Deconstructor
| Deconstructor | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Collection |
| Location | Qi's Walnut Room for 20 |
The Deconstructor takes a crafted item apart and hands back the single most valuable thing that went into it. Qi's Walnut Room sells it for twenty Qi Gems, and one hour of machine time is all it needs. Only the dearest ingredient comes back, and it comes back in full, so a bomb returns all four of its ores while the lump of coal that made it is simply gone. That rule turns the machine into a converter rather than a recycler. Shops across the valley sell crafted goods for gold, and the Deconstructor turns several of those goods into raw materials that cost much more to buy directly, which is how a late-game farm quietly buys hardwood, bars, cloth and Iridium Ore.
Overview
The machine works by comparing what each ingredient in a recipe is worth in the shipping bin and returning every unit of the winner. Nothing else from the recipe survives. Items it does not recognise are refused outright with a short message about not being able to scrap them, so there is no risk of losing something valuable by accident.
The simplest use is undoing a mistake. Bombs go back to four ores apiece, with the Cherry Bomb giving copper, the standard bomb iron and the Mega Bomb gold. Sprinklers return the better of their two bars, which means an Iridium Sprinkler comes back as an Iridium Bar. A Crystalarium gives up two iridium bars, a Keg returns an Iron Bar, and a Cheese Press returns its ten hardwood. Fences, floors and paths come back as their wood or stone, which makes the machine a tidy way to clear out a hoard of old decorating materials.
The clever use is buying things that nobody sells. Willy's tackle shelf is the best example: a Spinner bought over the counter returns two iron bars, a Treasure Hunter returns two gold bars, a Trap Bobber returns a Copper Bar, a Cork Bobber returns hardwood and a Dressed Spinner returns Cloth. Each of those raw materials is worth more than the gold paid for the tackle. Pierre's Grass Starter turns into ten Fiber. The Desert Trader's Staircase, which costs a single Jade, becomes ninety-nine stone, and his Warp Totem: Desert, priced in Omni Geodes, becomes four Iridium Ore. Qi's own Hopper turns into a Radioactive Bar, which is otherwise one of the hardest materials in the game to come by.
A few conversions are pure profit. A Rain Totem found in a Skull Cavern treasure room is worth very little on its own, but scrapping it returns the Truffle Oil in its recipe, which sells for more than fifty times as much, and more again with the Artisan profession. The Text Sign that Pam leaves at the Bus Stop on days she is not driving can be picked up and scrapped for a stack of wood.
Fishing tackle has a second trick. Tackle wears out with use, but the Deconstructor accepts it at any durability and still returns the full ingredient, so a nearly dead Treasure Hunter or Trap Bobber can be scrapped and recrafted indefinitely at almost no cost.
The machine also solves two awkward collection problems. Crafting an item and immediately scrapping it counts as having gathered the material again, so chests, staircases and braziers can be cycled to feed a Special Order that asks for a pile of stone, wood or bone. A packet of Ancient Seeds from a Seed Maker scraps into the Ancient Seed artifact, which is the museum donation rather than the planting seed, and that is the standard fix for a save where the artifact never turned up in the ground.
Notes
The Deconstructor always reads the current recipe, not the recipe that existed when the item was made. An old item crafted under different rules therefore gives back whatever its modern recipe says it should.
Professions do not change what comes out either. A Crab Pot made cheaply with the Trapper profession still returns two copper bars, which is more than its own ingredients were worth.
Resources bought this way often beat the raw goods on the shelf. Bars pulled out of fishing tackle work out cheaper than buying the matching ore and coal from the Blacksmith and smelting them, which is the main reason a farm keeps the machine running long after the mines have been cleared.
All Collections
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
