This is your only major 

>> SPOILER WARNING << 

ok thanks bye!

In this post I'll go over the more gimmicky things and sidequests in the map. You can use this as a loose guide when you get stuck somewhere or just to convince yourself, that this isn't just memey nonsense that can be ignored.

If you're looking for a convenient list of all important locations and puzzle solutions, go here

In this Guide we'll learn how to

• Get a major head-start
• Get guardian units for ourselves
• Crack some codes and find some lore
• Use Erekir-production to gain major advantages
• Actually nuke the mothership for real
• and more!

MemBanks and you

So, I've never seen a memory bank being used anywhere over a simple cell, which gave me the idea of doing some stuff with them. Right from the start of the game you'll find one in your base with an attached message, that derelict membanks are only a good source for early phase fabric and nothing more. Most of you may have already figured out that there's more, invisible text below, you can tell by the textbox being way larger than the visible text. In order to read it, click the Pen-Icon to edit the Message block. It'll tell you to link the Processor next to the Message block to it. Do that and the Message Block will now display coordinates. Place a message block on these coordinates to get an introduction to the little side-quest. Make sure to save the processor and the message block as a schematic, so you can easily read the other banks. 

Some troubleshooting right away

If the message block displays "X: null, Y: null" or (0, 0), that's because you can only read membanks that belong to your team, which derelict structures do not. You can easily convert a derelict structure to yours, by just slightly deconstructing it, and then rebuilding it. You can use the pause-button for better timing. But you will use this technique of claiming derelict things for your own a lot throughout this guide.

Don't worry, if you deconstructed a bank on accident or before knowing, what they're all about. you can just place a new one in the exact same place. Membanks are bound by position to a world processor. Note, that even if you don't care about the hints and the goofy worldbuilding, these Memory Banks will be important for something else later on! So at least note their positions (or look them up) before you get rid of them. Sometimes derelict banks can get destroyed in a firefight as well, since it's technically an enemy building and blocks your projectiles.

If for some godforsaken reason anything else goes wrong, write your own processor as follows: The coordinates for hints are always stored in the bank at 0 and 1. Easy enough, right?

I'll not regurgitate all of the Membank hints here, I'll just assume you've read them and move on.

The deal with Beryllium and Tungsten

So beryllium and tungsten are Erekir-exclusive materials, that you can't use for anything on Serpulo. However, you can mine beryllium that's on the floor using at least a Pneumatic Drill and floor-tungsten using an Airblast Drill (that's the biggest one, 4x4). First of all, you will need these resources in order to claim derelict structures, that are erekirian. Be very careful handling these, since you can not rebuild them yourself when they get destroyed or deconstructed.

Most importantly, you will need it to claim the Reinforced Vault at (455, 111). That will open a trading post, where you can trade both materials for more useful things. Beryllium can be traded for any material in the game except one, at a variable exchange rate. At first this will sound like a horrible deal, since at threat level 0 you're paying more than double the base-price for resources, but it may come in handy later for more trace-amounts of tungsten and other rare or unobtainable materials. Tungsten, unlike beryllium, will be immediately consumed, once it enters the reinforced vault and added to your balance. You use Tungsten to 'buy' guardian-units. But same as with the beryllium-trade, it's rather useless in the early-game, since you'll only have access to T3-Units, which even as Guardians aren't that good and you probably only have access to very tiny spots of tungsten to mine, and you'll need a giant Airblast Drill to do so. Anyways, once you've reopened the Trading post, you can activate the Shield Projector that appears shortly after by supplying energy from the nearby magma-tiles and some Thermal Generators. That will give you a small, almost 100% safe space to do trading and even some production if you can somehow move it over to a nearby core.

Note: I just did another test-run and it looks like Zeniths, Antumbras and Eclipses actively seek out vaults and other storage blocks. Killing them from inside the shield-projector may cause them to crash and destroy your energy-supply, deactivating the shield as a result. It's really funny. This shield projector can only spawn ONCE, so make sure you don't lose it to bullshit like that and make batteries.

If the reinforced vault (it has to be an erekir-vault) gets destroyed or deconstructed, you can recreate it by doing the following: Place a regular, serpulonian vault in the same place and fill it with Beryllium and Tungsten. Consider this a penalty for not being careful enough. 1000 Tungsten doesn't sound like much, but it'll take you some grinding early on.

Now, in the mid- to lategame the trading post becomes more useful. For one, you probably already have a supply line with mass drivers to get your stuff in and out of the forest clearing, and you guessed it, you can use Megas and Quasars to mine ridiculous amounts of beryllium which will grant you a free guardian unit about every 10-20 minutes. You'll have to write the logic yourself, but there's your exploit. Guardians are not as OP as you might think and at this point you're probably at -10k Tungsten from all the rerolling you've done. But the Guardian Forge is not a feature to be relied on. It's a nice little side-hustle that'll supplement your forces.

