Intro

Hearing strange voices when approaching objects? This is normal on MASSAGE-2(AB), well at least when you come across a Mercer Sphere, Somersloop or SAM.

Mercer Sphere and Somersloops are collectables in Satisfactory, often protected by hostile megafauna. SAM, short for Strange Alien Matter, is obtainable via resource nodes on the map.

Reanimated SAM

The SAM branch can be researched with 10 x SAM, providing the ability or scan for SAM using the V key. Researching with another 20 SAM gives the ability to craft Reanimated SAM on the Craft Bench or in a Constructor. At this point it has no purpose until unlocking further research.

SAM Fluctuator

The final branch of the SAM research requires 10 x Reanimated SAM, 100 x Steel Pipe and 200 x Wire and gives the ability to craft SAM Fluctuator on the Craft Bench or in a Manufacturer. Like Reanimated SAM, it has no purpose until unlocking further research.

One final note, if you have not unlocked the SAM branch, these recipes and scanning ability is unlocked in Tier 9 of the Hub under Matter Conversion.

Once the SAM branch has been researched, you can continue into the Mercer Sphere or Somersloop branches without needing to research the first stage of these. However you will need to research either one of these beginning branches to unlock the ability to locate these using the object Scanner.

Dimensional Depot

In the Mercer Sphere branch, the next item to research is the Dimensional Depot, requiring 1 x Mercer Sphere and 11 x SAM Fluctuators and this unlocks the Dimensional Depot Uploader.

The Dimensional Depot can be compared to "cloud storage" for your inventory. It allows you to access resources stored in your Dimensional Depot right from your personal inventory and also use these resources automatically while building. You also have the choice in your personal inventory of taking items from the Dimensional Depot first before taking it from your personal inventory.

A Dimensional Depot Uploader is a buildable machine that allows you to conveyor belt resources into the Dimensional Depot, very useful after you consume items from it. You will need 1 x Mercer Sphere, 10 x SAM Fluctuators, 10 x Modular Frames and 100 x wire to construct a Dimensional Depot Uploader.

There is no "downloader" of the Dimensional Depot, you cannot use it with automated production lines, the only way to extract materials is via your personal inventory or by building.  

Upload Speed

With the unlocking of the Dimensional Depot you are limited to an upload speed of 15 parts per minute and 1 stack of each resource. There are four additional research levels for increasing the upload speed to 30, 60, 120 and 240. 

Depot Expansion

There are also four additional research levels for increasing the amount of stacks to 2, 3, 4 and 5. Unlocking each level requires 3, 7, 13, 23 Mercer Spheres and 47, 103, 151, 199 SAM Fluctuators respectively.  

Manual Depot Uploader

The final research item in this branch is the Manual Depot Uploader, requiring 3 x Mercer Spheres, 17 x Computers and 29 x SAM Fluctuators. This allows uploading resources to the Dimensional Depot via your personal inventory simply by dragging a stack from the right to the left. There are five stacks slots that can be populated with resources to be uploaded and the speed will match the level you have unlocked in the research branch.

Considering there are 298 Mercer Spheres on the Map and the required research parts can be located at 118 drop pod crash sites littered across the map, you can unlock the Dimensional Depot very early on in the game which in turn has a significant impact on your game experience.

Power Augmenter

In the Somersloop branch, the next item to research is Alien Energy Harvesting, requiring 10 x SAM Fluctuators. This now opens up two separate research branches. The Power Augmenter branch requires 1 x Somersloop, 100 x SAM Fluctuator and 50 x Computers and unlocks the Alien Power Augmenter. This machine provides 500MW of free power and also boots the capacity of the power grid it is connected to by 10%, which can be increased to 30% with the next research branch.

To build and Alien Power Augmenter requires 10 × Somersloops, 50 × SAM Fluctuators, 100 × Cable, 50 × Encased Industrial Beam, 25 × Motor and 10 × Computer. Early game this can be beneficial however if you have not unlocked these parts yet you will need to visit drop pod crash sites to collect the parts and the Somersloops themselves are limited to 106 on the map and are usually guarded quite heavily.

Alien Power Matrix

Alien Power Matrix requires 50 x Singularity Cell, 100 x Power Shard and 500 x SAM Fluctuator to research. Once unlocked this item is produced in the Quantum Encoder and when fed into the Power Augmenter you will increase the Augmenter's boost of the capacity of the power grid to 30%. This will require a production line to be build to supply Alien Power Matrix at 5 per minute, per Augmenter.

Production Amplifier

The final Research branch is the Production Amplifier requiring 1 x Somersloop, 100 x SAM Fluctuator and 50 x Circuit Boards. This unlocks the ability to amplify the output of a machine using Somersloops aka "Slooping" without requiring any additional resource input, the only cost is more power consumption. This is different to overclocking a machine as overclocking changes the speed of a machine and requires more resources.

A machine that allows production amplification has a slot available for Somersloops, the number required depends on the machine. A smelter or constructor only requires 1 Somersloop and hence doubles the output of the machine. This is extremely helpful early game as your can multiply the amount of Solid Biofuel for Biomass Burners simply by Slooping each constructor in the production line, making up to 8 times the amount of solid biofuel.

The Assembler, Foundry, Refinery and Converter require 2 Somersloops and the Manufacturer, Blender, Particle Accelerator and Quantum Encoder require 4 Somersloops. If you do not populate the machine with the full amount of Somersloops you'll only receive a fraction of the output amplification, 1 Somersloop in a Refinery will amplify 50% whereas 1 Somersloop in a Blender will amplify 25%.

Machines that have two outputs like a Refinery will have both outputs amplified, for example making Plastic from Crude oil will provide amplification of both the Plastic and Heavy Oil Residue. This needs to be taken into account if you quickly sloop a machine to fix a problem as you may also be adding another problem.

Use Case #1

I've found Somersloops very useful in several use cases. First off by Slooping my constructors that create Alien Protein will double that amount and then Slooping the constructor making Alien DNA Capsules will double that amount again, greatly increasing the amount of coupons in the Awesome Sink early game.

Slooping a constructor that turns power slugs into power shards will double the amount of power shards you create, very handy if you like overclocking power generators.

Use Case #2

Finally I found Slooping the refineries that make Turbofuel very helpful, it doubles the amount of Turbofuel that can be fed into generators. In my first 1.0 playthrough I was generating Turbofuel from 6 refineries that fed 13 fuel generators, providing 3,250 MW of power. With 12 Somersloops I was able to double the Turbofuel output and then by overclocking those Fuel generators to 200% using 26 power shards I now had 6,500 MW of power.

If I compare this usage of Somersloops to a Power Augmenter, I need 10 x Somersloops to build the Augmenter. This gives me 500MW free + 10%, so thats 325MW + 500MW = 825 MW free power compared to doubling my power with 12 Somersloops. Even with the later game ability to get a 30% boost from the Augmenter would still only be getting 1,475MW free power. You can see here why I find Slooping my Turbofuel refineries a better use of Somersloops.

You can also sloop Nuclear Reactors but be aware the waste output from the reactors is also doubled, so you'll have to accommodate for that.