Dark study

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Dark study is the primary method through which players can unlock the abilities in the Anomaly DLC for their colony. It is unlocked by investigating the "fallen monolith". Certain buildings and gear require dark study in order to be built.

Mechanics

While regular research is a kind of stationary work, performed in a single room inside the colony, dark study must be done where the studied entity is located. Captured entities will be studied in their containment room, void monolith and obelisks can't be moved and must be studied right where they spawn, while anomaly items such as golden cube or unnatural corpse can be moved to wherever you want to study them.

Each anomaly entity gives either basic or advanced study points when studied, which go to the active basic or advanced study project. At first, the void monolith and all encountered entities will give basic study points. But eventually entities that give advanced study points will appear, and the monolith can also be attuned to give advanced points instead of basic points. These study points are not interchangeable, basic study project can not be progressed by studying entities that give advanced points, and vice versa. So care should be taken to ensure that both types of study points are available for studying. No dark study project can be progressed by researching on a research bench.

Unlike researching, studying speed is not determined by the researcher's intellectual skill, but by their studying efficiency, which can be improved by the voidsight serum. Studying speed also depend on the condition of the entity being studied. Captured entities give more study points if the containment strength is high, and obelisks give more points if their activity level is high. Different types of captured entities also give different amount and type of study points.

Study Projects

Basic projects

Name	Description	Base cost	Required Research	Entity Codex Requirement	Category	Required Entity Tier	Unlocks
Bioferrite harvesting	Build bioferrite harvesters to generate bioferrite from captured entities contained in holding platforms.	10	Electricity		Bioferrite	Basic	Bioferrite harvester
Bioferrite shaping	Shape and re-form bioferrite into useful tools, weapons, flooring, and more.	20	Bioferrite harvesting		Bioferrite	Basic	Bioferrite plate  Bioferrite shaper  Ceremonial hood  Nerve spiker  Ritual mask
Bioferrite weaponry	Create advanced weapons that use bioferrite as a fuel source.	60	Bioferrite shaping Precision rifling		Bioferrite	Basic	Hellcat rifle  Incinerator
Void sculptures	Craft special void sculptures from bioferrite to enhance the quality of psychic rituals.	25	Bioferrite harvesting Void provocation		Bioferrite	Basic	Void sculpture
Frenzy inducer	Build shard-powered structures that generate a frenetic psychic field to make anyone nearby move and work faster. However, the unstable emotional energy creates a tendency towards violence, irritating anyone nearby.	60	Sleep suppressor		Bioferrite	Basic	Frenzy inducer
Sleep suppressor	Build shard-powered structures that stimulate those nearby to prevent fatigue. The device will irritate anyone nearby.	30	Bioferrite harvesting Entity containment		Bioferrite	Basic	Sleep suppressor
Entity containment	Build holding platforms and inhibitors to better contain entities.	10	Electricity		Containment	Basic	Electric inhibitor  Holding platform  Shard inhibitor
Electroharvester	Build a generator that draws electricity from contained entities. This process aggravates entities, making them harder to contain.	30	Entity containment		Containment	Basic	Electroharvester
Disruptor flares	Build bioferrite-based flare packs that reveal invisible creatures and light up an area.	30	Entity Containment Bioferrite Shaping		Containment	Basic	Disruptor flare pack
Proximity detector	Build a device that can detect invisible creatures.	15	Entity containment	Sightstealer	Containment	Basic	Proximity detector
Void provocation	Build a psychic ritual spot and perform psychic rituals. Use the void provocation ritual to discover new entities.	5	None		Psychic ritual	Basic	Psychic ritual spot
Draw animals	Perform a psychic ritual which will draw a herd of animals.	20	Void provocation		Psychic ritual	Basic
Draw shamblers	Perform a psychic ritual which will draw a horde of animated corpses. While hostile, the corpses won't attack your colony directly. They can be captured for study.	25	Draw animals	Shambler	Psychic ritual	Basic
Chronophagy	Perform a psychic ritual that causes a target to age rapidly. The ritual invoker will become younger in the process. The target will suffer brain damage as a result, which may be lethal for elderly targets.	30	Psychophagy		Psychic ritual	Basic
Psychophagy	Perform a psychic ritual which deadens a target's psychic sensitivity and temporarily boosts the ritual invoker's psychic sensitivity. The target will suffer brain damage as a side-effect.	20	Void provocation		Psychic ritual	Basic
Skip abduction	Perform a psychic ritual that abducts a random hostile person from anywhere in the world, putting them in a short-term coma for capture.	40	Void provocation		Psychic ritual	Basic
Summon fleshbeasts	Perform a psychic ritual which provokes fleshbeasts to emerge from the ground near enemies, attacking anyone nearby.	30	Draw animals	Fleshbeast	Psychic ritual	Basic
Bliss lobotomy	Perform a surgery that lobotomizes a person, making them happier while rendering them incapable of intellectual and skilled labor.	25	Bioferrite harvesting	Gorehulk	Misc	Basic
Ghoul infusion	Perform a surgery that infuses a living person with an archotech shard, transforming them into a terrifying ghoul. Ghouls are strong melee combatants but are incapable of doing work. Ghouls will go mad if they are not fed enough raw meat.	30	Bioferrite harvesting	Ghoul	Misc	Basic
Deadlife dust	Craft devices that produce clouds of microscopic archites. The archites can reanimate corpses to produce deadly shamblers that will only attack your enemies.	60	Bioferrite shaping	Death pall	Misc	Basic	Deadlife pack  Deadlife shell

