Crafting

General
Crafting is a major in-game mechanic that takes place in the Workshop. It allows players to upgrade their hulls to different Mark (Mk) Upgrade levels: Mk II, Mk III, Mk IV and so forth, in order to increase their effectiveness. Crafting recipes can be researched in the Ship Lab under the Hull Upgrades tab.

Fusion is a subcategory of crafting. It is the process of converting materials into other materials, which is very useful when you have an excess of a particular item. Most fusion recipes are automatically discovered upon obtaining the ingredients. The remainder for crafting materials can be researched in the Ship Lab under the Fusion tab, while those for Reusable Items can be researched in the Arms Lab under the same tab.

Crafting Requirements
Crafting upgraded hulls is more tedious than difficult. In order to obtain an upgraded hull, you have to accomplish the following in no particular order:


 * 1) Build the Workshop and upgrade it to the required level.
 * 2) Construct the basic version (Mk I) of the hull you wish to upgrade. Each upgrade can only be applied to the previous level of the hull. For example, a Trident Destroyer Mk III Upgrade Credit can only be used on a Trident Destroyer Mk II.
 * 3) Research the crafting recipe in the Ship Lab.
 * 4) Obtain the required materials and resources for the upgrade credit, which are displayed in the Workshop.

Mark Upgrade Levels UpgradeCredits.png
Each hull can only be upgraded so many times. The maximum level a hull can be upgraded to is determined by its Tier (T).


 * Common hulls do not receive mark upgrades.


 * Common hulls can be upgraded to a maximum of Mk II.


 * Uncommon hulls can be upgraded to a maximum of Mk III.


 * Rare hulls can be upgraded to a maximum of Mk IV.


 * Epic-Legendary hulls can be upgraded to a maximum of Mk V.


 * Legendary-Legendary hulls can be upgraded to a maximum of Mk VI (Elite).

Hull Bonuses
Mark-upgraded ships gain generic bonuses to maximum mass and cargo capacity, plus a host of other class-specific bonuses (applies to T1-T5).


 * Frigates become even more agile with thruster mass reductions as well as stasis resistance. Frigates deal bonus damage to slow-moving Destroyers, extra damage to shields and gain an additional special slot at higher marks.


 * Cruisers become super armored and capable of taking out lighter hulls with ease, getting bonus damage against Frigates, armor boosts and armor mass reductions, increased weapon speed, and an additional armor slot at higher marks.


 * Destroyers become the damage dealers with bonus damage to the now tanky Cruisers and mass reductions to weapons. Additionally, destroyers get built in shield bypass bonuses and the higher marks gain an additional weapon slot.


 * Battleships become a more sturdy damage dealer, getting some extra damage to Cruisers (less than Destroyers) and weapon mass bonuses as well as built-in shield bypass and an additional weapon slot.


 * Cutters become fast damage dealers, getting resistance to stasis (less than the Frigate class), bonus damage to Battleships, as well as built-in ion damage to shields, armor bonus and a reduction to armor mass. Higher marks also gain an additional armor slot to allow them to survive longer in combat.


 * Carriers remain the command and support class, dealing additional damage to any fleet target, bonus damage to shields, reduction in mass for squadrons and an additional special slot at the higher marks.

The upgrade bonuses for T6 and above are less regular; check the individual hull pages for more details.

Strongboxes Strongbox.png
Strongboxes can be obtained as loot drops from specified Grind Targets, Catch-up Event Targets and Main Event Targets. Some strongboxes can also be purchased through events and/or The Market.

When opened, you obtain the contents as depicted by its loot table. All items under "Will contain" are guaranteed to be dropped, at least one of those under "Contains one or more" will be dropped, while those under "May contain" are optional. Note that these are qualitative indications, not quantitative: the amount of each item that may be dropped cannot be deduced from the loot table alone.

Any unopened strongboxes are stored in the Inventory tab of your Workshop, so it is not necessary to open them immediately.

Crafting Materials
Crafting materials are required for the vast majority of upgrade credits. They include Patterns, Cores, Parts and Armaments.

Your current supply of crafting materials is displayed in the Workshop under the Materials tab.

Patterns Patterns.png
Patterns are the rarest of crafting materials. They are not only hull-specific but also level-specific. For example, a Talon Frigate Mk II Pattern can only be used to craft a Talon Frigate Mk II upgrade credit.

For ships of the Xeno Division faction or below, in general:
 * Grind Targets that spawn 24/7 have a chance of dropping a pattern strongbox for that tier, which is guaranteed to contain a pattern. The drop is weighted equally.
 * Grind Targets from the Supply Run sector activity always drop a strongbox for the specified ship, with a low chance to contain a pattern. The drop is weighted heavily towards low-level variants.

For ships of the A.X.I.S. faction or higher, in general:
 * Grind Targets that spawn 24/7 always drop a small number of patterns for the specified ship/level combination.
 * Grind Targets from the Supply Run sector activity always drop a strongbox for the specified ship, with a low chance to contain patterns. The drop is weighted heavily towards low-level variants.
 * Catch-up Event Targets always drop a strongbox for the specified ship/level combination, which contains a greater number of patterns compared to the 24/7 Grind Targets.

Cores Cores.png
Cores are rather uncommon. They are tier-specific, but not necessarily hull-specific. For example, a T5 Battleship Core can be used to craft Vigilante Battleship, Hellfire Battleship and Legion Battleship upgrade credits of any level.

For ships of the Xeno Division faction or below, in general:
 * Grind Targets that spawn 24/7 have a chance of dropping a core strongbox for that tier, which is guaranteed to contain a core. The drop is weighted equally.
 * Grind Targets from the Supply Run sector activity always drop a strongbox for the specified ship, with a high chance to contain a core. The drop is weighted heavily towards low-level variants.