Exploding Vaults and you

So, as a general rule of thumb regarding derelict-storage blocks on this map: Containers can be deconstructed for some free Titanium early on. All Vaults will always explode, if you try to deconstruct them or enter the wrong code. If a container or Vault is a reinforced variant, it is definitely important and should be preserved!

Back to the regular vaults, though. All of them have three unloaders at the bottom. Interestingly, you can set the item of derelict unloaders for some reason. And this quirk is what this feature is about: You need to enter the correct code, and the vault will turn into one of your own team and will contain valuable materials.

Here's a very important detail: Attempting to deconstruct the Vault, will make it blow up. However, you can safely deconstruct the unloaders underneath. That'll be important later on,  put a pin in that. Now on to the codes: They're fairly clearly hinted at by the vault's surroundings. The ores immediately below the unloaders can be the solution. Another common hint is if there is another derelict building right above the vault. The materials to build this block in the order where they are shown in the menu are the solution. For example, if there's a Parallax above, the solution is Graphite, Titanium, Silicon. Solar Panel would be Lead, Silicon, Phase Fabric. And speaking of Solar Panels: Look very closely at the vault near the trading post: That's not a solar panel. The same troll comes up in a different place and you don't want to screw this up. A different troll that you need to be aware of is, that some unloaders might already be set to an item, usually sand or phase-fabric, since these look very similar to the unset unloader. Once ALL unloaders are set to an item, the vault evaluates whether it should explode or not. So as long as one of the three unloader is unset, nothing can happen (except something tries to destroy the vault). You see where I'm going with this. Make sure all unloaders are unset, before entering your code, because the vault might blow up prematurely, because the 3rd unloader was set to phase fabric to troll you. I fell into my own trap with this multiple times. Another, more common code solution is that there are battery-diodes which point at ores or walls of certain materials. You're smart, figure it out (Or look it up).

LASTLY! Sometimes the code includes Erekir-materials such as Beryllium, Tungsten and Carbide. The only way for you to set an unloader to these materials is by using logic. Delete the derelict unloaders, place your own, link them to a processor and then put control > set config of unloaderX to @material. After you've done that once, you can either save these unloaders as a schematic or copy them around with 'F'. Careful when placing your own unloaders, when they're not unset it might go BOOOOOM!

Anyways, unlike Treasure Chests in sunken pirate ships in Minecraft, these Vaults do not contain only useless garbage. They are generously filled with the materials that are more annoying to produce such as surge, phase, pyra and blast compound. Silicon and plastanium are also common, and all in generous, but slightly randomized amounts. One thing that you can find in every single exploding vault is Oxide and Carbide, usually between 100 and 120 Oxide, and 10-50 Carbide. These are very rare and important, even though they have no immediate, practical use for now, but keep them safely in your core!

How to get the goods easily

Depending on your core-unit, you can carry certain amounts by hand. That's useful to secure the carbide quickly, but once you encounter stacks of 1000 resources, it's more tedious than building a stupidly long conveyor belt. So what do? Units. Quads can carry 3x3 buildings, so you can pick vaults up with them, place them near your core and unload from there. Octs even can carry up to three Vaults at once! One thing you need to be very careful about however, if you place the vault somewhere, where it directly touches your core, its contents will get deleted and it will act as an extension of the core! That's frustrating and I only noticed that on the very last playtest. So there's your warning. 

Also, after you've cracked a code, the vault now belongs to your team, meaning that the enemy will actively attack it. So keep that in mind to save you some headache. Grab the vaults later once you've got a unit that can quickly move it somewhere safe, before it gets destroyed and all the contents get lost forever. 

All of this sounds like a fuckton of work for a thousand surge and some erekir-stuff, but it's still quicker than producing it yourself. I've made sure the rewards are generous and it can be a fun thing to do on the side while waiting for your silicon production to recover from the last guardian wave.

Your friend Oscar the Oct

Make sure to grab at least 80 pieces of Carbide from encoded vaults, which should take you about 2-4 vaults. You can store it in the reinforced vault in the eastern trading post to have it safe and nearby. Nothing will happen with it, that vault only eats beryllium and tungsten. Once that's done, let's quickly talk about Foreshadows and derelict structures. Foreshadows will snipe them, when you try to claim them while in their range. At this point in the game, make sure you're out of range of anything that can destroy your rare and important things. Another fun-fact. These impenetrable shield-projectors from Erekir can easily be penetrated by Foreshadows and lasers of any kind from Corvus, Eclipse and Omura. Moving forward, you absolutely need to keep that in mind. Never assume you're safe.

