Research
Research is the primary method through which players can enhance and expand the abilities of their colony. Certain constructions require research in order to be built.
Once a player constructs a research bench, and selects a project from the list of available research topics, a pawn will work at the bench to generate research points; the rate at which points are generated depends on the research skill level of the pawn; multiple research benches with multiple working pawns will further increase the speed at which points are generated.
Research Projects
As of Alpha 6, the available topics for research are as follows:
| Name | Description | Cost (Research Points) | Research Required | Research Enabled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hydroponics |
Allows you to build hydroponics tables to rapidly grow crops indoors. |
7000 | None | None |
| Pneumatic Picks |
Miner's picks are 20% more effective. |
3500 | None | None |
| Stonecutting |
Build stonecutting tables, which allow you to refine rock chunks into stone blocks that can be used for construction. |
3000 | None | None |
| Electric Smelting |
Build electic smelters which use heat and strong electromagnets to extract useful metal from slag chunks and other items. |
6000 | None | None |
| Machining |
Build machining tables to disassemble dead mechanoids into usable metal. |
5500 | None | None |
| Nutrient Resynthesis |
Nutrient paste dispensers consume 10% less food per meal produced. |
2200 | None | None |
| Gun Turret Cooling |
Gun turrets fire four shots in a burst instead of three. |
4000 | None | None |
| Mortars |
Learn to build mortars which can lob shells long distances over walls. |
4000 | None | None |
| Crematorium |
Build crematoriums which can vaporize unwanted corpses. |
4500 | None | None |
| Strong Doors |
Powered doors gain an extra 100 health. |
5000 | None | None |
| Carpet Making |
Allows colonists to build carpets to increase the quality of their environments. |
2000 | None | None |
| Colored Lights |
Allows collonists to construct colored lights for decorative purposes. |
3000 | None | None |
| Fertilizer Pump |
Allows you to build fertilizer pumps, which can create farmable soil anywhere. |
3500 | None | None |
| Shipbuilding Basics |
Allows you to start researching more advanced shipbuilding technologies and eventually build a ship to escape the planet. |
3000 | None | Ship Cryptosleep Pods
Ship Antimatter Reactor Ship Antimatter Propulsion Ship Computer Core |
| Ship Cryptosleep Pods |
Allows you to construct ship cryptosleep pods for transporting cryptosleeping colonists between the stars. |
12000 | Shipbuilding Basics | None |
| Ship Antimatter Reactor |
Allows you to use an antimatter containment core to build a working antimatter reactor to power a ship. |
19000 | Shipbuilding Basics | None |
| Ship Antimatter Propulsion |
Allows you to use an antimatter containment core to construct an antimatter drive for a ship. |
20000 | Shipbuilding Basics | None |
| Ship Computer Core |
Allows coercing an existing AI persona into a usable AI computer core for ship guidance. |
12000 | Shipbuilding Basics | None |