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MAM, Exploration, and Hard Drives

The parallel research track: what the MAM unlocks, the collectibles that feed it, and how 118 Hard Drives turn exploration into alternate recipes.

The Milestone tiers are not the only progression track in Satisfactory. Running alongside them is the MAM, the Molecular Analysis Machine, a research tree fed not by milestone parts but by special items you collect out in the world. The MAM unlocks things the Milestone tree never touches, and it is the gateway to the alternate-recipe system through Hard Drives. Where the Milestone tree rewards automation, the MAM rewards exploration: the more of the map you scan and scour, the more research you can feed it and the more options it opens. Unlocked in Tier 1 Field Research, it is worth getting running early.

What feeds the MAM

The MAM is powered by collectibles you gather from the world rather than craft. The research categories draw on Mycelia, Flower Petals, Caterium, Quartz, Sulfur, Power Slugs, Mercer Spheres, Somersloops, and alien remains. Each category unlocks a different line of upgrades and recipes, so what you collect shapes what you can research next.

What the MAM unlocks

The MAM opens things the Milestone tree does not, including:

  • Object Scanner upgrades, including Radio Signal Scanning, which is what lets the scanner find Crash Sites.
  • The Caterium and Quartz building lines.
  • Power Shards, crafted from Power Slugs, used to overclock buildings.
  • In 1.2, daisy-chaining power connectors via the Caterium unlock Upgraded Power Connectors, and the SPWN cubicle via the Alien Technology line.

Because the MAM gates the Object Scanner upgrades and Power Shards, neglecting it slows both exploration and overclocking. Getting it running early pays off across the whole run.

Hard Drives and alternate recipes

Hard Drives are the alternate-recipe system, and they run through the MAM. There are 118 Crash Sites scattered across the map, each holding one Hard Drive, for 118 total. The flow works like this:

  1. Research Radio Signal Scanning in the MAM so the Object Scanner can locate Crash Sites.
  2. Find a Crash Site and recover its Hard Drive.
  3. Research the Hard Drive in the MAM. It rolls a choice of one of three randomly-rolled alternate recipes, and you keep one.
  4. Leave other Hard Drives pending while you research the ones you want.

The roll is set when the scan starts, so some players save before researching and reload to re-roll a choice they do not like. Unselected drives stay available for later.

Alternate recipes are not strictly better than the standard ones. Each trades between raw material use, power, space, and complexity. Cast Screw makes screws straight from iron ingots, skipping rods; Iron Wire makes wire from iron instead of copper. Pick the alternate that solves a bottleneck you actually have, not whichever sounds like an upgrade.

How exploration fits the run

The MAM turns wandering the map into mechanical progress. Crash Sites, Power Slugs, Somersloops, and Mercer Spheres are all reasons to leave the factory and explore, and each feeds back into research that makes the factory better. The map also holds the AWESOME Sink and Shop loop for spending excess production. On a first run, treat Hard Drives as an accelerator rather than a requirement: get the MAM going, scan as you explore, but do not detour heavily for alternate recipes before you have a working factory.

Related: Alternate Recipes Worth Chasing for which ones earn their slot, and Biomes and Resource Nodes for where the collectibles live.