Scrap Mechanic Update: Drilling Thunder 1.0 Guide

Scrap Mechanic Drilling Thunder is the major expansion included with the game's version 1.0 release on July 24, 2026. It is a free update for Scrap Mechanic owners, not a separate paid DLC or a second game. The optional Fan Pack sold on Steam is supporter content and is not required to play the new Survival story.

The Scrap Mechanic update is officially described both as “Scrap Mechanic 1.0 and Drilling Thunder” and as “the Drilling Thunder expansion.” In practical terms, 1.0 is the full game release and Drilling Thunder is the new chapter inside it. This is the long-awaited release players previously called Chapter 2, so search results that still describe Chapter 2 as unreleased are out of date.

• Release date: July 24, 2026.
• Access: free update for owners of the base game.
• Current official patch: 1.0.1, published July 27, 2026.
• Survival saves: start a new world for the 1.0 story and progression.
• Creative saves: old worlds can load in 1.0, but important creations should be tested from a backup.
• Legacy access: use Steam's previous-version branch for an old Survival save or version-specific mods.

Drilling Thunder turns Survival into a complete, voiced campaign with NPCs, a main quest, and an ending. The generated world now contains reworked terrain, forest roads, desert areas, ruins, growlabs, random NPC encounters, tornadoes, and a large abandoned-mine area. The location previewed as Miner Island is called Excavation Island in the shipped content, where creations fitted with Plasma Drills can dig into the mine.

Building and combat expand together. Version 1.0 adds many blocks, parts, and interactive parts; introduces the Clay Gun for shaping terrain; supports new multi-shape parts; and more than doubles the five enemy types previously available in Survival. Some enemies can dig, so clay is a building material rather than a guaranteed way to make a base unreachable.

The technical layer also changed. Official release material highlights improved multiplayer responsiveness, broad optimization, dynamic lighting, volumetric clouds, responsive weather, updated water, reactive grass, and a new material system. These upgrades explain why the PC requirements increased even though ray tracing is not required.

• Story: a complete voiced Survival campaign with NPCs and an ending.
• World: revised terrain generation, new locations, weather, tornadoes, growlabs, and underground excavation.
• Building: new blocks and interactive parts, multi-shape parts, functional ladders, ice production, and the Clay Gun.
• Combat: more than twice the old Survival bot count, the Cornade, digging enemies, and redesigned raids.
• Progression: Builder quests, Schematicbot unlocks, Scrap City garage reproduction, achievements, and garments.
• Quality of life: loot collection by large chests, force placement, one-notch engine shifts, and buckets filled from water containers.

The name emphasizes drilling, but the larger break from 0.7 is the new progression structure. Builder quests now teach and reward construction tasks, the Schematicbot expands what Craftbots can produce, and the Scrap City garage can reproduce eligible creations made in Creative or Survival. A player is therefore moving through quests, locations, unlocks, and production routes rather than only gathering enough Component Kits for the next upgrade.

Crafting recipes, resource collection, health, and food were rebalanced to reduce grind and support that progression. An item with the same name can now have a different quantity, station, trade route, or schematic gate. Old advice about how much to gather may be wrong even when the recommended machine still works.

Raids cross the same version boundary. In 1.0, any positive crop value can start a 60-second threat sequence. Crop values, level thresholds, multiplayer scaling, an opening group, and weighted follow-up groups determine the possible attack. That is fundamentally different from the pre-1.0 rule of waiting for a later raid night.

Release notes establish the scope of Drilling Thunder; the shipped files show how much practical guidance has to be rebuilt. This site's accepted version 1.0.0.867 snapshot, captured July 25, resolves 992 public entities and 736 recipe records producing 666 distinct outputs. It also contains 46 quests, including 21 main quests, and 356 eligible identities in the initial Schematicbot random-unlock pool.

Those counts reveal relationships a feature list cannot. More recipe records than outputs means some items have alternative acquisition methods. A timed station recipe, Mining Hub trade, and schematic-gated method can all produce the same item, but their inputs cannot be merged into one imaginary recipe.

The current raid scripts are equally specific: ten crops have explicit values, seven level and budget bands control scale, the multiplayer modifier caps at three players, and the group tables contain nine opening groups plus 50 weighted budget groups. A raid calculator can show exact thresholds and possible ranges, but it cannot guarantee the session's random roll, spawn position, pathfinding, or terrain reachability.

Old Survival saves do not migrate into the 1.0 world. Steam provides a previous-version branch for those saves, while the Drilling Thunder story, terrain, quests, crafting balance, and progression require a new Survival world. Old Creative worlds can load in 1.0, but compatibility only confirms that the save opens; it does not promise identical behavior for every physics-sensitive or modded creation.

Mod compatibility depends on category and target version. Axolot warned that Parts and Custom Games mods would not simply carry over, that a mod updated for 1.0 may stop working on older builds, and that players should expect a transition period. Patch 1.0.1 fixes one class of mod-related crashes, but it does not certify every Workshop dependency.

The minimum listed target is 64-bit Windows 10, an Intel Core i5-1235U or equivalent, 8 GB RAM, Intel Iris Xe graphics or equivalent, DirectX 11, broadband internet, and 30 GB storage. The recommended target is Windows 11, 16 GB RAM, an Intel Core i5-12500 or AMD Ryzen 5 5600, and an RTX 3060 12 GB or RX 6700 XT 12 GB.

• Back up the complete save folder before changing Steam branches.
• Start a new Survival world for Drilling Thunder; use the previous branch only to revisit an old Survival save.
• Open an important Creative world from a copy and test controllers, bearings, sensors, steering, and mounted tools.
• Record the game version and mod set expected by each preserved world.
• Check storage, drivers, and graphics settings before treating poor performance as a damaged save.

The timeline matters because search results mix live patch notes with years of Chapter 2 previews. Features shown in a devblog were not available in the live 0.7 branch at the time, and a trailer proves neither the final recipe values nor the runtime behavior.

• December 5, 2024: the separate Physics & Wedge Update introduced Smart physics, creation-to-creation collision, wedges, network improvements, and new Creative parts.
• December 22, 2025: Devblog #26 previewed redesigned terrain and raids, the Cornade, multi-shape parts, ladders, ice production, the Duckie outfit, and the revised Trashbot.
• March 2, 2026: Hotfix 0.7.4 fixed one security issue; it did not release the new Survival chapter.
• July 3, 2026: Axolot announced the July 24 release date and the Drilling Thunder name.
• July 17, 2026: the feature trailer and FAQ confirmed the scope, save rules, mod warning, price change, and system requirements.
• July 24, 2026: Scrap Mechanic 1.0 and Drilling Thunder launched.
• July 27, 2026: Patch 1.0.1 fixed the first set of post-launch issues.

These short answers resolve the most common ambiguities left by pre-release pages and older guides.

Release date, feature, compatibility, patch, and hardware claims are checked against Axolot's official Steam announcements and the current Steam store page. Recipe, quest, schematic, blueprint, and raid claims use this site's accepted 1.0.0.867 data and script snapshot dated July 25, 2026.

Use the item database for current item and recipe facts, the crafting planner for whole-batch material totals, the raid calculator for current thresholds and budget ranges, and the quest index for objectives and fixed rewards. When two answers disagree, compare their tested game versions before comparing their numbers.

• Check the publication date and the tested game version.
• Separate a live patch from a pre-release devblog or trailer.
• Prefer reproducible data for recipes, unlocks, quests, and thresholds.
• Treat random spawns, physics behavior, and mod compatibility as observations with conditions.