Talk:Research

I think it would be useful for new players that may be confused about the message on the Dark Caverns page that redirects here to say if it replaced the mission.

Is "Progression Skipping" Really An Advantage of This System?
Chests and vendors can provide tier 10 equipment on tier 10 planets, so it seems that if the research system slows players way down and forces them to choose which branch of research they invest in (investing in plants delays getting new tiers of weapon), progression skipping via vendor and chest is still viable and even more optimal than it used to be. Consider that exploring dungeons will cause research to generate passively, so you could be spending those research points on mech gear and plants, then complete the entire game with plundered equipment without having ever seen almost any of the Frackin' Universe gear. I might even argue the research system is a "progression trap", where if you don't know what you're doing, as a player you're more liable to research useless tech that adds very little to your play experience, and then be stuck having to wait until you can unlock whatever comes after that. A lot of the plant tiers are just transitional, and most of the madness techs are dead weight, for example.

The vanilla gear progression that asked you to make tier 2 gear to visit tier 3 planets was, while dull, more optimal at forcing players to go through each gear tier in sequence. The tech tree primarily slows gameplay down, and anything that happens as a result of that or to circumvent that slowdown is completely up to player action.