Starfield:Research Laboratory

The Research Laboratory provides a mechanism to expend materials to acquire new crafting recipes for consumables, outpost components, and equipment upgrades.



Most projects require completion of previous projects in the research tree before they can be started. Some projects also require the player to possess certain Skills. There is no limit to the number of in-progress projects, either within or across categories.

Mechanics & Game play
Interacting with a Research Lab opens the main Research menu, which displays the projects currently in progress for each category. Selecting one of the categories will open the projects list for that category, which displays all currently-visible projects. The current status of each project can be quickly assessed by the colored bar to the left of each entry:


 * Solid green bar - project completed. There will also be a large "Completed" label to the right of the entry.
 * Checkered green bar - project is in progress.
 * Checkered yellow bar - project is in progress, and the player has materials in their inventory that can be contributed to the project.
 * No bar - project is blocked or not started.

All level 1 projects for each category are visible by default, and have no skill requirements or prerequisites. Higher-level projects become visible as lower-level projects in the tree are finished, even if the player does not possess the skill needed to start the next project. For instance, the Performance Enhancement 2 project requires the Chemistry Rank 1 skill, and becomes visible after the player completes the Performance Enhancement 1 project even if the player does not possess Chemistry Rank 1. In these cases, the project is marked as Blocked in the Research Projects list, but the Required Skills, Required Materials, Research Tree, and Description for that project are still viewable. This allows players to plan their skill development and search for ingredients to craft items of interest.

Research projects are progressed by adding materials to the project. The numbers of required materials, and the amount of each material already added, are listed in the Research Materials window. The number of available materials in the player's inventory is also listed where applicable. When a player uses a Research Lab inside of or within range of their Home Ship, the inventory of the Home Ship is also considered.

Similar to the materials tracking system in Fallout 4, the materials required for each project can be tracked using the Track Project button. This will add magnifying glass icons to each material in the project's list, allowing the player to identify tracked items when they are encountered in the world.

Sudden Developments


When adding a material to a project, there is a small chance of triggering a Sudden Development, which adds a random number of missing materials to the project. These "Overflow" materials allow the research to progress faster, even for projects which require rare or difficult-to-find materials. The chance of triggering a Sudden Development can be increased by acquiring ranks in the Research Methods skill, by taking certain chems, and by wearing certain apparel. The chance of triggering a Sudden Development also seems to increase when adding many items to the project at once, e.g., adding 10 Titanium has a higher chance of triggering a Sudden Development than adding 3 Titanium (verification needed).

Pharmacology
Pharmacology projects provide new recipes for synthesizing enhanced drugs, medicines, and other medically-related consumables. It has at least 12 projects.

Food and Drink
Food and Drink projects provide new recipes for crafting foods and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. It has at least 16 projects.

Outpost Development
Outpost Development projects provide new recipes for crafting resource fabricators and extractors, furniture and decorations, power systems, flora and fauna management, outpost defenses, and other outpost-related items. It has at least 20 projects.

Equipment
Equipment projects provide new recipes for enhancements (mods) to Equipment, including Helmets, Spacesuits, and Packs. It has at least 9 projects.

Weaponry
Weaponry projects provide new recipes for enhancements (mods) to Weapons. It has at least 19 projects.