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 M.A.M..

Each Hard Drive can be researched in the M.A.M. and results in a choice of one of 3 alternate blueprints, chosen from the pool below.

There are 89 Crash Sites., which means a total of 89 Hard Drives can be theoretically obtained. Four of them, however, require unreleased components to unlock ( and ), reducing the number to 85.

Two Hard Drives can be used for engineer inventory expansions, leaving 83 for alternate recipes. Currently, there are 70 Alternate Recipes, leaving 13 unused.

Alternate Recipes
Alternate recipes generally require different input materials than the original, trading between raw material consumption, space, power, simplicity and availability of material.

The set of blueprints to choose from is determined randomly at the beginning of the scan. Because of this, the player can keep re-rolling to get the desired blueprint by saving the game before researching a hard drive, then loading the save and waiting for another 10 minutes if the choices are undesirable. The recipes are determined on the beginning of the scan and are only shown to the player after the research concludes.

The selected alternate recipes is unlocked immediately after it is chosen. All alternate recipes can be only used in factory buildings, none in the Craft Bench; therefore, parts like Compacted Coal cannot be hand-crafted.

To allow an Alternate Recipe to be shown up after a Hard Drive research, the prerequisites as shown below must be fulfilled, whether it is Milestone, Research or other Alternate Recipe. This means if a player builds a factory that requires certain alternate recipes that they have not yet unlocked, they may need to find more Hard Drives than they anticipated in order to unlock the prerequisites blocking their intended alternate recipes.

Note: It appears that there are several alternate recipes that can be unlocked at Tier 3, despite involving a fluid (Water) making them Refinery recipes, which is not unlocked before Tier 5.

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 you research a Hard Drive, and there is nothing more available to unlock, the Hard Drive will be returned to your inventory 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.".

Alternate recipe analysis
The analysis below is based on the target production of the following items, which is normally achievable in the late game, see this link for detailed production list->. This amount is chosen to max the coupon farming rate, while maintaining reasonable amount of parts on hands for building additional buildings. All resources on the map are fully utilized.

Useful recipes

 * Bolted Frame: Significantly improved production speed with negligible amount of Iron Ore loss.
 * Casted Screw, Steel Screw: Prioritize "Casted Screw" first for increased production speed. When iron is exhausted, augment it with "Steel Screw", sacrificing a small amount of steel.
 * Caterium Computer mixed with original recipe: The alternate recipe is preferred, however Caterium can get used up quickly and this is where the original recipe comes in handy to make up for it.
 * Cheap Silica: Limestone is abundant, using it to reduce the load in Raw Quartz is almost a necessity.
 * Compacted Coal: Not an alternative really. It is needed for the "Compacted Steel Ingot" recipe and ammunition.
 * Copper Rotor: Increased production speed by mixing Copper into it.
 * Diluted Packaged Fuel: Adds Water to get more Fuel. This Fuel is not for power production; it's meant to be converted into Plastic and Rubber.
 * Electrode Aluminum Scrap: Relieves the Crude Oil consumption. It also has a better conversion rate.
 * Encased Industrial Pipe: All-round winner.
 * Fine Black Powder: All-round winner.
 * Fused Quickwire: Caterium is much more precious than Copper, so yes.
 * Heat Exchanger: Saves Crude Oil and Bauxite.
 * Heavy Encased Frame: All-round winner; only eats a little more Limestone.
 * Heavy Oil Residue: Not an alternative. You'll need this in your fuel production chain.
 * Infused Uranium Cell mixed with original recipe: The alternate recipe is preferred, use the original recipe to boost the production if Quartz and Caterium are insufficient.
 * Insulated Crystal Oscillator: A little bit of Crude Oil is worth it to save on Quartz.
 * Iron Wire mixed with original recipe: The original recipe is preferred, unless Copper is fully utilized. Can be used with Stitched Iron Plate for the most efficient Reinforced Iron Plate production.
 * Nuclear Fuel Unit mixed with original recipe: The alternate recipe is preferred, unless Crystal Oscillators are insufficient.
 * Polyester Fabric: Necessary to automate the production of Filters.
 * Pure Caterium Ingot: Just add Water.
 * Pure Copper Ingot: Just add Water.
 * Pure Iron Ingot: Just add Water.
 * Pure Quartz Crystal: Just add Water.
 * Radio Control System: Although Supercomputers seem to be difficult to produce, this recipe is actually an all-round winner.
 * Recycled Plastic: More complex, but way better than original recipe.
 * Recycled Rubber, Residual Rubber: More complex, but way better than original recipe. "Residual Rubber" can be used to clean up the Polymer Resin byproducts.
 * Silicone Circuit Board: Actually better than "Caterium Circuit Board" since no Oil is involved.
 * Solid Steel Ingot, Compacted Steel Ingot: "Solid Steel Ingot" is preferred. Use "Compacted Steel Ingot" if you have Coal shortage and excess Sulfur.
 * Steamed Copper Sheet: Just add Water.
 * Stitched Iron Plate: The most effective recipe when combined with "Iron Wire".
 * Turbo Rigour Motor: Necessary for large scale Turbo Motor Production. The key point is to reduce the need for Radio Control Units which are also not easy to be mass-produced.
 * Wet Concrete: Just add Water.

