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InThe Alters, the primary objective of the entire Project Dolly space expedition is to retrieve Rapidium — a unique and mysterious substance known as “the time-traveling element,” found on the planet where Jan Dolski finds himself stranded.Little is known about Rapidium at the startof the game, aside from its miraculous ability torapidly accelerate organic growthdue to emitting a unique type of radiation.
Obtaining Rapidium allows Jan Dolski to create Altered versions of himself,growing a full human from his DNA samplein just 10 hours, which could revolutionize humanity’s approach to medicine, agriculture, and many other fields. The potential of Rapidium is described as almost limitless.
To successfully bring Rapidium back to Earth, Jan istasked by Ally Corp with building Rapidium Arks. This guide will explain everything players need to know about Rapidium Arks, as well as how many of them they should build inThe Alters.
Spoiler Warning: this guide delves into some late-game events, including optional endings to the game. Proceed with caution.
Rapidium Arks in The Alters, Explained
Asdescribed by Terrence MaxwellinThe Alters, Rapidium is a very volatile and unstable substance that constantly changes its chemical structure, making it almost impossible for the matter not to decay during a lengthy space trip. To preserve Rapidium’s properties, he tasks Lucas with sending Jan blueprints for the Rapidium Ark — ahermetic module designed specifically for storing and transporting Rapidium.
After Maxwell asks players to build a Rapidium Ark for the first time during Act 1, they’ll receive a main objective to gather materials and build it. Each Rapidium Arkrequires a fixed amount of resources to build (30 metals, 120 Rapidium, 100 organics)andmust be connected to other modules inside the base. It’s implied that each Ark stores 120 Rapidium.
Rapidium Arks are one of the very few base modules that players can’t enter. By extension, this means they never malfunction, require no repairs or maintenance, and are never damagedduring magnetic storms.
How Many Rapidium Arks Are Needed?
Only one Rapidium Ark is mandatory to buildinThe Alters, ensuring the success of Jan Dolski’s mission. However, later on, Lucas contacts Jan and asks him to build more, explaining that humanity will benefit greatly from as much Rapidium as Jan can collect. Therefore, it’s up to the players to decide how many Rapidium Arks to build, asall additional Arks are marked as optionaltasks.
Adding more Rapidium Arks requiresresearching and building base expansion upgradesfirst (a total of four), even if there’s more than enough space to place the Ark. After each new Ark is built, players can contact Lucas and share the news with him.
Every additional Rapidium Arkunlocks a dedicated achievementin the game.
If players build more than two Rapidium Arks during their playthrough (the more, the better) and take the time to talk to Lucas whenever possible, they can ask him for help near the game’s ending to hack the rescue ship and land it with the Alters outside of Ally Corporation’s reach,essentially unlocking the third ending pathbesides Maxwell’s or Lena’s ending.
Building a total offive Rapidium Arks(one for each of the base extension tiers) completes the optional Ark task chain and grants the “Exceed All Expectations” achievement.
While players can continue building as many Rapidium Arks as they want after reaching five (no further base expansion is needed beyond that),there’s no gameplay benefitto doing so. Any Ark built after five is only recommended for players who have extra resources to spare and are curious to keep building more to see how many they can construct before finishing the game.
