Arknights Endfield Seed Picking Unit Guide

What to know

• The Seed-Picking Unit extracts seeds from harvested plants inside the AIC
• It sits between field gathering and Planting Units in the production chain
• Reliable seed throughput is mandatory for consumables and plant-based crafting
• Proper ratios, logistics, and buffering prevent factory stalls

---

The Seed-Picking Unit is one of those buildings you can technically ignore early on — and then regret deeply once your factory scales. While it doesn’t look flashy, it quietly determines whether your Planting Units run forever or constantly stall due to seed shortages.

This guide covers everything about the Seed-Picking Unit: what it does, how it works, how to unlock and place it, how it feeds into real recipes, optimal layouts, automation logic, and how to fix common problems. If your goal is a self-sustaining AIC rather than endless field farming, this unit is non-negotiable.

Arknights Endfield Seed-Picking Unit details

Category	Details
System	Automated Industry Complex (AIC)
Building type	Assembly / Processing
Tier	Basic II (early–mid game)
Primary role	Convert plants into seeds
Input	Harvested plants / flora
Output	Corresponding seed items
Power use	Low–moderate
Core partners	Planting Unit, Depot

What the Seed-Picking Unit is

The Seed-Picking Unit is an AIC assembly facility designed to extract seeds from plant items. Instead of seeds being a rare byproduct of exploration, this unit turns plants into a repeatable industrial resource.

Functionally, it acts as the missing link between:

• Field collection of plants
• Automated planting inside your base

Without it, Planting Units eventually stop, because seeds are not generated fast enough through exploration alone.

In simple terms:
Plants go in → Seeds come out → Seeds go back into planting.

Why the Seed-Picking Unit matters

Seeds are deceptively important in Arknights: Endfield. They are not just for farming — they are a recurring input in multiple production chains.

If seeds run out:

• Planting Units idle
• Consumable crafting stalls
• Shredding, Mixing, and Packaging chains choke

The Seed-Picking Unit solves this by making seed production scalable and predictable, which is the foundation of late-game automation.

Unlocking the Seed-Picking Unit

AIC research requirements

The Seed-Picking Unit is unlocked through the AIC Plan research tree, under the Planting / Assembly branch.

To access it, you typically need:

• Progress into Basic II AIC research
• Planting-related nodes unlocked
• Sufficient AIC Plan points

If it’s not appearing yet, continue exploring and completing AIC objectives to unlock more research tiers.

Story progression gating

Some factory options are tied to story or protocol progression. If the research node exists but construction is locked, advance the main story until additional AIC functionality becomes available.

Size, power, and placement considerations

Community data consistently shows the Seed-Picking Unit as:

• Medium footprint (commonly around 5×5)
• Low power draw compared to Packaging or Refining

This makes it easy to slot into early factory clusters, but poor placement can still cause bottlenecks if conveyors or depots are too far away.

Best practice is to place it adjacent to Planting Units or depots, not isolated at the edge of your AIC.

Seed picking unit inputs and outputs explained

Inputs: plants

The Seed-Picking Unit consumes plant items, such as:

• Medicinal flora
• Food-related crops
• Regional plant resources

Exact names vary by region and progression, but the rule is consistent: one plant type produces its matching seed.

Outputs: seeds

Each plant produces a specific seed:

• Plant A → Seed A
• Plant B → Seed B

There is no randomness. Output is deterministic, which makes planning reliable.

Seeds are then used for:

• Replanting in Planting Units
• Certain crafting and consumable recipes

How the Seed-Picking Unit works step by step

Step 1: Supply plants

Plants arrive from:

• Field harvesting
• Planting Unit harvest output
• Depot storage

If the wrong plant type is supplied, the unit will not process it.

Step 2: Assembly processing

The Seed-Picking Unit runs a timed extraction process:

• Plants are consumed
• Seeds are produced at a fixed rate

The process pauses automatically if inputs stop or outputs are blocked.

Step 3: Output routing

Seeds are sent to:

• Connected depots
• Conveyors feeding Planting Units
• Buffers for stockpiling

If output has nowhere to go, production halts.

