Research Station

The Research Station is a mandatory building for progressing through the tech tree and unlocking all research tiers. It is usually one of the first buildings a colony establishes, since the earliest research options are extremely valuable and the station tends to stay in use throughout the game.

A Research Station turns Dirt into research points. Its base consumption rate is 50 kg of Dirt per research point, which works out to 15 seconds per point for a Duplicant with 0 Science working at an unlit station outside a Laboratory. The station’s output is affected by the Science attribute of the Duplicant using it, Lit Workspace, and whether it is placed in a Laboratory room. Duplicants are considered to be standing on the bottom-left tile of the structure for Decor and Lit Workspace purposes.

In practice, the station is one of the few early buildings that can benefit from stacking several bonuses at once, but its scaling is unusual compared with other workplaces. Science skill, Lit Workspace, and the Laboratory room bonus provide much smaller additive gains than they do for many other stations. A very skilled researcher at an ideally placed station can produce research extremely quickly; with a high but achievable Science attribute, a point can be produced in only a few seconds.

• Multiple Research Stations can work on the same research task at the same time.
• Early on, this can easily distract an entire colony into research, because the task requires both operating Duplicants and other Duplicants delivering Dirt.
• A Duplicant with high Science is generally the best choice for the station.
• At the start of the game, it is often best to pick the Duplicant with the highest Science regardless of Decor expectations, since improving Decor around a Research Station is easy.
• Placing the station near the Printing Pod is a convenient way to raise nearby Decor and gain the Lit Workspace bonus.
• Using a low-Science Duplicant is also viable, since research will raise their Science over time and help them level faster later.
• If a Duplicant with higher research skill is available, they automatically replace a lower-skill researcher at the station.
• When several stations are working on the same research and one finishes the last Novice Research needed, the other stations stop producing that research, but they can be resumed for later tasks.

Because the Research Station is required so early and is used so constantly, it is usually worth planning its placement carefully. Keeping it in a bright, well-designed area with easy access to Dirt delivery can make a large difference in research throughput, especially in the early colony when labor is limited.