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How to unlock and use the Solar Drill in Once Human

A chargeable drill that never breaks. You definitely want your hands on the Solar Drill in Once Human, so here’s how to get it.

The player uses a Solar Drill on some ore in Once Human
Image credit: VG247/Starry Studio

There are a handful of ways you can make your life easier in Once Human, depending on what your goals are and what resources you’re in dire need of. One such Specialization that players can unlock is the Solar Drill; a chargeable, reusable drill that when used properly, will never break.

Now, getting the Solar Drill early in Once Human does require some luck, but once you have your hands on one, you will never look at a Pickaxe or Electric Drill ever again. If this sounds good to you, here’s how to unlock and use the Solar Drill in Once Human.


How to unlock the Solar Drill in Once Human

Unlocking a Solar Drill sadly isn’t as easy as opening up your Memetics menu and spending some Meme Points or Energy Links in Once Human. The Solar Drill is a Memetic Specialization instead, which are special skills unlocked every five levels.

Every five levels you acquire in Once Human will result in you being able to choose a new Memetic Specialization. You’ll have the choice between four different, random Specializations from varying categories, and because the selection that you are presented with is random, there is no guarantee that you will unlock the Solar Drill when you want.

The Memetic Specialization for a Solar Drill is shown in Once Human
Image credit: VG247/Starry Studio

I managed to unlock the Solar Drill at Level 30, but if you’re less lucky and really want your hands on the device, you can use a Specialization Cleaner to reset a chosen Specialization and replace it with something else. The issue with this, however, is that the new Specializations you get to choose from will still be random. Specialization Cleaners are also a limited resource, so you may end up wasting them for no reason.

Though, you can unlock a standard Electric Drill from the Memetics menu in the meantime, but it will yield less ore than the Solar Drill. This is found under Tier 4 of the Infrastructure tab in your Memetics menu.

The player looks at the crafting recipe for a Solar Drill in Once Human
Image credit: VG247/Starry Studio

Once you do unlock the Solar Drill Specialisation, you can craft it at an Intermediate Supplies Workbench using the following materials:

  • 40 Tungsten Ingots
  • 20 Special Parts
  • 20 Electronic Parts
  • 20 Metallic Fiber
  • 1 Storage Battery

How to use the Solar Drill in Once Human

The clue is in the name when it comes to how the Solar Drill works, and that is by using solar energy in Once Human. This Solar Drill will recharge whenever it is daytime, in your hotbar, and not being used, meaning that it’ll never break.

On top of that, you can yield 20% more Copper Ore, Tin Ore, Iron Ore, Aluminum Ore, and Tungsten Ore while using it for mining.

One thing to take note of is that you should never let the durability (or in this instance, battery power) of your Solar Drill reach 0. At this point, it appears that the Solar Drill breaks. Whenever your Solar Drill reaches minimal power, you want to put it away and let it recharge before using it again so you don’t run the risk of destroying the tool altogether.


For more on Once Human, take a look at our Once Human codes, how to use a Mining Operations Platform, and how to farm Starchrom.

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