Quests
The Last Caretaker Friendly by Design: Scan 10 Sweethearts and Build Your Own
Short answer: Friendly by Design starts when you scan a broken Sweetheart. Scan 10 more (Update 03 asked for 25) and the quest unlocks the Sweetheart design, so you can build Friendly Sweethearts in the Fabricator. A Friendly Sweetheart works like a grenade: put it in your holster and throw it.
Game version: Early Access, Update 6 (October 19, 2026); the count is checked against the release-build quest data, the rest was checked from March to July 2026
What Friendly by Design Asks
How do you start Friendly by Design?
Scanning a deceased Sweetheart starts Friendly by Design. Completing the task lets you craft Sweethearts.
Update 03, Curiosity Wakes, added support gameplay so you are not on your own: the Sweetheart grenade, a craftable Sweetheart item and a friendly swarm type. These are in-game helpers, not other players.
See also: every quest in one list
How many Sweethearts do you scan for Friendly by Design?
Scan 10 broken Sweethearts after the one that starts the quest. The quest counted to 10/10 in July 2026, and the Update 6 release build also asks for 10 scans.
In Update 03 (March 2026) the target was 25, so older guides say 25. Follow the count in your own quest log.
Finding and Scanning Sweethearts
Where do you find broken Sweethearts?
The wiki says Sweethearts are small hostile robots, drawn to electricity, that appear in many places and also come out when you destroy a blue Cocoon. Several may be back at Helios Draco after an update, though that station has also been found empty.
Not confirmed yet
See also: map and locations · Cocoons and Sweethearts in combat
Can you finish it with one Sweetheart?
You may be able to finish the quest with a single broken Sweetheart: take it to a save terminal, scan it, lift it and put it back down, then save, reload and scan again until the count is full.
Not confirmed yet
In the older, 25-scan version, extra scans after completion reopened the task. Avoiding extra scans may help, but this is not confirmed for the current version.
Not confirmed yet
What You Unlock
What does Friendly by Design unlock?
Finishing the quest unlocks the Sweetheart design, so you can build Friendly Sweethearts in the Fabricator.
How do you use a Friendly Sweetheart?
A Friendly Sweetheart works like a grenade. Put it in your holster and throw it; set down on the ground it just lies there.