What is not in the range of a Foreshadow, is the little reinforced container that Oscar is staring at at (571, 225). That's his bowl. And our boy is hungwy! You know the drill, claim the container, but make sure to do it when you already have the 80 Carbide you need. Because then the container gets destroyed for any reason (even when it's the enemy's fault), Oscar will get angry and join the enemy-team. That's irreversible, so don't screw it up! Once claimed, put 80 Carbide in the container and Oscar will join your team! Now the container is also safe to delete or move around.

Oscar is a very special unit, not only because he's the only available Guardian Oct (you can't get them with tungsten), he's also carrying a Neoplasia-Reactor that might come in handy later. But WAIT! There's more! Not only is Oscar cute and the best friend you've ever had and if you let him die on your playthrough I will track your IP-Address and find you and spill your jice!!!111! He also has the 'Pickup' Ability from Pokémon. That means if he doesn't carry any payload for 15-30 Minutes, a random, special building will appear as his payload. You know what's up. Place the Neoplasia-Reactor inside the Shield-Projector's range to keep it safe in case you need it and let Oscar cook. The things you can get from him are incredibly rare and he's the only way of obtaining them. He's your backup plan in case you mess anything up going forward. And he's also a literal Guardian-Oct, so doing siege is fun now as well. Oh yeah and there's a 20% chance he generates a Thruster, which is trash. But he made it only for YOU!

Oscar is a central, pivotal figure in this long sidequest. He can carry buildings around, he can make new ones, he'll help you build, you can posess him and build as him. He's very useful to claim the remaining vaults etc. There's literally no reason to not have him as your companion. He's by no means necessary, but he'll make your life a lot easier.

The confidential file

Attentive readers of the membank-lore might already know that the authors, that are giving you all the advice, used to be the defenders of the nearby derelict bases. They also assume that their distress signal reached you, before you landed with your core. Which it didn't. Therefore these characters assume you're already in on their plan, which is why the membank hints are filled with mostly random, useless information and only slight tutorialization, to mislead the crux (or you, since you don't know wtf is actually going on).

Anyways, in the southwestern derelict base there's a bank, which explains that sensitive documents are kept in the middle tile of every tetrative reconstructor. Sorry, I couldn't think of anything smarter. I've also marked the tile in question with a distinct metal floor tile, so you won't miss it or forget about it. What you'll get when placing a message block on them is one of 6 fragments of a schematic. Now, I've tested this feature multiple times and it works on my end, using a text editor and copying all the text using ctrl+A. If you remove everything that isn't part of the code and don't accidentally remove anything more or leave spaces, you'll get the correct result. For those of you who gEnUiNElY tRiEd aNd It nO wOrKy :'( , here's the schematic:

I am a file and you put documents in me 🎵
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

Reading the file, you get the true objective regarding the memory banks. Using a new, improved microprocessor, you can read out even more coordinates, which will lead you to Fissile Matter, an unused item in Mindustry. Every membank contains two positions, where FM is hidden and each of those gives you 4-10 FM. Don't worry, I placed enough of them so you don't have to read out every single membank on the map. You will need at least 100 FM, it's useful to have more, but not necessary. I think digging up all of it gives you a little more than double the needed amount, if you're feeling completionist. Even better, these FM-Spots work at any point in the game. So If you replay the map, you can just grab the spots without doing all the tedious membank-hustle.

You'll need to trade the Fissile Matter in a different, secret trading post in the northwestern cave, but for now, put your FM safely in your core and also make sure to get hold of at least 500 Carbide, that'll make things a little easier. You can either crack open vaults, which will give you more than enough, or if all fails, you can trade a lot of beryllium for carbide. You can also get fissile matter that way, but the price will only be low enough to obtain it, when you've destroyed all main-land enemy cores and at this stage of the game you'll have a lot of other problems to deal with.

Anyways, I'll just spoil it, the other schematic code inside the confidential file is just a plastanium belt. You need to place a plastanium belt at the given coordinates to obtain fissile matter. You have only one attempt per location, so don't lose it! I would've loved to pull it off using a router or junction instead, oh well, it wasn't possible.

The "being"

At this point I assume you have the following:

• 100 Fissile Matter or more
• 500 Carbide or more
• Oscar, alive and well (I'll kill you!)
• Cleared the northwestern port, that's the one with the Omura and Sei factory. Make sure to remove all nearby Foreshadows!
• Optionally 1000 Oxide or as much as you can get, really.
• A grasp on how to pick up and place payload using units.

