Scopique
ScopiqueI’m hoping this will be a shorter post, as we’re going to focus specifically on research.
In the last article, we built an Arcane Secretary in the Mana Stone room in the Underschool area. This allows us to skip having to build a room devoted to this one device.
I also made sure to choose a staff member with Lightning affinity. Lightning affinity contributes towards research, so Prof. Hope is our lead researcher.
Clicking on the Arcane Secretary, we can see our interaction options. Most of these aren’t really relevant right now, such as Access or Tasks, and we don’t want to Move or Remove this station. Instead, we want to click on the Open Research button.
There are six sections of research, and although I’d like to categorize them for you, there seems to be a lot of overlap between some of them making categorization a bit difficult.
You can hover over a node in the tree to see what it offers, what you need to research this node, and any elemental skill that is required.
You can also hover over the tiles inside the node to see what researching that node will unlock. This popup will provide you with a description, the space requirements (if any), and the building materials needed to craft that item once research has unlocked it.
Research can be queued, allowing you to load up several projects to minimize downtime. The number displayed shows how many “skill-hours” the researcher needs to put into that node, and how many have been contributed at any time. I don’t really know if “skill-hours” is the right term, but it’s what I’m calling it. The further to the right you progress, the more skill-hours are required per-node.
Where to Start
If you started in relaxed mode, then you might have a few nodes unlocked for you. If not, then the first nodes you’re going to want to work on are the ones which allow you to domesticate resources.
Gutberries are required to push the Fog away, and while resources automatically re-grow on the school grounds, being able to plant your own Gutberries next to the school has the benefit of always being available. As such, if you don’t have this unlocked, it should be your first priority.
Second, I might suggest Hardy Foliage. This allows you to cultivate Sunshadow Trees. As you’ll always need wood, having some always at hand is a bulwark against relying on naturally occurring trees, or that trees are available to you outside of the Fog.
If you are not playing relaxed and haven’t altered the “Bed Healing” setting in Difficulty to allow any bed to restore health, then you’re going to need to unlock Critical Care. This will allow you to build Medical Beds which will be needed for when your NPCs are injured.
Sizzling Flames is also recommended as it opens up the ability to create meals for your NPCs. Some NPC species have preferences on what they would like to eat, and later on, some students you invite may have preferences for what dishes they prefer. If you don’t create meals for your NPCs, they’ll eat handfuls of Gutberries, and Wolfkin may eat the remains of Dire Rats.
At this point, where you go is up to you, although I might suggest Dancing the Night Away followed by Rustic Furnishings. The former allows you to satisfy your NPC’s desire for entertainment, while the latter starts you down the path of being able to satisfy some keyword requirements. Of course, there’s no specific research path that will lead to instant success, and depending on your starting style and goals, different choices may be in order.
As a final note, remember to alter the Priorities of whichever NPC you want to be your primary researcher, possibly even cranking up their affinity to maximum so they aren’t distracted by any other task.
