How Many Rapidium Arks Are Needed in The Alters

By Ambar Jimenez | 2025-06-22 10:48:27
In The Alters, the entire Project Dolly space expedition revolves around the retrieval of Rapidium, a mysterious substance known as "the time-traveling element" found on Jan Dolski's stranded planet. At the game's outset, little is known about Rapidium beyond its miraculous ability to rapidly accelerate organic growth through a unique form of radiation.Obtaining Rapidium allows Jan Dolski to create Altered versions of himself, growing a full human from his DNA sample in just 10 hours. This groundbreaking potential is described as almost limitless, with implications for revolutionizing medicine, agriculture, and countless other fields on Earth.To successfully transport Rapidium back to Earth, Jan is tasked by Ally Corp with building Rapidium Arks. This guide will explain everything players need to know about Rapidium Arks and how many of them are needed in The Alters.Spoiler Warning: This guide delves into some late-game events, including optional endings. Proceed with caution.

Rapidium Arks in The Alters, Explained

As explained by Terrence Maxwell, Rapidium is an extremely volatile and unstable substance whose chemical structure constantly changes. This inherent instability makes it nearly impossible for the matter to avoid decay during a lengthy space journey. To preserve Rapidium's unique properties, Maxwell instructs Lucas to send Jan the blueprints for the Rapidium Ark—a hermetically sealed module specifically engineered for the storage and transport of Rapidium.After Maxwell first requests a Rapidium Ark build during Act 1, players will receive a main objective to gather materials and construct it. Each Rapidium Ark requires a fixed amount of resources:
  • 30 Metals
  • 120 Rapidium
  • 100 Organics
Each Ark must be connected to other modules within the base, and it is implied that each Ark is capable of storing 120 Rapidium.A unique characteristic of Rapidium Arks is that they are among the very few base modules that players cannot enter. By extension, this means they never malfunction, require no repairs or maintenance, and are never damaged during magnetic storms, making them remarkably resilient assets.

How Many Rapidium Arks Are Needed?

Only one Rapidium Ark is mandatory to build to ensure the success of Jan Dolski's core mission. However,later in the game, Lucas contacts Jan and encourages him to build more,explaining that humanity would greatly benefit from as much Rapidium asJan can collect. Therefore, the decision of how many additional Rapidium Arks to build is left entirely up to the player, as all subsequent Arks are marked as optional tasks.

Adding more Rapidium Arks requires players to research and build base expansion upgrades first (a total of four upgrades are needed across different tiers),even if there seems to be ample space to place the Ark. After each newArk is constructed, players can contact Lucas to share the news.

Every additional Rapidium Ark built unlocks a dedicated achievement in the game.

Impact on Endings:If players build more than two Rapidium Arks duringtheir playthrough (the more, the better) and consistently take the timeto communicate with Lucas, they can ask him for help near the game'sending. This collaboration allows Lucas to hack the rescue ship and land it with the Alters outside of Ally Corporation's control, essentially unlocking a third ending path that differs from Maxwell's or Lena's endings.

Building a total of five 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 desireafter reaching five (no further base expansion is needed beyond thatpoint), there is no additional gameplay benefit todoing so. Any Ark built after the fifth is only recommended for playerswho have extra resources to spare and are curious to see how many theycan construct before finishing the game.

Platform(s): PlayStation 5 PS5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X/S
Genre(s): Survival
Developer(s): 11 Bit Studios
Publisher(s): 11 Bit Studios
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Release date: 13 June 2025
Mode: Single-player
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