The Alters: Last Variable – How to Find and Use Rapidium
The Alters: Last Variable leans heavily on the base game’s familiar loop: you still gather resources to move your plan forward. The big requirement this time is finding Rapidium, since it’s the key material used to craft new alters. Here’s where to locate it and how to pull it into your operations.
Before you head out, make sure you’ve got enough Mining Outposts and Pylons ready to set up your first Rapidium mining run.
Even small decision changes can matter in this DLC—The Alters: Last Variable includes more than 10 different endings, based on how events play out.
Quick facts: Rapidium in The Alters: Last Variable
At a glance
- Rapidium is the core material needed to create new alters.
- You need to move south from the base to reach the first deposit.
- Follow the map path to find a Shallow Rapidium deposit near a climbable cliff.
- Climbing the cliff costs 6 energy bars if you don’t have the Cheaper Climbing perk.
- Create a Fast Travel Pylon at the cliff edge to avoid spending energy on repeat travel.
- In the Oasis area, you can find another Shallow Rapidium deposit on the far side.
- On the way, there’s a Time Dilation anomaly you can slip past without losing time.
- The largest Rapidium node produces underground resources and requires an Mining Outpost or an Extractor.
- You’ll need to place scanners to find the correct Mining Outpost spot, then connect it with Pylons.
- Later, you return to place an Extractor and connect it with pipes to a Phaser.
- You can’t skip building the Mining Outpost, because its output differs from the Extractor/Phaser chain.
Where to Find Rapidium in The Alters: Last Variable DLC
To start mining Rapidium, travel south from your base. The first step is straightforward: follow the route marked on the map, which leads you to a Shallow Rapidium deposit near a cliff you can climb. Pulling from this spot should be enough to craft your first alter—just don’t rush back to base immediately.
Once you climb the cliff beside the deposit, you’ll reach the Oasis region. If you haven’t unlocked the Cheaper Climbing perk, climbing costs 6 energy bars, which leaves you with zero energy. That also means you won’t be able to scan the ground yet to locate the major Rapidium source inside the Oasis, so plan your movement carefully.
After scaling the cliff, take the route to the right and try to work your way back toward the base without dropping off. When you’re ready, build a Fast Travel Pylon at the cliff edge, then let yourself down and connect it to the base using standard Pylons. This setup lets you fast-travel to the top of the cliff without paying any energy each time.
When you arrive in the Oasis, you should be able to spot another Shallow Rapidium deposit across the region. Head along the left-side path to reach it, and along the way you can also collect smaller Rapidium packs scattered on the ground.
You’ll also encounter a Time Dilation anomaly during the trip. The good news is you can sneak around it and avoid losing time. When you reach the next deposit, keep going along the right path until you find the large light pouring up from the ground—this marks the biggest Rapidium resource node.
This top-tier node is an underground deposit, and you can only extract it using either a Mining Outpost or an Extractor. If you don’t know what an Extractor is yet, that’s fine—you’ll learn about it later as you progress through the game.
Set up mining: Outpost first, then Extractor later
To begin, place scanners on the ground to locate the correct spot for a Mining Outpost. Once you build the outpost, connect it to the base using Pylons. If you already placed the fast travel Pylon on the cliff earlier, you only need to connect the Mining Outpost to that existing Pylon.
Eventually, you’ll return to this same resource node to install an Extractor. From there, you’ll connect it with pipes to a Phaser, which sits on top of Geyser Building Spots—the fountain-like areas where water shoots up from the ground.
One important detail: the Mining Outpost’s output is not the same as what the Extractor and Phaser produce together. Because of that difference, you must build the Mining Outpost—you can’t skip it and still get the full chain to work.
