SAND Crafting and Tech Tree Guide: Recipes, Coral Costs and Upgrade Planning

1. Crafting Rules for New Players

Craft to solve a problem:Repair, ammo, med supplies and route safety matter more than turning every material into something immediately.
Check recipe use first:If an item appears in tech tree or upgrade recipes, do not sell it until you know the next goal.
Do not craft during panic:Use the workbench after the area is quiet or before calling extraction, not while enemies are already approaching.
Extract after a key craft:If crafting solved ammo, repair or inventory pressure, leave with the result instead of extending the run.

Public recipe and tech tree lists repeatedly surface the same material families. Treat these as planning resources rather than random loot.

Material groupPublicly listed useWhy players pause before sellingRelated guide

Coral ChunkEnergy Rod and cabin upgrade examplesCoral can gate tech and ship facility progressCoral Resources

Weird CoralEnergy Rod, MedKit and engine upgrade examplesLow-volume drops can block multiple crafting pathsProgression

MixturesMedicine and engine recipe examplesBasic-looking materials may still be upgrade fuelLoot & Money

Raw crystals / dustHigher upgrade examplesOften worth tracking instead of selling blindlyItem Database

These examples come from public recipe/tech-tree lists and are summarized for planning. Use the in-game UI as the final authority after patches.

Energy Rod I

Public lists show this as an early coral pressure point, requiring both Coral Chunk and Weird Coral.

MedKit I

Recipe lists associate medicine crafting with Weird Coral and mixtures, so survival crafting can compete with upgrade planning.

Medium Engine III

Tech tree lists tie advanced mobility to mixed resources such as Weird Coral, mixtures, coral dust and raw crystals.

Sort first:
Separate survival supplies, recipe materials and sale items so you do not accidentally burn a progression item.
Craft only the blocker:
If the blocker is ammo, craft ammo. If the blocker is repair, craft repair. Leave the rest untouched until extraction.
Recheck route risk:
After crafting, ask whether the new item makes another POI safer or simply makes extraction safer. Most of the time, it should support extraction.

QuestionIf yesIf no

Is it needed for your next known upgrade?Keep it and shorten the runCheck database usage

Does crafting it solve immediate danger?Craft, then extractDo not craft just to clear inventory

Is it only sale value?Extract if value is meaningfulReplace it with target resources