Reverse Engineering

Definition

Reverse engineering studies a found item, often destroying it, so that the player learns to make the item, one of its parts, or one of its properties. Its product is knowledge, a recipe or a trait, where salvage returns materials. Recipe discovery finds a recipe by trying combinations of inputs, and a research tree such as skill trees unlocks recipes with points or time without studying any item; reverse engineering starts from an item in hand, usually from loot tables, and its recipes feed resource conversion.

Procedure

The player commits a found item to study, usually at a station: X-COM: UFO Defense’s laboratories, a crafting station’s Research tab in The Elder Scrolls Online, a research bench in Rust. The item is usually used up, and knowledge follows at once or later. The Elder Scrolls Online destroys the item at once and grants the trait when a real-time timer ends; Rust turns it into a blueprint. The result is fixed in the canonical form, the item’s own recipe or trait, but Fallout 76 teaches a mod only at random, so a scrap may teach nothing. The risk is spending a rare item on knowledge already held or never needed.

Variations

• Trait study (The Elder Scrolls Online): the operation teaches a property for one item type rather than the item itself, and each further trait on that type takes longer.
• Chance on scrapping (Fallout 76): the item is broken down for parts as in salvage, with a chance to learn one of its mods.
• Failing job (EVE Online): reverse engineering a relic can fail, often consuming every input, and a success may draw one of several blueprints at random.
• Blueprint as an item (Rust): the blueprint can be learned, given away, or sold, so the knowledge can be traded.
• Study without loss (X-COM: UFO Defense; Subnautica: Below Zero; Destiny 2, reportedly): the item stays in hand. X-COM’s research needs an artefact in stores, scanning unlocks blueprints in Below Zero, and Destiny 2’s weapon patterns are reportedly extracted from kept weapons.

Requirements

Most forms need a station. X-COM ties research to laboratory space, scientists, and game time. The Elder Scrolls Online asks for a crafting station and real-time waits that grow with each trait on an item type. Rust asks for a research bench and a fee in scrap; Fallout 76 only for scrapping, reportedly at a workbench. EVE Online adds datacores, a decryptor, and a hybrid R.A.M. beside the relic.

History and provenance

The earliest documented use cited is X-COM: UFO Defense (1994), whose manual describes scientists researching recovered alien technology so that engineers can reproduce it. Its research does not use up an artefact by the rules OpenXcom reproduces, so X-COM shows the form without loss. EVE Online’s Apocrypha expansion (2009) applied the name to a job that reportedly consumes a relic and can fail, the earliest cited form that destroys the item. Star Wars Galaxies’ later reverse engineering reportedly broke loot into bits carrying stat bonuses to other items, closer to property transfer. The Elder Scrolls Online (2014) made trait study a timed crafting step, Rust (2018) turned the item into a blueprint, and Fallout 76 (2018) folded the operation into scrapping. No tabletop or board form is cited.

Notable examples

Provenance

Earliest documented use: X-COM: UFO Defense (1994), video. Confidence: medium. The manual of X-COM: UFO Defense (1994; UFO: Enemy Unknown in Europe) describes research of recovered alien artefacts in base laboratories, after which engineers can manufacture them; it is the earliest documented use cited. The definition takes in study as well as breaking down, and asks only that the product be the knowledge to make the item, so research that keeps the artefact is the mechanic as defined, in its study-without-loss form, not an excluded variation. The manual does not say that a project uses up the item, the official strategy guide advises keeping one of each until it is researched, and the open-source reimplementation OpenXcom, in its rules for the original game, removes only live aliens when research starts. The earliest cited form that destroys the item is EVE Online's reverse engineering of relics (2009), whose relic is reportedly consumed. Earlier strategy games remain unsurveyed, and no tabletop or board form is cited.

Sources

1. MicroProse. (1994). X-COM UFO Defense (game manual). Rulebook Introduction; Playing Tips; Section 2, 4.2.5 Research, pp. 111-114. Accessed 2026-10-26. Scientists researching recovered alien technology and engineers reproducing it, the research screens, and the Research Completed report of the new research and manufacture projects opened.
2. David Ellis. (1995). X-COM UFO Defense: The Official Strategy Guide. Prima Publishing. Book p. 350; Soldiers, Movement, and Combat chapter. Accessed 2026-10-26. Keeping at least one of each recovered item until the scientists have researched it, and unresearched alien weapons, called alien artifacts, being unusable.
3. OpenXcom developers. (2026). OpenXcom standard ruleset for UFO Defense, research.rul. Website Accessed 2026-10-26. Research projects on recovered items such as the Plasma Pistol and Elerium-115 needing the item in stores, and the destroyItem flag, which removes the item when research starts, set only on live aliens.
4. UFOpaedia. Ruleset Reference Nightly (OpenXcom). Wiki The needItem key requiring an item of the project's name, and the destroyItem key removing it from stores.
5. Brendan Drain (Engadget). (2009). EVE Evolved: Research: Reverse Engineering and Tech 3, part 2. Article Accessed 2026-10-26. The decryptor, datacores, and hybrid R.A.M. a reverse-engineering job needs, its chance of success, the random subsystem output, and failed jobs often consuming all items.
6. Alcast and Edenprime (ESO-Hub). (2020). Complete ESO Trait Research Guide. Website Accessed 2026-10-26. Items destroyed at the Research tab of a crafting station to learn their traits, real-time timers rising with each trait on an item type, knowledge per item type and per character; Wayback snapshot of May 2026.
7. Digital Ghost (Corrosion Hour). (2020). How to Get Blueprints in RUST. Article Accessed 2026-10-26. Items broken down at a research bench into a researchable blueprint for a scrap cost, the item changing into a learnable blueprint, and the blueprint learned, given to teammates, or sold.
8. Kevin Thielenhaus (Gameranx). (2018). Fallout 76: How To Unlock Weapon Mods. Article Accessed 2026-10-26. Scrapping weapons to learn mod recipes, the random results, and the advice to scrap weapons carrying the mods wanted.
9. Jack Pursey (Game Rant). (2021). Subnautica: Below Zero: 7 Useful Things To Scan Early In The Game. Article Accessed 2026-10-26. Scanning as the way to unlock new blueprints for crafting.

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West, James, Jr. (2026). "Reverse Engineering." Game Mechanic Compendium, updated 2026-10-27. http://localhost:4321/crafting/reverse-engineering

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