% of your point. The actual ranking is determined by a calculator called Ficsit embetterer. Will edit some of the changes you pointed out.Kwjcool321 (talk) 04:38, 9 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Edit: I have edited the page. The article should now sounds more reasonable.Kwjcool321 (talk) 13:51, 9 September 2020 (UTC)

Alloy ingot recipes prerequisites
I've just been offered the iron and copper alloy ingot recipes while still on tier 1. Can someone double-check the prerequisites? 84.112.235.84 18:45, 27 October 2020 (UTC)
 * It is correct, the only listed pre-requisite is listed in italic meaning it's not required to unlock the recipe, rather to use it. --Ondar111 (talk) 08:14, 17 February 2021 (UTC)

Bolted Frames
I disagree with bolted frames being in the 'resource-efficient' category. They represent a considerable speed boost, but they're still slightly less resource efficient so should probably be in the mid-game category.
 * Corrected --Ondar111 (talk) 08:14, 17 February 2021 (UTC)