Spotting Enriched Loot and Keeping Its Status
Enriched items are Active Matter's blueprint loot: since Update 0.1.0.145 removed the old "Found in Raid" status, only enriched items need to be extracted to unlock blueprints, so that enriched tag is exactly what you look for when sorting a raid's spoils.
The game tells you what a find is worth: Update 0.1.0.174 updated enriched-item descriptions to indicate when they unlock a blueprint upon extraction, so a quick description check sorts your keepers at a glance.
Two dependable sources cover where enriched loot comes from: Turned Soldiers always drop enriched loot as of Update 0.4.0.50, and Update 0.1.0.174 increased the chance for enriched items to appear on Burned Out Operatives in Isolated Raids.
- Check each enriched find's description for the blueprint-unlock flag before you commit it to extraction or refining.
- Plan your route to an exit once you pick up enriched loot, because extracting an enriched item is what unlocks its blueprint.
- Bank enriched gear through extraction before your next deployment — any enriched gear taken into a Raid loses its enriched status.
- Keep your enriched supply flowing by hunting Turned Soldiers and looting the corpses of Burned Out Operatives on Isolated Raid runs.
Why Extract: Blueprints, Chronotraces and the Refine-or-Extract Decision
Extraction pays out on the spot: the "250 Shades of Liberty" update removed the blueprint completion requirement for full replication, so extracting an item unlocks its fusion and replication recipes immediately, and the replication blueprint is then charged with the new chronotraces.
The payoff is a working production loop: Active Matter pulls objects from other timelines into quantum-unstable zones, and at your base you can replicate the specific items you recovered from those realities.
Isolated Raid finds feed the same progression: Update 0.1.0.174 fixed blueprint unlocks for enriched items looted from the corpses of Burned Out Operatives, so those finds unlock Replicator blueprints.
Refining is the parallel reward track: Update 0.1.0.145 increased the chronotraces awarded for refining enriched items, and the payout now depends on the item's volume and rarity.
Chronotraces come in six types — metal, composite, fiber, chemicals, energy and idea — gained by dismantling items, with especially large yields from valuable raid finds; they fund the added fusion possibilities and charge your replication blueprints.
Pacing matters for blueprint farming: repeatedly using the same item in a single Raid yields diminishing blueprint-unlock returns, a balance change introduced in Update 0.1.0.145.
Both reward tracks run from your Shelter: the Refiner and the Replicator are your stations there, and "250 Shades of Liberty" enabled moving them through Shelter customization.
Weigh each find while its status lasts: extraction locks in blueprint unlocks, refining turns volume and rarity into a chronotrace payout, and any enriched gear taken into a Raid loses its enriched status — so cash enriched loot in before heading back out.