How seeds fit into real production chains

Seeds are rarely the final goal. They enable longer industrial loops.

Core loop: sustainable farming

Seed → Planting Unit → Harvested plant → Seed-Picking Unit → Seed

This loop alone removes the need for manual farming.

Extended loop: consumables

Seed → Plant → Harvest → Shredding → Mixing → Packaging → Consumable

This chain supports:

• Healing items
• Buff consumables
• Crafting reagents

As your base scales, these chains consume plants constantly — which means seed generation must keep up.

Recommended ratios and layouts

Starter ratio: 2 Planting : 1 Seed-Picking

A commonly used and stable ratio is:

• 2 Planting Units
• 1 Seed-Picking Unit

This setup:

• Feeds enough plants into the picker
• Still leaves surplus plants for other processing

It’s compact, power-efficient, and ideal for early automation.

Compact starter layout

• Two Planting Units side by side
• One Seed-Picking Unit adjacent
• Short conveyor line to a depot

This creates a clean, self-contained farming module.

Midgame scalable layout

• Four Planting Units
• Two Seed-Picking Units
• Shared depot and split conveyors

This prevents single-unit bottlenecks once consumable demand rises.

Automation and stock management tips

Use buffers

Always place a depot or buffer between:

• Planting output
• Seed-Picking input

This absorbs spikes in demand and prevents oscillation where units start and stop repeatedly.

Maintain seed thresholds

If your AIC supports stock rules:

• Set minimum seed counts
• Pause extraction once targets are reached

This avoids overproducing seeds at the expense of plant-based recipes.

Separate loops by plant type

Avoid mixing multiple plant species through one picker unless required. Dedicated lines are easier to debug and scale.

Field harvesting vs factory production

Early game, you’ll rely on field-collected plants to feed the Seed-Picking Unit. That’s normal.

Mid to late game, the goal shifts to:

• Planting Units producing plants
• Seed-Picking Units maintaining seed supply
• Field harvesting becoming optional

Once this loop is stable, your factory becomes resilient and low-maintenance.

Power and efficiency considerations

Seed-Picking Units are relatively cheap to run. Take advantage of this by:

• Running multiple pickers instead of one overloaded unit
• Saving power budget for heavy machines like Packaging and Refining

Power rarely limits seed production — logistics usually do.

Common problems and how to fix them

Seed-Picking Unit idle with power on

Causes:

• No valid plant input
• Wrong plant type supplied

Fix:

• Check plant type compatibility
• Verify conveyor routing

Output backing up

Causes:

• Depot full
• Downstream machines paused

Fix:

• Add storage
• Increase conveyor throughput
• Resume downstream production

Plant shortages downstream

Causes:

• Too many plants diverted to seed picking

Fix:

• Reduce picker count
• Increase planting capacity
• Add buffers to prioritize processing chains

Advanced optimization strategies

Parallel pickers

If one picker can’t keep up, don’t overfeed it. Add a second unit instead. Parallelization is safer than vertical scaling.

Physical proximity

Place Seed-Picking Units upstream of Shredding and Mixing clusters. Shorter belts reduce delays and make troubleshooting easier.

Research synergies

Some AIC upgrades improve:

• Processing speed
• Multi-output efficiency

If seeds feel scarce, research upgrades often solve the issue more cleanly than brute-force building.

Example production chain for Seed picking

1. Planting Unit grows a medicinal crop
2. Harvested plants split via conveyor
3. One line → Seed-Picking Unit → Seeds → Planting
4. Second line → Shredding → Mixing → Packaging → Consumable

This keeps farming sustainable while still feeding high-value recipes.

Why the Seed-Picking Unit is essential

The Seed-Picking Unit is not optional infrastructure — it’s industrial glue. It transforms plants from a finite exploration resource into a renewable production loop, enabling large-scale consumable crafting and stable factory growth.

If you build it early, automate it cleanly, and scale it thoughtfully, you avoid one of the most common midgame AIC failures: plant starvation. Mastering this unit pays dividends across every stage of Arknights: Endfield.