Part of the Satisfactory beginner walkthrough. Series overview.
The Alien Megafauna tree is the MAM research line built around the hostile wildlife you run into. Most of it deals with the Remains that Hogs and Spitters drop when you kill them, turning that leftover into Protein, and then into Alien DNA Capsules and Biomass. Lower down the tree also has a weapon, the Rebar Gun, for fighting the same creatures. It’s one of the trees waiting in the left panel the moment the MAM is unlocked (via the Field Research milestone), alongside Caterium, Quartz, Power Slugs and the rest.
The Hog Research Node
The first node you’ll want is Hog Research. It costs a single Hog Remains (the badge reads 12/1, held over required, so one is all it asks for) and the reward card labels the unlock “Alien Protein.” That label is accurate: the item you end up crafting really is Alien Protein. What the node unlocks is the Hog Protein recipe specifically, which turns Hog Remains into Alien Protein, and there’s a matching Spitter Research node whose Spitter Protein recipe turns Spitter Remains into the very same Alien Protein item. It costs one Hog Remains, and it’s the prerequisite for everything else in the tree.
Crafting Hog Protein
Once Hog Research is done, the Hog Protein recipe shows up at the Crafting Bench under a new Alien Remains category, sitting next to the Spitter Protein recipe. It’s a simple recipe: 1 Hog Remains makes 1 Alien Protein, hand-crafted at the bench. You can hand-craft a whole stack of accumulated Remains into Alien Protein in one session. ADA chips in a hint while you craft, that the creature “tends to nest near objects emitting specific types of resonance.”
Bio-Organic Properties: Alien DNA Capsule and Biomass
With both Hog Research and Spitter Research finished (they’re the two checkmarked nodes above), the tree opens up Bio-Organic Properties. This node takes 5 Protein (the badge reads 18/5) and rewards two items: an Alien DNA Capsule and Biomass. The Protein cost is met with Alien Protein, whichever recipe (Hog or Spitter) you crafted it from, so the crafting you just did feeds straight into it. Biomass you can already make plenty of other ways, so the Alien DNA Capsule is the part worth banking here.
Both of those rewards land back at the Crafting Bench as their own recipes. The Alien DNA Capsule now sits in the Alien Remains category under Hog Protein and Spitter Protein, and it’s a plain 1 Protein makes 1 Alien DNA Capsule hand-craft. The Biomass reward shows up over in the Biomass list as Biomass (Alien Protein), so your leftover Protein has two places to go.
The Rebar Gun: A Combat Branch
Lower down sits a combat branch built around THE REBAR GUN node, which rewards two things: the Rebar Gun (a ranged weapon) and Iron Rebar (its ammo). In this screenshot the node is still locked, marked “Research Parent Node To Access,” so you have to clear its parent node before you can take it. The cost badges show it wants 25, 50, and 500 of three crafted parts. Their icons aren’t labeled on this screen, so I’ll leave the exact items until they’re confirmed, but the same tree you use to clean up Remains also unlocks a weapon for fighting the Hogs and Spitters.
Research the node and the gun itself is a separate craft over at the Equipment Workshop, the same bench that builds the Xeno-Basher. It lands in the Weapons category and costs 6 Reinforced Iron Plate, 16 Iron Rod, and 100 Screws for one Rebar Gun. Note that’s a different bill from the MAM node: the 25 / 50 / 500 in the screenshot above is the research cost to unlock it, and this 6 / 16 / 100 is the build cost afterward. Its ammo, Iron Rebar, sits in the Ammunition category. While you’re in here you’ll also spot the Protein Inhaler under Consumables, which is one more thing the tree’s Protein feeds into.
None of this is essential, but it clears the Hog and Spitter Remains out of your inventory and puts them to use. The walkthrough overview has the rest of the series in order.
Keep going: the walkthrough overview lists every part of the series in order.