Psi CAD Parts and Upgrades: Cores, Sockets, Batteries, Colorizers, and Assemblies

guide

A CAD in Psi is built from several parts, and understanding what each one does is the key to casting spells effectively. The Core, Socket, Battery, Colorizer, and Assembly each handle a different job, and each can be swapped out to change how a CAD performs.

Cores

The Core acts as the CAD's processor. It reads whatever Spell sits in the Socket, works through the calculations, and spends Psi energy to bring the Trick's effects into the physical world.

Crafting a Core takes four pieces of a Psi-conductive material arranged around a central dust component that serves as the processor.

Two numbers define a Core's limits. Complexity caps how many computations (Selectors, Operators, and non-debug Tricks) a single Spell can contain. Projection caps how many non-debug Tricks the Core can run simultaneously.

The Basic CAD Core uses an Iron shell around Psidust, and it is usually the first Core a new mage builds. Its single-Trick limit holds it back, but it covers the basics for someone starting out.

Swapping Iron for Psimetal opens up different dust options in the center:

Overclocked CAD Core — built with Redstone Dust. It doubles the Basic Core's Complexity and triples its Projection.
Conductive CAD Core — built with Glowstone Dust. It handles less Complexity than the Overclocked Core but reaches four simultaneous Tricks instead of three.

Sockets

The Socket works like a clip for ammunition. Spell Bullets go into it, and it passes the compiled Spells inside those Bullets along to the Core.

A Socket is made from a dust component sitting on a metallic substrate. It has two properties: Bandwidth, the largest Spell (measured in grid spaces) it can hand to the Core in one transfer, and a count of compartments, each holding one Spell Bullet.

The Basic CAD Socket pairs Psidust with an Iron substrate. It carries four Bullets and moves Spells up to 5x5.

Trading Iron for Psimetal lets you pick a different interface dust:

Signaling CAD Socket — uses Redstone Dust. Six Bullets, Spells up to 7x7.
Large CAD Socket — uses Glowstone Dust on the Psimetal substrate.

Batteries

A Battery is optional. It stores a small reserve of the user's Psi energy, measured as Overflow, and releases that reserve once the main Psi supply is depleted but before the CAD starts drawing on the user's health. Think of it as a cushion that lets you overdraw slightly without injury or downtime.

Every Battery is built by sandwiching a Psi-conductive material between an Iron Ingot and a Gold Ingot. A Spell can read the current charge with Selector: Caster Battery.

Colorizers

A Colorizer is optional and changes the color of the user's Psi energy as it appears in the physical world.

The recipe uses an Iron Ingot as a base, Psidust on top, two pieces of Glass on either side, and a color item in the middle. Any of the sixteen vanilla Dyes works and produces its matching color. Prismarine Crystals instead produce a Colorizer that cycles through rainbow colors. Leaving the color item out makes the Colorizer pull color from the user's Psi energy, leaving particles nearly invisible. Using Psidust as the color item reportedly does nothing for most people, though a few claim otherwise.

A Colorizer affects particles from the CAD, projectiles and Spell Circles that get cast, and blocks and lights created by conjuration Tricks.

Assemblies

The Assembly is the most important CAD component even though it looks simple. It channels the user's Psi energy, acting as a shaped conduit for that purpose.

Every Psi CAD is crafted from four ingots of its component material arranged in a sideways L in a crafting grid. The Assembly is the only part required in a CAD Assembler; a CAD made from nothing but an Assembly can be turned back into one at a crafting grid.

An Assembly has Potency, roughly the maximum rate at which it channels Psi energy, and Efficiency, the percentage of the user's Psi energy it can actually put into a Spell. Higher Efficiency is better.

Iron CAD Assembly — the lowest Potency and Efficiency available, but cheap and just as capable of crafting Psidust as any other Assembly, making it the beginner's choice.
Gold CAD Assembly — better Potency and Efficiency than Iron, and the strongest Assembly made from ordinary materials, though it is heavy to carry.
Psimetal CAD Assembly — Efficiency above Iron and Potency above Gold, making it a versatile option.