What you'll find at (114, 549) is a reinforced liquid tank and a message that hints at you having to provide Neoplasm. Claim the tank and the reactor nearby. Also make sure to not put any important stuff on the metal squares with the red points in the middle. That's where our next, weird production line will appear soon and delete anything in its place. If the tank gets destroyed, 'the being' will curse you, afflicting not only you, but all your units with various status effects for 10 seconds. Note: This will kill all of your T1 units, including your army of Monos! If it happens anyways, you can place a regular Liquid Tank in the same place and use that. Regular liquid tanks have a smaller liquid capacity than reinforced ones, so the following stunt will be a little more difficult. Oh and a side-note: If you put any other liquid than neoplasm in this tank, it'll blow up and curse you.

For those who don't know: A Neoplasia Reactor creates large amounts of energy from Phase Fabric, Water and Arkycite, that's the green stuff you've been seeing all over the map for no reason. When generating energy, it will fill with 'Neoplasm' and it will explode, once it's full. Neoplasm also eats everything that contains water, including the Neoplasia-Reactor itself, so you need to dispose of it properly and not let the puddles touch anything your need. 

The best way to dispose of Neoplasm is by directly dumping it in a pool of slag. Remove the scrap- and carbide walls around this area to find slag underneath. Now, what the 'being' needs you to do, in order to open its special secret shop, is to fill the given tank with neoplasm to around 90%. This can only be achievedby letting the neoplasia reactor get very close to blowing up. Think of a setup, where you can quickly open up the conduit, that dumps the neoplasm into the slag and then run the reactor. Make sure to babysit it the entire time. As soon as a message pops up and the reinforced liquid tank turns into yet another reinforced vault, you need to immediately let off the pressure from the neoplasia reactor. Congratulations. You've opened the real shop, the other one was only the tutorial. No time to think though, quickly place your 500 Carbide in the reinforced Vault and connect the new shield-projector to power, so keep this place safe-ish. We've reached the weird alchemy-part of this quest, but don't worry we're also nearly done.

With 100 Fissile Matter you can buy a 'Heat-Reactor', an unused block, that creates fissile matter from thorium and nitrogen. Solve the vault to the right to get an oxidation chamber and an atmospheric concentrator. Now you have all the resources to make more fissile matter, congrats! If all fails, you can yoink both the oxidation chamber and the atmospheric concentrator from the derelict base in the northeast, right below the mothership. It has a bunch of backup-tools for you to grab. You can even run multiple oxidation chambers to speed things up!

Warning: If the reinforced vault gets destroyed, your entire progress will be reset as well. That's not only a bad thing, since it gives you the ability to obtain, say, multiple Heat-Reactors if you can pull it off. But it can also be a gigantic pain to set all of this back up again. That's why the 500 Carbide for the large shield projector are so important.

If you feel so inclined, you can now trade with oxide and carbide as well. You can get a Core:Acropolis, which gives you arguably the best core unit for this entire operation, a slag-centrifuge, yet another unused production block, that you can use to fill the liquid container next to it with 'gallium'. I'll let you find out yourself what it does. You'll need 1000 units of gallium. If you accidentally deleted the container, you can place a regular liquid tank in the same place. it's the only other block you can build that can hold more than 1000 liquid units. Lastly, you can even grab your very own Planetary Accelerator! And yes, it does the same to your units with the Overdrive-Effect and all. Not that you'd need it at this point in the game but I hated giving the Crux all the cool things, so go nuts! The Malign is a very powerful turret, that'll help you keep the incoming waves at bay, which are probably very aggressive at this point. At 500 Fissile Matter you'll get some Heat-Source blocks, that'll spawn in the crater of the volcano. They will be ideal to heat the Malign and run the Carbide Crucible at max efficiency. You can use Oscar to place the Malign wherever you want as well. I like to place it in front of the northern drop-zone and just fry the incoming waves with it. Remember what I told you about lasers and Shield Projectors and Eclipses etc! Also, if you have the Acropolis and the Emanate, keep in mind that enemy turrets cannot shoot you anymore, unless you're carrying payload. Watch out!

Anyways, now all you gotta do is hold the fucking line for about 2-3 hours. That's the time it roughly takes to make 1000 Fissile-Matter to get the final reward of your long, grueling quest: A Button to NUKE. THE. MOTHERSHIP! In the meantime watch out for approaching Eclipses, trying to damage the things inside your seabear circle.

Thank you for playing and thanks for the interest in this side quest! I had a lot of fun designing it!

Oh and for those wondering: If you set up this quest soon enough, it's roughly a bit faster than destroying the mothership the vanilla way. But it's also very convoluted and lots of things can go wrong or in unexpected ways. There's not really an advantage of doing it one or the other way, which is intentional. Hope you enjoyed either way! Maybe try it out in a second playthrough, now that you're one of the initiated ;)