The remaining alternate recipes that did not appear in the above list, can be considered not beneficial in the late game. Engineers could chose to use them at their own preference.

Other recipes

 * Biocoal, Charcoal: Useful if Coal is in shortage and Biomass and Woods are in excess. However it is recommended to craft wood into biomass for other uses instead.
 * Bolted Iron Plate: A quick boost in speed compared to original recipe, however Stitched Iron Plate with Iron Wire is more resource efficient.
 * Caterium Circuit Board: Useful in mid game, however Silicone Circuit Board is more efficient in the late game.
 * Caterium Wire, Quickwire Stator, Fused Wire: Useful in mid-game where Caterium is plenty.
 * Coke Steel Ingot: A method to get rid of excess Heavy Oil Residue. Safety precaution such as an overflow system is recommended to prevent jamming the Oil production upstream.
 * Crystal Computer: Useful in mid game where Quartz is still in excess.
 * Iron Alloy Ingot, Copper Alloy Ingot: When paired together they produce more ingots compared to separated production chains. In later game, pure ingot recipes are more efficient.
 * Pure Aluminum Ingot: Simplified recipe, better power consumption, diminished conversion rate.
 * Rigour Motor: Useful in mid-game. In late game, Crystal Oscillators are used in more important recipes.
 * Silicone High-Speed Connector: Trade Raw Quartz for Caterium Ore. Useful for mid-game where Quartz is still in excess.
 * Steel Rod, Steel Screw, Steel Frame: Useful if Coal is plenty.
 * Steel Rotor: Shares the same types of ingredients as default Stator, which simplify the production. The resource consumption, however, is not efficient.
 * Turbofuel, Turbo Heavy Fuel: Useful for pre-nuclear setup which is also a good step-up from ordinary Fuel

Inefficient recipes

 * Automated Speed Wiring: The complexity involved does not justify the speed boost.
 * Coated Cable, Insulated Cable, Quickwire Cable: All involve Oil which is a limited resource.
 * Coated Iron Plate, Steel Coated Plate, Adhered Iron Plate: All involve Oil which is a limited resource.
 * Signal Beacon: The requirement for Quartz and Coal does not justify its speed boost.
 * Electrode Circuit Board: This recipe will use up your Crude Oil quickly.
 * Fine Concrete, Rubber Concrete: Limestone is abundant and there is no reason to use alternate recipes involving rarer resources.
 * Heavy Flexible Frame: Oil is more precious than Coal so there is no reason to use this.
 * Plastic Smart Plating, Flexible Framework: All involve Oil which is a limited resource.
 * Seismic Nobelisk: Crystal Oscillators are used in more important recipes.