For ships of the A.X.I.S. faction or higher, in general:
 * Grind Targets that spawn 24/7 always drop a small number of cores for that tier.
 * Grind Targets from the Supply Run sector activity always drop a strongbox for the specified ship, with a high chance to contain cores. The drop is weighted heavily towards low-level variants.
 * Catch-up Event Targets always drop a strongbox for the specified ship/level combination, which contains a greater number of cores compared to the 24/7 Grind Targets.

Parts Parts.png
Parts are fairly common. They are hull-specific, meaning that they can only be used for a particular ship. For example, Punisher Cruiser Parts can be used to craft Punisher Cruiser upgrade credits. Exception: Hellfire Battleship parts are used for both the Hellfire Battleship and Legion Battleship's upgrades.

For ships of the Xeno Division faction or below, in general:
 * Grind Targets that spawn 24/7 have a chance of dropping a parts strongbox for that ship, which is guaranteed to contain parts. The drop is weighted equally.
 * Grind Targets from the Supply Run sector activity always drop a strongbox for the specified ship, which is guaranteed to contain parts.

For ships of the A.X.I.S. faction or higher, in general:
 * Grind Targets that spawn 24/7 always drop a small number of parts for the specified ship/level combination.
 * Grind Targets from the Supply Run sector activity always drop a strongbox for the specified ship, which is guaranteed to contain parts.
 * Catch-up Event Targets always drop a strongbox for the specified ship/level combination, which contains a greater number of parts compared to the 24/7 Grind Targets.

Armaments Armaments.png
Armaments are the most common crafting material. They are faction-specific, meaning that they can be used for any ship that belongs to the same faction. For example, Xeno Division Armaments can be used to craft upgrade credits for any of the Xeno Division ships.

For ships of the Xeno Division faction or below, in general:
 * Grind Targets that spawn 24/7 have a chance of dropping armaments for that faction. The average amount increases with the fleet's relative level within the same faction.
 * Grind Targets from the Supply Run sector activity always drop a strongbox for the specified ship, which is guaranteed to contain armaments.

For ships of the A.X.I.S. faction or higher, in general:
 * Grind Targets that spawn 24/7 always drop a small number of armaments for that faction.
 * Grind Targets from the Supply Run sector activity always drop a strongbox for the specified ship, which is guaranteed to contain armaments.
 * Catch-up Event Targets always drop a strongbox for the specified ship/level combination, which contains a greater number of armaments compared to the 24/7 Grind Targets.

Upgrade Credits UpgradeCredits.png
Upgrade Credits for Xeno Division ships can be obtained from Alien Strike targets, albeit with a low drop probability.

Elite Upgrade Credits are required to upgrade a ship to Mk VI. These credits cannot be crafted; instead, they must be obtained through events or The Market.

Fusion Recipes
Those marked with * are discovered through research in the Ship Lab (requires Workshop IX), while those marked with # are discovered through research in the Arms Lab (requires Workshop IX).

Patterns Patterns.png

 * 1x Legendary Class Mk II/III Pattern -> 1x Epic Class Core
 * 1x Legendary Class Mk IV Pattern -> 2x Epic Class Core
 * 1x Legendary Class Mk V Pattern -> 3x Epic Class Core
 * 1x Legendary Class Mk II/III Pattern -> 1x Legendary Class Core
 * 1x Legendary Class Mk IV Pattern -> 2x Legendary Class Core
 * 1x Legendary Class Mk V Pattern -> 3x Legendary Class Core
 * 10x Legendary Class Mk II Pattern -> 1x Legendary Class Core
 * 30x Legendary Class Mk III Pattern -> 1x Legendary Class Core
 * 40x Legendary Class Mk IV Pattern -> 2x Legendary Class Core
 * 55x Legendary Class Mk V Pattern -> 3x Legendary Class Core
 * 10x Legendary Class Mk II Pattern -> 1x Legendary Class Core
 * 30x Legendary Class Mk III Pattern -> 1x Legendary Class Core
 * 40x Legendary Class Mk IV Pattern -> 2x Legendary Class Core
 * 55x Legendary Class Mk V Pattern -> 3x Legendary Class Core

Cores Cores.png

 * 4x Common Class Core -> 1x Uncommon Class Core
 * 4x Uncommon Class Core -> 1x Rare Class Core
 * 4x Rare Class Core -> 1x Epic Class Core
 * 4x Epic Class Core -> 1x Legendary Class Core
 * 4x Legendary Class Core -> 1x Legendary Class Core* (Research: 23,551,146 Mineral Ore, 1d Time)
 * 2x Legendary Core -> 1x Flagship Core

Parts Parts.png

 * 15x Legendary Class Parts -> 10x Javelin Flagship Parts

Armaments Armaments.png

 * 100x Legendary Armaments -> 50x Flagship Armaments
 * 1,000x Legendary Armaments -> 500x Flagship Armaments* (Research: 23,551,146 Mineral Ore, 12h Time)

Reusable Items ReusableItem.png

 * 3x Item I + 75x Unknown Object -> 1x Item II#
 * 2x Item II + 150x Unknown Object -> 1x Item III#
 * 6x Item I + 300x Unknown Object -> 1x Item III#

Trivia

 * The original Mk II hulls from the Black Market were renamed with the "Enhanced" suffix before the release of crafting. They have better stats than regular Mk II hulls and could be upgraded to Mk III directly. These hulls and their respective upgrade credits were automatically converted into Mk II variants later on.
 * The Kixeye user SKoyote confirmed in a forum post that users would have to use all of their old Enhanced upgrade credits before they could use the new crafting system upgrade credits.
 * Official information about the crafting process can be found here and here.