Research Table: the tools, notes and materials every project needs
The Research Table turns salvage into new blueprints. Each project asks for a few things: devices that you install on the table, materials that the project uses up, blueprints and a workbench blueprint that you must already have. This guide lists all 26 projects with what each one needs.
The short version
- Devices are installed once. Tools (such as Multi-Function Pliers) and research notes are installed from the table's device list. Installing uses up one copy of the item and the device then stays on the table for every project that lists it. Nothing in the game removes an installed device.
- Materials are used up by each project. Only the materials are spent when a project finishes. Devices, blueprints and workbenches are not spent.
- Blueprints and the workbench only need to be known. A project can list blueprints you must already have and the workbench whose blueprint must be unlocked. Neither is used up.
- Some projects appear on their own, others need a discovery item. Projects with no discovery item are listed from the start. The others appear the first time you move their discovery item in your inventory. A copy you installed or used up earlier does not count (see If a project is missing).
Devices to install on the table
Install each device once. The table shows an unknown tool or unknown material in place of a device you have not found yet.
| Device | Type | Projects that need it |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Function Pliers | Tool | Biomaterial Gas Mask Field Survival Manual Field Survival Manual 2 HF Radio Radiator Repair Manual |
| Optical Microscope | Tool | Biopharmaceutical Epinephrine Injection Biopharmaceutical Meldonium Injection |
| Screwdriver Set | Tool | Fusil de fortune Fusil à pompe de fortune Pistolet de fortune Pistolet de fortune avec lame Pistolet-mitrailleur de fortune |
| Field Survival Manual | Note or material | Field Survival Manual |
| Field Survival Manual 2 | Note or material | Field Survival Manual 2 |
| Instructions on How To Fold a Tin Foil Hat | Note or material | Tin Foil Hat |
| Note of Incomprehensible Symbols | Note or material | "Black Hand" Edict of Finality |
| Repair Manual | Note or material | Repair Manual |
| Scribbles of Mysterious Recipes | Note or material | Condensed Milk |
The mission Table de recherche : Pince multifonction asks you to install the Multi-Function Pliers on the table.
Every research project
Read across a row from left to right: what makes the project appear, what to install, what it uses up, what you must already have, and what it gives you. On a narrow screen each project is shown as its own card.
If a project is missing
A project that needs a discovery item appears only when you move a copy of that item. Moving includes picking it up from the ground or taking it from a defeated enemy. A copy that is already installed on the table, or that a project already used up, does not make it appear. This catches players who installed or used a copy before the project was added to their game.
- Example: Edict of Finality. In the demo, the Note of Incomprehensible Symbols was needed only for the "Black Hand" project. If you installed your note there and carried your save over, the Edict of Finality project never appeared, and no note is left in your inventory to move.
- What to do: get another copy of the discovery item and move it. The Edict of Finality project then appears, and the note you installed earlier still counts, so you do not need to install a second one.
- Where to find another note: Note of Incomprehensible Symbols drops from Patient Zero, Crow Believers and Crow Shamans.
Getting a project done
- Open the Research Table and pick a project. Move its discovery item first if the project is not listed.
- Install any device the project lists that is not on the table yet.
- Bring the materials, and make sure you have the listed blueprints and the workbench blueprint.
- Press Research. The materials are used up and the new blueprints are unlocked.
See Safe House progression for the workbenches and for how research fits with the rest of your base.