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Motes are the primary upgrade currency in Railborn. They are spent on the game's technology tree to unlock new systems and railcars. While some motes can be found out in the world, most are harvested from the plants that players grow on the train.
Earning Motes
Motes are produced mainly by cultivating mote-producing plants in biomes on the train's cars. Players sow mote-producing seeds that they find in the world, and the plants generate motes over time. As the game progresses, rarer plants become available that yield more valuable motes, framing motes as a reward for restoring the planet's collapsing ecosystem.
Mote Vaults and Biome Restoration
Motes are deposited into a corresponding mote vault. Depositing motes naturally rebuilds the biome that those motes belong to. For example, collecting and depositing Forest motes causes the Forest biome to grow, which in turn unlocks technology items tied to that biome. In this way the upgrade economy and the restoration of the world are the same loop. In an official screenshot the objective for building one of these vaults is labelled Forest Vault, so each vault appears to be named in game after the biome it feeds rather than being called a mote vault on screen.
Mote Quality
Not all motes are equal. Plants raised through the maturity system can produce higher-quality motes, often shown as a starred mote, when their growing conditions are met. Higher-quality motes provide a greater contribution toward unlocking technology and rebuilding biomes.
Plants From the World
Not every plant that feeds this loop is grown at home. The abandoned Atlas bases scattered underground across the planet hold plants that are required to unlock technology, which makes clearing one an alternative to waiting on a biome to mature. See Atlas Bases.
Notes
Motes are part of the train-based progression that connects biomes, train building, and the technology tree. As an in-development title, the exact values, plant types, and biome categories tied to motes may change before and during Early Access.