How to Unlock the Tube Blueprint in StarRupture

The Tube blueprint is located at SMB “Purple Haze” (Selenian Mining Base), an abandoned Selenian Corporation site northwest of your Landing Pod. This is relatively close to your starting area, which is convenient—but don’t let the proximity fool you. Getting inside the building requires a bit of parkour.

Navigating to Purple Haze

Head northwest from your starting position until you spot the ruined Selenian Mining Base. The structure should be pretty obvious once you’re in the area. Look for damaged buildings with the telltale signs of abandonment—broken walls, debris, and that general post-apocalyptic vibe.

The Jumping Puzzle

Here’s where things get interesting. The blueprint is stored in a blue chest inside one of the ruined buildings, but you can’t just walk through the front door. You’ll need to do some platforming to reach the interior.

Look for ledges, debris piles, or broken walls that you can use to climb up and into the building. Take your time with this—falling repeatedly is frustrating, and there’s no rush. Once you’ve successfully navigated inside, the blue chest should be relatively easy to spot. Open it up, and the Tube blueprint is yours.

If you’re still getting familiar with the game’s movement mechanics, our beginner’s guide has some useful tips for traversal and exploration.

Unlocking the Tube Recipe

Getting the blueprint is just the first step. Now you need to actually research it at your Recipe Station. Head back to your base and interact with the station to begin the research process.

Research Requirements

To unlock Tubes at your Recipe Station, you’ll need:

• Titanium Sheet
• Titanium Rod
• Data Points (farming guide here)

Once you’ve inserted the blueprint and provided these materials, the Tube recipe becomes available for crafting at any Fabricator. But here’s the thing—you’re going to need a lot of Tubes, so manual crafting isn’t going to cut it.

Setting Up Automated Tube Production

This is where StarRupture really starts to feel like a proper automation game. You don’t want to be babysitting your Fabricators, manually queuing up Tubes one at a time. Instead, you need to set up a proper production line.

The Three-Fabricator System

Here’s the most efficient setup:

• Fabricator 1: Produces Titanium Sheet
• Fabricator 2: Produces Titanium Rods
• Fabricator 3: Takes output from Fabricators 1 and 2 to produce Tubes

Connect these three Fabricators together so that the Titanium components automatically feed into the Tube production. If you’re new to connecting power and production lines, make sure everything is properly linked before you start production.

For even more efficiency, check out our guide on automating ore extraction to keep your Titanium supply flowing without manual mining.

Storage Is Critical

Here’s a mistake I see too many new players make: they set up their production line but forget about storage. When your Fabricator hits 100 Tubes in its internal storage, production stops completely. That’s wasted time and resources.

Solution: Connect multiple Cargo Storage buildings to your Tube-producing Fabricator. This way, finished Tubes are automatically moved to storage, keeping your production line running 24/7. Build several storage units if needed—trust me, you’ll fill them up faster than you think.

If you need help with base layout and building management, our guide on using the Building Drone can save you a ton of time.

Why Tubes Are So Important

Let me be clear: Tubes aren’t just another crafting material. They’re the foundation of your entire mid-to-late game progression. Here’s why they’re absolutely essential:

Unlocking Advanced Recipes

Tubes are required to research and craft practically every advanced resource in the game:

• Inductors
• Applicators
• Stabilizers (blueprint location)
• Rotors (blueprint guide)
• Synthetic Silicon (find the blueprint)

Basically, if it’s an advanced component, it probably needs Tubes somewhere in the crafting chain. Without access to Tube production, you’re stuck in the early game indefinitely.

Selenian Corporation Reputation

Here’s the big one: you need Tubes to reach level 6 with the Selenian Corporation. Why does this matter? Because level 6 unlocks the Helium-3 extractor, which is absolutely critical for endgame progression.

You’ll need to craft and submit thousands of Tubes through commissions to increase your reputation with this corporation. Yes, thousands. This is why automation is so important—you simply can’t hand-craft enough Tubes to reach this goal in any reasonable timeframe.

Alternatively, if you’ve been farming Data Points aggressively, you can use those to boost your reputation instead. But even then, you’ll still need massive quantities of Tubes for other crafting purposes.

Don’t Wait Too Long

Here’s my advice: prioritize getting this blueprint early. The Purple Haze mining base is close to your starting area, so grab it while you’re still in that region. If you venture too far away exploring other areas—like heading to the underground caves or tracking down Quartz Ore—you might forget to circle back for it.

Without Tubes unlocked, you’ll eventually hit a progression wall where you simply can’t advance further. Don’t let yourself get stuck. Make this blueprint a priority, set up your automation early, and you’ll thank yourself later when you’re swimming in advanced resources.

For more essential blueprints and materials, check out our guides on Wolfram Powder, Ignitium, and Sulfur.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to dive deeper into StarRupture? Grab the game on Steam and explore our complete collection of crafting guides, including basic building materials, unlocking recipes, and character guides.