In Techtonica, our intention is to give players the tools they need to automate virtually every process. From mining to terraforming, farming, and production, we want you to automate it all.

The tools to enable the automation of these systems will grow over the course of our Early Access journey, but we’re ready to reveal one final machine for our 0.1 launch this summer.

This is the Core Composer, and it automates Research Core placement.

To understand why the Core Composer is essential, you’ll need to understand how Research Cores work.

How do Research Cores work?

Techtonica features a Tech Tree that’s upgraded with three key methods: Production Terminal Upgrades, Scanning Artifacts, and Research Core placement.

Think of Research Cores, seen above, like points. These Cores come in different colors, and tech unlocks require increasing amounts of Cores. Some things may require 10 Cores to unlock, while others require hundreds. The power of the tech involved correlates to the placed Core cost.

You can manually place hundreds of Cores if that’s your jam, but we wanted to give you a tool to automate Core placement. That’s where the Core Composer comes in.

Automating Core production and placement with the Core Composer

The Core Composer features eight ports on each of its four sides, sits on Power Floors, and automatically builds Cores fed via Belt and Inserters. Depending on how fast you feed it Cores, this massive machine can create a tower of research potential rapidly.

Here’s a timelapse to give you a sense of how it builds.

Once the Core Composer reaches a certain height, the five-by-five build pattern expands on all sides, and the Core Tower turns into a sort of Core Tree. The Cores themselves rotate, hum, and pulse, giving the Core Composer’s work a hypnotic, breathing vibe.

Designing Techtonica’s largest machine

Designing and building the Core Composer meant establishing a massive machine for the world of Techtonica that offered an open top for Core placement. How, then, did the art team avoid a machine that essentially looked like a pizza box?

They started by looking at the design already established by items in the game’s universe like the Production Terminals. The rounded profiles and piped and lit exteriors make for a clean, almost mid-century vibe. The machine would be modular, too, allowing for more rapid production and implementation, much like our PTs.

The Core Composer is immediately readable from the sides and at a distance, and its open design allows for the Cores themselves to be the star of the show once they begin forming on its surface.

Thanks for reading this week’s update, Groundbreaker! We’ll be back next week with another batch of info as we march towards our Early Access release this summer.

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