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

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 other 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

Unity Station Roles