How to upgrade the workbench in My Time at Sandrock

My Time at Sandrock is set to hit early access on May 26 and players are slowly working toward a fully upgraded builder’s workshop. The workbench is one of the most important tools in the game and upgrading it is required to progress in the game.

The game does a great job at explaining the ways players can build things, but upgrading the workbench is fairly hidden and not explained quite as well as some other things. To upgrade the workbench, you’ll need to go into the workbench itself instead of heading to Qi for research or to the Commerce Guild to buy a recipe for it.

To upgrade your workbench, head to the tab that looks like an upload button. There, it will show you all of the materials you need to craft the upgrade. Hovering over each ingredient in the materials list will tell you where you can craft or obtain that item. Both of these areas are highlighted in the image below. Some of the items require machines you need to get from Qi as research, and others are available for purchase or from one of the early machines in the game.

The more you upgrade your workbench, the more difficult it will be to obtain the materials. To keep up with the pace of the upgrades, you’ll want to research as much as you can as often as you can from Qi. The mines produce many data discs—more than you’ll likely need—so make sure to hold onto them for when more things are unlocked for research.

Start working on upgrade materials as early as you can, especially if you have a machine that isn’t doing anything and can be making a material for your workbench upgrade. You’ll need the upgraded workbench sooner than you think, so always have it in the back of your mind that you’ll need to gather the materials to upgrade it. With that in mind, you should always be one step ahead of the game.