Has anyone else found the recipe for "cheap silica"?

[CheekyBostard]

I found this recipe early on in my first game and it is 2 parts Quartz to 3 parts Limestone to make "cheap silica" I didnt realize how important it would become later in the game. I made a second game and I cant seem to find it in my new play through. Any ideas? is it really rare?

[Mist of Majora]

As far as I understand it, all alt recipes have the same chance of appearing each time you find a hard drive. So you can either save scum before you research one, or try to find a bunch.

Just keep in mind that you can't unlock alt recipes for products you don't have the tech for. So if you haven't researched silica yet, don't research any hard drives until then if you want that specific recipe that badly.

[DrNewcenstein]

Actually, as long as you have access to one of the ingredients, you can get the alternate. I just went through a round of re-rolling hard drive results looking for Casted Screws and Stitched Iron Plate, and did see Cheap Silica when I was on Tier 2, because I had Limestone.

[Grandaddypurple]

Theorically you can unlock it from tier 2 (provided you researched silica in the MAM), but it's one of the last recipes I've unlocked

[DrNewcenstein]

Ah, yes, I forgot I did find a Quartz growth, very near the Limestone, actually, now that I recall.

Hmm. Note to self: avoid Quartz until I actually need it, to cut down on the number of useless recipes.

[Grandaddypurple]

Originally posted by DrNewcenstein:

Ah, yes, I forgot I did find a Quartz growth, very near the Limestone, actually, now that I recall.

Hmm. Note to self: avoid Quartz until I actually need it, to cut down on the number of useless recipes.

Cheap silica is on of the best alt recipe though, getting it early is still worth it even if you'll only use it later

[DrNewcenstein]

I'm not seeing how it's beneficial. A single Constructor (misspoke earlier saying it took 2 steps) from the belt or miner and you're swimming in Silica. You need an Assembler to make Cheap Silica - Limestone in one port, Raw Quartz in the other - and it takes twice as long (16 seconds vs 8 seconds) and you only get 2 more (7 vs 5). It takes about 5.4x the power to do it in an Assembler than a Constructor.

You also get more parts per minute than Cheap Silica - 37.5 vs 26.25

[Grandaddypurple]

Originally posted by DrNewcenstein:

I'm not seeing how it's beneficial. A single Constructor (misspoke earlier saying it took 2 steps) from the belt or miner and you're swimming in Silica. You need an Assembler to make Cheap Silica - Limestone in one port, Raw Quartz in the other - and it takes twice as long (16 seconds vs 8 seconds) and you only get 2 more (7 vs 5). It takes about 5.4x the power to do it in an Assembler than a Constructor.

You also get more parts per minute than Cheap Silica - 37.5 vs 26.25

The way you look at numbers in this game is fine for early-midgame, but late game you have to see how much silica you get per raw quartz (and that's a rule of thumb for all rare ressources)
With the original recipe you get 1,67 silica per raw quartz, with the alt recipe you get 2,35 silica per raw quartz, and that by just adding limestone which is abundant and by using more space which is also abundant provided you build vertically
In other words, you'll only need 16 raw quartz/min with the alt recipe to match silica production rate of the original recipe which eats 22.5/min, thus saving 30% raw quartz on your silica production
Sure early-midgame you'll be in excess of raw quartz because you don't need it a lot, but late game when you're planning a mega production of supercomputers, saving the raw quartz is a necessity
Also, power late game should be a non-issue
You shouldn't be shy on trading simplicity for efficiency

[DrNewcenstein]

Yes, I see your point. You get 40 Silica per minute with the original recipe, and 112 per minute with the Cheap recipe.
However, the total investment of resources is still a consideration for me, and I would rather find more useful recipes, especially in the early game where high-yield in a short time is critical.