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A.P.I.S. Advanced S.C.I. Addon

Or APISASCI for short
No...? Well, you're weird. And I know what you're saying, "Frackin Universe already has a Tech Tree!"
Yeah but FU's tech tree is just a chore. Us here at Prima Technologies Enterprises LTD have decided a few things
1) Crafting manipulator modules is cool
2) Phase Matter is neat and it would be neat if you didn't have to kill spookits for it
3) Tech Trees are awesome
And upon realizing that someone just made a mod with a tech tree and the only mod to ever use it was Frackin Universe, we immediately saw an opportunity to give YOU profit

This mod does not require Frackin Universe, but is fully compatible (I tested it)
The Research Tree in Frackin Universe is a reskinned version of the very same feature of ztarbound. Because both mods have the same underlying code and such, you just need one (BUT NOT BOTH) of them. If you don't wanna change your entire game just to have this silly tech tree, then you want ztarbound, which doesn't affect gameplay on its own. But if you were already using or planning to use frackin, just install that. Take your pick!

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Turns out, APIS stole a lot of super advanced schematics for everything from Tech Cards to Living Roots to Nano Receptacles, but the recipes are incomplete (curse you plot-convenient lack of foresight!)
You'll have to track down 6 Research Drives, codenamed Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta, if you want those recipes.
Which is awfully convenient for balance, because if you had these recipes from the start it'd be incredibly overpowered.
Instead, you have two options to unlock these *super* convenient recipes! You can play through the main story, and scan the files off of Esther's personal devices...don't worry she won't notice. Or, you can gather requisite materials and "craft" the Drives at the Inventor's Table.
Once you do that, use the "Misc" tab of SAIL to access the Research Tree (the very same one used by Frackin Universe) and you'll see, in addition to any other mods that add Research Trees, the "APIS Tech Tree"
There, you can spend pixels and Research Drives to create the powerful Neo-Proto Fabrication Station, a mighty crafting station that can process ores, build templates, and forge said templates into items! Why don't your VANILLA crafting stations do so many cool things?? Stupid...

Anyway, in the Neo Proto Fabrication Station, you'll find...
-Recipes for 3 varieties of Ore Slurry: Normal, Refined, and Pristine. These allow you to process ore at ratios of 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3 ore to bar conversions (crazy good!) for a tiny tax of liquid needed to make the slurry.
-Recipes for Template-Molds to create:

• *ALL* Monster drops (Tier 1 and 2)
  
• Universal Mech Parts: Armor plates, Power couplings, actuators, and boosters (Tier 1 and 2)
  
• Mech Interface Chips and Proton Limiters (Tier 1 and 2)
  
• Nano Receptacles (Tier 1 only)
  
• Upgrade Modules (Tier 1 only)
  
• Tech Cards (Tier 1, 2, and 3)
  
• Manipulator Modules (Tier 1, 2, and 3)

Tier 1 template molds will produce 1 item (with the exception of stick of ram, which yields 2)
Tier 2 template molds will produce 2 of the item (with the exception of stick of ram, which yields 4)
Tier 3 template molds will produce 3 of the item
All template-molds of the same tier require the same parts depending on the tier:

1. 1 Paper + 2 fired clay
   
2. 1 paper+ 2 gold bar
   
3. 1 paper + 2 gold bar + 1 violium... is it an orb? Idk what that purple thing is but you're gonna need it.

The template-molds are single use. If you don't have gold bars, paper, and fired clay lying around then idk what to tell you. You use them PLUS a handful of cheap but thematically appropriate materials to craft the materials. Slurries work in reverse. You craft the slurry with the ore + liquids, then craft the slurry into the appropriate bar. All of this takes place in the same place; the Neo-Proto Fabrication Station. I strongly advise you place the Neo Proto Station near your furnace, because a lot of the intermediary recipes require furnace products.

Currently, the APIS Tech Tree does NOT use any Frackin Universe items, nor add recipes pertaining to them (no FU ore slurries, sorry!).
You will not be required to complete this tree unless you *want* to use the Neo-Proto Fabrication Station. Keep in mind that the ore processing unlocks do NOT unlock recipes for the respective bar. This means that if you are playing with Frackin you may have to complete relevant sections of their research tree(s) to actually turn the ore powders into bars; in vanilla, these recipes are acquired by simply picking up the ore, and you needed the ore to make the powder anyway so it comes full circle on its own. Conversely, all of the template unlocks also unlock the item the template(s) are for, which may sort of allow you to cheat around FU's trees. I'm gonna trust you all to not make this a problem, because if it becomes a problem I won't have a solution.
If you choose to craft a Research Drive before completing the relevant story mission, you'll get a duplicate when you do complete the mission. You can sell this duplicate for a profit...but I made the drives cost more to craft than they'll sell for (unless you have some 100% sell price merchant, in which case that sounds like your problem)
Due to game limitations, this mod will not retroactively reward you for missions you've already completed. In other words, if you load a character who has already completed the Erchius Facility and Floran caverns, you'll have to either craft or cheat in Research Drives Alpha and Beta. The IDs for all the research drives use CapitalLettersLikeThisInTheirNames and contain no spaces or underscores. I'll let you figure it out from there.