^A "The Anomaly" scenario starts with a single holding platform and proximity detector

Advanced projects

Name	Description	Base cost	Required Research	Entity Codex Requirement	Category	Required Entity Tier	Unlocks
Bioferrite generator	Build power generators that burn bioferrite as a fuel.	40	Electroharvester		Bioferrite	Advanced	Bioferrite generator
Insanity weaponry	Restructure archotech shards into limited-use weapons that shock, manipulate, and destroy enemies using archotechnology.	30	Bioferrite shaping	Nociosphere	Bioferrite	Advanced	Shard animal pulser  Shard insanity lance  Shard shock lance
Mutation weaponry	Restructure archotech shards into limited-use weapons that twist living targets into terrifying creatures.	35	Bioferrite Shaping	Fleshmass nucleus	Bioferrite	Advanced	Biomutation lance
Atmospheric heater	Build bioferrite-powered heaters that produce enough heat to warm an entire region.	60	Bioferrite generator		Bioferrite	Advanced	Atmospheric heater
Advanced psychic rituals	Perform advanced psychic rituals.	15	Void provocation		Psychic ritual	Advanced
Provoke pit gate	Perform a psychic ritual which causes underground fleshbeasts to open up a massive hole in the ground. The hole leads down to a fleshbeast-infested cavern which can be explored for resources.	80	Advanced psychic rituals	Dreadmeld	Psychic ritual	Advanced
Death refusal	Perform a psychic ritual which grants death refusal to an individual, allowing them to self-resurrect once after dying.	30	Advanced psychic rituals	Unnatural corpse	Psychic ritual	Advanced
Philophagy	Perform a psychic ritual that drains experience from a victim and gives it to the invoker. The process will dull the target's mind, weakening their skills and causing brain damage.	30	Chronophagy Advanced psychic rituals		Psychic ritual	Advanced
Pleasure pulse	Perform a psychic ritual that makes everyone in the region happier but reduces their desire to work.	30	Advanced psychic rituals	Golden cube	Psychic ritual	Advanced
Neurosis pulse	Perform a psychic ritual that makes everyone in the region work faster but become more irritable.	40	Advanced psychic rituals	Blood rain	Psychic ritual	Advanced
Blood rain	Perform a psychic ritual which causes blood-like psychofluid to fall from the sky. Anyone caught outside will soon be driven into a berserk rage.	50	Advanced psychic rituals	Blood rain	Psychic ritual	Advanced
Brainwipe	Perform a psychic ritual which erases much of a person's episodic memories. Traumatic events will be forgotten. Resistant prisoners will become easier to recruit. Allows recruiting unwaveringly loyal prisoners.	40	Philophagy	Revenant	Psychic ritual	Advanced
Serum synthesis	Build a serum lab to synthesize high-tech serums. Serums harness archotechnological power to bestow a temporary effect on the user.	15	Bioferrite shaping		Serums	Advanced	Serum lab  Voidsight serum
Metalblood serum	Synthesize metalblood serums that make the user more resistant to damage.	35	Serum synthesis	Metalhorror	Serums	Advanced	Metalblood serum
Mind-numb serum	Synthesize a serum that stabilizes a person's mood, preventing mental breaks.	35	Serum synthesis		Serums	Advanced	Mind-numb serum
Juggernaut serum	Synthesize a serum which temporarily increases the user's strength and speed, and allows them to recover from injuries faster. However, it reduces their mood.	35	Serum synthesis	Chimera	Serums	Advanced	Juggernaut serum
Ghoul enhancements	Craft bioferrite prosthetics to make ghouls stronger.	40	Ghoul infusion	Ghoul	Misc	Advanced	Adrenal heart  Corrosive heart  Ghoul barbs  Ghoul plating  Metalblood heart
Ghoul resurrection	Synthesize a serum that can bring dead ghouls back to life.	20	Serum synthesis Ghoul enhancements	Ghoul	Misc	Advanced	Ghoul resurrection serum
Revenant invisibility	Modify a revenant spine so that it can be implanted in a human, allowing them to become temporarily invisible.	40	Disruptor flares	Revenant	Misc	Advanced	Revenant vertebrae

Void study

The void study precept multiplies the amount of knowledge gained from studying by 50%, 75%, 125%, or 150%, depending on which level of the precept you have. For example, a sightstealer provides 1.7 basic study every 2 days, and with a 150% study rate, that would become 2.55 basic study every 2 days.

Analysis

As the speed of dark study is not affected by intellectual skill, it should not be assigned to you main researcher to let them focus on regular researching. The studying pawn should still have some intellectual skill to reduce the time spent studying.