Spoilers: Mid game
Manufacturing West: Blacksmith and Pump Progression
Understand the Blacksmith’s role and the three-pump objective in Abiotic Factor Manufacturing West before opening the route to Cascade Laboratories.
The repair-part checklist
Trade these materials with the Blacksmith:
Table tip: On narrow screens, swipe sideways within the table to see all columns.
| Bring to the Blacksmith | Repair part |
|---|---|
| 1 Solder (Material) | 1 Fibre Optic Cable |
| 1 Axle Grease | 1 Diode |
| 1 Reinforced Hose | 1 Optic Lens |
Meet Sarah Frake to unlock the Diode and Fibre Optic Cable exchanges. Check the Blacksmith’s displayed exchange before spending each material.
Gather the barter materials without three separate trips
- Speak with Sarah Frake near the Synchrotron, then return to the Blacksmith at F.O.R.G.E. His follow-up unlocks the Tram Station Key recipe.
- At a Crafting Bench, make the key with 1 Controller + 4 Military Electronics. Use it at the glass-enclosed tram station on the mine route to reach the portal to The Train. This is not the main Office tram plaza.
- Search the Train cars for Axle Grease and Silver Scrap. Take the grease back for the Diode; keep the silver for Solder. Expect Order enemies and hazardous sections, so prepare food and a return route before entering.
- Make 1 Reinforced Hose from 1 Hose + 1 Box of Screws + 1 Steel Cable at a Crafting Bench. Trade the reinforced item, not the plain Hose, for the Optic Lens.
- For Solder, use Cooking level 3 and a full pot of clean water: add 1 Silver Scrap + 1 Metal Scrap. The listed Solder Soup cook time is 5 minutes 50 seconds, yielding 4 Solder (Material). One of those materials buys the cable. Inspect the Blacksmith’s pot if you still need the Cooking level-3 unlock.
The last step uses the same pot-and-stove process as soup, but produces a crafting material, not your dinner. Do not confuse the liquid cooking stage with the material accepted by the trader.
Which colored pipe should you follow?
Use the pipe continuously from the Synchrotron area to its endpoint; room names alone can send you to the wrong elevation.
| Pipe | Route landmark | Part check |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Digsite near Frake’s tower and the excavator area | Diode |
| Green | Mines/Digsite route, following the overhead green pipe to the pump near the steel-bridge area | Optic Lens |
| Yellow | Upper Shipping route near the charging-station room and couch, above the hazardous container area | Fibre Optic Cable |
Use a Diode for the red pump, an Optic Lens for the green pipe, and a Fibre Optic Cable for the yellow-pipe repair beside the Shipping charging-station room. Read each pump’s requirement before inserting a part.
Start with the colored pipe and follow it all the way to the repair prompt. The pump may be above or below your current floor; look for stairs and bridges instead of stopping at the nearest room with the same name.
Find the right objective
Speak with Frake near the Synchrotron and follow the resulting objective chain. The three pumps lie at the ends of the red, yellow, and green pipes.
If a trade or objective is unavailable, check your conversation progress before searching for more ingredients.
Keep the route usable
A practical pump-repair run
- Confirm you have spoken with Frake and returned to the Blacksmith as directed. That conversation progress unlocks the repair-part trades.
- Collect one of each trade input using the shopping route above, then exchange for the three repair parts.
- Collect the actual repair parts, not just the materials used to trade for them. Solder is the input for Fibre Optic Cable; it is not itself the cable.
- Follow each colored pipe to its pump and inspect the required repair. Mark red, yellow and green separately in your notes as you complete them.
- Return to the Synchrotron after all three are repaired, activate it, then confirm the objective changes toward Labs.
This order avoids travelling with barter materials instead of replacement parts, or counting two repaired pumps as a completed objective. After activation, the Synchrotron event opens the onward route through the damaged area toward Cascade Laboratories.
What if the next step is unavailable?
| Blocker | Check first | Useful next action |
|---|---|---|
| You cannot enter Manufacturing at all | Office Power Cell/forklift objective | Return to Office access checks |
| The Blacksmith lacks the expected progression exchange | Frake and Blacksmith conversation sequence | Recheck the current objective before gathering more scrap |
| A pump does not accept what you carried | Whether it is the traded repair part or just its input material | Read the pump requirement and trader output separately |
| The Synchrotron objective has not advanced | Completion of all three pumps and the activation interaction | Revisit the unchecked checkpoint rather than repeat completed trades |
If all required actions are complete but the objective remains stuck, record your version, current objective and multiplayer role before reporting the issue.
Mark your path back to the Blacksmith and base before hauling materials.
When the Synchrotron stage is finished, continue with Cascade Laboratories.
Prepare for Labs
For a long repair trip, restore food and water before leaving and keep the return route usable. Once Labs opens, its obstacles are not all another pump or keypad problem: use the Laboratories entry guide to choose the next task.
