Fabricator

The station for machined gear

High-end weapons, armor and components in ARK: Survival Evolved come out of the Fabricator, a fuel-powered crafting station. Its in-game text: "Place materials along with blueprints in this to create certain high-end machined items."

Building one

With the Smithy learned, the engram is available at level 48 for 24 engram points. The station is built at a Smithy; the wiki also names the Tek Replicator, the Helicoprion Saddle, the Thorny Dragon Saddle, the Castoroides Saddle and the Argentavis Saddle. It takes:

• 50 Sparkpowder
• 35 Metal Ingot, or Scrap Metal Ingot
• 20 Cementing Paste, or Achatina Paste
• 15 Crystal, or Primal Crystal
• 10 Oil, or Oil (Tusoteuthis)

Crafting takes 5 seconds and gives 33 XP. The Fabricator weighs 4, and 64 crate types can contain one, such as the Aberration Red and Aberration Surface Red crates.

Fuel and power

A Fabricator runs on Gasoline placed in one of its slots. Each Gasoline burns for 15 minutes regardless of how much is being crafted, the way a campfire keeps eating wood, so the wiki advises loading one at a time. Gasoline itself comes from a Refining Forge, at 6 Oil and 5 Hide. Turning the station off uses up the Gasoline that was burning, and it does not work underwater. Scorched Earth adds one more limit: it cannot be started in a thunderstorm. In ARK: Survival Ascended the station can instead draw power from a nearby Generator, so no fuel has to sit inside it.

What it makes

The wiki's list covers Polymer, Electronics and electrical gear such as the Electrical Generator, cables and devices; fabricated guns with their ammunition and attachments; Riot Armor and SCUBA gear; weapons such as the Compound Bow, Rocket Launcher, C4 Charge and Electric Prod; and the Auto Turret, Vault, elevators and transponders.

A metal machine that counts as wood

Although made of metal, the Fabricator counts as a wooden structure. Bare hands, stone weapons and non-explosive ranged attacks do nothing to it, and many smaller aggressive creatures cannot damage it; the wiki includes the Raptor, Direwolf, Sabertooth, Thylacoleo and Kaprosuchus.