Machine Upgrades
Most UC machines and transport blocks can be boosted with upgrade items. How you apply one depends on the target — UC uses two systems:
- Processing machines (Crusher, Infuser, Harvester, Auto Sieve, Assembler, Seed Synthesizer, Auto Fisher…): open the machine and drop upgrades into its upgrade slots. These accept Speed, Energy, and Range (stack them for higher levels).
- Transport & simple blocks (Mechanical Hoppers/Uppers/Droppers, pipes, Mob Grinder, Mechanical Spawner, Way Center, Fan): hold the upgrade and right-click the block — each use bumps a level. Breaking the block returns the applied upgrades. These accept Filter, Damage, Quantity (plus Range/Speed on some).
The upgrades
| Upgrade | What it does | How it's applied | Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
 Base |
Crafting core only — the center of every other upgrade recipe | (not applied) | — |
 Speed |
Faster processing, at the cost of more energy draw. Slot machines scale up to ~10× at level 8; on a Spawner/Hopper it shortens the cycle interval | slot or interact | 8 (slot) / 4 (block) |
 Energy |
Cheaper per-operation energy — roughly −20% per level (levels 1–4), trending to about −95% by level 8. Offsets Speed's added draw | slot | 8 |
 Range |
Bigger work area — Harvester 3×3 → 5×5 → 7×7…, Mob Grinder reach (0.5–2.5 blocks), hopper/pipe distance | slot or interact | 8 (slot) / 4 (block) |
 Filter |
Enables item filtering on transport blocks (opens a whitelist/blacklist menu on the hopper/pipe/importer) | interact | 1 |
 Damage |
Raises the Mob Grinder's damage per hit | interact (grinder) | 8 |
 Quantity |
More mobs per Mechanical Spawner cycle | interact (spawner) | 4 |
Recipes
Everything is crafted at the UC Crafter. The Base Upgrade is the shared core:
→
Each of the other six puts a Base Upgrade in the center and rings it with materials:
| Upgrade | Corners | Top | Sides | Bottom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | steel plate | emerald dust | redstone block | emerald block |
| Energy | steel plate | diamond dust | diamond dust | redstone block |
| Range | steel plate | blue dye | redstone | gold ingot |
| Filter | redstone | comparator | steel ingot | hopper |
| Damage | steel plate | iron sword | energized iron dust | redstone block |
| Quantity | steel ingot | cyan dye | lapis block | spawner core |