I can definitely imagine this being a Tryker invention, throw 3 of equal quality mats into the machine get 1 upgraded one out- 2 of the mats are the material for the output 1 is fuel or payment for the machine. My idea of 3 would mean it would take 81 q50 mats to make one q250- so q250 mats would not become too abundant. Teenah's 2 mats per upgrade would mean going from q50 to q250 would cost 16 q50s which might be too easy. I guess it could also get more inefficient as you go up: 2 for q50, 3 for q100, 4 for q150, and 5 for upgrading q200 to q250. That would make going from q50 to q250 cost 120 q50s.