Guide to Research and Development

As a scientist, your primary role to the station is to provide new technologies to the station through the techweb. The techweb, in short, is a tech tree in which the science department can research new technologies for the cost of research points (RP). In unitystation, RP is earnt through physical experiments, divided into several subcategories:

-> Xenoarchaeology, The study of artifacts and their effects

-> Ordnance, The study of chemicals and explosives

-> The High Energy Lab, The study of high energy lasers

-> Xenobiology, The study of slimes and their behaviours

The Techweb

The Techweb

Standard research server room

The Techweb is the technology tree that you are tasked to research. It is stored and accessed through the stations research server inside the science department. The Techweb contains a series of nodes, that when researched, unlock designs.

Designs are products that can be produced within machines such as the Protolathe, Circuit Imprinter and Exosuit Fabricator. Designs have a material cost, a required machine type and may have a required department. Once a design is researched, it can be manufactured at any valid machine that is connected to the research server. If the machine is not connected to the research server (often indicated by red lights beside a 'connected to server' label in the machines UI) it can be connected via a multitool.

Example designs and their restrictions include Synthetic Lungs (Producible at an Exosuit Fabricator) or an Advanced Mop (Producable at a Science or Service Protolathe). The Techweb is divided into three categories: Researched Tech, Available Tech & Future Tech. Researched tech encompasses all Tech web nodes that have already been researched on this Techweb. Available tech lists all tech that has not been researched but the prerequisites have been met. Available tech lists the technology type in square brackets [], the cost in RP to research the node, as well as the node description. The images in the description of the node visually show what will be unlocked for production once the node is researched. Not all nodes unlock new designs, some nodes, such as 'Bluespace Technology' simply serve as prerequisites for more advanced nodes further up on the Techweb. Future tech holds all technologies that the department does not yet meet the requirements for, the prerequisites for that node are listed in its description.

Standard UI for the Techweb

Technology Types & Research Focuses

For standard duration rounds, it is unlikely that the science department will be able to research the entire Techweb. As such a science department might choose to focus on one type of technology over another. In Unitystation, technology is split into several categories:

Machinery [Mch] - Focusing on machine parts and circuit boards,

Robotics [Rbt] - Focusing on cyborgs and synthetic implants,

Chemistry [Chm] - Focusing on matter and chemical storage as well as other chemistry materials

Equipment [Eqp] - Focusing on gear and tools applicable across the station.

The category a node belongs to is stated in its title in square brackets []. If a science department wishes to focus there efforts to a particular category, the research director, or anyone with research director access, may allocate a research focus in the Techweb UI. Allocating a focus costs 10 RP and can only be done once. Once a focus is selected, all technology in that category will receive a 25% discount.

Focus page in the Techweb UI

List of Techweb Nodes

Synthetic Organs	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	Synthetic Lungs, Synthetic Heart, Synthetic Liver	Robotics	15

Synthetic Enhancements	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	Breathing Tube Implant, Reviver Implant, Welding Shield Implant	Robotics	30

Advanced Cybernetics	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	All Cyborg limbs, Man-Machine Interface, Positronic Brain, Cyborg Light Implant, Battery Pack	Robotics	30

Cyborg Tools	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	Janitor Tool Carousel, Engineering Tool Carousel, Medical Tool Carousel	Robotics	25

Bluespace Technology	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	None	None	30

Janitorial Science	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	Advanced Mop, Advanced Light Replacer	Equipment	10

Industrial Tools	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	Welding Mask, Jaws of Life, Mag Boots	Equipment	15

Anomaly Science	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	AP Hardsuit, Anomaly Suit, Hand Pick, Sample Container, Artifact Data Disk	Equipment	30

Mining Technology	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	Mining Hardsuit, Drill, Diamond Drill, Plasma Cutter, Advanced Plasma Cutter	Equipment	40

Bluespace Holding	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	Bag of Holding, Satchel of Holding, Trash Bag od Holding	Equipment	50

Advanced Machine Parts	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	Advanced Capacitor, Advanced Scanning Module, Nano Manipulator, High Power Micro Laser	Machinery	15

Expert Machine Parts	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	Super Capacitor, Phasic Scannign Module, Pico Manipulator, Ultra Micro Laser, Quadratic Capacitor, Triphasic Scanning Module, Femto Manipulator, Quadultra Micro Laser	Machinery	45

Advanced Power Storage	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	Hyper Capacity Powercell, Bluespace Powercell	Machinery	30

Basic Chemistry	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	Science Goggles, Advanced Matter Bin, Beaker, Large Beaker, XL Beaker	Chemistry	15

Meta Material Storage	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	Meta Material Beaker, Super Matter Bin	Chemistry	30

Bluespace Storage	Unlocks	Tech Type	Cost
	Bluespace Beaker, Bluespace Matter Bin	Chemistry	30

Tips & Tricks

• Using your first 10RP each round to set a research focus can drastically speed up research time in future, don't forget it as part of the round start setup, especially if you are the stations research director.
• Xenoarchaeology can yield large quantities of RP, upwards of 30RP per artifact, however, can only be conducted when the science department has an artifact. Conversely, Ordnance and The High Energy Lab require no outside materials to run but tend to have lower yields for time investment. Make the best use of all of them to maximise RP!
• If your science department contains multiple scientists, split them up amongst each of the areas of research, more scientists researching the same thing doesn't always make it go quicker!
• While you should be busy researching, don't neglect customer service! Make sure you are still supplying the station with your discoveries and listening to requests from peers.

Unity Station Roles