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 8, the available topics for research are as follows:
| Name | Description | Cost (Research Points) | Research Required | Research Enabled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geothermal power |
Allows you to build geothermal power plants on top of steam geysers, for uninterrupted power. |
400 | - | - |
| Hydroponics |
Allows you to build hydroponics tables to rapidly grow crops indoors. |
700 | - | - |
| Pneumatic Picks |
Miner's picks are 20% more effective. |
350 | - | - |
| Stonecutting |
Build stonecutting tables, which allow you to refine rock chunks into stone blocks that can be used for construction. |
300 | - | - |
| Electric Smelting |
Build electic smelters which use heat and strong electromagnets to extract useful metal from slag chunks and other items. |
600 | - | - |
| Machining |
Build machining tables to disassemble dead mechanoids into usable metal. |
550 | - | - |
| Nutrient Resynthesis |
Nutrient paste dispensers consume 10% less food per meal produced. |
220 | - | - |
| Gun Turret Cooling |
Gun turrets fire four shots in a burst instead of three. |
400 | - | - |
| Mortars |
Learn to build mortars which can lob shells long distances over walls. |
400 | - | - |
| Crematorium |
Build crematoriums which can vaporize unwanted corpses. |
450 | - | - |
| Carpet Making |
Allows colonists to build carpets to increase the quality of their environments. |
200 | - | - |
| Tailoring |
Allows colonists to build a tailor's workshop and make new clothing from cloth, leather, or other materials. |
350 | - | - |
| Colored Lights |
Allows colonists to construct colored lights for decorative purposes. |
300 | - | - |
| Hospital Bed |
Allows colonists to construct hospital beds which increase chance of successful medical work. |
400 | - | - |
| Fertilizer Pump |
Allows you to build fertilizer pumps, which can create farmable soil anywhere. |
350 | - | - |
| Shipbuilding Basics |
Allows you to start researching more advanced shipbuilding technologies and eventually build a ship to escape the planet. |
300 | - |
|
| Ship Cryptosleep Pods |
Allows you to construct ship cryptosleep pods for transporting cryptosleeping colonists between the stars. |
1200 |
|
- |
| Ship Antimatter Reactor |
Allows you to use an antimatter containment core to build a working antimatter reactor to power a ship. |
1900 |
|
- |
| Ship Antimatter Propulsion |
Allows you to use an antimatter containment core to construct an antimatter drive for a ship. |
2000 |
|
- |
| Ship Computer Core |
Allows coercing an existing AI persona into a usable AI computer core for ship guidance. |
1200 |
|
- |