The numbers that end the confusion
- 118 Crash Sites on the default map → 118 Hard Drives from exploration.
- 108 alternate recipes exist in total: 107 are unlocked by Hard Drive scans, and Distilled Silica comes free the moment you unlock Quartz Purification. The full ranked list renders all 108.
- Of those, Distilled Silica never needs a drive (it comes with Tier 7), and Biocoal and Charcoal also have free MAM paths via Compacted Coal research.
- A scan takes 10 minutes and offers 2 choices, of which you pick 1.
- Each drive can be rerolled once, exposing up to 4 unique rewards.
You cannot cleanly grab every recipe from crash sites alone, but the math is fixed and plannable.
Where the 118 drives go (verified allocation)
| Sink | Hard Drives |
|---|---|
| Alternate recipes (107 need a scan; Distilled Silica comes free with Quartz Purification) | 107 |
| Inventory expansions (2 slots each) | 2 |
| MAM researches that consume drives directly (Compacted Coal, Turbofuel, Rocket Fuel, Ionized Fuel) | 4 |
| Total consumed on the full path | 113 |
| Left over from 118 crash sites | 5 |
On top of the 118, the AWESOME Shop sells Hard Drives for 100 FICSIT Coupons each once Tier 8 Particle Enrichment is unlocked (infinite source), and FICSMAS hands out 1 from its Advent Calendar. Two shortcuts stretch the budget: Biocoal and Charcoal also unlock free from the MAM’s Compacted Coal research (saves up to 2 drives, so as few as 111 consumed and 7 spare).
How a scan actually works
- Research Radio Signal Scanning in the MAM, then use the Object Scanner to locate Crash Sites (see where to find drives).
- Load a drive into the MAM (the full research workflow is in how to use the MAM). The scan runs 10 minutes.
- At the start of the scan, two eligible recipes are locked in from the current pool. Eligibility depends on milestones, MAM research, or other alternate recipes you already own.
- When it ends, pick one of the two. The other is discarded unless you reroll.
- You can defer the pick in the Hard Drive library and decide later, which also narrows the pool for future scans.
Reroll: one per drive. Because rewards do not repeat within the library, storing several drives before scanning increases the odds that a new scan surfaces the recipe you actually want.
Alternate recipes are trades, not upgrades
The wiki is explicit: an alternate recipe “cannot be considered an upgrade.” Each swaps inputs or steps — sometimes better for your base, sometimes worse. Judge them by your actual bottleneck, not by a generic “best” list.
Which to prioritize (concrete, verified examples)
| Recipe | Inputs | Output | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Iron Ingot | 5 Iron Ore + 8 Limestone | 10 Iron Ingot (50/min) | Halves ore per ingot vs the 1:1 default — a huge early win |
| Copper Alloy Ingot | 5 Copper Ore + 5 Iron Ore | 10 Copper Ingot (100/min) | Best copper-ingot rate; pairs with iron-rich maps |
| Cast Screws | 5 Iron Ingot | 20 Screws (50/min) | Skips the Iron Rod step entirely |
| Compacted Steel Ingot | 2 Iron Ore + 1 Compacted Coal | 4 Steel Ingot | Cheap steel when coal is abundant |
| Iron Alloy Ingot | 8 Iron Ore + 2 Copper Ore | 15 Iron Ingot (75/min) | Good only when copper is plentiful |
Priority rule: take recipes that (a) remove a refining step, (b) improve ore-to-product ratio, and (c) feed lines you actually run at scale — how to calculate production ratios shows how to rework your line math after swapping a recipe. A perfect screw recipe is worthless if you buy screws from a sink-fed shop instead. For the complete ranked pool with every one of the 108 recipes, see best alternate recipes; common mistakes covers the traps players hit when reworking lines around a new alternate.