Datacards are the portable, mass data storage devices of the Combine. They are used to record scientific and engineering data of technology and equipment designs.

The primary use of the datacard is in manufacturing. To build anything in the Combine, a datacard containing the design of the object to be built must be assigned to the appropriate shipyard or factory along with the required raw materials. Every ship, vehicle, droid, piece of equipment, and facility will have a datacard that defines the specifications, blueprints, and processes required to manufacture them.

Manufacturing datacards are broken into three types:

1. Restricted - These datacards are owned by a small number of groups and cannot be acquired in other ways
2. Type-Specific - These datacards are automatically assigned to different factions upon creation and are used for core production of basic facilities, vehicles, etc., necessary to perform other in-game actions
3. Generic - These datacards are available for purchase by production factions based on faction size as long as they don't already own any Restricted datacards. They can be sold (for no return) at any time, and a new generic datacard may be purchased to replace them.

If you get your hands on a physical datacard, you must bring it to the producing facility to use it. Once inside and holding the card, use the datacard and it will be added to that factory/station.

Multiple physical datacards which contain the same design can be merged together into a single physical datacard. Likewise, a physical datacard with multiple uses remaining can be split into two physical datacards.

Production factions may purchase generic datacards from their datacard inventory. The cost of new generic datacards increases the more a faction owns.

The cost to purchase a generic datacard is calculated using the following equation:

The following generic datacards are available for purchase:

Datacards can have custom images purchased for them so they produce the custom image instead of the default. Once set, you have the option of turning the image on and off for production via the production menu. Both regular and large images can be set, and all images are reviewed by the art team before approval.